Riassunto esame Lingua inglese II, prof. Rutt, libro consigliato The Go Between, Hartley

I

Description of Leo’s family. Leo’s father had died when he was 11. He was a

bank manager and not interested in success and social reputation at all. Leo’s mother,

on the contrary, was fond of fashionable clothes and social occasions.

After his father’s death, Leo was sent to Southdown Hill School. Marcus didn’t

need the admiration for which Leo had to fight. He was always on the winning side.

Invitation at Brandham Hall (Norfolk). He thinks that the weather won’t be hot,

so he makes her mother put just thick clothes in his suitcase.

II

Arrival at Brandham. Mrs Maudsley seems very kind but she is extremely

bossy. She has a horrible big, round and pale face. Her eyes are black and fixed, her

hair black and wet. At first, the little Leo doesn’t recognise the danger behind her

influence. She never looks at anyone by chance but always for a purpose. Her look

usually means that she doesn’t agree or that she is annoyed. She makes plans for

everyone and everybody must accept her decisions without argument. If anyone had

doubts, he would receive one of her looks. That ended the discussion.

Leo meets Marian. The same evening Leo finds a poisonous plant, the deadly

nightshade or Atropa belladonna while he was looking round some old huts behind the

house. The plant symbolises Marian, beautiful and deadly, disrturbing and attractive at

the same time. III

“It all began with the weather defying me”. That was one of the hottest

summers of the century. Leo doesn’t feel comfortable with his thick clothes. The other

people laugh at him because of them. For the first time he compares himself to the

other people. He realises that his cloths are poor and unfashionable. He says “I may

look hot, but I am cool inside” and everybody laughs at his face. He is very

embarrassed and humiliated.

Marian “saves” him. She says she’ll take him to Norwich to buy new summer

clothes as a birthday present.

Marcus tells him he mustn’t put his clothes carefully on a chair when he takes

them off at night. He must leave them where they fall because the servants have to

pick them up. “That’s what they’re here for”, he adds.

Trouble starts, although it is hidden by smiles and kind faces.

IV

Expedition to Norwich. While they are in Norwich Marian asks Leo to wait for

her in the church because she has something to do. Leo looks for her and sees her

down the street. She’s with another man. We still don’t know who he is (we guess he is

Ted Burgess because when Mrs Maudsley asks Marian if she has met anyone she lies).

Leo realises that in one morning Marian has probably spent on his clothes more

than his mother spends in a year. He is also surprised because the people of

Brandahm Hall don’t need to go to work. He understands they are rich and he is not.

Leo, Marcus, Marian, Denys (Marian’ and Marcus’s older brother) decide to go

swimming. Marcus tells Leo some things about Lord Trimingham. He says he had

remained disfigured because he was hurt in war. He’s a nice person and he doesn’t

want other people to feel sorry for him. Mrs Maudsley wants Marian to marry him

(because he is a Viscount).

Leo meets Ted Burgess while the farmer is swimming by the river. His body

looks so perfect and powerful that it almost frightens Leo. He asks Mariasn if she

knows him but she answers very vaguely (“I might have met him. I don’t remember.”).

V

Marcus falls ill. Leo meets Lord Trimingham for the first time. His face was

terribly disfigured. Leo decides that he couldn’t like him (because he’s supposed to

marry Marian) but, as soon as he decides that, he starts to like him better.

VI

Marcus goes to church with the Maudsleys and their guests. On one wall he

notices a number of metal plates with the names of some dead members of the

aristocracy on them. The name Trimingham appears on each one. He wonders who the

ninth Viscount is. Soon after, Leo realises that Lord Trimingham is actually the ninth

Viscount. He is very polite and kind to Leo.

Leo tells him that he would do anything for Marian so Trimingham uses him as

messenger for the first time.

Leo doesn’t like priests because they say people behave bad and they all are

miserable sinners. He thinks people behave in natural ways; they do what they can to

survive. Sometimes their behaviour can make other people suffer, but that’s part of

life. This opinion makes us think he’s still an innocent child.

VII

Marcus is ill and Leo wants to find another way to amuse himself. He decides to

1

walk again down the path that leads to the river. Leo arrives at a haystack by the river

and hurts himself with a piece of wood. The haystack belongs to Ted Burgess and, as

he hears that noise, he comes out of the house. At first Ted is very angry but then Leo

tells him he is one of the guests of Brandham Hall so the farmer has to change his

attitude towards him very quickly.

Ted Burgess helps Leo with his cut. Leo wants to pay back his kindness and

asks him if there was anything he could do for him. Ted Burgess immediately asks him

to deliver a message to Marian (Leo had said that they were friends and Ted Burgess

wants to profit from this).

Leo he’s confused: Marian had said she didn’t know Ted Burgess. Ted says he

doesn’t know the people from the Hall (we understand they’re both hiding something

because both are lies). VIII

Trimigham nicknames Leo “Mercury”, like the messenger of the Greek gods.

Leo is very proud of this.

Leo hears Marian and her mother speaking. Marian suggests Leo remains at

Brandham Hall during their pick nicks and trips. She uses an excuse (pick nicks could

be boring for him) to make him remain alone at Brandham so that he can go to Ted’s

farm unimpeded. IX

Leo takes his job of “messenger of the gods” very seriously. He wonders about

the content of their “business letters” but he can’t imagine what it really is. He likes

trying to guess what kind of relationship is there between Marian and Ted. At first this

is all very exciting and he’s happy to please Marian.

Marcus gets up. Leo realises that now that Marcus is not ill anymore, he will

have to face a number of difficulties in his Mercury activity.

Marian gives Marcus another letter but this time she doesn’t have the time to

stick it down. The envelope remains open. Leo decides to read just the words that are

not covered by the envelope “Darling, darling, darling”. He realises that Marian and

Ted Burgess are in love with each other. X

1 Covone di paglia, pagliaio.

The letter is the worst disappointment of Leo’s life. He feels ashamed for being

so stupid and gullible. He realises they are lying to him without any difficulty.

Leo doesn’t want to be their postman anymore but Ted Burgess makes him

change his mind. He controls him (“Do you want her to like you, don’t you?”, “If you

don’t take the letters she’ll be angry with you”, “I’ll tell you all about spooning if you

go on carrying our letters”). This is the first compromise of his life. Leo has lost his

innocence. XI

Cricket match. The team of the village vs. the team of the Hall. Leo is chosen

to be their twelfth man and he is very proud. HE wants the team of the Hall, his team,

to win. XII

Leo sees Ted Burgess (village team) while he is going out to play. At first, Leo

wants only their team to play well but now he wants Ted Burgess to do well. Leo

emphasises with Ted because he identifies himself in him. Ted scores a lot of points.

Leo is worried and pleased at the same time. He hopes that the village team will win

(they are like him, he belongs to that world and not to Brandham Hall). He looks at

Marian’s face and he realises that Marian is hoping the same thing.

A men gets injured on the field, so the Hall team needs its twelfth man. Leo

feels very anxious. He succeeds in catching the ball hit by Ted Burgess. Leo wins the

cricket match for the Hall. He feels happy and sorry at the same time. Lord

Trimingham thanks him and treats him as if he were a man but Leo is suffering

because he didn’t want Ted Burgess to lose. XIII

After the match there is a supper and a concert at the Hall. Both teams are

invited. The piano player is hill, so Marian has to play it. Ted sings two love longs and

there is a strange atmosphere between the two lovers. Leo knows the meaning of the

lyrics but he can’t understand their power. In Leo’s mind love and spooning are not

connected (he is still a kid). He doesn’t know that love can lead to unhappiness. One

of the guests makes a comment “If it wasn’t for the difference, what a handsome pair

they’d make”. Leo can’t really understand what kind of difference is he talking about.

Leo is asked to sing; he sings very well and everybody claps at him. He is warmly

applauded. His singing is the best at the concert. Leo is sure that nothing is going to

stop him now.

Marcus tells Leo that Marian is going to marry Lord Trimingham.

XIV

Leo thinks that as Marian is going to marry Lord Trimingham, she won’t ask

him to carry any more messages for Ted Burgess so he feels relieved. He knows that

now that Marcus is well, carrying the messages will be more difficult.

Nevertheless he doesn’t want to disappoint Ted Burgess. In fact, Leo admires

Ted but is also jealous of him. Leo understands that Ted Burgess has a special power

on Marian, a power whose nature he can’t understand (sexual attraction). Leo thinks

Ted has cast a spell on her. Anyway, he is sure that if Marian has agreed to marry Lord

Trimingham, this means she will stop writing love letters to Ted. When she married

him, she would also get his house and she would become a Viscountess (that’s why

Mrs Maudsley wants her to marry him!).

Leo asks Lord Trimingham about the fifth Viscount, whose name is missing

from the church’s wall. The fifth Viscount was killed in France, during a duel with a

Frenchman who had seduced his wife. Leo asks Lord Trimigham if the fifth Viscount

was angry with his wife. Lord Trimingham replies that he was not, because “Nothing’s

ever a lady’s fault”. Leo is afraid that Ted could kill Lord Trimingham because they are

in the same situation. XV

Marian asks Leo to deliver a letter to Ted again. Leo realises she is going to

marry Lord Trimingham even if she is still in love with Ted and he tells her that he

doesn’t want to be their postman any longer. Marian attacks him verbally. She offers

him some money to deliver the letter and calls him “Shylock” (the Jew usurer of

Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice) This hurts him more than her words and he

can’t reply because he can’t understand why she calls him Shylock.

Leo runs away weeping. He believes that Marian has n