Quartet in Autumn by the...
Illustration
Quartet in Autumn by the English authoress Barbara Pym is a compelling story about four elderly single people. Edwin, Norman, Letty and Marcia work together in a London office. The retirement of the two women tests the relationship of all four as they unsuccessfully grope for ways of making life more comfortable. We feel their loneliness, their ineptitude in reaching out to each other, and their futile hope that something will work better for them.
As we move along with the four through their feeble efforts at building something more solid and rewarding for themselves, we wish we could push and help them to rely more on each other. It never works out that way. The story is a poignant parable on the problem of aging in our society. It is a meaningful tale to help us understand how difficult human relations are in our age. The private doubts each member of this quartet harbors about the others are symptomatic of how little people know and understand each other. What is even more important, we are awakened once more to realize easily people with hurts are overlooked, and no one cares.
As we move along with the four through their feeble efforts at building something more solid and rewarding for themselves, we wish we could push and help them to rely more on each other. It never works out that way. The story is a poignant parable on the problem of aging in our society. It is a meaningful tale to help us understand how difficult human relations are in our age. The private doubts each member of this quartet harbors about the others are symptomatic of how little people know and understand each other. What is even more important, we are awakened once more to realize easily people with hurts are overlooked, and no one cares.
