The Whalebone Theatre

“It is not a day that would make a good story. Cristabel likes stories that feature blunderbusses and dogs, not brides and waiting.”

The author conveys three-year-old Cristabel’s bold and outgoing character traits while she waits to meet her stepmother. The passage makes it clear that stories have shaped Cristabel’s imagination, and her preference is for adventure rather than the traditionally feminine genre of romance.

“A wife’s role, thinks Rosalind. To submit. Elegant. Not bored. She spins these words in her mind through the silences of dinner in the dark red dining room and the waiting in the bedroom afterwards and the time after that, when she looks up at the canopy to find the lopsided face watching her in her wife’s role, and there is something in that which allows her a little distance while it goes on.”

The theme of Playacting as a Societal Microcosm is emphasized as Rosalind reminds herself of the parameters of her role as Jasper’s wife. Quinn highlights the psychological toll of playing gender-prescribed roles as Rosalind repeats her mantra to distract from the unpleasant experience of sleeping with Jasper. Her focus on the “lopsided face” in the bed’s canopy is reminiscent of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s iconic short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” In Gilman’s story, the protagonist’s obsession with a pattern in the wallpaper reflects her deteriorating mental health as she remains trapped in a stultifying domestic situation that is not to her liking.

“Sometimes, when Cristabel wakes in the night, she cries, ‘I’m up here!’ as if answering a question about her whereabouts, but nobody in the house has asked the question, nobody in the house has called for her.”

The harmful neglect that Cristabel experiences as a young child is highlighted as she wakes alone in the attic. Her physical separation from the rest of the household echoes her parents’ emotional distance and lack of interest in her.

“A brother, according to the books Cristabel has read, is a plucky lad full of life and go, ripe for adventure.”

In this passage, Cristabel eagerly anticipates the birth of a baby brother, looking forward to the adventures that she believes they will have together. However, Quinn takes this opportunity to employ a bit of dramatic irony, for the “plucky lad” that Cristabel’s books have led her to imagine actually describe her own character traits.

“Cristabel did not have a thing. She had checked. Therefore, she was not a boy. She was not what was wanted. The vegetable baby also did not have a thing. Maudie confirmed this. Ergo, the vegetable baby was also not wanted.”

After discovering the anatomical difference between boys and girls, Cristabel tries to make sense of patriarchal society from her own limited experience. Based on her observations of the family, she logically assumes that the possession of a penis is the crucial factor in being wanted or unwanted. By conveying a child’s perspective of gender discrimination, the author highlights the absurdity of society’s restrictive attitudes toward women.

“It occurs to Cristabel that everyone interesting in The Iliad is a boy. They are all owners of things. The only girls in it are sad wives, sad servants or sad beautiful women who cause wars.”

The symbol of The Iliad is introduced as Cristabel realizes that the best characters in her favorite story are male while women are relegated to supporting tragic roles. The epiphany prompts Cristabel’s desire to create a life narrative in which she is the adventurous hero.

“Rosalind is already there, greeting each member of the audience as they return. She has a comment for each one, her manner tailored to fit each guest. For the rich old ladies, she is a gracious debutant; for the easily flattered old buffer from the neighbouring estate, she is a sparky coquette, for the weak-chinned vicar, a demure mother. Cristabel notes, with some frustration, that Rosalind seems perfectly capable of acting when not onstage.”

The theme of Playacting as a Societal Microcosm is further explored in this passage, for Cristabel notes that Rosalind’s ability to act a variety of roles in everyday life does not transfer to her onstage performance. Quinn therefore emphasizes the distinction between acting as a form of creative expression, and the less authentic experience of playing prescribed societal roles in one’s own life.

“they forget I turn out their pockets. they forget I empty their slops & wash their bed sheets. they forget me altogether. i see them asleep sick drunk bare as babes but when they wake and find me lighting the fires, they act surprised, pulling their sheets up all modest.”

Quinn’s playful narrative structure includes Maudie’s diary entries, which utilize non-standard punctuation and capitalization. This excerpt captures the provocative tone of Maudie’s narrative as she reflects on how she sees her employers in their most vulnerable and intimate moments.

“They also admire his ability to always be Taras. They are frequently obliged to become cleaner, politer versions of themselves, but Taras never changes. He addresses everyone in the same manner, wears whatever he likes, and is always stained.”

Russian artist Taras Kovalsky is an important mentor for the Seagrave children. As well as encouraging their creative potential, he is always his authentic self, refusing to mold himself to society’s expectations. Taras demonstrates to the children that a life of nonconformity is possible.

“The trouble is, he is many things. The brother she wanted and the brother she has, two different notions entirely, and cousin Digby, who is not really her brother, and actual Digby, her most faithful and cheering companion.”

Cristabel’s reflection on what Digby means to her underlines The Complexities of Familial Bonds. Her perception of Digby is particularly intricate due to her anticipation of his birth and the gap between the brother she conjured in her mind and the reality of Digby’s status and personality quirks. Digby is Cristabel’s cousin, not her brother, and he is not the bold leader she imagined. Nevertheless, he is everything she could have wanted him to be.

“When she looks up, she sees the bones arching over her head against the vast starry sky like roof beams, like the skeletal beginnings of a strange new home. Something she has made from what was washed up, unwanted; something created from what was left to her.”

This description of The Whalebone Theatre emphasizes its use as a motif to represent the spirit of creativity. Cristabel demonstrates her resourcefulness as she claims the whale’s rotting carcass and transforms it into a strangely beautiful theatrical space.

“Digby, as the heir-in-waiting, sleeps in a grand bedroom on the floor below whenever he is back from school, which he likens to being kept in the Tower of London ahead of your execution.”

The burden of familial obligations is illustrated in this description of Digby as heir of Chilcombe. Rather than viewing his inheritance as a privilege, he perceives the responsibility as a burden comparable to a death sentence.

“Flossie, downstairs, seems unable to find a way to insert herself into the evening. There are closed groups everywhere she turns.”

Flossie’s awkwardness at Rosalind’s party echoes her marginal role in the Seagrave family. While she forms the third part of a trio with Cristabel and Digby, her half-siblings’ close bond excludes her. From an adult perspective, she also stands in a no-man’s land within the children’s hierarchy. While Cristabel is ignored and Digby is doted on, Flossie merely reminds Rosalind of a marriage she would rather forget. Consequently, Flossie receives only the critical aspects of her mother’s attention.

“There is—as I hoped—a true egalitarianism among the regular soldiers. My new uniform is quite the best costume I’ve ever worn.”

The Transformative Force of War is emphasized in this passage as Digby describes the liberating experience of being treated in the same way as his working-class comrades during army training. The role of playacting is also introduced as Digby compares his uniform to a theatrical costume that conceals his privileged origins.

“When I was a child and I imagined defending Chilcombe, I always pictured myself charging down the drive on a horse, waving a broadsword.”

Digby and Cristabel’s war experiences ultimately lead each of them to a shattering loss of innocence as they must reshape their minds and philosophies to account for the horrors they have witnessed and participated in. Here, Cristabel compares the heroic concept of battle she gleaned from books as a child with the brutal reality of warfare.

“All she has ever wanted is to be wanted, but not in a coarse way. She is a parrot, a cave. She is weary of trying to be all the things they might want her to be, but what else is there to do?”

Rosalind reflects on the result of a lifetime of playacting. In trying to meet society’s expectations, she has condemned herself to lead an inauthentic existence and is now left with no sense of identity. She has become a vacuum filled with the desires of other people.

“The practical clothes suit her far better than the fancy garments her mother used to buy for her. The Flossie in the changing room mirror looks freckled and strong.”

Flossie’s decision to exchange her frilly dresses for gardening overalls emphasizes The Transformative Force of War. No longer trying to mold herself to Rosalind’s concept of femininity, she is finally able to appreciate her own attractive attributes and embrace a dynamic and creative life as a leading figure at Chilcombe.

“They file into Chilcombe, which Cristabel notices has reversed from its previous state. Before the war, the working elements of the house were kept out of sight downstairs, while the rooms above were opulent scenes of leisure. But now the main rooms have become dark storage spaces full of unused furniture and sacks of potatoes, while the heart of the house has sunk to the servants’ kitchen.”

Here, the wartime transformation of Chilcombe’s interior is fully explored. Cristabel notes that the house has been stripped of all pretensions of grandeur in order to prioritize practicality in accordance with the priorities of wartime. The fact that the servants’ quarters have become the house’s social areas also emphasizes the gradual democratization of Chilcombe.

“The war and all its deprivations seem relentless, but for Cristabel, there is a strange and guilty thrill running through it, for it is exactly this thinning of the ordinary that allows the unordinary through. How can it be that she loves this murky, blighted and pockmarked England more than she loved its peaceful green predecessor? Because she can drive a car through it, in a uniform; because she can be with a man in it, without marriage; because she can die for it, if she can persuade Perry to let her try.”

In this passage, Cristabel’s thoughts summarize The Transformative Force of War as she lists the opportunities it provides. Such chances for personal development are closed to her during peacetime, and she must come to terms with the fact that although it is brutal and destructive, the unique climate of war nonetheless allows her the same privileges as a man. In the tumultuous setting of conflict, she finds out who she is truly meant to be.

“She realises that, for all she resents the unfair advantage given to the opposite sex, she does not want to be a man, she only wants it not to matter that she is a woman. She wants this. This friendship, this acceptance. To be valued for what she can do, rather than told what she can’t.”

In the course of the novel, Cristabel’s perception of her gender slowly shifts. As a young child, she believes that she might be a boy, as she possesses many adventurous characteristics. When Cristabel discovers the restrictions that her gender imposes on her life, her wish for a brother is a projection of her desire to be male. By the end of the narrative, however, Cristabel accepts her identity as a woman and realizes that what she truly wants is gender equality.

“Just as in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, the defiant sister who defends her brother is tidied away into an unlikely marriage at the end of the play. What if, wonders Cristabel, there was a version in which they stayed? Stayed alive. Stayed themselves.”

Here, Cristabel reflects on the fate of female characters who defy patriarchal authority in classic literature. While the character of Antigone, in the play of the same name, is sentenced to death, Isabella in Measure for Measure is married off. Considering the narrative of her own life, Cristabel wonders if a path that allows her to remain her authentic self is even possible.

“Crista, aren’t you sick of always having to do it their way? It’s so formulaic, so hidebound. The thought of us winning this war only to go back to the way we were before, it’s unbearable.”

Here, Digby raises the question of what happens to those transformed by war once the conflict is over. He suggests that the loss and destruction of war are only meaningful if they lead to permanent positive change. The plaintive tone of his exclamation gives full voice to his deeper feelings of despair, and his casual reference to Cristabel as “Crista” emphasizes their deep and trusting bond.

“She is a space where something once stood, a pile of stones and dust, waiting to be rebuilt.”

This excerpt emphasizes the personal loss and grief that war inevitably involves, for the description strips Cristabel of her personhood and makes of her an absence, for Quinn describes her strong, audacious protagonist as “a space where something once stood,” and this forlorn phrase highlights the fact that the character is not just grieving; she is utterly bereft. Cristabel’s devastation after Digby’s death emphasizes the wanton destruction of warfare and evokes the metaphorical image of a bombed building awaiting reconstruction.