The Small House at Allington

The Small House at Allington

Dear Friends of Online-Literature Forum: This is my first time at this forum, so "Hello" to everyone who may actually read this comment. This summer I read "The Small House at Allington." The book is quite long, but worth reading attentively. I was rather surprised to find in the Afterword of the book the statement that of all the novels in the Barset Chronicles, this one Trollope liked the least, and that he considered Lilly Dale to be a prig, on account of her decision never to marry. As for me, I found her to be true to herself. Each of us is different, and what matters really is to be true to our own conscience, no matter what others think, presuming of course that we are not violating basic moral principles. This book teaches us the tremendous impact falling in love has upon many women, well illustrated by Lillian Dale's plight after having discovered that her lover was planning to marry another woman out of desire for social-climbing (and whom he actually does not love!). In the case of Lilly Dale, it appears that we men usually do not realize how much women are transformed through the experience of falling in love, even if only once in their lives. Because of our ignorance of the depth of women's emotional life, we tend to lack sufficient respect for them by allowing our influences upon them to go unchecked (by ourselves). Another interesting detail (for me at least) in "The Small House at Allington" is the determination by Lillian and her mother and sister, near the end of the book, to depart from the Small House, even though this is so disheartening to the owner (the Earl of Allington). This decision to leave is so firm, that it appears impossible for any other alternative. The fact that after Belle gets married and leaves, Lilly and her mother were actually able to change their minds points out the need we all have to not be afraid to modify our decisions, no matter how much our pride would have us stick to them. Only decisions which would violate moral principles should be adhered to through thick and thin. When it only has to do with our hurt pride, we should be willing to suffocate our own stubborness. This made me realize how many times in life I myself have seen myself forced to change my decisions, and actually the only pain caused was to my own pride. I can always recover from that. I think the book has a lot to teach us, particularly as a character study, for example, on the fickleness and vanity of some people (viz. Lilly's lover). This served as a warning to myself, to be careful on responsibility in my relationships with other persons in life. I hope you enjoy this book. This was the fourth one I have read in the Barset Chronicles. Two of the others ("Barchester Towers" and "The Last Chronicle of Barset") I had listened to on audio-cassettes. Fantastic books! Thank you for allowing me to express my opinion.

Posted By carpentermap at Sun 16 Sep 2007, 12:37 PM in The Small House at Allington || 1 Reply