ATDTDA (8): Kitless, 215-217

[Paul Nightingale]

The first thing we notice is the absence of Kit from
his father's burial. The Union is absent also (216),
so Webb is once again the family man, although Kit's
absence reminds us of their parting: "You're either my
boy or theirs." (105)

Reef insists that "Frank and me will get the ones that
did it", even though he previously kept Frank at a
distance, in his place. Mayva implies that her sons
should do God's work, and Reef's statement is a
response to that: the exchange of looks between Reef
and Lake undermines the patriarchal order their mother
has apparently confirmed. Only apparently, since she
says "somebody down here will have the chance before
he [God] gets around to it": any confirmation is in
Reef's response.

He sees through Lake's dutiful-daughter act, but
insists her job is to mourn Webb: "There's this 
other business to be done. Idea is to keep you and Kit
clear of it, and the less you know, the better."

Here he acts as head of the family; he might allow
Frank a role, but the younger siblings are put in
their place. Lake's appearance ("a shapely black 
dress that must have set many a Blair Street lowlife's
pulses to throbbing but was now dedicated to
memorialising her father") is ambiguous; as are the
final lines, "what was behind that passionate speech
..." etc (217). 

To Reef, she "just seemed to be drifting through it
smoothly as if she was on wheels, wheels on track ..."
(216): all of which invokes the railroad. It is the
description of Lake here that--in this of all
sections--connects to the work that, taken for granted
("crews nobody ever saw"), is therefore championed by
trade unionism.

Veiled, her face is "just a marble mask". This refers
most clearly to her refusal to show any emotion;
Mayva, above, has also refused "to put on the kind of
show you saw these Mexican widows going in for". But
Lake's appearance--as perceived here by Reef--reminds
us also of the way the landscape was described as Reef
approached Jeshimon, "heads they could tilt and swivel
to watch you ride past, faces so sensitive they
reacted to each change of weather, each act of
predation around them ..." (209). In the current
passage, Lake "flashe[s] him her usual
don't-believe-it-for-a-minute stare" (216).