Mr. Loveday's little outing

Information on the author.

The author of this book is called Evelyn Waugh. Evelyn was born in London on the 28th of October in 1903, and he died on the 10th of April in 1966. He was 62 years old. He was an English writer of novels, biographies and travel books. But he also was a book reviewer. He attended Oxford, and after this, he applied for multiple jobs but failed at this, eventually he was a teacher for two years while continuing to write, after this he married Evelyn Gardner this didn't work out, and after their divorce, he married Evelyn's cousin Laura whom he had seven children with.

Link: Evelyn Waugh - Wikipedia

The short story.

The title of the story is Mr. Loveday's little outing. The title refers to the ending of the story which is about Mister Loveday getting out of the asylum, “He had been...his step-sister in Plymouth.”. I think the title fits the story, because the end of this story is about Mr. Loveday going out for a little while, but coming back fairly quickly after he left: a little outing. If I could give the story another name I would call it “Good old Mister Loveday.” Because at the beginning of the story, Mr. Loveday is introduced as a very nice and helpful person, but then at the end it turns out he isn't that good and nice at all.

Year and period.

The story was published in 1936, in the story bundles called: Mr. Loveday's little outing and other sad stories.

Genre and summary.

The genre of the story is realistic fiction. Realistic fiction means that something really could have happened, only it didn't actually happen. I think this story could be considered realistic fiction, because the story is realistic enough that it could have happened, but it's not based on a real event, so it never actually happened. Because in reality asylums, and the people in them do exist, and the events that led up to everything could happen too.

Angela and Lady Moping visit Lord Moping in the asylum, and there they meet Mr. Loveday who works as the secretary of Lord Moping. Lord Moping doesn't recognize Angela, and he says he is really busy and that they should come back later. At home, Angela asks her mother what needs to be done to get someone out of the asylum, and her mother says it was a mistake bringing her. Angela studies books about asylums because she wants to get Mr. Loveday out of the asylum. Angela drove up to the asylum to deliver a game, and then she asked for Mr. Loveday. She asks him if he never wanted to get out, and Mr. Loveday says that he had grown quite used to his life in the asylum. Angela has a new purpose in life, and spends her days figuring out how to get Mr. Loveday out of the asylum. She figures it out and makes it happen, the doctors are reluctant at first but they had no real opposition. The doctors and inmates wave out Mr. Loveday as he walks away, but he returns fairly quickly. He says he has done what he wanted, and that he had enjoyed himself. Later they discovered a bicycle and the strangled body of a young woman.

Theme of the story.

I think the writer wanted to show that people might not be what they show themselves to be. In this story Mr. Loveday looks and acts like a perfectly nice and normal human being “‘What a nice man,’ said Angela, when Loveday had gone back to his charge. ‘Yes. I don't know what we should do without old Loveday." I think the main theme of this story is deception, and other themes might be craziness and family. I think that deception is the main theme of this story, because it is about Mr. Loveday, and how he acted like he was totally fine, but he actually wasn't. When you read the story you get the impression that Mr. Loveday is a nice old man who doesn't belong in the asylum, but then at the end of the story you figure out that Mr. Loveday actually wasn't all that nice and normal and he ends up killing someone again, he also looks to be really happy with what he has done “I'd been promising myself one little treat, all these years. It was short, sir, but most enjoyable.” Other themes of this story are craziness, I think this is a theme because the story shows how crazy people can actually be. And the other theme might be family, this might be a little bit far-fetched. But I think this story showcases what can happen to a family when something horrible happens. I think that at first they were a nice family, and then after what happened at the garden party, the family maybe fell out a little bit. Since the father is gone, the family already is different. I also feel like Lady Moping might be a bit ashamed of Lord Moping “Good gracious, child, I hope that you do not anticipate your father's return here.”

Link: Mr Loveday's Little Outing - Wikipedia

Place.

The story mostly takes place at the County Home For Mental Defectives “The fact remained, however, that it was far from being the most expensive kind or institution; the uncompromising address, ‘COUNTY HOME FOR MENTAL DEFECTIVES’ stamped across the notepaper”, but it also takes place at the home of Angela and Lady Moping. It isn't made clear when this story takes place, but since it was published in 1936, I assume it takes place around the same time. The narrator is a third person narrator “‘You will not find your father greatly changed,’ remarked Lady Moping, as the car turned into the gates of the County Asylum.”

Characters.

The main character of this story I think is Angela. I think Angela is determined, because she was determined to get Mr. Loveday out of the asylum and even though her mother didn't help her and she had to study a lot to get it done, she still did it. It also said that it was her new purpose in life to get Mr. Loveday out of the asylum “From that day onwards for many weeks Angela had a new purpose in life.” I think that makes her very determined. I also think that she might be concerned. For me, it looks like Angela is concerned for Mr. Loveday, and this is another reason why she wants to get him out of the asylum. I also think that she is smart, because when she knew that she wanted to get Mr. Loveday out of the asylum she started to learn about everything she needed to know, and it looks like she learned enough, because she succeeded in getting Mr. Loveday out of the asylum. I think this makes her quite smart. “She read a great deal in the library, she cross-examined any guests who had pretensions to legal or medical knowledge” Another character in this story is Mr. Loveday, I think he is scary, strange, and nice, the last one might sound quite strange because he turns out to be a killer and he is quite strange, but at first he looked nice so that's why I still included this. I don't necessarily think this story has a hero, but if I had to choose someone I would choose Angela. This is because I think that she thought she was a hero for getting Mr. Loveday out of the asylum, ofcourse in the end it turned out to be a bad decision but at first I think it was a quite heroic deed. I also don't think that there is an anti-hero in this story, but I think that if I had to choose I would choose Lady Moping. This might be a strange choice, but I think this because Lady Moping thought it was a good choice to put Mister Moping in the asylum, I personally don't think it was a good choice but she did it because she thought it was a good choice, I also think it might have been a little bit of a selfish choice because when she had the option to put him somewhere better she didn't.

Literary devices.

Literary devices that are used in this story include flashbacks, plot twists, and dialogue. A flashback is a scene that takes place before the story begins. “It had been an abominable afternoon, culminating at about six o’clock in her father's attempted suicide.” “That year he had been found black in the face, hanging by his braces in the orangery; some neighbours, who were sheltering there from the rain, set him on his feet again, and before dinner a van had called for him.” A plot twist means that usually at the end of the story something happens that no one saw coming an example of a plot twist is: “Half a mile up the road from the asylum gates, they later discovered an abandoned bicycle. It was a lady's machine of some antiquity. Quite near it in the ditch lay the strangled body of a young woman who, riding home to her tea had chanced to overtake Mr. Loveday, as he strode along, musing on his opportunities.” I personally think that this was a plot twist, because I did not see this coming. Dialogue is the conversation that is being held between two people, an example of dialogue in this story is: “‘Mums, what does one have to do to get people out of the bin?’ “The bin? Food gracious, child, I hope that you do not anticipate your father's return here.’ ‘No, no. Mr. Loveday.’”

My opinion.

I personally liked the story, but I also thought that it was quite a strange story. I think it was well written, and everything was clear, so it was easy to understand what was going on. “Fluttering in the rain; a bright period and the cautious emergence of guests on to the soggy lawns” I think it was nice that it was revealed at the very end of the story what Mr. Loveday was like, and what he had done. This made it so that you kept thinking that he was a nice person “‘Forgive my coming back, sir, but I was afraid that the young lady might be upset at his lordship's not knowing her. You mustn't mind him, miss. Next time he'll be very pleased to see you”, and then at the end you find out what's really going on. I also liked that there was some dialogue, this made it easier to figure out what certain people where thinking, and it also made the story a bit easier to read.

I wouldn't change anything about this story. This is because I think the story is already very well written, it is easy to follow, and it wasn't boring to read. I liked the plot twist at the ending, and I think the whole story was quite good.