This novel is written by Graham Greene in the year 1969. Greene was an English playwright, literacy critic and a writer. His writings usually highlighted ambivalent political and moral issues and problems of the world. He was widely renowned for his ability to amalgamate widespread popularity with literary acclaim. Many of his writings reflect his Roman Catholic background, although he strongly objected to the idea of being called as a Catholic writer rather than a writer with a catholic background. However, he never received a Nobel Prize in the literature category but he was runner-up in the year 1962 to Ivo Andrić. Major novels and write-ups by him were based on different moral and religious themes. He had a realistic, functional, non-sensuous and independent style of writing
Chapter 1 and 2 – I Met my Aunt Augusta and I was Quite Right
Summary
This novel highlights the story of a banker, who has taken an early retirement from in his fifties. After his retirement, he is mostly engaged in gardening and looking after his dahlias. During his entire life, he has spent somewhat boring life without any interesting thing to do. He had no social gathering or friends. The general people that he knew were his bank customers. He even had no women in his life and the only woman that he knew was the daughter of one of his customers that he failed to convince for the marriage.
The simple and routine life of Henry takes a complete turn and transformation as he meets the next character, Aunt Augusta. She was an old woman in her mid 70s. She comes in the story as the most interesting and appealing character. Henry had his first introduction with Aunt Augusta on the funeral ceremony of his mother. Although, he was meeting Aunt Augusta after many years but this meeting had a great mark on his character. During the funeral, Aunt Augusta informs Henry that his mother was not his mother and his father had died around 40 years ago.
Reflection
During the course of reading this novel, myriad stories reflected in my mind that is somewhat similar to the characters of the story. One of my cousins who is very close to me, reflects the same attitude, which has been portrayed by Henry in this novel. My cousin keeps himself isolated from the social gathering that we all family members of our age tend to enjoy.
As Henry, my cousin also experienced very different events in his life that completely changed his views and the way he used to behave before. During his college days, she met a woman, who was like an elder sister to her. Unlike my cousin, she was outspoken and bold. Both of them were of entire different personalities.
Chapter 3 & 4 – Crown & Anchor and I was Weeding the Dahlias
Summary
Aunt Augusta invites Henry to his home for a drink. As Henry reaches her house, he is amazed by her different world and her stories. Henry came in her home with a packet that contained the ashes of her mother. As he leaves the house, he recalls that he has forgotten the packet of ashes and rushes to Aunt Augusta’s house to collect it. On his way to upstairs he meets the lover of Augusta, Wordsworth, who gives him the packet that he was going to collect. On the next day, he receives a call from Aunt. She informs him that might be contacted by police, as Mr.Worthsworth was drug dealer and police is suspecting that the packet he gave him yesterday contained marijuana. Police takes the ashes from Henry for examination as they suspected that the drugs were concealed in the ashes. After this, Wordsworth leaves the country and later it Henry was cleared by police, as the drugs were not found in the ashes. Throughout the novel, Wordsworth represents a comparatively better his lover, Aunt Augusta, who is an amoral character of the novel. He was very loyal to Augusta, who had a complete different view about the lovers she had in her entire life. He was able to do anything for her, as he loved her without any material benefit.
Reflection
When I was in my school, one of my colleagues at school gave me his cell phone as he was had to go somewhere. During that same period, there was an announcement in my class that one of my class fellows has loss his cell phone. During that time, I was much surprised and thought that perhaps the phone given by my friend is the one, which he has stolen. Later, it was found that my friend did not steal it. I underwent the same feeling, which Henry felt when he was suspected by the police
Chapter 5 and 6 – Brighton and we had Dinner that Night
Summary
Aunt Augusta and Henry forged a strong bond between each other and they subsequently planned a trip to Brighton. Aunt Augusta planned to keep low luggage, Henry on the contrary intended to keep at least a bag of woolens and clothes. They reach Brighton and this journey highlights the past life of Aunt Augusta. She was full of stories and had some amazing worthwhile experiences. The story then highlights the presence of circus performers and fortunetellers there. She tells the stories of her life and his former lovers. Although, Henry is a bit bemused by all such stories and the things, which were happening around him but he tried to be pragmatic and non-judgmental. This seaside trip of Henry with his Aunt turns out to be the beginning of his journey.
Reflection
As in the story, my cousin also began his journey. His college had planned an educational trip to Rome. He along with his sisters went together for that journey, which had a great impact on their lives; especially it was life changing for my cousin. Like Henry and Aunt Augusta, this journey also made a strong bond between my cousin and his friend that taught them many things of life.
Chapter 7 and 8 – The Affair & It was my Aunt Herself
Summary
The story in the novel takes another turn, when Aunt Augusta suggests Henry to go for a trip to Istanbul with her. She expounds him that she had lived there for quite some time and of course, he had many stories of her lovers there as well. She tells him that she worked there for a travelling theatre. She insists Henry to accompany to this adventurous trip with her. After this scene, Henry meets the police and during this encounter, he talks to them in a more robust style then before. Finally, Henry agrees to the suggestion of Aunt Augusta and they plan their journey. She tells him that he had his lover named Abdul there and she was interested to there in just one day. She also highlights a story full of curiosity, which was regarding the uncle of Henry. Although, Henry did not hear of that uncle before but Aunt explains him that that uncle of him was almost bed ridden, but he preferred to change his room every week inside his large home to perceive it like a travelling journey. Although, all of these stories and incidences told by the Aunt seemed obscure and different to him but he develops a sort of bonding with her. It also remains unclear why she wanted to take Henry to Istanbul if she was going there to meet her lover.
They start their journey by taking flight from London to Paris. At this point, Henry was curious why Aunt Augusta preferred to start the journey by air, as she hated flying. Aunt expounds her that she has always been doing it for many years and it is due to the laxity of the luggage that she carries. She tells him that its due to the fact luggage is taken from the passengers at Heathrow, which is considered the smuggling capital of the world. Initially, Buenos Aires as the main place then it was Havana and finally Castro stopped it. She told him that he has been a banker in most of the part of his life; on the contrary, she has all the experience that was much needed at that time.
Reflection
Like Henry, my cousin also seemed to be more depended on his friend in all the major travel decisions. Until now, Henry presents himself as if he is male equivalent of ingénue, which is a woman who is very innocent and has little idea about the world. It goes same with my cousin. Although, he is in his mid 50s but he presents himself as a very inexperienced and immature person because he apparently believes in all the things told by Aunt Augusta. Perhaps, this is the basic reason why Augusta considers him an interesting person and shares all the details of her life to him. Both the characters of the novel portray a picture of mysterious people with intriguing stories around them.
Chapter 9 & 10 – I had no Clear Idea and I Found Aunt Augusta
Summary
After their arrival in Paris, Henry discovers the red suitcase in which Aunt Augusta smuggled the money. She carried four thousand pounds in the suitcase during the time when there was a limit of £50 that can be taken out of the country. There was hidden lesson for Henry as they stayed in Paris for a day; a lesson of sex and commerce. As he reaches the suite of Aunt, he discovers Wordsworth, who insists him to go for in a topless bar with him. Seeing this situation on that time, Henry felt shocked and left the scene. On the other hand, his aunt seemed upset for the entire thing, which happened. She explains him about the story of a man who was seeing Augusta in afternoons but was having fun with other women in evenings. She explains him the material aspect of the world but she seemed to press all the wrong buttons. Henry, on the contrary, was more interested in love, rather than crude sex.
Reflection
When I was Dubai last years, one of my friends there also inclined me to go to few unethical places there, which I declined to go. Although, he tried to convince me as if this is all fine and it is normally most of the people do here but his explanations had no affect on me like Henry, which is the central character of this novel.
Chapter 11 and 12: The Orient Express and We Were
Summary
As they start their journey on Orient Express from Paris, he travels through Switzerland and became much attracted towards its tidy streets. Seeing this, he develops a thought about his dahlias and the tidy life he has spent. Pondering over it, he decides to leave the train at its next stop but this idea changes as he meets a young hippie girl. Henry seemed interested in him as she was looking for a friendly shoulder. The hippie girl offers a handmade cigarette to him that contained marijuana. That hippie girl tells him the stories about his past life. The father of the hippie girl, who travels around the world, worked for Central Investigation Agency (CIA). She tells him about his boyfriend who was an Englishman. He left her after she became pregnant. She even shares with him different kind of orgasm she has experienced from different men in her life. The girl was much interested in sharing her past life and Henry seemed interested as well, in listening to the things that she was telling him. The young hippie likes the way Henry explained his things and she tells him that he is ironic in his own unique English style.
Reflection
When I was in the last years of my school, I took coaching classes to prepare for my final examinations. In that class, I found a somewhat same sort of character, a woman who started to share her life with me although I was a stranger to him. When the character of this girl was explained in the novel, I instantly thought about the same girl, who shared all the major experiences of her life to me.
Chapter 13 and 14 – When the Train & I Felt Glad
Summary
The entire situation, the vulnerability and the attractiveness of the girl takes him into a different experience. He starts to thing about his life and his proposal to the girl that he loved. A mix of emotion and drama pours in the story as the girl starts her conversation with Henry. It was entirely a new experience for Henry, who never thought such things would ever happen in his life. In the novel, this story intelligently unfolds the the kinds of events that have been surrounded by the characters in the story. Until now, the story highlights the things that have been missing in the life of Henry that makes his life as an interesting life. Not only he missed the exciting world that he has seen now by travelling through Europe but he has also missed the beautiful and appealing human interactions as well. The story also somehow highlights the unkind attitude of Aunt for the lack of experience of Henry.
Reflection
As in the story, the friend of my cousin (whom she called as his sister) told him different stories about her life and what things she has faced in her life. She belonged to a poor family and during her schooling, she started working at various clubs, which introduced her to several people who she considered were amoral. She got herself involved in different sort of cons and she managed to earn some handsome amount of money out of it.
Chapter 15 – For Some Reason
Summary
The most interesting part of the story happens in Istanbul as they leave Milan to reach there. Their journey in Istanbul turns out to be like an Evelyn Waugh novel. During their stay in Istanbul, Henry sees his aunt reading a lurid detective novel. The detective in the novel was Abdul, which is also the name of the person, whom the aunt is intending to meet in Istanbul. After this scene, they encounter Abdul – the same person, whom aunt was planning to meet. Abdul was wounded as he was shot while trying to escape. Another officer and he search the entire hotel that can connect her with the investment swindle Abdul was planning to execute. He fails to identify the gold ingot and mistakes it as the candle because Aunt insists it to be the only light source they had in the room.
After few scenes in the story, a factor of morality comes in and it highlights the religious backgrounds of both the characters. Aunt Augusta was a convert to Catholicism, which was more related to her convenience as she lived in Italy. On the contrary, Henry did not belong to any faith. Aunt Augusta did not give any though to the idea of morality, which was completely opposite as far as Henry was concern. This was clarified as they started the conversation about the young hippie girl. Henry disgusted about the parents of the hippie for leaving her, without considering any sort of duty towards her. He also showed his bitter feelings towards his boy friend, which left her, as well. These conversations displayed their religious backgrounds and the value they gave to morality.
As they travel throughout the Kent, she showed his troubles in other ways. He eulogized the places he was visiting with blinking of insularity, which shows his frequent lapses. In Istanbul, he was interested to visit the city and see different places there. He called a taxi driver and asked him to take him to some interesting places of the city. In one of the place, he saw a group of Turkish man dancing a communal dance. These dancers completely excluded him from the dance that also highlights a metaphor. The plot of Aunt Augusta was further uncovered as they reaches the Turkish border and the officials deports Henry and her back to Paris. She also intended to get the money from her former lover, Achille Dambreuse, who was a wealthy and famous Frenchman. Before Augusta could succeed in her goals, the Frenchman dies due to a heart attack in the suite of her hotel. She even fails to get money worth $100,000 from the Achille’s widow, as she demanded would take to break her silence and to tell his death circumstances. After most of his plots failed, she endeavored to raise money by selling her portraits, which she claimed was painted by Amedeo Modigliani.
Reflection
The entire novel was like a roller coaster ride for me, which was full of amazing experience that I was able to connect well with the story of my cousin. Unlike, Aunt Augusta, who was still an amoral personality, the friend of my cousin was a complete changed person, who have learnt multitude of things from her experiences. During the time, when she was sharing these stories and the things which were happening in its backdrop had a great impact on the personality of my cousin, who turns out to be a more vocal and social person us, a transformation that can be compared with Henry.
