Mr Golspie’s Role in the Novel Angel Pavement
Essay What is Mr Golspie’s role in the novel Angel Pavement? When we come to see Twigg & Dersingham company in the Angel pavement for the first time it present a sorry spectacle. The first chapter contains a detailed description of a street and the employees at Twigg & Dersingham. We learn that the life of the main characters such as Mr. Smith, Turgis or Miss Matfield is rather dull. The story is set against the background of the Great Depression. Their work at the office is quite monotonous; the firm is on the edge of bankruptcy, thus there are practically no clients and no work for the staff.
The salary is extremely low and there is no hope for changing the situation for the better. Moreover at their leisure the employees at Twigg & Dersingham don’t have a lot of good time either. Someone like young Turgis, who has no family, in fact no life at all outside Twigg ; Dersingham, merely has neither ability nor desire to go to some rather expensive places of entertainment, others like Mr. Smith with his lower-middle-class family, completely dependent upon him, considers his job, the very center of his being and is too much concerned with savings and providing for the family. But with Mr.
Golspie’s arrival great changes take place. First of all a mysterious Mr. Golspie assures the future of their veneer-and-inlay company through imports from the Baltic. A man without a past, weaves in and out of all of the characters’ lives, vigorously reordering for himself a chaotic world, offering but eventually withholding from the others a promise of riches and enchantment. Mr. Golspie represents a charismatic man who is able to control the destinies of lesser mortals. He has the capacity to evoke excitement in a humdrum world through his confidence, his shrewdness, and the force of his personality.
He brings new colours and emotions in the lives of his employees. He not only enhances their well-fare, but also makes them perceive the life around them from a new viewpoint. Thus Miss Matfield due to Mr. Golspie’s courting begins to enjoy life at full swing. She realizes that she is an attractive woman, the woman men can strive for. Even her Burpenfield Club no longer seems to be so intolerable. Turgis is also under a great influence of Mr. Golspie, to be more precise under the influence of Mr. Golspie’s daughter, Lena. Turgis is head over ears in love with her, for im she is the prettiest girl in the world. For this romantic period his life acquires new sense. Nevertheless very soon these magical transformations come to an end. Lena having amused herself with Turgis switches to another boy and has no longer interest in her former relations. Such a cruel step nearly let to a suicide. Mr. Golspie leaves the company even in a more disastrous situation than it had been. Having achieved his profit Mr. Golspie without any regrets get rid of the place, leaving his employees and a partner quite vulnerable.
He doesn’t come to the arranged meeting with Miss Matfield, a woman towards whom he seemed to have had tender feelings, and even leaves her no note that he departs for South Amerika. Thus we may conclude that though on the surface of it Mr. Golspie’s role in the novel can be evaluated as rather positive, I personally believe that his arrival has caused a lot of pain and destruction. But still if the characters are strong enough to survive such a hard period, they are sure to learn a lesson from Mr. Golspie
