53 pages • 1 hour read
Rebecca YarrosThe Things We Leave Unfinished
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Historical Context: The British RAF in World War II
The military air forces formed in Great Britian during World War I merged in 1918 into the Royal Air Force (RAF). The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) formed in June 1939 to support operations of the RAF. Great Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939. After Dunkirk, when trapped Allied troops were evacuated over several days in May and June 1940 to avoid surrendering to German forces, Hitler’s armies won the Low Counties and part of France. Hitler then prepared to invade Britain, beginning with assaults from the air by the German air force, the Luftwaffe.
In July 1940, German bombers began attacking British supply centers, airfields, ports, factories, and radar stations. Between July 1940 and September 1940, the defense waged by the British RAF, known as the Battle of Britain, managed to quell the attacks at the cost of high casualties among pilots. Pilots were recruited from across the British Commonwealth, and volunteers were accepted from other countries. Though it was against United States law for citizens to join foreign militaries, many Americans volunteered for the Royal Air Force, often pretending to be Canadian. However, in December 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war.
Britain’s fastest and most maneuverable plane was the Submarine Spitfire. Other aircrafts included the Hawker Hurricane, which carried heavier guns. The duties of the WAAF varied, ranging from meteorological and radar operations to communications and intelligence operations, from packing parachutes to plotting aircraft locations during raids. The women wore uniforms—a suit jacket, tie, and cap. Assistant Section Officer was the entry-level rank, with Section Leaders supervising.
German bombing of Britain continued after the Battle of Britain. In the eight months between September 1940 and May 1941, later known as The Blitz, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to bomb civilian areas. Cities all over Britian were targeted, but London sustained the most devastating attacks. Hitler shifted focus again after May 1941, after RAF tactics expanded to include both defense and retaliation, with RAF fighter pilots providing escort to British bombers as they targeted German cities. Bombings of British targets by German aircraft continued throughout the war. Ipswich, which contained docks and airfields, suffered 55 raids between 1939-1945, with a total of 53 reported dead and 164 reported injured.
Literary Context: The Romance Genre
The conventions of the romance genre are complemented by an extra layer within The Things We Leave Unfinished, as the novel self-consciously reflects on these conventions through the two characters who write romances, Noah Harrison and Scarlett Stanton. Noah’s books, romances that end in tragedy, are shelved in the general fiction section because they violate the standard rule of romance: The story must end with the lovers living happily ever after (HEA) or, at the very least, happy for now (HFN).
The romance genre often uses tropes, or plot situations, that readers tend to enjoy. Yarros invokes a number of these tropes in her dual-timeline romance. Yarros employs the different-worlds trope in that Scarlett is the daughter of English aristocrats, and Jameson is an American pilot. She uses the small-town trope wherein the city slicker, Noah, is drawn to the small town of Poplar Grove, Colorado, and finds love there. Another popular trope is the enemies-to-lovers plot, wherein the leads start out at odds with each other but later fall in love, like Noah and Georgia.
The romance typically proceeds along well-established plot points that create tension, conflict, and eventual satisfaction for the reader. The characters enjoy a meet-cute, a term first used to describe romantic comedies, where their first encounter is unique and memorable. Both characters have reservations about love and are reluctant to be in a relationship. Scarlett describes this as the flaw that keeps them apart. Eventually, they work to overcome this flaw and find a way to be together. For romances that describe the sexual element of the relationship (referred to as “sensual” romances, while those that remain kisses-only are referred to as “clean” or “sweet”), the pleasure of sexual relations serves as affirmation of the developing emotional bond.
Then, typically, their flaws drive them apart in what at first seems an irreconcilable conflict, reactivating all their reservations about love. Ultimately, both characters must change in order to become worthy partners for one another. There is often a grand gesture—one character making an exuberant expression of love, often at some sacrifice of expense or pride—and a reconciliation that delivers emotional satisfaction for the reader. Readers depend on these expectations and often come to depend on an author delivering certain styles of stories, their author “brand.”
Despite its continued reputation among certain literary circles of being inferior to more “literary” works—which Noah refers to when he accuses romances of being nothing but “sex and unrealistic expectations” (8)—romance remains the best-selling fiction genre. The majority of readers and writers of romance are women. While the genre continues to be dominated by M/F (male/female) pairings, romance has expanded to embrace more diversity in relationship variations (M/M, F/F, polyamorous) and more representation for LGBTIA+, queer, multicultural, and characters with disabilities, expanding the scope of who can find and enjoy storybook love.
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By Rebecca Yarros
