social class and heirarchy quotes in the go between

“ i was urged to put out more spells, one of which was that we should be given a whole holiday. into this last i put all the psychic force i had, an i was rewarded. soon after the beginning of june we had an outbreak of measles. by half-term more than half the school was down with it, and soon after came the dramatic announcement that we were to break up”

by leo colston. chapter 1 page 22. the measles outbreak gives marcus and leo the looming expanse of summer, which prompts the latter’s in invitation to brandham hall. whether or not leo really has supernatural powers is not especially important- whats crucial is that both he and others believe he has them. this is the second successful spell cast by leo, and therefore he understandably believes that magic offers him more power over the world than is normal for a young boy. the measles will also come to play in important role in the book. towards the start of leos stay, marcus is quarrantined because of the virus, meaning leo gets his own room and greater independance

i came to dread these pleasantries, they seemed to spring up all around me like rows of gas-kets scorching me, and i turned redder than i was already. the frightful feeling of being marked out for ridicule came back in all its strength. i dont think i was unduly sensitive; in my experience most people mind being laughed at more than anything else. what causes wars, what makes them drag on so interminably, than the fear of losing face?

said by leo colston, chapter 3 page 38

this gives the reader a clear sense of the intensity of leos self awareness. for him, being the centre of attention-the wrong attention- is a kind of violence, and even, in his mind, the root cause of all violence. what to others is just pleasantry to leo is painful social anxiety (and note that he percieves this anxiety with imagery of flame and heat, through the use of gas-jets). leo is conflicted, wanting both to be at the centre of his world but also to avoid the kind social scrutiny that he doesnt understand or cant match equally. he doesnt really feel comfortable yet at brandham hall and doesnt have experience of the social nuances involved with the upper classes. his suggestion that war stems from a fear of ‘loss of face’ is also ironic- trimingham, yet to enter the text has sustained facial injury while serving in the boer war.

but the idea of goodness did attract me, for i did not regard it as the opposite of sin. i saw it as something bright and positive and sustaining, like the sunshine, something to be adored, but from afar.

the idea of the assembled viscounts contained it for me, and the maudsleys, as their viceroys, enjoyed it too, not so incontestably, but enough to separate them from other human beings. they were a race apart, super-adults, not bound by the same laws of life as little boys

said by leo colston chapter 6 page 64

this quote shows the workings of leos mind as he constructs his new universe based on his experiences at brandham hall. this is a daydream he has while in church, showing that he is not concentrating on the service, its morality, like his mothers, seems old fashioned and unnapealing to him. leo is becoming more intoxicated by social class and prestige, which makes him see the upper classes as separate from the rest of the human race. this fits his cosmology of being a planet among the gods, confirmed elsewhere by trimingham when he christens leo as mercury. leos association of the new people in his life with an abstract goodness outside of the morality of the curch will serve to confuse him and place him under psychological strain when those people start to behave in ways that dont make sense to him

i was in love with the heat, i felt for it what the convert feels for his new religion.. and without my being aware of it, the climate of my emotions had undergone a change. i. was no longer satisfied with the small change of experience which had hitherto contented me. i wanted to deal in larger sums. i wanted to enjoy continuously the afflatus of spirit that i had when i was walking to lord trimingham and he admitted to being a viscount. to be in tune with all that brandham hall meant, i must increase my stature, i must act on a grander scale. perhaps all these desires had been dormant in me for years, and the zodiac had been their latest manifestation

said by leo colston chapter 7 page 69

leos ‘spiritual transformation’ is accelerating. last summer he was ill with fevers, so to enjoy the heat in the summer of 1900 has a liberating effect on him that makes him crave more. he feels like hes experiencing a new world, byt the quote also displays an anxiousness to fit in. he wants to be in tune with the world of brandham, which he feels he must increase his stature, but what does that actually mean? he cant suddenly become rich, buy land, and join the upper classes. instead, he can place himself more and more in their favor by running errands for them

the messenger of the gods! i thought of that, and even when the attention of the gods had been withdrawn from me, it seemed to enhance my status. i pictured myself threading my way through the zodiac, calling on one star after another

said by leo colston chapter 8 page 83

this is leos reaction when trimingham first calls him mercury. hes clearly in love with the idea of being a messenger of the gods, as it gives him status and fits with his cosmology of the zodiac, but it also dehumanizes the adults in his world, making them seem infallible and god-like. it also brings to mind the image of space, which emphasizes how little leo understands his new world and its daunting power. its important that the nickname comes from trimingham as leo is very much in awe of triminghams high social status and wants to be accepted by him. this quote emphasizes leos newfound acceptance, but also that it is predicated on him proving useful, making him dangerously susceptible to future manipulation

my world of high intense emotions collapsing aorund me, released not only the mental strain but the very high physical pressure under which i had been living. my only defence was, i could not have expected it of marian. marian who had done so much for me, marian who knew how a boy felt, marian the virgin of the zodiac, how could she have sunk so low?

said by leo colston in chapter 10 page 102

leo looks at one of marians letters to ted and is horrified to learn that the anture of their relationship is not business as they keep saying but romance, leos entire new worldview, its confidence and optimism, is dependent on marians affections and support. now, she doesnt seem so innocent, and leo can no longer be sure of anything. it shows him that both marian and ted have been lying to him (or atleast withholding the whole truth) and that. he can no longer trust anyone. marian is now tained by lust, no longer the pure virgin of leos zodiac, in a biblical sense she has fallen. though leo feels a temporary release of pressure, it will quickly come back to an even greater degree as he tries to maintain the structural integrity of his zodiacal world.

phew! three times i nearly had to cat.. and you looked so pi leo, really dreadfully pi. so did everybody, while you were singing that church thing about the angels taking care of you. they all looked as if they were thinking about their dear dead ones, and burgess looked as if he might be going to blub. of course its difficult to know how trimingham feels because of his face, but he didnt half crack you up to mama. hell eat out of your hand now

said by marcus maudsley chapter 13 page 140

this is a clear example of marcus class snobbery- he cant stand the villagers and sees himself as above them. hes referring to the post-match event in the village hall, a rare example of those from brandham hall mixing with the working-class villagers. he exaggeratingly claims that the smell of the villagers was so bad that it made him want to throw up. as hes such a young boy, its fair to assume that he has inherited or learned his snobbish attitude from the adults in his life, showing the strength of the social hierarchy.

marcus also doesnt like leo recieving so much praise for his singing as is attempting to bring him back down to earth. he knows that leo has been soaring to new emotional heights, but equally that leo would be too embarrassed ot admit it, so marcus undermines the idea of emotion itself. futhermore, hes undermining leos imaginative zodiac-based cosmology by belittling angels. marcus shows himself to be a callous child, searching for leos psychological weaknesses and probing at them. meanwhile ted of course is probably close to ‘blubbing’ because of marian

I liked Ted burgess in a reluctant, half-admiring, half-hating way. When I was away from him I could think of him objectively as a working farmer whom no one at the Hall thought much of. But when I was with him his mere physical presence cast a spell on me, it established an ascendancy which I could not break. He was, I felt, what a man ought to be, what I should like to be when I grow up.

said by leo colston chapter 14 page 142

This comes just after Leo learns that Marian is engaged to Trimingham. He’s weighing up Ted against Trimingham, showing that they offer him competing ideas of masculinity as potential role models. Leo is happy that Marian is marrying Trimingham—the Viscount seems to offer stability, honor, and refinement. Leo thinks, therefore, that he’s no longer embroiled in the affair between Marian and Ted. But if Leo were more of how sexuality works, he’d know that the “spell” Ted’s physical form casts on him also has a strong effect on Marian; there’s no guarantee that the engagement will end the illicit relationship. Leo wants to be like Marcus and look down on Ted, but there’s something mysterious about Ted that Leo can’t escape. It’s partly his impressive physicality, but also has to do with his relationship to land, his instinctive feel for emotional life, and the threat of his wild aggression. Leo “half-hates” Ted because, Ted being the true object of Marian’s affection rather than Trimingham (or Leo himself), Leo sees him as a rival. But that’s also why he wants to grow up and be like him—to become his sexual equal.