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Chapter 35: Ovid’s Metamorphoses – Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

After dismissing Miss Violence, Father hires Mr. Erskine, a former boys’ school teacher from England, to educate Iris and Laura in French, Latin, mathematics, and geography. Mr. Erskine is harsh, sarcastic, and physically abusive—he pulls hair, twists ears, slaps with rulers, and throws books. He teaches Latin using Ovid’s Metamorphoses, focusing on stories where gods rape young women (Europa, Leda, Danae). Laura tells Iris that Mr. Erskine puts his hands under her clothes. Iris initially disbelieves her, but Reenie believes Laura. Reenie plants pornography under Mr. Erskine’s bed and exposes it publicly, forcing Father to dismiss him. Laura, who had been praying for deliverance, becomes intensely religious and declares she wants to become a nun. Reenie dissuades her by claiming nuns must shave their heads. Several years pass; the Depression settles in, and Father struggles financially, refusing to lay off workers. The household becomes austere. Iris now sixteen, her formal education over, is idle. Reenie advocates for a debutante season, but funds are lacking. Iris daydreams about her glamorous grandmother Adelia, imagining the guidance she might have received.

Key Events

  • Father hires Mr. Erskine to replace Miss Violence and impose discipline.
  • Mr. Erskine uses corporal punishment, sarcasm, and humiliation.
  • He teaches Ovid’s rape narratives, drawing explicit parallels between Latin vocabulary and “rapture.”
  • Laura reveals that Mr. Erskine touches her sexually; Iris doubts her.
  • Reenie plants fake pornographic photos to engineer Mr. Erskine’s dismissal.
  • Mr. Erskine leaves, protesting his innocence.
  • Laura attributes his departure to answered prayer and becomes devout.
  • Laura announces she wants to become a nun; Reenie lies about nuns’ shaved heads.
  • The Depression begins; Father keeps factories open out of loyalty, causing financial strain.
  • The family cuts back, dismisses servants, and lives frugally.
  • Iris turns sixteen; her education ends, and she has no clear path forward.
  • Reenie pushes for a debutante season; Iris imagines what her grandmother would have done.

Character Development

  • Iris Chase: Learns to cheat on translations, mask emotions, and practice silent resistance. Her faith in God wavers. At sixteen she is uncertain about her future, oscillating between Reenie’s social ambitions and her own romanticised view of her grandmother.
  • Laura Chase: Develops the ability to mentally detach (“subtract herself”) when abused. Her trauma fuels a turn to religious extremism. She interprets events through a providential lens and is drawn to absolutes like becoming a nun.
  • Reenie: Acts as the sisters’ protector and strategist. She fabricates evidence to remove Mr. Erskine, showing cunning and a willingness to bend morality. She also steers Laura away from the convent with a well-timed fib.
  • Mr. Erskine: An abusive authority figure who combines physical violence with sexual predation. His pedagogical method mirrors the mythological violence he teaches, reinforcing his dominance.
  • Father (Captain Chase): Remains aloof and unaware of the abuse, trusting Mr. Erskine to follow his orders. Later, his refusal to lay off workers during the Depression reveals a sense of feudal duty but also economic shortsightedness.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • Mythology as a Mirror of Abuse: Ovid’s Metamorphoses stories of divine rape are used by Mr. Erskine to normalise predatory behaviour; the Latin verb rapio (to seize) connects “rapture” with violation.
  • Resistance Through Deception: Iris learns forgery, cheating, and blank-faced compliance as survival tools. Reenie’s planted photographs are a form of counter-deception that exploits societal prudery.
  • Economic Metamorphosis: The Depression transforms Avilion from lavish to threadbare, symbolising the loss of the family’s former status and the fragility of wealth.
  • Religion as Refuge and Extremism: Laura’s piety emerges from trauma, but also leads her toward self-denial and separation from the world.
  • Silent Endurance: Both sisters learn to appear unresponsive under attack; Iris hides feelings, Laura mentally disappears.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter establishes the formative traumas and coping strategies that will define Iris and Laura for the rest of the novel. Mr. Erskine’s abuse introduces the theme of sexual predation by trusted adults, a pattern that recurs later. The sisters’ divergent responses—Iris’s calculated secrecy versus Laura’s open devotion—set up their contrasting worldviews. The onset of the Depression fundamentally alters the family’s circumstances, affecting future decisions about marriage, work, and survival. The chapter title, taken from the text Mr. Erskine forces them to translate, encapsulates the double meaning of “metamorphoses”: violent transformation imposed from above versus the subtle, interior changes the sisters must make to endure.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. How does Mr. Erskine use Ovid’s Metamorphoses to reinforce his power over the girls?
    He selects passages recounting the rape of Europa, Leda, and Danae, forcing the sisters to translate them under threat of corporal punishment. By highlighting the etymological link between “rapture” and “rape,” he normalises sexual violence and creates a classroom atmosphere that mirrors the mythological coercion, blurring the line between literary study and his own predatory behaviour.

  2. What survival tactics do Iris and Laura develop to cope with Mr. Erskine’s abuse?
    Iris learns to cheat by cribbing translations from older Victorian versions, to wear a “blank and stiff” face, and to practice invisible defiance. Laura learns to mentally “subtract herself,” retreating into a dissociative state; later she channels her suffering into religious fervour, finding a sense of agency in prayer and the idea of divine rescue.

  3. Why is Reenie’s method of removing Mr. Erskine effective, and what does it reveal about her character?
    Reenie plants pornographic photographs under Mr. Erskine’s bed and exposes them in a public, male-dominated setting (Father’s factory office). The scandal triggers immediate community outrage, leaving Father no choice but to dismiss the tutor. Reenie’s willingness to fabricate evidence—possibly obtaining the photos from her brother in the magazine business—shows her pragmatism, protective instinct, and keen understanding of social hypocrisy.

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