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Flashbacks
Chapter 2: Love Knot
Explanation and Analysis—Quoyle and Petal:
At the beginning of the novel, Petal serves as a clear foil to Quoyle's character. The two are so dissimilar that Quoyle decides to move to Newfoundland in part to get himself and his daughters away from her.
Petal is manipulative, bad-tempered, unfaithful, and constantly in pursuit of pleasure, whereas Quoyle is calm, forgiving, and devoted. Their fundamental differences become clear in this exchange in Chapter 2:
She was sorry he loved her so desperately, but there it was.
"Look, it's no good," she said. "Find yourself a girlfriend—there's plenty of women around."
"I only want you," said Quoyle. Miserably. Pleading. Licking his cuff.
"Only thing that's going to work here is a divorce," said Petal. He was pulling her under. She was pushing him over.
"No," groaned Quoyle. "No divorce."
"It's your funeral," said Petal.
While Petal is unsuited for monogamy, Quoyle is too much in love to try and find somebody else. He pulls her under, limiting her adventurousness; she pushes him over, worrying him sick. By telling Quoyle that choosing not to divorce is his "funeral," Petal suggests that their differences will ruin his life.
The Quoyle-Petal foil becomes even clearer in comparison to Wavey, Quoyle's new love interest, who herself was in an unhappy relationship for years with Herold Prowse. As the two trade stories about their past relationships in Chapter 37, Wavey theorizes about why they stayed complacent for so long:
It's like you feel to yourself that's all you deserve. And the worse it gets the more it seems true, that you got it coming to you or it wouldn't be that way. You know what I mean?
Both Quoyle and Wavey must convince themselves that they don't have to remain with their foils; they deserve a better life.
Related Themes:
Chapter 37: Slingstones
Explanation and Analysis—Quoyle and Petal:
At the beginning of the novel, Petal serves as a clear foil to Quoyle's character. The two are so dissimilar that Quoyle decides to move to Newfoundland in part to get himself and his daughters away from her.
Petal is manipulative, bad-tempered, unfaithful, and constantly in pursuit of pleasure, whereas Quoyle is calm, forgiving, and devoted. Their fundamental differences become clear in this exchange in Chapter 2:
She was sorry he loved her so desperately, but there it was.
"Look, it's no good," she said. "Find yourself a girlfriend—there's plenty of women around."
"I only want you," said Quoyle. Miserably. Pleading. Licking his cuff.
"Only thing that's going to work here is a divorce," said Petal. He was pulling her under. She was pushing him over.
"No," groaned Quoyle. "No divorce."
"It's your funeral," said Petal.
While Petal is unsuited for monogamy, Quoyle is too much in love to try and find somebody else. He pulls her under, limiting her adventurousness; she pushes him over, worrying him sick. By telling Quoyle that choosing not to divorce is his "funeral," Petal suggests that their differences will ruin his life.
The Quoyle-Petal foil becomes even clearer in comparison to Wavey, Quoyle's new love interest, who herself was in an unhappy relationship for years with Herold Prowse. As the two trade stories about their past relationships in Chapter 37, Wavey theorizes about why they stayed complacent for so long:
It's like you feel to yourself that's all you deserve. And the worse it gets the more it seems true, that you got it coming to you or it wouldn't be that way. You know what I mean?
Both Quoyle and Wavey must convince themselves that they don't have to remain with their foils; they deserve a better life.
Related Themes:
