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Summary
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Haywards Heath, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Passage of Time
Mind and Body
Race and Identity
Love
Summary
Analysis
Attila is startled by the loud radio as he starts his rental car, a Jaguar XJ that he got at a discount thanks to a mistake made by the car-rental staff. His anxiety is heightened by his plans for the day. He assumes that the young worker at the car-hire desk must have left the radio on as he brought it to Attila; as he puts it, “the new generation could not tolerate the sound of silence.” Slowly, Attila’s nerves lessen, and he makes his way towards Haywards Heath.
Attila’s quickness to startle emphasizes his already heightened nerves at the start of the story, and, as he goes on to confirm, this suggests that his plans have him on edge. Additionally, his assumption that the young clerk left the radio on because “the new generation could not tolerate the sound of silence” distinguishes the young generation from Attila’s generation. From this, readers can gather that Attila is at least middle-aged. His words also begin to highlight the significance of the passage of time and aging in the story.
Active
Themes
As he turns off the main road, Attila reflects on a joke he and his former lover, Rosie, had shared about international students being unable to pronounce “Haywards Heath.” She often and teasingly asked new acquaintances to say the name of her hometown; after Attila did so, they shared weighted eye contact that was only broken by Rosie when it became too much for her. Attila knew that she was strongly affected by his gaze, though she would go on to deny it even after they had begun their “affair.” It is revealed that they met in college, where Attila wore “a Malcolm X goatee and a suit to attend lectures,” which made Rosie pity him. After meeting in their third year, they were in a relationship for three years, but this relationship ended when Attila had to return to his home country.
This flashback suggests the narrative importance of Attila and Rosie’s relationship, as she is the only other named character at this point. Additionally, Rosie asking Attila to pronounce “Haywards Heath” shows that he is an international student, though his home country isn’t specified. The fact that Rosie denies being affected by Attila’s gaze, despite his insistence otherwise, suggests a certain comfort level between the two, in that Rosie is unafraid to contradict Attila, though it could also hint at a future conflict or disconnect between the two. Furthermore, referring to their relationship as an “affair” can be read as downplaying its importance, implying as it does that the relationship is not meant to last. Attila’s choice of dress, one reflecting the style of Malcolm X, implies that he is Black and politically aligned with the Black Power movement of the mid-20th century. Finally, the fact that Attila and Rosie’s schooling lasted six years hints that they met during medical school.
Active
Themes
Later, Attila went on to work as a visiting consultant for a hospital in London, where he learned Rosie had taken an early retirement. It was then that he decided to make this trip to visit her and was “consumed by the details” of planning his visit. In the present, he is broken out of his memories by his need to stop and eat, so he pulls into a pub and orders a meal. Afterward, he asks the pub’s manager to help him find his way to the retirement home. Though Attila prefers to use an atlas, the manager helps him set up the Jaguar’s satnav, and Attila reluctantly uses it to get to his destination.
He checks in with the receptionist, who, he notes, is also Black (along with a young African nurse). Attila finds Rosie in the day room reading a newspaper and unaware of his arrival. He greets her, and they exchange some small talk. As they chat, he reflects on her beauty and the last time he saw her. They had argued about him staying in the country; he needed to leave on the “condition of his scholarship,” but she wanted him to stay to continue their relationship. He, of course, went back to his country.
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Rosie asks if Attila is married, to which he says he was, but his wife passed away. Outside, he notices a resident throwing crumbs to a blackbird while her daughter sits next to her taking a phone call. Attila apologizes to Rosie for leaving, and, though she accepts his apology, she goes on to ask who he is. When he tells her, she responds that she has a friend with the same name who’ll be visiting her soon: her memory is deteriorating. Attila goes to the bathroom to calm himself in the face of discovering Rosie’s mental state. He doesn’t go straight back to Rosie but instead wanders the ground floor. Here, he sees the African nurse feeding an elderly woman with extreme care. When he and the nurse make eye contact, Attila turns away and returns to Rosie.
Attila proposes to take Rosie on a walk around the grounds, to which she agrees. Though he tries to ask her about her time in the retirement home, she responds only by talking about her childhood and, afterwards, by commenting on the birds in the garden. After they finish their first turn, Rosie says, “Shall we do another turn, Attila?”—a phrase she used to use when they were a couple. Attila agrees, feeling both uneasy and youthful. Rosie swipes a candy from the elderly resident sitting with her daughter and asks that Attila come visit her again. He promises he will, hoping that eventually, she will remember him.
Two months later, Attila returns with a box of Rosie’s favorite candies, though the packaging has changed in the past 40 years. He finds Rosie in the dining room, where a dance is taking place. Residents and staff dance to “The Blue Danube,” and Attila finds Rosie dancing with the African nurse he had seen during his last visit. He notes now that the nurse has a “small beard.” Attila sits at a table and watches, looking up as Rosie says his name. She is not addressing him, however. Instead, she is addressing the African nurse, who she believes to be a young Attila. As they continue to dance, Attila sits down and watches them.
