The Cone Gatherers Chapter 2

Dr Matheson  Novel set in WW2 during rationing.  Dr Matheson is opportunistic – will look for opportunities to make his own life better. “The Doctor, sniffing hard, was not only in fancy relishing venison; he was also indicating that, in Black’s absence, deer might safely be killed and shared with a friend.”  Duror is aware of this and dislikes Matheson: “’Greedy old pig,’ he murmured” P22

Introduction to Peggy  We learn of Peggy’s disability: “ for the past twenty years she had lain in bed and grown monstrously obese; her legs were paralysed.” (P20)  She can no longer do the things she loved, like running in the fields. She was unable to have children, which saddened her.  Peggy is a pitiful character: isolated and alone. Duror no longer loves her, although she still loves him. “ ‘Am I to get a kiss?’ “ (P25)  Peggy’s disability makes her an object of pity, but Duror is repulsed by her, as he is by Calum: “Her wheedling voice reminded her of the hunchback.” (P25 )

Duror: evil character or sympathetic character?  Dr Matheson shows us another side to Duror – as a character worthy of sympathy. His wife’s illness has isolated her from him and his mother-in-law despises him. “The doctor was surprised by a sudden pang of pity for his companion.” (P21)  Whilst he sympathises with him, he cannot think of anything to say to make Duror’s situation seem better: “ ‘We’ve just got to make the best of things, Duror. I know that’s a bloody trite thing to say, and not much help.’” (P22)  As well as sympathy, Dr Matheson also recognises in Duror, a sense of torment. “For all its composure he suspected a sort of fanaticism lurking in it.” (P20)

Duror: evil character or sympathetic character?  Duror has to put up with the criticisms of his mother-in-law, who clearly hates him, and blames him for his daughter’s unhappiness: “ ‘It’s a pity, isn’t it,’ whispered Mrs Lochrie, with a smile, ‘she doesn’t die and leave you in peace.’” (P24)  Duror has loved his wife in the past, and did feel sorrow in the early days of her disability: “He saw the appeal in her streaming eyes, but he could not respond to it; once it had sent him away with his own eyes wet.” (P26)  Now, he has hardened and learned to control his feelings on the outside: “Thus for the past twenty years he had disciplined himself to hide suffering.” (P22)  He always turned to the elm tree to help find peace:”Many times, just by staring at it, in winter even, his mind had been soothed…” (P22)

Duror: evil character or sympathetic character?  Now, it is not the same to him. The arrival of the cone-gatherers has changed everything in the forest for him: “Now the bond was broken.” (P23)  Now, he has become so obsessed with the cone-gatherers that his own home seems unfamiliar and he can’t think of anything except their hut: “ it was as if, after his long vigil under the cypress tree, he had at last entered the cone-gatherers’ hut.” (P23)  Duror knows he is beginning to lose control, and that his mind is beginning to become troubled and tormented: “For a long time he had dreaded this loss of control, this pleasing of itself by his tormented mind; now it was happening.” (P22)  He is filled with dark and twisted thoughts. In chpt 1, Jenkins describes Duror’s growing evil as a “tree of revulsion” within him: in chapter 2, he continues this image: “the tree within was illuminated to its darkest depths. Next moment, darkness returned to its darkest depths.” (P27)

Duror: evil character or sympathetic character?  Duror’s evil side is shown when he hatches his plan about the deer drive: “a conscious surrender to evil.” (P33)  Duror knows that Calum will not be able to cope with the sight of a deer being shot. He knows that he will become hysterical, and hopes this will shock Lady Runcie Campbell and make her expel them from the wods.  Duror’s image of beating is dog until they bled sows his evil side. (P34)  Duror is terrified by his own feelings of evil that are overcoming him, but he is powerless to stop them. (P35)