bewareofitalics

[bewareofitalics]

I made him sit still for another photo

[bewareofitalics]

CHAPTER XXXIV - MR. HYDE GOES TO HIS OWN PLACE AND SUSAN TAKES A HONEYMOON

Almost final chapter.

"Early in November Jims left Ingleside. Rilla saw him go with many tears but a heart free from boding. Mrs. Jim Anderson, Number Two, was such a nice little woman that one was rather inclined to wonder at the luck which bestowed her on Jim. She was rosy-faced and blue-eyed and wholesome, with the roundness and trigness of a geranium leaf."

I never never seen the word trigness before and googled it.

Very helpful Merriam Webster

More research

Like we love Mrs. Jim Anderson 2.0 but wouldn't it be nice if she got a first name??? But at least Jims is going to a good home and she's going to wear the pants for hapless Mr. Jim Anderson.

"No doubt you do, miss, for a lovabler child I never did see. We understand, Jim and me, what you've done for him, and you won't find us ungrateful. He can come here whenever you want him and I'll always be glad of any advice from you about his bringing up. He is more your baby than anyone else's I should say, and I'll see that you get your fair share of him, miss.""

Ok, I am resigned to co-parenting Jim.

HEY KEN GUESS WHAT YOU ARE SIGNING UP TO LIVE IN THE GLEN FOREVER. JIMS IS THE PRIORITY, CITY BOY. GET READY.

HEY, does Ken have a job or career? Is he a writer like his dad? Is he going to care for Rilla properly? Is he done with school? I suddenly have a million questions.

RIP to Rilla's hat.

""And now, Mrs. Dr. dear," said Susan, "since the fall house-cleaning is over and the garden truck is all safe in cellar, I am going to take a honeymoon to celebrate the peace."

"A honeymoon, Susan?"

"Yes, Mrs. Dr. dear, a honeymoon," repeated Susan firmly. "I shall never be able to get a husband but I am not going to be cheated out of everything and a honeymoon I intend to have."

""No, Mrs. Dr. dear, a fortnight is all I require. Besides, I must be home for at least three weeks before Christmas to make the proper preparations."

Ingleside Christmas must be an epic feast of treats and roast meats and decor.

[bewareofitalics]

Rilla of Ingleside - Chapter 33

"Cousin Sophia was there, having again forgiven Susan" RIP Susan

"Rilla smiled and pressed her cheek to Jims' curls." #LetRillaKeepJims

"But the seasons is altogether different now from what they used to be." We've been saying this for over a hundred years and we still don't take it seriously 🙃

""Can we have as much sugar as we want to now?" asked Jims eagerly." A child after my own heart.

"She rose suddenly. A silence fell around the table, and in the silence Gertrude repeated Walter's famous poem "The Piper."" Okay listen. I understand the feeling. It was in the heat of the moment. But this is the kind of thing my cousins and I would have laughed about for the next 20 years. I guess you had to be there, but this is the vibe I get.

[bewareofitalics]

Does Rilla ever actually get to meet Jim Anderson? I checked Readying Rilla and there are two crossed-out mentions of him, but in the published text there's no indication that he's there. Not that the crossed-out bits would've added much:

One day early in November Jim Anderson walked in with his

...

As [Jims] drove away beside his father, hugging the big soup tureen in his arms. Rilla thought of the day she had brought him home - a little red, wrinkled, motherless baby.

I also think it's weird that in this chapter, Anne only exists in dialogue. I thought she was Rilla until Susan said "Mrs. Dr. dear," and then she continues to never even get a speech tag. I guess the scene changes after Rilla's hat-kicking speech? Because it doesn't seem like Anne is there for that. And Rilla's room probably wouldn't be Susan's first stop coming "in from the outdoor sunlight."

[bewareofitalics]

[bewareofitalics]

Ed ver.

[bewareofitalics]

Stede ver.

[bewareofitalics]

Mayhem has acquired a stick and it has been sentenced to death

[bewareofitalics]

Golden belly

[bewareofitalics]

I bring you gladsome tidings of a woman who needle-felts creatures from the Luttrell Psalter.

That is all.

[bewareofitalics]

Rilla of Ingleside Book Club: Chapter XXXIV, Mr. Hyde Goes to His Own Place and Susan Takes a Honeymoon

I was excited to see the title of this chapter—and then I read the first sentence.

I’m glad that Mrs. Jim Anderson, Number Two (I wish we got to hear her first name, poor woman) is going to be a good stepmother to Jims and not take any shit from his dad. It still doesn’t make it right that he should have to leave the only mother he’s ever known. But I do appreciate that Mrs. Jim recognizes this and says that she’s going to encourage a continued relationship between him and Rilla and that he can visit Ingleside whenever he wants. I think she’s really trying, and maybe it’s the best one could do at the time. I like to think, then, that Jims will end up with a happy life, with his two moms sharing custody. Maybe at some point his dad will disappear again and they won’t have to deal with him anymore. (Although I suppose it would be better to hope that he’ll get it together and become a good dad.) Hey, given that Mrs. Jim seems to be quite young, there’s fanfic potential for her/Rilla if one wants it, and I’m a lesbian, so I do. Of course, I would have to give her a name first…

Well, before we get to the good Susan part of the chapter we have to get through the part where she really is unbearably smug about Mr. Hyde’s disappearance and Whiskers-on-the-Moon’s stroke. Really, Susan?

But a heroine does not have to be kind always. We would be bored to death if she was. And now we get to the good part—her honeymoon.

I think I’ve said before that it has annoyed me to no end for the four books since Susan was first introduced that she was constantly claiming to be resigned to her unmarried state but very obviously not resigned at all. While I sympathized with her to some degree, I also felt that she really needed to either find a way to actually accept it or to put herself out there like Miss Cornelia.

Was such a thing too much to ask for a traditional woman in Susan’s time? Perhaps, perhaps not. But either way, at last she is doing it. She is doing something incredibly ahead of her time and taking herself on a honeymoon. She’s going to the city for the first time in twenty years and she’s going to see her first movie. Next chapter, of course, our main heroine, Rilla, is going to get her happy ending, but in this one our secondary heroine, Susan, arrives at a satisfactory end to her character arc. However I may shake my head at the former, between her enemies being finally vanquished and her choosing a happy ending for herself, there is no doubt that in this chapter Susan emerges triumphant.

[bewareofitalics]

Rilla of Ingleside - Chapter 34

"Jim wanted to stay in England but I says 'No.'" Did LMM create and work off a checklist titled How To Write The Most Rage-Inducing Character? So, after ignoring his child for 4+ years, Jim Anderson wanted to uproot Jims from everyone and every place he knew and have him shipped to England??

"So Jims went away—with the soup tureen, though not in it." This does NOT capture the magnitude of the situation for Jims. I would've thrown an unholy tantrum in his place.

RIP Rilla's green hat. You never really had a chance.

Bruce Meredith continuing to be the terror of every cat in the neighbourhood. Doc could probably sense what he'd done to Stripey and didn't feel safe.

"And that reminds me that Whiskers-on-the-moon had a paralytic stroke last night." for the love of god

I actually really feel Susan on the honeymoon thing. I'm not the marrying type but I do enjoy the idea of a wedding and honeymoon.

LMAO Carl coming back before anyone else. LMM never beating the Carilla allegations!

[bewareofitalics]

Rilla of Ingleside Book Club: Chapter 34

Bye, Jims!! :(

It would've been so easy to kill Jim Anderson in action so that Rilla could've adopted Jims for real, I can't help wondering why LMM felt the need to separate Rilla and Jims from each other instead.

My guess is this: the Rilla and Jims plotline is already a little bit... unconventional, because it shows that becoming a single teenage (foster) mom is a good thing for Rilla – something her own father tells her she should do, even. Maybe Rilla keeping Jims would've pushed it too far, sending a message that a woman can be a single mother and still get her happily ever after with a man who's not even the child's father... or am I reading too much into this?

~

RIP Doc the cat and Whiskers-on-the-moon, I guess. Good for Susan for conveniently getting rid of all her adversaries – though I have to wonder, what did the cat ever really do except for being mildly annoying to deserve this fate!

Susan has a good point about the honeymoon, though. Why should we single people settle for less than our married counterparts?

Admittedly, Susan's honeymoon destination, visiting a dying sister-in-law whom no one likes, feels somewhat depressing... but I'm glad that she's going, nevertheless. Hope she gets to see a good movie or two while she's in town!

(That said, I don't like what Susan having "not been in town for over a day for twenty years" implies about the terms and conditions of her employment! Sure, she doesn't seem to prioritise work-life balance herself, but even so... insert shrek_they_dont_even_have_dental.jpg)

[bewareofitalics]

Cat and kitten door knocker, Clun, England

This unusual door knocker from Clun, England, features a mother cat carrying her kitten — sculpted in cold, weathered bronze, yet full of tenderness.

Equal parts whimsical, eerie, and adorable, it feels like something out of a forgotten fairytale.

[bewareofitalics]

I was looking up how different editions handle poetry quotes and discovered that I'd missed a bit that got abridged!

The aeroplane soared and dipped and circled, and soared again, until it became a mere speck far over the sunset hills. "'With the majesty of pinion Which the Theban eagles bear Sailing with supreme dominion Through the azure fields of air,'" quoted Anne Blythe dreamily. "I wonder," said Miss Oliver, "if humanity will be any happier because of aeroplanes. It seems to me that the sum of human happiness remains much the same from age to age, no matter how it may vary in distribution, and that all the 'many inventions' neither lessen nor increase it."

Anyway every edition handles it differently so I think I'll go with double indents (but no more) and italics, and just regular paragraph spaces (the spaces vs. indents poll still has 17 minutes left but "both" is pretty far ahead so I'm working on that assumption).

[bewareofitalics]

I had another Jane Eyre concert casting thought! Bradley Dean as Rochester! He was a swing on Broadway and covered Rochester but never went on for him (Stephen Buntrock, who usually played St. John, did a couple times) (...and I guess he's another possibility! Not as right for the role though). So that would be a nice way to bring in someone from the original production without, you know, the elephant in the room.