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Summary
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Girls of Slender Means, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gender
Youth and Romantic Idealism
Authenticity and Humility
Trauma
Summary
Analysis
In 1945, in the final days of World War II, England is a shambles. Bombed-out buildings and rubble line the streets. The May of Teck Club stands amid a row of houses beside the Albert Memorial. Some of the houses have been bombed, but not beyond repair. The May of Teck Club suffered minor damage but had never been “directly hit” by a bomb. The bedrooms upstairs overlook Kensington Gardens across the street. The dormitories are on the lower floor. You won’t find many people “nicer” than the girls who live there, whose eyes project “an eager-spirited light that resemble[s] near-genius, but [i]s youth merely.”
The novel’s opening chapter anchors the setting in the final days of World War II in London, which suffered devastating destruction and civilian casualties from German bombing campaigns. Establishing this setting early on keys readers into the novel’s broader focus on trauma, specifically that which arises from the violence of war. This opening passage also introduces the May of Teck Club—a sort of hostel or boarding house for young, single women—and the idealizing tone with which outsiders view its young residents and their poverty.
Active
Themes
The May of Teck Cub’s mission statement was written in the Edwardian era but still applies today: “The May of Teck Club exists for the Pecuniary Convenience and Social Protection of Ladies of Slender Means below the age of Thirty Years, who are obliged to reside apart from their Families in order to follow an Occupation in London.”
The May of Teck Club’s mission statement reveals the source of the novel’s title. In this context, “Slender Means” refers to the relatively low incomes of the young women who board at the May of Teck Club. As the story unfolds, the phrase will gain additional significance, so it’s worth taking note of it now. Notable, too, is the detail about the club existing for the “social protection” of its female residents, casting them as somehow helpless creatures in need of extra protection. There’s a clear subtext of sexism here. As the story unfolds, however, the club’s goal of protecting its residents will become tragically ironic.
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Themes
In the present, Columnist Jane Wright is on the phone with Dorothy Markham, owner of a successful modeling agency. (Jane and Dorothy are both former May of Teck girls.) Jane tells Dorothy that Nicholas Farringdon, the anarchist-turned-Jesuit-priest who used to visit the May of Teck Club, has been killed (“martyred,” Jane clarifies) in Haiti. Jane explains that the news was just sent over to the paper. Dorothy asks for details, but Jane doesn’t have any yet. She promises to tell Dorothy once she learns more.
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Back in 1945, Joanna Childe, a country rector’s daughter, is a smart and reserved woman. She attends a drama school and is training to become a teacher, inspired by “her good voice and love of poetry.” She teaches elocution lessons at the May of Teck Club, which adopts her older taste in poetry (she prefers The Book of Common Prayer and Shakespeare to Eliot or Auden) as its own. Joanna is a large young woman with light hair and blue eyes.
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Themes
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One day, Joanna and the other May of Teck girls gather to read a notice Lady Julia Markham has posted on behalf of the Committee of Management. The Committee condemns the May of Teck girls’ for protesting the new wallpaper that was recently chosen for the drawing room (the girls feel the wallpaper is ugly). Joanna quotes a Bible passage about the devil, a reference that goes over the other young women’s heads. All the girls realize the notice from Lady Julia is absurd, a sure sign that she “must be feeling pretty desperate.” Judy Redwood, a typist at the Ministry of Labour, remarks that as members of the Club, surely the girls are entitled to a say in administrative decisions. She’ll ask Geoffrey, her fiancé. Geoffrey has recently qualified as a solicitor, though he’s still in the force. Anne Baberton, Geoffrey’s sister, advises Judy to ask literally anyone else.
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Themes
Just then, Greggie, one of the older “spinster” women who still reside at the Club despite its age cutoff of 30 years old, announces that Anne’s boyfriend has arrived. A man in an English captain’s uniform steps through the door. Anne greets him, her tone still scornful, and then they leave together just as dinner-gong sounds to announce the evening meal.
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Themes
Last week, the Club’s 40 or so members joined loads of other Londoners outside Buckingham Palace to celebrate London’s victory over Germany. The royal family stepped outside and waved before turning around and heading back inside the palace. The atmosphere was strange, with strangers holding one another, and strange “liaisons” formed. In the aftermath of the victory, Londoners start to consider what the “new order” will look like and where their place in it will be.
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Themes
Back in the present (the 1960s), Jane calls Anne to tells her about Nicholas Farringdon’s death. Anne asks if it’s the same Nicholas who “got mixed up with Selina” at the May of Teck Club, and Jane confirms that it’s him. Anne asks if Jane has told Selina yet, and Jane says she hasn’t been able to. Selina is hard to reach these days; it’s impossible to get ahold of her without going through numerous secretaries.
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Themes
Back in 1945, two men, “poets by virtue,” sit in a café in Bayswater with the May of Teck girls they are dating. There’s a copy of Peace News on the table between them. One man asks the other, “And now what will become of us without Barbarians? Those people were some sort of a solution.” The other man—Nicholas Farringdon—responds with a bored smile. “Who wrote that?” asks Jane Wright. Jane is a large young woman, smart but unpopular. One of the men replies, “An Alexandrian poet.” Jane asks what the Alexandrian poet’s name is, but the man doesn’t respond. The two men talk to each other instead, having grown “bored with educating the girls for this evening.”
