CHAPTER SEVEN: JEAN
Tuesday 14 January 1941
Even though the chapter title is the first time we hear Jean Westaway’s first name, it doesn’t take long for the reader to work out it’s now Ma’s turn to tell her story. The chapter starts with death and given that Connie’s death featured so prominently in the previous chapter, there is a sense that this chapter may be a reckoning of sorts. Heartbreakingly, it is revealed right from the start that Jack Husting is dead, killed in Libya. Given Kip only mentioned Jack was in North Africa in the previous chapter (pages 196-7), news of Jack’s death is dispiriting in its suddenness. Again, the terrible realities of war are brought home by Jean’s reflections on the fact that the Hustings only received a telegram to tell them of Jack’s death. This prompts her to reflect on Tom’s death and acknowledge that at least she had ‘a body to bury’ (page 211). Jean also reflects on the impact religion had on her family’s life and subverts the assumption most readers probably made earlier (page 151) that Tom was Protestant and she is a Catholic (page 213). Instead, it turns out to be the other way around, therefore reinforcing the recurring theme that things are never truly what they seem. The story behind how Tom came to buy the house after a windfall at the races also demonstrates the vagaries of fate. Connie is devastated by news of Jack’s death. She tells her mother, ‘There’s a baby’ (page 215) and her mother immediately assumes the father is Mr Ward and begins making excited plans for their wedding. When Connie tells her Mr Ward is not the father, her mother still insists Connie will need to get married, emphasising the social stigma attached to being an unwed mother in twentieth century Australian society. When Connie refuses to divulge the father’s name and tells her mother she is having it (page 219), her mother refuses to listen to her, arguing that there’s no privacy in society and that her reputation will be ruined forever. She attacks Connie verbally, accusing her of being all manner of derogatory names (page 220). She then makes plans—denying Connie any agency or choice, a stark contrast with Charlotte’s experiences in the late twentieth century. A note is sent to Mr Ward explaining that Connie has the flu and won’t be at work for the week (page 223). Jean takes Connie to the same woman she has seen herself for an abortion, an allegedly respectable woman who runs a business in Victoria Street. Mrs Ottley masquerades as an elegant dressmaker (page 225) and claims to be ‘Mrs’ Ottley, but isn’t a ‘Mrs’ Ottley at all (page 228). Connie’s despair moments before the abortion, ‘It’s all I have of him’ (page 230) is in stark contrast to Jean’s grim determination and pragmatism. Jean reassures Connie that visiting a woman like Mrs Ottley to deal with an unplanned pregnancy is normal. She argues that ‘half the married ladies of Richmond have lain on that little bench at one time or another’ and that it’s ‘part of being a woman’ (page 230). Jean’s response underlines the terrible options for women in terms of healthcare at the time and the oppressive and judgemental views of the society in which they lived. Connie’s experience is presented as degrading and dehumanising. Her mother is unable to stay with her and is told, ‘Don’t get settled...This isn’t the MCG. We’ve got no room for spectators’ (page 231) and Connie is offered alcohol instead of an anaesthetic. Jean leaves Connie alone and wanders the streets, reliving the trauma of Tom’s death. This awful reality partially explains her inability to show Connie any compassion. Jean’s solution to Connie’s problem ends tragically with Connie bleeding to death on the footpath on the way home from the unsafe medical procedure, and Jean leaving her in a panic. Connie’s dying words before Jean flees: ‘I decided. I wrote to him. He was going to come back to me and I’d be here and the baby’d be here and we’d be both be waiting’ emphasises the loss. There’s no suspense for the audience at all, dramatic irony has reared its cruel head—we know what Connie’s fate will be and we can guess that Jean’s words, ‘I’m only going to be gone for a minute’ (page 239) are similar to what we’ve heard before—complete self-deception. All that remains is the mystery of what is in the ‘biscuit tin’ (page 238) and how Connie and Jack got together given the last time we saw them together was in “Jack”