The Go-BetweenL.P Hartley Is Ted a coward?

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The Go-Between

L.P Hartley

Is Ted a coward?

By Sarah van Ballekom

        In Hartley’s The Go-Between, lower-class Ted, a major character takes his life following a passionate affair with upper class Marian, at Brandham Hall in the year 1900.

Ted’s suicide could be judged as a cowardly act. However, Hartley has given the reader evidence to prove that Ted is a very strong and heroic character in this novel.

        Hartley explores the difficult path of the love between Marian and Ted against the strict social background of 1900 England.

        In the ‘garden of Eden’ setting of Brandham Hall, Hartley tells the story through the eyes of an innocent 12-year-old boy, Leo, who discovers the importance of class distinctions in the hot summer of 1900. In the resulting loss of innocence, Leo discovers the true nature of the relationship between central characters Ted and Marian, and the lives of all the people at Brandham Hall are changed forever.

        The reader is first introduced to Ted at the swimming hole. This is important to the decision of Ted’s cowardliness as we are given a very strong physical description of him. The following description persuades the reader that Ted epitomizes strength. He is not weak and therefore not a coward.

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“… it was Ted Burgess clinging to the post, hauling himself out. His         

muscles bunched, his face tense with effort. He did not see me, and

I retreated almost in tear before that powerful body.” (Pg 63)

        Hartley successfully uses symbolism to convey the idea that Ted is a strong man. At the beginning of the novel, young Leo is marveling over the zodiac signs which decorate his diary. He is unsure of which sign he would like to be: the water carrier or the archer. Throughout the novel, Leo makes connections with Ted and the ...

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