As John describes his time spent caring for Florence’s “weak heart,” Ford uses an idiom to convey John’s complex feelings toward Florence after her affair and his long stint as her nurse:
You cannot, you see, have acted as nurse to a person for twelve years without wishing to go on nursing them, even though you hate them with the hatred of the adder [...]
The idiom "hatred of the adder" suggests an intense, almost instinctive revulsion. Adders are a kind of venomous snake; they are the only venomous reptile that’s native to Great Britain. This phrase comes from the biblical symbolism of the snake as a creature of deception and evil, which echoes John’s view of Florence as morally repugnant. His feelings are conflicted because, despite this hatred, he has been Florence's caregiver for 12 years. This has instilled in him an almost automatic response to want to protect and nurse her, which like many of his other feelings for her feels unnatural and uncomfortable to him.
He experiences a pull between his duty of care—a role he has fulfilled for over a decade—and his visceral reaction to Florence's actions. He hates her for his deception of him but feels almost parental in his protectiveness. The idiom points to this inner conflict, illustrating the difficulty of detangling feelings of care from those of resentment and betrayal.
The passage also explores his perception of Florence's motives. His “adder-like” hatred is intensified by the belief that her affair was not just a personal failing but a deliberate act to inflict pain on Leonora, which he sees as a serious moral transgression. This layer of judgment adds depth to his animosity. It would be plausibly serious enough had Florence only failed him personally, but his assessment of her character and the impact of her actions on others makes her seem far worse in his eyes. This passage is perhaps the novel's clearest parallel between Florence's figuratively "weak heart" (her infidelity) and her "weak heart" physically.
In the novel’s final sentence, Ford uses an idiom and situational irony to capture the protagonist’s concerns about maintaining social propriety and a stiff upper lip, even in the face of impending tragedy:
I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to say, “God bless you,” for I also am a sentimentalist. But I thought that perhaps that would not be quite English good form, so I trotted off with the telegram to Leonora. She was quite pleased with it.
The idiom "English good form" is a very important concept in Ford's novels. It represents the national restrictions and unspoken codes of conduct that govern English behavior. This book, and Ford’s tetralogy Parade’s End, focus on similar themes of maintaining outward appearances under dire circumstances. John’s hesitation to express his true sentiments—pondering whether saying "God bless you" to Edward would align with this code of gentlemanliness—reflects his internalization of these societal norms. This idiom underscores the cultural and social constraints that characters in Ford's works often struggle to stay within. Like many other scenarios in The Good Soldier, this interaction points to the conflict between genuine emotional responses and the expectations of propriety.
The word "quite" plays a significant role in this passage due to its varied interpretations in English and American contexts. For Americans, "quite" typically means "very," whereas in British usage, it can imply a degree of uncertainty or qualification, as in "sort of" or "not really." John's use of "quite" when referring to Leonora being "pleased" suggests a possible misunderstanding, or a lack of depth in his comprehension of her true feelings. This subtle linguistic difference points to John’s inability to fully grasp the nuances of their situation, which seems especially true given Edward's subsequent suicide.
The situational irony of this moment feels intense, as the reader knows that Edward will soon die by his own hand. This makes John’s concern about violating "good form" appear very trivial in comparison to the gravity of the events that shortly unfold. Similarly, the statement that Leonora was "quite pleased" with both the situation and the telegram he brings her gains an ironic undertone given the context of Edward's impending death. This irony accentuates the disconnect between the characters' outward adherence to “good form” and the boiling inner discomfort they conceal.
