Description
Wallace and the inspector talk to Lady Runcie Campbell in her grand house. She reveals her husband’s patronising attitude towards people from the lower classes and his belief that upper classes are objectively superior. By contrast, her son Roderick has a comparitively liberal attitude, which his parents find ‘quaint’. She accuses Wallace of being a conscientious objector, but he reveals he is too injured to fight in the war.
Classroom Ideas
Students could examine the language Lady Runcie Campbell uses towards those of other classes. What connotations are suggested? (‘inferiors’, ‘quaint’). What pressures are placed on Roderick by his parents and does this help us sympathise with him? (His masculinity is questioned due to his belief in equality.) What pressures does Lady Runcie Campbell face? Note the pressures she describes and ask students whether they feel sympathy towards her: she is managing an estate in a time of war and in difficult circumstances with allegations of sexual misconduct. She may also never have experienced full independence as she talks of her husband’s ideas as her own (explain the historical context of the novel when women were only just experiencing equality in the workplace).
The Cone Gatherers
Now playing video 10 of 13
