The Loved One

Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1948

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-7

Chapters 8-10

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary

The opening chapter introduces three of the main characters, all British expatriates who now live in Los Angeles. Waugh quickly reveals Sir Francis Hinsley as a Hollywood has-been. Once a chief scriptwriter at Megalopolitan Pictures, he “had descended to the Publicity Department” (6). He now lives in a neglected district that was once “the center of fashion” (6). His swimming pool, where screen beauties once bathed, is now empty, cracked, and full of weeds. However, Sir Francis retains his obsession with reputation and his sense of English blueblood superiority.

Sir Ambrose Abercrombie, a pretentious British actor, drops by Sir Francis’s house. He’s dressed in “dark gray flannels, an Eton Rambler tie, an I Zingari ribbon on his boater hat” (5). He once hung around Sir Francis a lot while playing various roles in Hollywood but lately is “known to speak slightingly” of Sir Francis. Sir Ambrose asks Sir Francis how things are at the studio. Sir Francis tells him that they’re making only “healthy films this year to please the League of Decency” (7). He then tells Sir Ambrose how the studio dyed the hair of a female actress vermilion and pulled her teeth out so that she could play an Irish girl.

Dennis Barlow is a young British poet who came to Hollywood to write a script about the life of Percy Bysshe Shelley. However, the studio recently canceled his contract, and he now works for a pet mortuary called Happier Hunting Ground. Dennis answers a call and goes to Mrs. Heinkel’s house to pick up the remains of Arthur, her Sealyham terrier. He explains to Mr. Heinkel that the Happier Hunting Ground’s “Grade A service” (18) includes the release of a dove over the crematorium and an annual anniversary card that reads, “Your little Arthur is thinking of your in heaven today and wagging his tail” (18).

Chapter 2 Summary

After turning down Sir Francis’s latest script, the studio bigwigs tell him to take a week off. When he returns to work, he opens the door to his office and finds a man named Lorenzo Medici sitting at his desk. Medici tells him that he has spent half the morning clearing junk out of the office: “Piles of stuff, just like someone had been living here—bottles of medicine, books, photographs, kids’ games. Seems it belonged to some old Brtisher who’s just kicked off” (25). This is how Sir Francis finds out that the studio has fired him—after his 25 years of service. When he confronts studio Mr. Erikson, a studio higher-up, about not being informed of his firing, Mr. Erickson says, “The letter is on its way. Things get hung up sometimes, as you know […] Luckily you’re not a Union man. […] There’s not even a provision in your contract for repatriation. Your termination ought to whip right through” (26). Sir Francis recalls former coworkers whom the studio let go, including “poor Leo,” who died penniless and with an unpaid bill at a hotel.

In the next scene, a group of British expatriates is talking about Sir Francis’s death by suicide. Sir Ambrose thinks that the studio canned Sir Francis because they found out he was “sharing a house with a fellow that worked in the pets’ cemetery” (30). Sir Ambrose opines, “Everything depends on reputation—‘face’ as they say out East. Lose that and you lose everything. Frank lost face. I will say no more” (30)

Chapter 3 Summary

Dennis finds his host, Sir Francis, hanging from the rafters and goes to the Whispering Glades funeral home to make arrangements. When the mortuary hostess greets him, he tells her he wants to arrange a funeral. The hostess asks him, “Is it for yourself?” (37). Dennis answers no and asks, “Do I look so moribund?” (37). The hostess explains that many people make “Before Need Arrangements” (37). She then asks Dennis for the “Essential Data” about Sir Francis.

While giving Dennis a tour of the cemetery, the hostess explains that it’s zoned with the plots priced according to their proximity to various pieces of art. She then asks if Sir Francis was Caucasian. Dennis replies that he was English. The hostess explains that the cemetery is racially segregated: “English are purely Caucasian, Mr. Barlow. This is a restricted park. The Dreamer has made that rule for the sake of the Waiting Ones. In their time of trial they prefer to be with their own people” (41).

The mortuary hostess then introduces Dennis to the funeral home’s cosmetician. He finds the cosmetician “unique,” a “sole Eve in a bustling hygienic Eden, this girl was a decadent” (48). The cosmetician asks Dennis many questions about Sir Francis. At the end of their encounter, she declines to give him her name, referring to herself simply as the cosmetician of the Orchid Room.

Chapters 1-3 Analysis

The opening chapters highlight one of the book’s main themes: The Harsh Realities of the Hollywood Film Industry. It’s clear that Hollywood’s toxic, brutally competitive work culture pervades its entire cast of employees, from young actresses to veteran script writers. In the opening chapter, Sir Francis says Megalopolitan Picture’s new policy is to make only “healthy films” (7). He then describes the studio’s latest project; it employs a young actress who has her teeth pulled out and is working 10 hours a day to play an Irish girl. Either Sir Francis is blind to the hypocrisy that the actress’s situation represents in light of the studio’s so-called new policy to make only healthy films, or he has simply come to expect such hypocrisy as part of the harsh reality of working at a movie studio.

That ruthless reality hits him in the face when he returns to work after a week’s break and finds another man occupying his office. The new man even disposed of Sir Francis’s personal belongings without a thought. When Sir Francis confronts Mr. Erikson, a studio higher-up, about his abrupt firing, Erikson responds with a total lack of sensitivity about Sir Francis’s situation. In fact, he seems to be proud that the firing was handled in a manner that maximizes profits for the studio:

The letter is on its way. Things get hung up sometimes, as you know; so many different departments have to give their O.K.—the Legal Branch, Finance, Labor Disputes Section. But I don’t anticipate any trouble in your case. Luckily you aren’t a Union man. Now and then the Big Three make objections about waste of manpower—when we bring someone from Europe or China or somewhere and then fire him in a week. But that doesn’t arise in your case. You’ve had a record run. Just on twenty-five years, isn’t it? There’s not even any provision in your contract for repatriation. Your Termination ought to whip right through (26).

In addition to introducing the main characters, the first three chapters begin to expose the absurd excesses of the Los Angeles funeral industry, presenting another of the book’s main themes: Death American Style: Classism and Segregated Burials. Dennis’s tour of Whispering Glades reveals a mortuary industry pickled with greed, economic classism, and racial segregation. When he first arrives, the mortuary hostess tries to sell him “Before Need Arrangements” (37), a euphemism for purchasing one’s own funeral package before one dies. Then, when the hostess gives him a tour of the cemetery, she explains how the grounds are zoned based on economic class, with wealthy deceased people purchasing plots near replicas of famous artwork, and the poorer souls relegated to plots behind the crematorium’s fuel dump. The hostess also explains that the cemetery is racially segregated: “English are purely Caucasian, Mr. Barlow. This is a restricted park. The Dreamer has made that rule for the sake of the Waiting Ones. In their time of trial they prefer to be with their own people” (41). What’s remarkable about this quote is her sanitized rationale for bigotry beyond the grave. In addition, it’s obvious that she has totally bought into the mortuary’s sales pitch as she describes the cemetery’s segregation as if it were totally normal.

Likewise, funeral rituals for pets are determined based on the economic class of the pet owners. In the opening chapter, Dennis handles the burial arrangements for a wealthy woman’s Sealyham terrier at the Happier Hunting Ground. He successfully pitches the company’s Grade A service, which includes the release of a dove over the crematorium and an anniversary card that reads, “Your little Arthur is thinking of you in heaven today and wagging his tail” (18). The over-the-top aspect of the dove and the card accentuates Waugh’s satirical commentary on the funeral industry in general.

These chapters also establish the book’s third main theme: The British-American Cultural Rift. The story lampoons British expatriates’ obsession with status and reputation as well as their stereotypical opinions of Americans. Sir Francis, once an elite Hollywood scriptwriter, decides to die by suicide because the loss of his job at the studio means the loss of his last shred of dignity given that he was already a Hollywood has-been, living a diminished life. As Sir Ambrose puts it, “Everything depends on reputation […] Lose that and you lose everything. Frank lost face” (30).

The one British character who doesn’t seem as concerned about status is Dennis. However, Waugh reveals that Dennis’s stoic acceptance of a lowly job, like his tepid reaction to finding his host hanging from the rafters, may stem from his World War II experience, which appears to have numbed his emotions.