Previous
Part 5, Chapter 1: August 1914
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Dictionary of Lost Words, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Language and Change
Bias, Sexism, and Classism
Identity, Community, and Womanhood
Activism
Grief, Pain, and Legacy
Summary
Analysis
Esme and Gareth are married the day after he finishes officers’ training. Mrs. Murray photographs Esme with her daughters, Ditte, and Lizzie. Staff from the Scriptorium and Press attend the ceremony. Esme mostly remembers her lily of the valley bouquet. Afterwards, the Press’s choir serenades the couple, and the Murrays host a reception. Mr. Sweatman says Da would have been proud and happy. Later, Esme and Gareth retire to the house she shared with Da. Lizzie has prepared dinner and a bridal quilt for Esme, who guides Gareth in exploring her body. Gareth is given one month’s leave. Watching him train young men in combat, Esme feels he is walking towards death. Gareth suggests she volunteer in hospitals after he departs.
Esme and Gareth enjoy the enthusiastic support of their community during their wedding, despite the wartime atmosphere. Mr. Sweatman’s remark about Da comforts Esme even as it elicits grief over his absence. Gareth’s upcoming departure dampens Esme’s spirits. His recommendation that she visit injured soldiers in the hospital suggests he understands her desire to be of more direct help to the war effort.
Active
Themes
Gareth is sent to Cowley Barracks, close enough to visit Esme. Reading Phyllis Campbell’s Back of the Front, Esme gathers quotes that add new horrific meanings to war, particularly in reference to the torture that Belgian women endure. Overwhelmed, she burns the slips, but rewrites them after realizing that the truth, however terrible, must be told. Esme feels the war will surely alter the English language. In a letter to Esme, Ditte confesses she still writes to Da. She has pressed the flowers from Esme’s wedding and remarks on Dr. Murray’s failing health. She encourages Esme to reach out after Gareth’s deployment.
Esme’s impulse to censor the horrific experiences of Belgian women is reminiscent of Dr. Murray’s exclusion of offensive words from the Dictionary. Knowing that excluding truth only does a disservice to those who experienced it, Esme rewrites her collected quotations. By recording their grief and suffering, she validates the Belgian women’s experiences and ensures they will not be forgotten. In order to describe the changing world as it is, Esme thinks, words themselves must evolve their meanings. Ditte’s persistent habit of writing to Da shows that she, too, feels the lingering presence of grief. Understanding the importance of community during difficult times, Ditte urges Esme to call on her for help.
Active
Themes
Noting Esme’s restlessness, both Lizzie and Gareth suggest she volunteer at the hospital. Esme fears the injured will all look like Gareth. Gareth encourages her to visit Sam, a Press employee, who’s in the hospital. Esme relents. The infirmary’s wards are full of young men. Sam’s foot is gone, but he is cheerful. He offers a word for her collection: bumf. It means military leaflets which are only good as toilet paper. Another man implies that Sam shot himself in the foot on purpose. A nun asks Esme to sit with young Private Albert Northrop, or Bertie, who will not speak since returning from war. He only responds (with terror) to the word bomb. Esme continues to visit Bertie, describing her life and reading him poetry.
Active
Themes
