For good netiqette, my name is Tony Hanley, 46 yrs old and I live in Bangkok
Thailand (with my Chinese wife and 5 yr old boy)where I work in Construction
Contract Management in SE Asia
Being new to the news group and having briefly scanned the previous thread
of Mary Postgate I am taking the chance that this subject or my ideas will
not be considered old hat.
After reading and hearing many references to the "Enemy Airman" in Mary
Postgate I note the following;
1 Dr Hennis informed Mary the child's (Edna Gerrit) death was caused by the
structural failure of the Royal Oak stable which had been dangerous for a
long time and the snapping of the beams made a misleading noise; mistaken as
a bomb blast.
2 Mary said it was a bomb from an aeroplane which she thought she heard on
the heath and it must have shut down its engines as it came down which is
why they didn't notice it
3 Through the twilight rain and the firelight (pyre)she saw the bare-headed
man "dressed in a uniform something like Wynn's, with a flap buttoned across
the chest"
4 Unlike the dark glossy heads of the young flying men at Wynn's funeral
"this man's head was as pale as a baby's, and so closely cropped that she
could see the disgusting pinky skin beneath"
5 He called Mary "Laty" (pigeon English for Lady ?) and, at the terrifying
sight of the gun in Mary's hand, he used the French language to "surrender"
asking for a "Toctor" (pigeon English ?)
6 The narrative(unquoted)states "THERE WAS NO DOUBT AS TO HIS NATIONALITY";
this after only the first word "laty" is spoken.
7 Mary is the only character in the story to speak German repeating she had
seen the dead child
My comments on this are;
- Anger at Wynn's death prompted the first incorrect assumption by Mary that
it was an enemy plane which killed the child even though she did not even
hear it
- This first error serves to reinforce the possibility of further
self-deception which was fuelled by the parrafin funeral pyre - obscured by
the flames coming from Wynn's belongings in the "destructor" - that the
dying airman was from an enemy plane which killed the child
- The observations of the dying airman were made through the twilight rain
with the benefit of firelight only and the shaved head was interpreted by
Mary to be foreign and barbarian in nature
- More revealingly,the plane, with it's telltale markings, was omitted from
the story, supported by Wynn's earlier recounting of airmen falling out of
planes
- Mary's limited thinking abilities were emphasised throughout the story via
comments from Wynn which left her reliant mostly on emotion for decision
making
Conclusion;
~ RK is once again tentalising us with facts that reveal more under closer
examination to gain multiple reactions (as a journalist would). This is his
favourite theme of human foibles and the different effects on those under
pressure at times of severe (emotional) strain. In this case not a trained
professional but a simple English lady.
~ Mary became a "changling" in the extreme seeing herself doing a man's job
but better than a man who's spotsmanlike attitude would deny "justice" for
the deaths.
~ A twist of fate renedered Mary alone and outside the normality of society
isolated from humane guidance and direction (the law)albeit at the bottom of
a typical English country garden which gave her the opportunity to finally
experience the feeling of control and completeness missing throughout her
uneventful life.
Those who know RK will find more in his writings. In this case a hidden and
brutal irony exists in that the tortured airman could have been a visiting
ally - engaging in training exercises (mentioned earlier in the story by
Wynn)over the English countyside. On the face of it the story is distasteful
(certainly not PC for the period), but the disturbing empathy and
understanding for Mary, which some may feel, switches the emotions to guilt
and horror when the unsettling possibilities reveal themselves, at a later
date, to the reader.
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