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248 CYRIL POVEY: THE EMBLEM OF SOCIAL CHANGE By Alice C. Patterson (Arizona State University) Cyril Povey is, more often than not, ignored in analyses of Arnold Bennett's The Old Wive s' Tale. The absence of commentary about his function in the novel implies that Cyril Povey merits little attention. Two reasons for the omission suggest themselves : he does not appear to be a major character and he is not a fully developed character. For we know very little about Cyril from Cyril's point of view. We generally get glimpses of him through other characters' and the narrator's eyes, neither of which suggest complexity or "roundness." Yet in a novel in which the progress of the tale is so inextricably bound to the characters' responses to the social milieu, Cyril's presence is more significant than critics have acknowledged . He is, after all, the one figure in the tale who successfully extricates himself from the social structure into which he has been born. In fact, he is the emblem of rebellion against the established social construct. In Bennett's novel that construct is symbolized by Bursley and the people who maintain it. In the broader context of the Edwardian novel, Bennett's Cyril stands next to such characters as Galsworthy's Phillip Bosinney and Wells' George Ponderevo as figures of rebellion against the Victorian social values. And, in the even broader context of social history, Cyril Povey seems to be emblematic of the new lord who disregards the old order and establishes himself as prophet of the new order. In fact, Cyril, whose name means lordly, seems to be a type of Christ, Cyril, of course, is associated with religious imagery directed towards secular ends; he is the artist as messiah, not the priest as mystic. Cyril's life is quite ordinary; the religious s.ymbolism is subtle and unobtrusively integrated into The Old Wives' Tale. From his first appearance in Book II of the novel, Cyril the infant is immediately seen rebelling against the social environment into which he is born. Nor is Cyril's rebellious spirit merely the natural arbitrariness of the young child who has not yet learned to show good judgment. Rather, his rebellion seems to be directed toward an order which its representatives have arbitrarily imposed upon him. Cyril's major opponent or opposing societal authority figure is his father, Samuel Povey, who symbolizes the old social order. In terms of the religious symbolism of the novel Samuel has some of the attributes of his Biblical counterpart, the judge Samuel whose name in Hebrew means "the name of God." Samuel is appointed to annoint the first king of the Israelites; he is the last of the old order of judges. Samuel Povey's appointment in the Baines' establishment seems to be to carry on the old order. Samuel Povey's sense of order is quite rational; in fact, he has reasoned everything out to fit a time schedule: Mr. Povey was an exceedingly methodical person, and he was also one of those persons who must always be 249 'beforehand' with time. Thus at night he would arrange his raiment so that in the morning it might be reassumed in the minimum of minutes. He was not a man, for example, to leave the changing of studs from one shirt to another till the morrow. Had it been practicable, he would have brushed his hair the night before.1 In keeping with his standard of order, Samuel characteristically says of Cyril: "That child must be kept in his place" (p. 191)· However, keeping Cyril in the place which Samuel has chosen for him does not always prove to be such an easy thing to do since Cyril is not inclined toward "compromise" (p. I87). Cyril is responsive to his own appetites, his inherent preference or organic need. Samuel, on the other hand, allows an external rationalized system, an inherited order, to control him. In fact, Samuel often seems unaware of or seems to disregard the existence of individual appetites. However, the opposition between father and son is not simply the rational against the appetitive, for even Samuel is not purely rational. He has...

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