The Getting of Wisdom - Henry Handel Richardson
Henry Handel Richardson was the pseudonym of
Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, a writer who was born in 1870 to a
reasonably well-off family which later fell on hard times. The author's family
lived in various Victorian towns and from the age of 13 to 17 Richardson
attended boarding school at the Presbyterian Ladies' College in Melbourne, Victoria. It's this experience that feeds
directly into The Getting of Wisdom.
Laura Tweedle Rambotham, the main character, is the eldest child of a country
family. She is a clever and highly imaginative child, given to inventing
romantic stories for the entertainment of her younger siblings, and an avid
reader. She is also both proud and sensitive and her mother finds her difficult
to handle. Her mother is the widow of a barrister who supports her family in
genteel poverty on her earnings from embroidery. At the age of twelve Laura is
sent off to boarding school in Melbourne. Her experiences at school shock and
humiliate the unworldly Laura. The girls at the school are generally from rather
wealthy families and those, like Laura, who come from less fortunate backgrounds
learn very early not to divulge their circumstances for fear of ridicule. From
time to time Laura lets little snippets of information about her family slip
out, and she suffers for it.
In fact, these seem to be the main forces controlling the action of this
book: fear of the judgements of one's peers, the desire to "fit in",
embarrassment about one's family—it is shameful to have a mother who works for a
living—and the desire to "better" oneself by belittling others. None of the
girls in the school, nor the teachers for that matter, come across as anything
but self-serving and boorish. Even Laura, who starts out so young and strong and
idealistic, surrenders to the role expected of her. Essentially, this is a story
about the destruction of innocence.
Laura undergoes a form of redemption at the end of the book, convincing
herself that cheating in an exam is actually God's will, and then later deciding
that while she was wrong to do so, she got away with it and therefore God had no
actual hand in the matter or else he would have punished her for the sin. A neat
case of self-delusion. At the end, when Laura is walking away from the school
for the last time, she is overcome with a desire to run, and the last we see of
her is a rapidly diminishing form disappearing through a park. She is free at
last: free of the overwhelming constrictions of the school, the teachers'
expectations and the other schoolgirls' callous disregard.
Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, a writer who was born in 1870 to a
reasonably well-off family which later fell on hard times. The author's family
lived in various Victorian towns and from the age of 13 to 17 Richardson
attended boarding school at the Presbyterian Ladies' College in Melbourne, Victoria. It's this experience that feeds
directly into The Getting of Wisdom.
Laura Tweedle Rambotham, the main character, is the eldest child of a country
family. She is a clever and highly imaginative child, given to inventing
romantic stories for the entertainment of her younger siblings, and an avid
reader. She is also both proud and sensitive and her mother finds her difficult
to handle. Her mother is the widow of a barrister who supports her family in
genteel poverty on her earnings from embroidery. At the age of twelve Laura is
sent off to boarding school in Melbourne. Her experiences at school shock and
humiliate the unworldly Laura. The girls at the school are generally from rather
wealthy families and those, like Laura, who come from less fortunate backgrounds
learn very early not to divulge their circumstances for fear of ridicule. From
time to time Laura lets little snippets of information about her family slip
out, and she suffers for it.
In fact, these seem to be the main forces controlling the action of this
book: fear of the judgements of one's peers, the desire to "fit in",
embarrassment about one's family—it is shameful to have a mother who works for a
living—and the desire to "better" oneself by belittling others. None of the
girls in the school, nor the teachers for that matter, come across as anything
but self-serving and boorish. Even Laura, who starts out so young and strong and
idealistic, surrenders to the role expected of her. Essentially, this is a story
about the destruction of innocence.
Laura undergoes a form of redemption at the end of the book, convincing
herself that cheating in an exam is actually God's will, and then later deciding
that while she was wrong to do so, she got away with it and therefore God had no
actual hand in the matter or else he would have punished her for the sin. A neat
case of self-delusion. At the end, when Laura is walking away from the school
for the last time, she is overcome with a desire to run, and the last we see of
her is a rapidly diminishing form disappearing through a park. She is free at
last: free of the overwhelming constrictions of the school, the teachers'
expectations and the other schoolgirls' callous disregard.