The Millstone Essay

1

Haley Shepherd nd September 2
, 2014

Mrs. Reges
The Millstone The most important part of a plot in any good novel is character development and growth as a person. “Who can say how much of us comes from our physical surroundings? Writers can, at least in their own works, for their own purposes” (Foster
174) which is true for character development in most novels. For example, in
The
Millstone by Margaret Drabble, Rosamund Stacey makes life decisions regarding her love child in swinging London in the 1960’s.
In Thomas C. Foster’s
How to Read
Literature like a Professor his use of practicality and amusement shows how easy and gratifying it is to unlock those hidden truths and for making your reading experience more enriching, satisfying, and fun. The location of
The Millstone causes the main character to follow strict social rules and to defy them against others’ judgment.
The Millstone focuses on the life of 19yearold Rosamund Stacey living in
London in the 1960’s. She is living in her parents flat alone because they are on a mission trip in Africa for a year. She is an attractive Cambridge graduate and is writing her thesis on English poetry. Although Rosamund has strong ideals when it comes to her thesis and socialism she is quite naïve about her sexual experiences. In fact, she is a virgin. Her friends are under the impression that she is sleeping with two of her close male friends, and she doesn’t correct their false beliefs. She meets George, a newsreader from BBC

2

and finds herself very attracted to him. Unfortunately she is under the impression that he is homosexual. Her thoughts turn out to be incorrect, as she ends up losing her virginity to him. Due to this being her only sexual encounter, Rosamund falls in love with George but she believes he is bisexual. She allows him to leave her life and moves on as well without him. When Rosamund discovers she is pregnant, a whole new situation presents itself. She is an unmarried woman in 1960’s London. If she were to keep this baby she would be socially out casted just like Hester Prynne in
The Scarlet Letter
. She does not inform George or her parents of this pregnancy. She hopes to gain support from her sister
Beatrice but she receives the opposite of what she hopes. Because of Rosamund’s fear of disapproval she attempts to induce her own miscarriage. When that does not work she decides to keep her baby. Now, Rosamund is an unmarried, young, naïve woman who is pregnant with no support. You would assume that because of her surroundings she would get an abortion and move on with her life to work on her thesis. She chooses to keep her unborn child, who she goes on to name Octavia, and live her life raising her child alone.
This decision shows how Rosamund is a strong, independent woman who defies society ideals to live her own life in her best interest.
Another decision Rosamund has to make in regards to her child Octavia’s pulmonary artery condition. Surgery is unavoidable. Now Rosamund is her only financial support due to the fact that her parents are unaware of their grand daughter’s existence.
I’m sure this causes a problem for her as well. Not only is she a 19yearold single mother, and now her love child needs surgery. These sorts of things give people lots to talk about. Rosamund goes through with the surgery, which is successful, and is able to

3

take her daughter home after a few weeks. She has defied society in more ways than one, yet she continues to go through with these decisions because they are what happens to be best for her. Thomas C. Foster explains that “geography can

Show More

Assignment 1 ECON 2010 002 Summer 2015 Princ Of Microeconomics Essay

Summer Work 20152 Essay

Bored: Irony and Grading Rubric Essay

Coffee and Ap World History Essay

Summer reading Essay

Honors English 4 summer schedule 2015 Essay

Mediterranean Sea and Summer Reading Assignment Essay

Ghost In The Park Essay

Writing and Ap Biology Essay

Entrepreneurship In Construction And Property