Waugh puts a brilliant little speech together for John to tell his mother on the way home. It is very amusing as it is written as a child of his age would speak. It has little punctuation and is one very long sentence containing lots of different information about the past few days that Brenda has missed. I imagine Waugh wanted it to be read very fast and rushed, because John would have had to speak in this way if he wanted to impart all his news in the one breath. Also he is very excited and wants to tell his mother everything all at the same time! This little speech confirms that he has in actual fact missed his mother more than we had first thought, or it could have been the simple fact of “out of sight, out of mind”. After John has described his busy few days, Tony completely contradicts him by merely saying “Nothing much has happened”. This seems a strange thing to say, as obviously Tony has had to occupy his time with something. The way it is said makes me think that anything that Brenda is not involved with is not worth remembering and is why he is so relieved to have her home.
Brenda goes on to do something very cunning, something she repeatedly does throughout the novel. She confesses everything, the men, the spending of money, the partying without a single thought for her priorities at home. She does it in such a way though that it sounds like it is nothing, she treats the situation as though it was not important and needs no more explanation. This is exactly the way Tony takes it, in the way she had planned. The clever thing is, if anyone who had spent the weekend with Brenda, rang up Tony to report on her behaviour, Tony would already know and so Brenda would be out of trouble. It would be quite extraordinary for anyone to talk to Tony about it though and at the time it was not uncommon for women to have an affair to liven up their lives. As Brenda had been married for quite a while it was right on time and she was due for an affair. Also, friends would love to watch the relationship unfold, it was exciting for them and would be great gossip.
Brenda then goes on to drop a bombshell, “I’ve found a flat”. It is clear that Brenda and Tony are close and know each other well as Brenda forewarns Tony, “It’s something you won’t like at all”. The reason he won’t like it is because it will mean Brenda will be away from him and John a lot, also it will come out of his money for the house, which is his pride and joy. Tony does not like the idea and so Brenda leaves the subject alone and promises to “attack” him with it later. Brenda asks her husband not to think about it either, which will have the reverse effect as it is human nature to do what we asked not to do. John makes it all the worse for poor Tony by asking “What’s a flat, daddy?” At this time a flat would have meant all sorts of things. By Brenda having a flat it gave her a lot of independence to do what she wanted. I would also be surprised if the thought of her pursuing an affair hadn’t entered Tony’s mind at this point but he keeps this thought well hidden. John’s little question would be sure to play on Tony’s mind so that he could not keep his promise not to “give it another thought”.
Brenda begins to manipulate Tony with her womanly charms, although he sees straight through it, “I suppose all this means you’re going to start again about your flat?” it doesn’t put him in a better position to say no to her. Brenda asks whether Tony has been “brooding” and he quite defensively says “no”. Most of the conversation is like this, Brenda does the talking while Tony makes short replies. By doing all the talking Brenda doesn’t give Tony a chance to say no and by the time she is done Tony is agreeing to the flat.
I found there were two main points which sprang to mind, regarding Waughs methods and effects in this piece. Clearly this story of marital betrayal relates closely to Waugh's personal experience and he seems to be remarkably generous towards Brenda. Her behaviour is clearly compulsive; “I’ve found a flat” and she is outspoken “I’ve been carrying on anyhow this week”. Waugh remains very compassionate in his attitude to the faithless Brenda and allows no sign of anger in Tony, which would have been well-justified, he just says “no harm done then.”
Also, this passage has a great range of ironic implication and it is in parts exceptionally funny; the irony of Tony reacting to Brenda’s confession of “carrying on madly with young men” by inferring that buying a Pekingese would have been far worse is pure farce.
