The Mitford Affair

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-18

Chapters 19-36

Chapters 37-54

Chapters 55-70

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Contrast pairs

Benedict’s novel is full of recurring contrast pairs, which form a key formal and thematic motif. This motif is essential to the novel’s treatment of conflict and moral dilemma as it sets up a continual sense of opposite and diverging choices. The novel first explicitly sets up the idea of pairings with Nancy’s introduction of the Mitford family in Chapter 1 when she says “Jessica with Unity, Pamela with Deborah, and Diana with Tom, like golden twins—I’ve often been alone” (4). This passage raises the issues of rivalries and tensions in the family which, as the novel progresses, will become representative of larger tensions in society in the 1930s. Very often these pairings in the novel are used as foils. The major one driving the novel’s action is the extreme contrast of Nancy and Diana: This is portrayed as both a personal rivalry and as the divide between the forces of extremist politics and moderate rationalism. The novel also creates other contrast pairs, some interrelated, which augment the novel’s presentation of personal choice and responsibility. These include Britain and Germany, fascism and communism, intellectualism and physical luxury; duty and self-interest, male and female, parent and children; and the establishment and social change.

Diana’s German Radio Broadcast Plan

Diana’s German radio broadcast plan is used in the novel as a symbol of her treason and of her ambition. Diana has sacrificed a lot for fascism and for Mosley. She has gone through the scandal of divorce, financial losses, family tension, and social disgrace and these sunk costs make her increasingly unable to turn back, as her egotism will not allow her to admit a mistake. The absolute commitment this creates is symbolized by her plans for the German radio broadcast in Britain. This act is deliberately anti-British. She presents it as a way of getting the truth to the people of Britain, but in fact it is for her own personal and financial gain. Even when war breaks out and it becomes impossible to make this plan come true, Diana puts her life at risk to continue with the plan. This plan therefore symbolizes her ambition, her lack of self-reflection, and the ways in which people can lean into their errors. The radio plan is also symbolic in the novel in the sense that it becomes representative of the real Diana Mosley’s numerous pro-fascist and treasonable actions; Benedict uses this instance as a shorthand for the more complex history in order to aid her storytelling.

Brightness

The Mitford Affair employs the symbol of brightness throughout in order to express the extreme privilege of the Mitford family and the ways in which they are perceived. On the very first page, Nancy says that Diana “dazzles at the center, with us sisters fanned out around her like lesser beams […] she is the star” (1). This image is expressive of Diana’s beauty but also speaks to the status and fame of the Mitford sisters. As the novel states, the set which they (and in particular Nancy) belonged to was called the Bright Young Things by the press. They were the press celebrities of the day: the glamorous younger generation of the country’s wealthy aristocratic elite. Many, like Nancy, had interesting intellectual, artistic, or political careers and these young people were positioned as the expected leaders of the next generation; “Bright” connoted not only glamor and beauty but also talent and promise. The novel regularly uses words which connote brightness when describing the sisters and their environment and this reinforces the portrayal of them as the elite, especially against a background of national hardship and political menace. These include “light,” “glow,” “luminous,” “dazzle,” “diamond,” “shining,” and “gleam.” Both Nancy and Diana are described as “brilliant,” Diana for her looks and Nancy for her wit. Nancy also often uses similar words when considering her moral choices, including “illuminate,” “highlight,” and “beam.” This adds an association of moral brightness which draws on traditional images of light and dark and draws a symbolic connection between the Mitford’s privilege and power and the importance of their influential personal and political choices.