What a terrific review! Thanks so much. You've made me go back and think about some of the points you made.
The cat and Maurice: this could be completely off the mark, but I have in my head that back then, animals like cats and dogs were not as common as housepets as they are now. I imagined cats having a place in barns and shops as mousers. Since Maurice grew up in the city and middle class, I just though he never would have been around housecats. I wonder if this scenario is true? And he meant he hadn't been around them enough to know if he liked them or not - certainly he's seen cats.
The boys' injuries: I think both of them are pretty freshly out of hospital, and are certainly glad about the freedom and of finding jobs together. I imagine Alec really does have these plans of rigging up some way for Maurice to walk again - he strikes me as an incurable optimist with practical skills to boot. Maurice, on the other hand, is still keeping his feelings to himself about his situation. He strikes me as someone totally British - stiff upper lip and all that. I'm sure he is depressed but he doesn't want to burden Alec. Still it comes out in other ways - like the dropped silverware.
Did you ever read the original epilogue? It's pretty sucky, actually, and I'm glad Forster pulled it. Saying that this story of mine should be canon is such a sweet thing to say! I worked hard at making it sound British (I'm not, or at least not for 3 generations). I'm glad you liked it!
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Date: 2010-05-07 03:24 am (UTC)The cat and Maurice: this could be completely off the mark, but I have in my head that back then, animals like cats and dogs were not as common as housepets as they are now. I imagined cats having a place in barns and shops as mousers. Since Maurice grew up in the city and middle class, I just though he never would have been around housecats. I wonder if this scenario is true? And he meant he hadn't been around them enough to know if he liked them or not - certainly he's seen cats.
The boys' injuries: I think both of them are pretty freshly out of hospital, and are certainly glad about the freedom and of finding jobs together. I imagine Alec really does have these plans of rigging up some way for Maurice to walk again - he strikes me as an incurable optimist with practical skills to boot. Maurice, on the other hand, is still keeping his feelings to himself about his situation. He strikes me as someone totally British - stiff upper lip and all that. I'm sure he is depressed but he doesn't want to burden Alec. Still it comes out in other ways - like the dropped silverware.
Did you ever read the original epilogue? It's pretty sucky, actually, and I'm glad Forster pulled it. Saying that this story of mine should be canon is such a sweet thing to say! I worked hard at making it sound British (I'm not, or at least not for 3 generations). I'm glad you liked it!