Old
Filth grew up under numerous unfortunate circumstances. His father never interacted with him as a
father should—in fact, they had little to no communication on the whole. Filth was forced to live in a rather uncaring
home and was subject to ridicule because of his stammer; he was called “Monkey”
because of the way he talked. At one
point, he was even beaten. When he was
in his late teens, his schoolmasters accused him of being homosexual because of
his brotherly bond with his good friend Pat.
Page
21 provides an insightful glimpse into Filth’s defense mechanism that has
helped him put these terrible memories aside for his entire life. Gardam writes, “Filth had always said—of his
Cases—‘I am trained to forget.’ ‘Otherwise,’ he said, ‘how could I function?’ Facts, memories, the pain of life—of lives in
chaos—have to be forgotten” (21).
Granted, as Gardam explains, Filth is a lawyer who has consistently used
this purposeful forgetting when dealing with cases in which he sends innocent
men to be executed. The guilt would be
too much for anyone to bear, and Filth—who has a very high reputation in
society and cannot risk distorting his respectable image—is no exception.
However,
not only does Filth’s intentional repression of memory apply to his law career,
but it is a defense mechanism he employs to wash away the horrible memories
from his youth as well. Of course,
anyone who has suffered under the same circumstances as Filth may do the same
if he or she does not have the gumption to embrace his or her past. As mentioned, the other element riding on
Filth’s shoulders is his position in society.
People hold Filth in a very high regard.
Gardam’s novel begins by describing how others view filth, and page 17
tells of how “his eyes and mind alert, he was a delightful man. He had always been thought so. A man whose distinguished life had run
steadily and happily” (17-18). With such
an untarnished reputation at stake, Filth would be mortified if anyone knew
about his shameful past. Thus, he
attempts to bury every depressing memory from existence.
It is interesting to think about the memories that Filth has been continuously recycling throughout his life. Of course, Filth's profession as a judge required him to make an awful lot of tough decisions regarding people's lives. Oftentimes it seems, as you mentioned, that Filth's process of forgetting the troubles of his early life is what enabled him to go about his profession while maintaining some sort of sanity. It seems clear that Filth's ability to forget is something he developed as a sort of coping mechanism.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the older Filth gets, the more this forgetfulness seems to come back to haunt him. Towards the end of the novel, and his long life, it almost appears that Filth needs and relies on the memories of the past. On page 283, Filth clings to the need for memory and desire, saying, "memory and desire - I must keep track of them. Mustn't lose hold." I think the loss of his wife Betty is what lead Old Filth to come to this final realization. When he had her, he had something else to occupy his mind. Now that he has lost her, he can't help but spend time thinking of his ugly past.
The theme of memory has played a key role in several of the books we have read now. I think however, in the case of Old Filth, forgetfulness can be sympathized with. In the other novels, the things that have been forgotten have ultimately shaped the society in which the characters live. While, as you mentioned, Old Filth’s forgetting allows him to live his life as he chooses, it does not, in my opinion, have as drastic an impact.
ReplyDeleteI think that it takes an amazing amount of mental strength to survive the many things that Filth overcomes within this novel. Choosing whether or not to forget these things comes across to me as an attempt to continue to be strong, and continue to function. On page 85 he is told “Yes, You’ll be a lawyer. Magnificent memory. Sense of logic, no imagination and no brains.” I think this implies more than just the idea that he can remember everything, rather, that he has an amazing control of his own memory. It is difficult to say how he may have responded had he chosen to remember all of his past. But there is possibility that he would not have been able to function in a normal day to day life, let alone in his job. While he may have chosen to forget things, I think it is clear that this does not necessarily mean that those memories are forever lost.
As Mallory suggested, memories and the way Old Filth remembers play a huge role in this novel. It is clear that both personally and professionally, Filth stores and interprets memories in different ways. However, while suppressing memories seems to lead to peace and sanity in his professional life, Filth’s personal life seems much more chaotic as he struggles with his memories.
ReplyDeleteDuring his childhood, Filth was constantly being pulled away from close relationships he had come to rely on. This then leads to his inability to value “normal” relationships, or even conversations, as an adult. For this reason, he holds a peculiar discussion with Vanessa, his cousin’s future daughter-in-law about children. Not only does Filth fail to clearly reveal who he is, he continues to insist that having children is a horrible idea, solely because he remembers his childhood as being bad, and that being the case for everybody around him. “Think carefully before you bring children into the world…. If you’ve not been loved as a child, you don’t know how to love a child…. You can inflict pain through ignorance. I was not loved after the age of four and a half. Think of being a parent like that” (183-4). For Filth, comments like these about children are completely normal. This conversation was nothing out of the ordinary since Filth thought everybody has similar childhoods. This likely leads to why he fails to remember who Vanessa and Oliver are and how he knows them. The fact that he has always been pulled away from people he had grown to care about also adds to his inability to remember the couple. So while it helped Filth to be forgetful in his professional life, it did not provide much of a benefit in his personal life.
Throughout the novel, Filth’s childhood hardships become more and more apparent. Despite these hardships, Filth excels in his law profession, above and beyond most of his peers. As cited above, Filth acclaims this drive to succeed by his ability to forget. He says, “I am trained to forget… [o[therwise,… how could I function?” (21). He claims he puts his brokenness aside, but in reality, he used these hardships to propel his forward, and never fully manages to move completely past them.
ReplyDeleteAt one point in the novel, Filth is at Betty’s grave, reflecting upon his accomplishments and his life with her. He knows he has been successful in terms defined by the world, but he stills feels a pressing emptiness inside,“[n]o doubt about it, that there was something in him unresolved. He was inadequate and weak. If they knew, they would all find him unlikable. Despicable” (130). Even after all this time, and all his accomplishments, he still feels inadequate in the eyes of his peers and people surrounding him. This feeling derives from his abandonment. The people whom he perceived loved him the most, were the ones who left him in the end, leaving him with a feeling of insufficiency.
Later in the novel, Filth recalls how quickly he excelled in the law field and his academics. He acclaims this success to, “[m]emory, and desire” (260). The word “memory” is a double-edged sword. He attributes this academic success to his outstanding memory, but also his “memory” to never forget where he came from. He knows what it was like to be unloved, and for this reason, decides to succeed to avoid ever feeling that way again.