The Heat of the Day

Bowen includes detailed descriptions of domestic interiors and architectural spaces throughout the novel, which often add an element of ominous tension by reflecting The Experience and Limbo of Wartime. This focus on interiority emphasizes how war infiltrates even into domestic spaces, suggesting that there is no real refuge from the effects of wartime. Most importantly, this section of the novel includes a description of Holme Dene’s upstairs hallways as “swastika-arms of passage” (289). The passage is a disturbing intrusion of Nazi imagery into the seemingly unrelated context of the layout of a home, suggesting that the enemy is present in various forms even within Britain. Since Holme Dene is Robert’s family estate, the description foreshadows the reveal that Robert is indeed committing treason by passing information to the Nazis.  

Similar to previous quick transitions, the chapter in which Robert is finally exposed as a Nazi spy begins in media res. The chapter begins with Robert’s question: “And if I am? […] If that is what I am doing?” (300). Rather than beginning with the lead up of Stella’s accusation of Robert’s espionage, the chapter goes straight into the action. It creates a sense of ambiguity and tension, as it is not immediately clarified what Robert is talking about.

Confronted with Robert’s treason, Stella must wrestle with Personal Versus National Loyalty in the full light of truth. She feels torn between what she feels as a British subject and what she feels as an individual woman in love: While she deplores what Robert has done in betraying his country, a part of her still has romantic feelings for him, which complicates her reactions and motivations. The fact that Robert’s confession occurs when they are in bed together, presumably after being intimate with one another, emphasizes the radical disruption that has now taken place between them. Nevertheless, Stella does not fully reject Robert even after his confession. She discusses Harrison with him, and even tells him he should not have come to see her since he could be caught. Her willingness to speak openly about Harrison and her reluctance to see him apprehended reveals that, while she may not approve of Robert’s treason, she still struggles to unequivocally choose the good of the country over her lover’s personal safety.

Similarly and most significantly, Robert’s death is not detailed in the narrative. By omitting the most dramatic plot point of the novel, Bowen suggests that it is within personal interactions that life’s truly significant moments occur. The chapter with the last conversation between Stella and Robert ends with his decision to leave via the roof, with the following chapter opening with the statement, “That day whose start in darkness covered Robert’s fall or leap from the roof had not yet fully broken when news broke: the Allied landings in North Africa” (327). The passage contains two significant elements. First, it draws upon the novel’s motif of light and darkness, associating Robert’s ambiguous death with the time of night (See: Symbols & Motifs). Second, in drawing attention to how Robert’s death occurs at the same time as the Allied invasion of North Africa, The Effect of War on Personal Relationships is once again made explicit: The war has a direct connection to Robert’s death, as regardless of whether he died by accident trying to evade escape or died by suicide out of shame and guilt, he died as a result of his own personal actions in response to wartime pressures.

The Effect of War on Personal Relationships is also illustrated in the mother-son dynamic of Stella and Roderick. When she arrives to visit him after Robert’s death, her son asks about whether it was okay that he didn’t immediately go to London, suggesting that there is a degree of awkwardness between them surrounding Robert’s death. He gives a long description of what he would have liked to do and his worry about his mother, revealing his kindness and self-doubt. After she tells him about Roderick’s being an enemy spy, his primary concern is that he doesn’t know what to say to comfort Stella. The situation reflects the surreal nature of life during wartime, as Roderick realizes that his mother’s relationship with Robert has ended in unusual circumstances and that Robert’s treason may have complicated his mother’s experience of grief: He does not know what to say because her loss is not the more straightforward type of bereavement that would occur through accident or illness in peacetime, which reflects the wider influence of war on individual private lives.

Just as the novel opens with Louie’s experiences, it comes full circle by closing with Louie’s experiences as well. Louie’s infidelity toward her husband mirrors Robert’s betrayal of his country, once more creating parallels between personal and national forms of loyalty and betrayal in the text. The death of Louie’s husband at the front also mirrors Robert’s death, leaving both Louie and Stella to wrestle with complicated experiences of bereavement. However, Louie’s pregnancy and the birth of her son at the novel’s close suggests new beginnings, implying that perhaps both England and its citizens might eventually find peace and healing.