SECTION I (pp. 25-33)
Focus on:
reversals
ANALYSE THE
EFFECTS . . .
— 'Destruction — is difficult .. .
Creation, as I said, is no trouble at all' (p. 26). Analyse the comic effects
Amis creates to illustrate this idea on pp. 26—8.
— Read the conversation on pp. 28—9,
first as it is written, then in reverse. The claim that Friendly changed his
name and 'ran' ties in with references to guilt earlier in the narrative. This
detail draws our attention to the irony that is alive throughout a reversed
narrative: the reader must continually re-evaluate 'earlier' incidents in the face
of 'later' events which throw light on them by explaining what caused them, and
so put them in a clearer perspective.
Focus on:
chaos and order
EXPLORE THE
IMPLICATIONS . . .
— There are accidents, sure, and yet it
all works out. The city streams and pours in this symphony of trust' (p. 30).
These sentences present images of chaos giving way to order. What are the
implications if the process is reversed?
— Words make plain sense' (p. 32).
Explore the idea that this narrative is an exercise in making the 'plain' sense
of words complicated.
Focus on: the
process of ‘youthing’
INTERPRET ...
— Friendly moves out of a 'morally
neutral' (p. 30) old age into vigour, which the narrator associates with
cruelty, 'which is bright-eyed, which is pink-tongued ...' (p. 31). In what
ways does this subversion of the cliche of the undesirable ageing process
provoke a fresh perspective?
SECTION 2 (pp. 33-56)
Focus on:
irony
LOOK FOR
EXAMPLES . . .
— The narrator observes Friendly's
activities uncomprehend- ingly: an irony is set up between-what he
misunderstands and what the reader fully understands. This means that the
reader can judge what the narrator cannot. Look over this section and find
examples of this irony.
Focus on:
power
CONNECT IDEAS
AND EXPLORE ...
— 'I was flooded by thoughts and
feelings I'd never had before. To do with power' (p. 45). Look at earlier and
later comments about power: The devil has something to be said for him: he acts
on his own initiative and isn't just following orders' (p. 17); 'Sometimes
[Friendly] glows with great power, which rushes out and solves and clears
everything: a power lent by the tutelary maker who presides over all his sleep'
(p. 37). About his dreams he says, 'I wish I had power, just power enough to
avert my eyes' (p. 48). Explore the idea of power in this section.
DISCUSS . . .
— 'It seems to me that you need a lot
of courage, or a lot of something, to enter into others, into other people'
(pp. 46-7). If it doesn't take courage, but something else, what is that
'some¬thing?
Focus on:
dreams
ANALYSE THE
TENSION . . .
— The narrator has 'an intractable
presentiment that I will soon start seeing ... in Tod's dream' (p. 47),
something about 'vanished' babies - something that 'Tod will eventually do'
(and has therefore already done). In this order of reality, dreams that are for
Friendly the crucible of memories are for the nar¬rator nightmare premonitions
of what will certainly happen. Analyse the effects of the tension between
Friendly's under¬standing and the narrator's.
— Look at the description of Friendly's
dream about babies on pp. 53-5. Analyse the way in which this episode brings
together contrasting ideas.
Focus on:
metaphor
INFER ...
— What point is the narrator making
about Friendly's 'cen¬tral mistake about human bodies' (p. 48)?
ASK YOURSELF
. . .
— On pp. 49-51, the narrator talks of
Friendly's prejudice and confusion and danger. Then he describes the insane
logic of the reversed world. Which is more confused?
Focus on:
attitudes to women
ANALYSE . . .
— Analyse the attitudes to women
expressed on pp. 55-6. Whose are they: Friendly's or the narrator's?
SECTION 3 (pp. 57-73)
Focus on:
context
RESEARCH
CONTEXT . . .
— The narrative is set in 1970 at this
point. Look up what was happening at that time in a chronicle of the twentieth
century. What details has Amis selected, and what has he left out? What effects
are created by the details he has included?
Focus on:
irony
ANALYSE WITH
CLOSE READING . . .
— Analyse what the passage on pp. 57-9
implies about iden¬tity and conscience, and analyse how it implies this.
— Analyse what the passages on pp.
59-63 and 65-6 convey about Friendly's motives for his relationships with
women.
NOTE THE
EXAMPLES . . .
— There are a number of details in this
section which are not explained. They point forward ironically to events that
gave rise to them and which will be explained later. Make a note of these
details as they arise.
Looking over Chapter 2
QUESTIONS FOR
DISCUSSION
1. Evaluate the claim that, at this
stage in the novel, the conceit of the reversal of time amounts to little more
than ingenious wordplay.
2. What bearing does the title of this
chapter have on the chapter itself?
3. Comment on the relationship between
Tod Friendly and the narrator.
