The Willoughbys

In the exposition of The Willoughbys, the author introduces the unusually disdainful dynamic of the Willoughby family and the supporting characters of Mr. Melanoff and the nanny, who will eventually prove to be the family that the Willoughby children have always needed. In the beginning, however, Mr. Melanoff is in no position to care for the Willoughbys, and the Willoughby children do not even know who he is. All they know is that his mansion is in severe neglect and that he never seems to leave it. Baby Ruth is also briefly introduced, but when the Willoughby children leave her on Mr. Melanoff’s doorstep, the narrative provides no further clues of her eventual importance to the plot. Thus, in these early chapters, both the nanny and Mr. Melanoff are initially introduced as conventional replicas of old-fashioned literary archetypes. Lowry will intensify this narrative trend as the story unfolds, shifting and twisting the novel’s various stock characters in such a way that these long-standing conventions take on a darkly ironic undertone. This impression is further emphasized later in the narrative when Tim states his hopes that a rich benefactor will magically appear to help him gain access to a prosperous life.

The satirical elements of the novel are evident from the very beginning, for the Willoughby family dynamic is an ironic, self-conscious imitation of many classic children’s books, particularly those dating from the late 1800s and early 1900s. These stories typically feature children in abusive situations and outline their escapades and adventures as they eventually find independence or discover a new family to call their own. In the case of the Willoughby children, their unfortunate circumstances are exaggerated for dramatic effect, for Mr. and Mrs. Willoughby explicitly wish that they did not have children at all. As the novel emphasizes The Impact of Parental Neglect and Abuse, this unhealthy dynamic leads to resentment from the children, who instinctively know that they should be loved.

Just as the Willoughby parents are portrayed as uncaring and vindictive caricatures of neglectful parents, the children’s response to their cruelty is equally hyperbolic and dark. Even so, their decision to set their parents up for death reflects the sheer lack of affection they have felt throughout their childhood, and their various reactions to The Impact of Parental Neglect and Abuse are also meant to illustrate the serious real-world consequences of such unhealthy dynamics. For example, Timothy has always tried to compensate for his parents’ neglect by overcompensating and bossing his siblings around. However, while his intentions are to mold them into respectable people, his rules have no logical basis, and this contributes to the instability of the household. He also sometimes attempts to shield his siblings from investing any emotion into their parents, such as when he takes “points” away from Jane for wondering why their parents didn’t say goodbye before their trip.

Significantly, the love and care of the nanny will finally begin to ameliorate this dynamic, as the children slowly realize that they have a helpful, caring adult on their side. The early dynamic among the siblings also suggests their future prospects and interests; for example, Tim, who likes to argue, will eventually become an attorney, while Jane, who is always bossed around by her brothers, goes on to become a feminist writer. In this light, the moment when the children send their parents on their “reprehensible” vacation becomes loaded with unspoken irony. The most prominent such moment occurs when the children are each asked to read a portion of the brochure as a test to see if they are intelligent, but all the while, the parents themselves do not notice the significance of the word “reprehensible” in the vacation’s description. Further dramatic irony is introduced in the fact that even as the children plot to kill their parents, they remain unaware that their parents are plotting to get rid of them. In the children’s oversimplified view of life, they expect to become orphans simply because that is something that old-fashioned children in stories eventually do.

As the darkly whimsical premise of the novel unfolds, Lowry employs a distinctly metafictional writing style, for the narrative often refers to itself and to other well-known works of literature, continuously drawing attention to the story’s status as a story. For instance, when Lowry describes Mr. Melanoff, she notes that Mr. Melanoff’s life is much like “Scrooge from another old-fashioned story, [for] tragic events in his past had caused him to lose interest in life” (9). Lowry also includes the use of advanced vocabulary with rich context to encourage readers to decipher meaning and learn new words. These words are then defined in a glossary for added clarity, indicating the author’s fully intentional effort to enrich children’s vocabulary. Likewise, this focus on increased literacy is also reflected in the fact that the book’s chapters each feature an alliteration or an example of advanced diction, the meaning of which is demonstrated by the content of the chapter itself. The story constantly refers to itself as old-fashioned, as when Lowry describes the Willoughbys’ daily lives by stating: “Their lives proceeded in exactly the way lives proceeded in old-fashioned stories” (3). With this humorous veneer over a dark, ominous undertone, the novel contains many thematic contrasts that emphasize Lowry’s wry views of classic literature and the more serious aspects of her social commentary.