Week Three: Sections VI – VII: Pages 303 – 416

Regarding her father's role in arranging her marriage, Iris writes, "He was only doing what would have been considered--was considered, then--the responsible thing. He was doing the best he knew how" p. 227. In light of Norval's character and his previous treatment of Iris, is this explanation too facile? Was he motivated by reasons Iris doesn't allow herself to acknowledge?

Iris' father suffers so many losses so quickly -- his wife, his business, his family fortune, and his faith -- and is so clearly injured both physically and spiritually that is is difficult for me to think he had ulterior motives. He seems to have drifted along after coming back from the war, garreting himself away with rage and alcohol, getting involved with the bohemian artist Callie Fitzsimmons and finally letting Richard Griffen relieve him of his problems.

Norval doesn't give Iris much of a choice about the marriage ... but then he didn't really have many choices to offer her. From the first visit to the coffeeshop where he attempts to teach her the basics of business, it is clear that Norval longs to pass responsibility on to someone else, even if only his teenage daughter. The burden of caring for her and Laura, keeping his workers employed and upholding his commitments to the community are just too much for him.

Norval obviously realized he had misjudged Richard when the factories were shut down and his workers were thrown into the streets. Already deeply mired in despair, it is not surprising that he drank himself to death. I like to think that even after that, Norval would have been stunned could he have foreseen that Richard would keep his death a secret so the honeymoon could continue without interruption.

I saw Norval's talk between himself and Iris about the marriage as a clear sign that he was giving up-on himself, his family. He was basically surrendering up to the enemy what spoils he had to offer, which was Iris. That isn't to say that I see him as a bad father, but truly a beaten-down man. He may have really thought that Richard would save the button factory as it would then be a matter of family helping family, but in reading further on got the feeling that Norval was in favor of the marriage because he knew that Richard had the money to keep a roof over his daughter's heads if the need arose. Maybe because it was such a short period between the engagement and Norval's death.

I think that given how damaged Norval was in every possible way, he did the best he could by his daughters. To us, it might not seem like much, but at least he did SOMETHING. He could have just gone off into the turret to drink himself to death without making any provisions for his daughters. His bigger failure was putting them in the position they were in in the first place - with no options. Had he laid people off earlier, managed his finances and been a better businessman (not to mention doing less drinking), things could have turned out quite differently. I did understand his sense of loyalty to his workers though, which was a direct result of his experience in the war.

I do think that he believed that he was doing the best that he knew how in order to save the business with the marriage. But then when he realizes that he was wrong about Richard, he leaves Iris with nothing. Now she is not financially able to leave if she wants to. Iris is always expected to buck up and do what is best for the rest of the family rather than what is best for her.
--BJ