In the beginning of The
Heart of the Matter, Greene establishes a virtually loveless marriage
between Major Scobie and his wife, Louise. Their interactions seem routine, and
the reader does not see real commitment on either side. The most excitement one
seems to display towards the other is when Scobie kisses his wife on the hand
at the club they attend in part four of the first chapter. However, Greene’s
narrator notes that there was an ulterior motive to this action: “He lifted her
hand and kissed it: it was a challenge. He proclaimed to the whole club that he
was not to be pitied, that he loved his wife, that they were happy. But nobody
that mattered saw…” (pg. 105) The reader does, however, eventually see some
enthusiasm out of Louise, and that is when she meets Wilson. They discover that
they both like poetry, and on that small impetus they spend the entire night
together. Scobie’s attitude towards this is not one of jealousy or even
happiness for his wife gaining a friend so much as it is satisfaction that he
doesn’t have to be embarrassed for her social ineptitude. Greene illustrates
him as an overprotective parent, not a lover: “Sometimes he longed to warn her—don’t
wear that dress, don’t say that again, as a mother might teach a daughter, but
he had to remain silent, aching with the knowledge of the foreknowledge of her loss of friends.” (pg. 105)
Greene, almost immediately after the club scene, gives the
reader an explanation for this lack of affection for his wife. Towards the end
of Chapter One, Scobie encounters Yusef, a storeowner. Greene also reveals that
Yusef is a Syrian, a group of people that is generally regarded by the
characters in the story as dangerous, involved in questionable activities like
the black market. Yusef appears to live up to that reputation immediately when
he asks Scobie on page 107 how much he paid for the car (150 pounds), and
offers him four hundred. Then, Scobie accuses Yusef of selling another Syrian,
Tallit, fake diamonds, which is against the law. Towards the end of the
conversation, Scobie attempts to illustrate the futility of the diamond trade:
“What a waste of time it is searching a big ship like [the Esperança] for diamonds. Unless you know beforehand exactly where
they are…Do you think one day you will find one little diamond?...I don’t
either.” (pg. 109) This speech illustrates an attitude that may actually
explain Scobie’s inability to love Louise. Because it is difficult to find
something as rare and beautiful as a diamond, Scobie implies, it is not worth
looking at all. This can be applied to the search for a “soulmate” or a perfect
lover: because she can seem unattainable, Scobie might have settled for Louise,
perhaps marrying her out of pity for her loneliness. On the other hand, his
attitude might say that he actually does not see or appreciate beauty at all,
not of a diamond or a person, including his own wife.
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So my question is if, based on Scobie’s characterization
thus far, we think that he can evolve as a character and learn to love Louise?
If he doesn’t, especially in light of Scobie being passed over for a promotion,
could Wilson be the one to steal her away?
2 comments:
What a waste of time it is searching a big ship like [the Esperança] for diamonds. Unless you know beforehand exactly where they are…Do you think one day you will find one little diamond?...I don’t either.” It's a bit unclear whether you're saying Scobie or Yusef said those words, because it was Yusef.
Moving on, I disagree with the point about the diamonds. The context here, as I read it, is that the diamonds are very small and easy to conceal and the container ship is huge, so putting time and manpower into searching is a waste. That's doesn't mean that Scobie wants to give up on stopping the black market trade, it just means that there are better ways to catch them than searching ships for tiny, shiny stones. It's far easier to hide a few small diamonds than it is to hide an entire mining operation, for instance, or the black market itself. Basically, I think this particular passage centers more around inefficiencies in the police than Scobie's marriage, but I'm open to further explanation.
In response to Dan’s question, all I can say is that I see no hope for the relationship between Scobie and Louise anymore. What love they used to have has vanished and several things about the environment they now live in have pushed Scobie away from her. First of these is Scobie’s attraction to black women after all the years in the colony and his lack of attraction to his wife. He remarks that “fifteen years ago I would not have noticed her beauty” (95) when speaking to the black women Miss Wilberforce. He later describes his wife’s looks after years in the colony in much more negative terms, noting her former beauty but her faded features now. In addition to Scobie’s attractions I believe Louise’s constant complaints also have driven Scobie to, while still caring about Louise, no longer love her. When Louise cries in the night and Scobie tries to calm her down, he “felt an enormous tiredness bracing himself to comfort her” (114). I think that this signifies that although he feels responsible for her mood, Scobie has grown tired of comforting her and has moved further away from her, much too far away for any sense of love to develop between them.
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