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Robin Jenkins

John Robin Jenkins was born on 11 September 1912 in the village of Flemington, near Cambuslang in Lanarkshire.

He married in 1937 and taught in Glasgow for some years. At the outbreak of World War II he accompanied his primary school pupils on evacuation to the Borders. By now a committed pacifist, Jenkins registered as a conscientious objector (CO) and for his war service was directed to work for the Forestry Commission.

During the war COs were used in a variety of jobs which helped the war effort without actually engaging in combat, although a number of COs did service in the medical corps as stretcher bearers and were exposed to as much danger as those fighting at the front.

His experience of forestry work in Argyll from 1940 to 1946 is reflected both in his first novel So Gaily Sings the Lark and in the better-known The Cone Gatherers.

There are themes of good versus evil in nearly all Jenkins's books or short stories and the reader can see this developing over the course of Jenkins's literary career. Jenkins had a hatred of war and one of his early short stories, Flowers, tells of a young girl sent to the Highlands to escape the Glasgow bombings who then stumbles across the bodies of two airmen thus becoming exposed to the horrors of the very war she had been sent away to avoid. The dead airmen are faceless which is symbolic of the horror and facelessness of combat and are an example of the way Jenkins used metaphors, similes and symbols to great effect in most of his writing.

Jenkins's anti-war viewpoint was something he tried to convey through his stories - he saw war as evil caused by men who are themselves evil.

In all Jenkins produced 30 novels

Evil

In The Cone Gatherers Jenkins examines the 'mystery of evil' as he shows the downward spiral of Duror into madness, murder and then his own death. Duror is not born evil - he is a good 'stalwart' man according to the local doctor - but over the years he has become cynical and feels that whatever he does in life eventually fails. Duror becomes embittered, feeling everyone and everything is against him.

He becomes withdrawn then angry as first his marriage then his career and his aspirations to be a war hero all crumble before his eyes. As he descends into madness he blames Calum with his crippled body and angelic face and behaviour.

He wishes to join the cone gatherers and pick cones. “It’s a bag. I think he was meaning to collect the cones. Like those men from Ardmore”.

He aligns himself with the “green abundant future” of the new wood, not the barren past or the anguished present. However, he also wants the cone gatherers to get back in favour with Lady Runcie-Campbell and hopes that if they help him she will let them stay.

  Note how the title of the novel draws attention to the climax of the novel. It is here that suspense it at its highest. Will there be a safe rescue?

  

Chapter 16 – The Conclusion

 

The comic scenes of Erchie Graham going to ask the cone gatherers for help bring out the tragedy at the end through contrast.

Neil refuses to help; he wants Lady Runcie-Campbell to come and ask: “If she wants our help, let her come and ask for it … We could have perished in the storm, for all she cared. Was that not murder?”

Graham then encounters Duror. He tells Duror about his failure to get the cone gatherers to help. Unbeknown to him this gives Duror his final motivation for killing Calum – they have caused offence to the lady he has secretly admired from afar.                                                                            

Duror was stalking away towards the point … It was as if the rotting tree itself had moved.

This final reference to the metaphor of the tree shows the final outcomes of Duror’s corruption. We have moved from rape onto murder and ultimately to his suicide. The word “stalking” suggests his deliberate planning, actions and choice.

Lady Runcie-Campbell runs to the point. She is concerned that Duror has a gun (foreshadowed by the gun shot cracking at the start of the novel and the gun lying against the doctor’s bag).

She arrives in time to hear a shot.

.                                                                               

She saw Duror before she saw them. He was walking away among the pine trees with such infinite desolation in his every step that it was the memory of him rather than of the little hunchback dangling from the tree, or that of his brother climbing so frenziedly into it which was to torment her sleep for months.

Duror commits suicide: “Somewhere on her beloved promontory Duror, with his face shattered and bloody, lay dead.” It takes only a few moments for Duror to realise that killing Calum has not ended his own misery or cured him - he remains totally corrupted - and in a moment of self realisation he decides to end it all.

Chapter 13 – The symbol of the doll is continued – all innocence is lost

 

The key event in this chapter is the phone call between Mrs. Lochie and Lady Runcie-Campbell: “Aye he was always clean-mouthed, I’ll say that for him. But this morning he came in with a doll.” In Duror’s hands the innocence of the doll is ruined (raped).

 

Chapter 14 – Duror’s second appointment with Lady Runcie-Campbell and the revelations about the doll

 

Note the beautiful setting at the start of the chapter: “Of all the bonny corners in the wood, this was the bonniest.” (The use of the colloquial “bonny” adds to the friendliness and attractiveness of the location.)

This is the place where Neil and Calum are at their happiest. It is therefore ironic that the most dreadful conclusion of the book will happen at the most beautiful place. The use of contrast brings out the horror of the end of the book.

  When Jenkins tells us that so “small a place as Ardmore should represent so universal a humanity” he is making the point that he has brought into this small location all of the great issues which affect mankind and that Good and Evil can be found in this place (microcosm and macrocosm).

  Once again the doll is used as the device to bring matters to a climax as it demonstrates now only that Duror’s madness is reaching its climax but it also offers Lady Runcie-Campbell the reason she has been looking for to get the cone gatherers out of ‘her’ wood.

  “In Duror’s repetitious incoherence the word seed kept recurring” suggesting semen and that Duror was accusing Calum of masturbating over the doll.

  For a second time (the first was the Doctor’s appointment) the roots of Duror’s madness are considered. This time Tulloch and Lady Runcie-Campbell explore the roots of Duror’s madness: “Why had Duror taken a spite against Calum?”

  “It could be the whole raw disgust of the deformed man … It could be that Duror resented their intrusion into the wood … It could be the dislike was simply inexplicable”. It could be that he was “an unhappy man” who no longer loved his wife and was indeed disgusted by her.

  The answer, of course, is that it is a combination of these factors but there are clear references to disgust at deformity and sexual frustration due to his grossly obese and deformed wife.

 

Chapter 15 – Roderick becomes a cone gatherer

In this chapter Roderick climbs the tree. He chooses “one of the very big trees at the end of the park; a silver fir” a tree which is symbolic of the huge barrier between classes.

If God is to blame for all Duror's ills, then Calum is God's representative on Earth and a target for Duror's hate. Evil therefore slinks into the story and the theme of a battle between good and evil is expanded until the dramatic and horrific last scenes.

Also prevalent in the background is fear. The world is changing too quickly for some; the recent Great War wiped out almost a whole generation of young men which is why there are so many spinsters and childless widows in the country. Now there is another war going on with all the change, death and disruption to formerly peaceful lives.

Social Change

The biggest change is the impending social upheaval. The working classes are more educated and the rise of the socialist and communist political parties has meant they will not accept the current social order. On their return from the war they will change things to such an extent that society itself will be changed. The upper classes, who inherited their wealth, much of which in Scotland was based on the theft of land and property from the lower classes, are no longer to be respected or obeyed without question.

This, more than losing the war, is what the upper classes and aristocrats fear most. The power of ‘old money' and inherited respectability is still strong but waning; there will be less submission by the workers to their landlords and employers thanks to the increasing power of the unions and the legal enactment of a National Health Service and Workers' Rights which undermine or destroy much of the feudal authority of the landed gentry in Scotland and elsewhere.

War

Another major aspect of the background to The Cone Gatherers is the war.

Although it does not actually happen in the area described within the book, it is always there. There are sightings of naval ships steaming away to fight the enemy, soldiers train in the local woods and the sound of their gunfire disturbs the peace and beauty of the forest.

Even the reasons for the cone gatherers arriving are because of the war: the forest must die to help the war effort and the seed cones must be collected to enable the rebirth of the wood (and the local area) after the war.

Rationing was also another factor that was changing things; due to the war everyone had to make sacrifices and share the same misery and shortage of food or changes to their lifestyles. The gentry were supposed to give up their fine wines and dining to share the same basic foodstuffs as the rest of the population. This aggravates all the characters, especially the doctor, and also causes anger from the lower classes when they perceive the upper classes perhaps trying to get around rationing or ignoring it.

If all are meant to be sacrificing things for the greater good, then the actions of some trying to maintain their 'refined' lifestyle is bound to undermine their status as society reacts angrily to their ignoring the wartime rules and rationing. Having a deer hunt, after which the venison will be mostly eaten by a small number of people, few of whom have been involved in the hunt and killing, is one example.

Overall the background to The Cone Gatherers is a complex one.

These are times of great struggles between nations all over the world. Things are being done to and by humans that should never happen - such as the Holocaust, arguably one of the greatest evils ever committed in human history.

There are other struggles going on between the different levels of society, between men and women, as women demand more equality in employment and the way they are treated, and between master and servant as the latter begin to regard the former as an irrelevance in the modern world.

Plot

Overall the story of The Cone Gatherers is quite simple in terms of plot. The novel is told within a short time frame and in chronological order. There are, for example, no detailed flashbacks to fill in missing detail or background.

The plot is an examination for the most part of Duror's descent into madness and the effect he has on those around him as he lashes out. It shows how he has been cursed by:

• having a beautiful loving wife who has turned into a monster in his eyes

• a nagging mother-in-law who destroys his already low self-esteem

• the implication about his lack of manliness after his rejection for service in the Army to help fight the war.

When two brothers - strangers to the area – arrive, they become pitted in a struggle with Duror. This conflict can be viewed in terms of the eternal struggle between Good and Evil. The two brothers are different: an embittered Neil who is contemptuous of the upper classes and the way they treat him; and Calum, the disabled hunchback with a beautiful face, who has little understanding of how people regard him.

The forest is to be cut down to help the war effort and the two brothers are to collect seed cones to enable replanting after the war.

During their stay they are treated abominably by the estate owner's wife and daughter yet pitied by the son. They are housed in appalling conditions unfit for humans and forced to take part in a deer hunt which Neil does not want to do, and Calum is afraid to do as he loves all animals.

from the seed the cone gatherers are collecting will bring about a better “abundant” future.

  Later in this chapter Roderick plans to take the cone gatherers a cake as a peace offering following his mother’s behaviour in not offering them a lift. He is prevented however by the presence of Duror outside of their hut:

He describes Duror as: “the most evil presence of all” and wonders: “Why then did he hate the cone gatherers and wish to drive them away? Was it because they represented goodness and himself evil?”

  Thus the characterisation of Duror is developed to the stage where Duror is not simply influenced by evil, he has been overcome by it, and is evil personified.

 

Chapters 11 and 12 – The Beach Hut.

 

The Beach Hut scene is crucial to our understanding of the novel. Having offended Lady Runcie-Campbell at the Deer Drive and having promised to keep out of her way, circumstances and the need for survival force the cone gatherers to take shelter in the Beach Hut during the most ferocious storm of all. This begins the process of the final casting out of Calum and Neil from the wood:  their sin is to break a social convention and the instruction not to bother Lady Runcie-Campbell. It is ultimately because of class division that they are ordered to leave.

  The use of pathetic fallacy “…they were in a good position to watch the approach of the storm” adds a dangerous atmosphere to the story and foreshadows another storm in the chapter.

  “Sometimes we’ve got to choose between two things, neither of them to our liking,” Neil says to Calum. If the storm got into Neil’s rheumatism he could perish and there would be no one to look after Calum. Neil feels that they have a right to shelter.

Inside the Beach Hut they find some discarded toys including “a small wooden doll, naked, with a comical red cheeked face; one leg was missing. Calum held it tenderly.”

The doll is symbolic. It symbolises Calum’s innocence whilst the nakedness of the doll reminds us of the accusations against Calum. The doll will reappear later in the novel.

Lady Runcie-Campbell’s entry into the beach hut is accompanied by “the loudest peal of thunder since the start of the storm.” The storm is at its highest but the real storm is between Lady Runcie-Campbell and the cone gatherers. They offended her previously at the Deer Drive, now they do so again. She does not let them stay (as her Christian conscience would have allowed) but forces them out into the dreadful weather. Her social upbringing leads her to take a decision which removes sympathy from her and places it on the cone gatherers.

was a revulsion against the doctor’s reiterated philosophy of endurance…” Note the use of the word “revulsion” again (a powerful disgust) as Duror totally rejects the idea of “endurance”.

Duror “felt in a mood for murder, rape or suicide.” This reveals Duror’s true emotional state and foreshadows the end of the novel.

  Why murder? Duror believes that getting rid of the cone gatherer will resolve the terrible feelings inside of him. Calum’s appearance in the wood unsettled him; his removal should settle him down again. Duror will ultimately kill Calum.

Why rape? This reinforces the root of sexual frustration but also reminds us of the lies Duror has spread about Calum.

Why suicide? This reinforces Duror as an isolated character. He feels alone in this and has lost the will to live. Duror will kill himself.

Duror goes drinking alone. When a soldier tells a joke about a pet ape and unwittingly makes fun of Calum, the others in the pub show their support for the cone gatherers - “They are a pair of harmless decent men” – but Duror is alone/isolated in his hatred of them: “he put down his glass and left”.

 

Chapter 10 – Continues the characterisation of LRC

 

Just as Calum’s arrival in Ardmore unsettled Duror and created internal conflict in Duror so too the cone gatherers’ arrival has also created a conflict inside Lady Runcie-Campbell – but this time the conflict is a social one. There are two sides to Lady Runcie-Campbell. There is her Christian conscience and her upbringing inherited from her father a judge and a socialist which suggests that she should look after the cone gatherers in the same way Jesus looked after the poor – the cone gatherers are her equals. On the other hand is her social standing influenced by her husband Sir Colin Runcie-Campbell which suggests that the cone gatherers are her inferiors.

  The conflict is exposed and developed in Chapter 8 when she asks Duror whether or not she should offer the cone gatherers a lift and in her visit to Peggy in Chapter 10 which she describes as a “duty”.

 In this chapter there is a symbol of the old order (the class structure of few rich and a high number of working class people). “These silent aloof giants (the woods) which represented the barren past and the anguished stunted present rather than the green abundant future.” Here “barren” suggests that the old way of life was now dead and a new order is needed; “anguished stunted present” suggests that society is in pain as the old way is dying whilst the new order has not yet grown; whilst “green abundant future” suggests that the new wood which is to be grown

This is a major turning point in the novel, pointing the way to Duror's future madness and Calum's fear of what is happening to the forest and its creatures which now include him. Another turning point is the storm scene when, after taking shelter in a beach hut, the brothers are forced out by the Lady of the estate and her petulant and spiteful daughter.

Finally, the ending is both dramatic and horrific as Duror, by now almost totally insane, murders Calum and then shoots himself as an act of redemption. By the end Duror has caused so much grief yet has also set the scene for the other characters to atone and perhaps do better in the future, apart from Calum. The fact that he has been murdered gives the other characters a Christ-like figure to revere or remember.

Below are some examples of plot summaries of different lengths.

“During World War Two, a Highland estate is about to have large numbers of trees cut down to aid the war effort. Two brothers are sent to the estate to collect pine cones for the seed to re-establish the forest after it is felled. The plot revolves around the relationships between the brothers, one of whom is mentally disabled, a hunchback, and is the subject of a hate campaign by the local gamekeeper who is himself increasingly unstable. The story also shows the class system that was in existence at the time and how people lived and worked in a remote area which causes more stresses amongst them. The plot has three main turning points including a deer hunt, a storm and the final tragedy when the disabled brother is shot and killed by the now deranged gamekeeper who then kills himself with the same gun. "

 

"In WW2, a Highland estate has to have large numbers of trees cut down to aid the war effort. Two brothers are sent to collect pine cones for seed to re-establish the forest after it is cut down. The plot is about relationships between the brothers, one of whom is mentally disabled and a hunchback, who becomes the target of the local gamekeeper who is himself unstable. The story also shows the class system that was in existence at the time and how people lived and worked in a remote area which causes more stresses. The plot has three turning points: a deer hunt, a storm and the final tragedy when the disabled brother is murdered by the gamekeeper who then kills himself."

 

"The story is set in World War 2 in Highland Scotland, and is about a series of events that occur between the cone gatherers who are sent to collect seed cones to replant a forest after it was cut down to help with the war and the local people. It shows the class system being destroyed as a result of the war, the way peoples' lives are disrupted by it and the volatile relationships in the novel."

 

Think about how you might write an introductory paragraph for your critical essay that both summarises the plot and begins to answer the task you have chosen.

A detailed mind map or timeline will help you remember the novel’s main events.

Character

The characters in The Cone Gatherers are varied by class, manners, employment, background and their importance to the plot.

The word ‘character’ can also mean having a good reputation, as in "She is a person of character." Lady Runcie-Campbell would regard herself as being in this category but Neil, because of his hate for her class and her actions against him and his brother, would disagree.

Many of the characters in The Cone Gatherers symbolise something else. Tulloch, for example, stands for tolerance and the demand that his men should be treated with equality and not discriminated against just because they are conscientious objectors or simple minded cone gatherers. Duror stands for evil personified whilst Lady Runcie-Campbell is symbolic of the struggle between maintaining her social class and position in society and trying to live in a Christian fashion, treating all with compassion as her judge father taught her.

Calum

Aged 31, Calum is both physically and mentally disabled. He has a child-like (and therefore innocent) mind unable to tell the difference between good and evil people and their actions. He relies on his brother Neil to lead and look after him. He is a symbol of the child in all of us, basically good when guided well and by the end has assumed an almost Christ-like persona. He is sacrificed that others may learn to do better and carry out more Christian acts with their lives.

Calum has a deep empathy for nature and loves animals yet cannot understand why they kill each other for food. As he is child-like he has no vices and is innocent in his view of things. He does not add the sexual or illegal activity connotations that adults would to a man playing with a girl’s doll for example as he does not know what these are. Deformed from birth he becomes the target of Duror’s hate, because Duror sees all that is going wrong with his world is being represented physically by the appearance of Calum.

  When Calum and Neil come upon the injured rabbit in Duror’s snare we learn about the relationship between the two brothers. We see that Neil is quickly irritated by Calum because he feels responsible and worried for him because he is so naïve to the brutality of the world. However, we also see Neil softening with Calum.

Chapter 7 – Duror’s unreasonable madness is further exposed

 

In this chapter the macrocosm (WW2) touches the microcosm (Lendrick).

The main development here is the respect shown towards the cone gatherers by shopkeepers, policemen and in the café. This forms a contrast to the lack of respect shown towards them by Lady Runcie-Campbell and Duror. The author’s purpose is to develop the reader’s sympathy towards Calum and Neil and to make the events which follow all the more unreasonable and cruel.

 

Chapter 8 - The theme of social conflict

 

The themes of innocence and social conflict are revisited in the scene with Roderick and the car.

           Roderick “did not see things or people as a baronet’s heir should”. (Here links with Roderick and Calum are being made.) When Roderick says: “We carried dogs in the car” his innocence is shown in the way that he has not grasped the differences between social classes. The incident with the car foreshadows a larger social conflict later (in the beach hut) when Roderick will believe again that his mother acts unreasonably towards the cone gatherers.

Once again Lady Runcie-Campbell defers to Duror when she asks: “Ought I to offer these people a lift?” Note how she distances herself from them by referring to them as “these people”.

 

Duror’s appointment with Dr Matheson

As a consequence of the scene at the Deer Drive Duror has a doctor’s appointment. The theme of internal conflict is revisited in the scene with Duror and Dr Matheson. Duror gets a diagnosis of the roots of his illness. Dr Matheson continues to be the reliable witness so his conclusion is right: This is the reason for Duror’s madness: “Since your wife’s illness you have never had relations with her? ... Therefore you have lived like a monk ever since. This has set up stresses and now it is affecting you physically.”

The doctor looks at ways in which Duror can address this problem. If Duror were to turn to “other women” this would break religious and social rules. An affair was unacceptable in this community. As for “religious acceptance” or “faith”, Duror does not believe in God. That leaves only “endurance”. This then is the doctor’s advice and they drink a toast; “Aye, to endurance.”

Chapter 9 - a second turning point – Duror rejects the Doctor’s advice 

Chapter 9 is the second turning point in the novel. It marks the end of hope and the beginning of the end. Duror rejects the doctor’s advice and goes drinking: “The result

along the roots.” The image tells us that Duror is sickening, becoming ill; the evil is spreading through his roots; the end result is inevitably death.

 

Chapter 6 – Turning Point – the Deer Drive

 

Chapter six forms a turning point in the novel as Duror’s plan to get rid of Calum in the deer drive comes to a head and Duror’s growing madness comes out in public – in front of nearly all of the key characters. Calum throws himself on the deer, Duror throws Calum off and violently slits the throat of the deer, as he thinks it is Peggy. This links back to Chapter 2 and the revelation that the root of his problem is sexual frustration caused by his wife’s illness.

 

Rushing upon the stricken deer and the frantic hunchback, he threw the latter off with furious force, and then, seizing the former’s head with one hand cut the throat savagely with the other.”

The word “savagely” shows the violence of Duror’s actions and reinforces his descent into madness.

When he says, “Peggy? What’s happened to Peggy?” this shows what was actually in Duror’s mind when he slit the deer’s throat and reinforces the idea that the root of his anger is connected to Peggy and deformity. However, when he looks at Calum, Duror realises something about himself:

 

He understood for the first time why he hated the hunchback so

profoundly and yet was so fascinated by him. For many years his

life had been stunted, misshapen, obscene and hideous and this misbegotten

creature was its personification.

This unsettles Duror as it provokes him to madness with fatal consequences. The killing of the Deer also foreshadows the conclusion of the novel when a further violent incident will take place.

  Calum’s role in the Deer Drive offends Lady Runcie-Campbell and spoils her plan to give her brother a pleasurable shoot before he returns to War thus causing her offence. However, she defers to Duror and agrees that they can stay as long as they do not bother her. It is no longer enough for Duror to have the brothers sent away from the wood in disgrace. He has to destroy them. 

When Calum promises to leave the animals alone we are aware of his inner conflict between wanting to be 'manly' and a desire to be caring.

Duror here can be perceived as a 'threatening force' – pointing his gun at Calum (a reminder of the war and the violence of man and of nature as well as a foreshadowing of the end of the novel).

Duror

Duror is the gamekeeper who falls into despair, insanity and suicide. He is originally a manly figure who has, over the years, become embittered and lacking self-esteem. He married a lovely girl only to see her fall ill and become a gross, obese figure that he cannot bear to touch or talk to. As a result of his wife’s illness he now has to cope with the constant belittling of his character by her mother which lowers his self-esteem even more. He transfers his feelings of love and lust to his employer, Lady Runcie-Campbell, and tries to turn her against Calum with some success.

As he descends into madness he wants to remove the cause of his hate and murders Calum before killing himself. As a character he generates some sympathy at first as the reader is shown his slowly disintegrating life. After the deer hunt where he shows his madness for the first time in public, much of the sympathy for his plight is lost and he becomes symbolic of evil trying to destroy the good in the world represented by Calum.

  There are many different reasons suggested by characters in the novel as to why Duror dislikes the cone gatherers. One theory is that Duror’s diseased mind causes him to transfer aspects of himself onto Calum. Was he trying to cleanse his own twisted hatred of the world through destroying someone ugly?

 

Lady Runcie-Campbell

A judge’s daughter brought up to treat all people in a Christian and equal way, she is married to an aristocrat who feels that the lower orders should know their place in society. This causes conflict for her and is partially to blame for the way that Calum and Neil are treated and why Duror becomes insane enough to kill and then take his own life.

Her children are also in conflict because of her internal struggle; her son is conscious of the lower classes and their needs whilst the daughter is very class conscious and treats those she perceives as being below her in an awful way.

Neil

As Calum’s brother and keeper (a biblical reference) Neil has sacrificed his own chance at happiness, a career at sea and a family in order to look after his disabled and mentally disturbed brother. He recognises Calum’s goodness and child like innocence and wants to protect him.

He has strong views on the class system and will not allow himself or Calum to be treated unequally by the so called upper classes. In the story it is Neil’s turning against the Runcie-Campbells and the whole class system that causes the crisis to erupt that result in Calum’s death. At the end his hate of the Runcie-Campbells and how the women of the family treated him and Calum lead him to endanger Roderick when he is trapped up a tree. When Calum is killed he scrabbles frantically up the tree to get his body as he finally realises that an innocent will always be sacrificed to save others.

His brother’s death gives Neil freedom from his guarding duties but also removes the reason for his existence. Neil will have to learn how to treat other people in a more sympathetic way, even those upper classes he despised.

Roderick

Roderick Runcie-Campbell is the son and heir to the estate. A sickly child he wants to treat everyone equally which brings him into conflict with his mother and sister as this undermines their views about maintaining their social position.

Roderick's attitude towards the cone gatherers differs greatly from that of his mother - he is friends with them and dislikes how they are treated by Duror and his mother. Lady Runcie-Campbell can't understand his compassion but Wallace can relate to this view.

Themes

War

There are several wars going on within the novel. Apart from the historical war that was the Second World War, there are wars within nature, between classes, genders and people living in different locations with different lifestyles or philosophies.

War at its worst makes humans do terrible things to each other. Yet often within the darkest parts of war, there can be great beauty or selfless acts of courage or humanity towards an enemy. This is the background theme to the novel and sets the scene for the various conflicts between and within men and nature.

Nature

Nature is in an almost constant state of conflict as the birds and beasts hunt and eat each other before procreating and returning to the cycle of violence.

The theme of nature also shows that alongside the cruelty of nature can be great beauty. Calum is empathic towards the natural world, loving the beauty but hating the death and conflict as birds such as the owl attack their small victims. Duror hates nature and whips his dogs or drowns cats, whereas Neil is afraid of the wood and its inhabitants. Roderick on the other hand, as the heir to the owner, sees it as a

Chapter 3 - The spreading of the lie (overspreading tree of revulsion)

1. The lie to Forgan: “I’m afraid we’ve had a disturbed night. I see I’ve forgotten to shave.”

2. Mrs Lochie’s Accusation: “she accused us of being in bed together, but she put it more coarsely than that.”

3. The accusation about Calum: “I saw that imbecile exposing himself… and worse.” Is Duror projecting his own behaviour onto Calum?

 

Symbolism: ‘seed’

The cones are seeds and the beautiful wood will grow back from them. The cones represent new trees, growth and a new beginning not just for the wood but for the people on the estate (and beyond) when the war is over.

There are also two sexual references to semen as seed. First, Duror speaks suggestively to Mrs Morton. Could Duror’s sexual repression be resolved with an affair? Perhaps, but Effie’s old body disgusts him. By rejecting this possibility he sets his face towards his doom. Then there is Duror’s lie about Calum exposing himself.

 

Chapter 4 – Further spreading of the lie – Lady Runcie-Campbell

 

There are two key issues in this scene - the spreading of ‘the lie’ and the ‘flaw’ in Lady Runcie-Campbell’s character which is that whenever an important decision needs to be taken she defers to Duror. The two are combined when Duror makes her part of his plan to get rid of the brothers: “Now when he was going to lie again, knowing it would implicate her in his chosen evil.” (The word “chosen” suggests that his actions are deliberate, he still has control. As does the word “plan” in: “It astonished him that she, so generally good, should be helping him in his plan of evil.”)

  Examples of Lady Runcie Campbell taking Duror’s advice: “She would have given the cone-gatherers the use of the beach hut, if Duror had not dissuaded her…”; whether Roderick should have a gun at the deer hunt: “I’m going to abide by your decision”; when Mr. Tulloch phones back about using Calum in the deer drive: “Do you mind if I consult my gamekeeper for a second?” Her flaw is her unwillingness to take responsibility and to avoid blame.

 

Chapter 5 – Duror continues to decline – the plot of the Deer Drive

 

“He had not anticipated… the sickening of his very will to hate… It seemed to him that he must therefore be far more ill and decayed than he had thought. He was like a tree still straight, still showing green leaves; but underground death was creeping

Chapter 2 – Duror’s relationship with his wife, Peggy

The chapter begins with Duror’s encounter with Dr Matheson. Dr Matheson’s role in the story is to be the reliable character whose judgment we can believe and trust.

Dr Matheson worries about what is going on inside of Duror’s mind – he explores the roots of Duror’s internal conflict: “God knew how many inhibitions, repressions and complexes were twisting and coiling there, like the snakes of damnation.” In this use of imagery Dr Matheson makes a clear link with evil comparing Duror’s condition with The Snake – Satan or the Devil himself.

  “Duror climbed in, placing his gun beside the doctor’s bag on the back seat.” Two possible outcomes for Duror are foreshadowed here with the placing of the “gun beside the doctor’s bag” – medical treatment or violence. (Later in the novel, the doctor tells Duror there is nothing physically wrong with him and the best way forward he can suggest is “endurance”. That then leaves violence as Duror’s only other option.)

  In the writer’s description of Peggy we can see why Duror might feel hatred towards Calum simply because of his physical appearance. Calum’s “beautiful” face is a reminder of how Peggy once was and his misshapen body is as disgusting to Duror as Peggy’s is as she lies in her bed: “The sweetness of her youth still haunting amidst the great wobbling masses of pallid fat that composed her face added to her grotesqueness a pathos that often had visitors bursting into unexpected tears.” The word “haunting” suggests Peggy is a ghost of her former self and creates sympathy whilst “wobbling masses of pallid fat” creates disgust and hints at the roots of Duror’s problem - his disgust at her deformity. She literally shows how big Duror’s disgust and internal problems are. “Grotesqueness” suggests horror but those hints of “the sweetness of her youth” create sympathy (“pathos”) towards her for becoming like this.

In the writer’s description of Calum’s face - “His face with its hellish beauty” – the oxymoron draws attention to the conflict between Calum’s outward appearance and his inner nature.

Peggy’s mother, Mrs. Lochie, is angry towards God. Her role is to be the antagonist as she outwardly voices some of Duror’s inner thoughts. She antagonises Duror about the causes of Peggy’s illness and this makes Duror seek peace in the woods with his dogs.

Even if I had a guarantee in my hand this very minute, saying that Peggy in heaven would have it all made up to, I still wouldn’t be satisfied. It seems to me a shameful thing, to torment the living unjustly and think to remedy it by pampering the dead.

 

place of enchantment, where his boyish fantasies of the Pilgrim's Progress and the Quest for the Holy Grail take place.

The storms are used to foreshadow or portray the storms that happen within and between the human characters and settings.

Throughout the book, nature is used to make comparisons: people are often compared to animals. Calum is an ape, the doctor a greedy pig. Duror himself fights all the time against nature despite being a gamekeeper and therefore supposed to be a guardian of the wood.

The theme of nature is also a metaphor for the wider world conflict as the trees themselves will soon be victims when they are cut down.

Religion

There are many aspects of religious activities or allusions within the novel. Apart from the overall allegory of the fight between good and evil there are allusions throughout to Calum as a Christ figure, and Duror as a devil. The various incidents that occur symbolise Eden and the loss of Paradise, the expelling of Mary and Joseph from the inn and finally the Crucifixion of Christ.

Other aspects include sacrifice as Neil gives up his dreams for his disabled brother. The fact that Duror's happy marriage becomes a hateful experience for him is perhaps him being punished for various sins. Peggy's physical deformity is seen by some as a punishment from God.

There is also struggle within characters. Lady Runcie Campbell tries and often fails to reconcile her wish for Christian treatment of her employees with her duty to maintain the class system.

The idea of belief in an afterlife is also examined. Neil does not believe but Calum does and claims to have seen heaven and his dead mother. Duror does not believe yet also fears the idea of a hell to which he may be cast down if he commits evil acts.

Style

Symbolism

There are examples of symbolism throughout most of Jenkins's works. For example, the cones represent not only the seeds that will bring new trees to the forest and enable it to be reborn but also how mighty things can come from small things. A small effort by one person can make vast changes to peoples’ lives for example. There are several examples of symbolism that you need to think about within The Cone Gatherers.

Symbolism is "something you can see that has taken on a meaning beyond itself." It is a thing (an object, person, situation or action) which stands for something else more abstract. For example our flag is the symbol of our country. If we look at symbolism in fiction, we are looking at those items that suggest something beyond the meaning the item itself represents in the story.

Symbols are said to "have an effect on us" provoking common responses to items that we share in common. For example, a cross not only stands for suffering, but it also stands for Christian suffering and the sacrifice of Christ. A sunrise not only represents new beginnings but the beginning of a new day and the rose is a symbol of love. Other typical examples include the scales to symbolize justice; a dove for peace, the lion for strength and courage, and so on.

 

The symbolism of Calum's death

Consider the way in which Lady Runcie Campbell regards Calum. Think about the idea of symbolism. Consider the symbolic reason for blood covering her hands. Does this suggest she is partly to blame for Calum’s death? She also describes a sense of pity and happiness - why does she feel these contrasting emotions? There is religious symbolism suggested in the death of Calum, whose innocence and sacrifice can be compared to Christ’s. Once he gave up his life for others, our sins were forgiven bringing new joy. Lady Runcie Campbell is also seen as kneeling. What does this position suggest? Has she changed in her view towards others?

 

The beach house and aftermath

The broken doll is representative of innocence being destroyed. Think about why Calum likes the doll (he is child-like and he is drawn to innocence). He also wants to mend the toy revealing his longing to help. However, here again, Calum is an outsider as he does not fit into the rules of society which sees this as “stealing”.

Point of view (POV)

Jenkins changes the point of view (POV) from which he describes the plot, characters and setting throughout the novel.

By shifting the POV he can create sympathy for the central protagonist, Duror, and show the changes and pressures that make him become evil by the end.

Sentence structure

Jenkins uses short sentences in many places to build up the tension.

He also uses direct speech without punctuation to make the characters seem to be dreaming. The use of local dialect and the way different classes speak to other classes is also effective to show the contrast between them.

He also uses contrast to show the internal struggles of characters. The difference between people and their internal minds is often shown by contrasting their moods at one moment then at another shortly afterwards.

Neil “knew what Calum represented, pity so meek”.

In Jenkins’ description of Calum - “on the misshapen hump of his body sat a face so beautiful and guileless to be a diabolical joke” – the oxymoron “diabolical joke” draws attention to the juxtaposition of Calum’s hideous shape on the outside and his beautiful nature on the inside.

The incident with the rabbit demonstrates that Calum cannot harm any living creature - “I couldn’t Neil”.

There is conflict within Calum at this point. Neil has warned him to leave the traps alone as setting the animals free will only lead to conflict with Duror and may result in them being sent away by Lady Runcie-Campbell but Calum cannot stand by and ignore a creature’s suffering. (When Duror later suggests to Lady Runcie-Campbell that the brothers should be beaters for the deer hunt, we know – as Duror does – that Calum will be unable to ignore the plight of the deer.)

 

Duror – the personification of evil

In order to develop a response to Duror you should refer to the extended metaphor of a decaying tree which Jenkins uses to develop his character. This tree has roots, casts shade and eventually grows ‘fruit’. When Jenkins describes “the overspreading tree of revulsion in him” the word “overspreading” suggests it will overwhelm him and affect others whilst the word “revulsion” shows just how deep and strong his feeling of disgust for Calum is.

When we look for reasons or motives for Duror’s actions we need to look back to when he was a young boy: “Since childhood Duror had been repelled by anything living that had imperfection, deformity or lack”. Calum’s arrival in the wood has unsettled Duror (because of his outward deformity) and this causes Duror to obsessively dislike the cone gatherer: ‘he had waited over an hour to see them pass’. The fact that he has waited so long for them is an indication of the depth of his feeling.

That ‘he was alone in his obsession’ shows how unreasonable these feelings are: ‘but in him was a force more powerful than common sense or pride. He could not name it, but it dragged him irresistibly down towards that hut.”

This force created a fantasy of destruction which foreshadows the outcome of the novel: “He saw himself returning, kicking open the door, shouting at them in disgust, and then blasting them both to everlasting perdition. He felt an icy hand on his brow as he imagined that hideous but liberating fratricide.”

Duror, unreasonably, believes that if he kills Calum then the unsettled feelings will go and life will return to normal. However, there is another, more historic root to his mental state which we learn about in chapter 2 when Duror goes home to his wife.

 

 

Chapter 1 – Introduces the theme of conflict

You need to be familiar with chapter one for a possible question on a novel with an effective opening chapter. You also need to know the themes introduced in this chapter and how they are all resolved by the end of the novel.

Conflict

• conflict in the setting - peaceful perfection v war

• conflict between classes – rich v poor

• conflict between characters – Duror (evil) v Calum (innocence)

 

Setting

The setting in terms of place (the woods of the Runcie-Campbells’ estate) is one of perfection – like the biblical Garden of Eden: “it was a good tree”, “many cones”, “much sunshine”. The word choice gives an impression of goodness and abundance as does the imagery: “its topmost branches as comfortable as chairs”.

However, a contrast begins between the peaceful woods and conflict as the setting in time – during WWII – is also established. Alliteration is used to draw our attention to this: “the sun slips”, “a destroyer had steamed seawards” – note how the mention of the word ‘destroyer’ brings in WW2 and draws attention to the theme of conflict as does the onomatopoeia in “gunshots cracked far off in the wood”.

 

Class

In the opening chapter the contrast between classes – the rich and the poor – is also established. The brothers’ hut is “a greasy shed”, “hardly bigger than a rabbit hutch”. Furthermore “the ground round about was filthy with their refuse and ordure”.

The divide between the classes is symbolised by the “private fence of giant silver firs”. (The word “private” tells us that the poor are to be kept out; the “fence” is an obvious symbol that there is a real division between rich and poor; “giant” tells us this division is huge; and “silver”, with its connotations of wealth, reinforces the idea that the division is for the benefit of the rich.

 

Duror v. Calum

Calum

Calum is portrayed as an innocent character, in touch with nature: “chaffinches fluttered around him”. Here the connotations with St Francis of Assisi suggest Calum’s innocence and saint like characteristics; “fluttered” suggests his gentleness and trustworthiness.

There are many sentences that consist of sets of clauses separated by commas which create a sense of panic and terror. Another technique is the use of lists.

Punctuation is often used by Jenkins to slow down, speed up or simply stop the action. This gives the novel pace and also a chance for the reader to reflect upon and consider what they have just read.

Imagery

The imagery of the wood and other settings helps create descriptive and relevant prose which transports the reader to this green world in the Highlands. The animal symbolism also creates a fuller picture of what is going on.

Setting

The Runcie Campbell estate and specifically the wood itself is where much of the action is set. The time of year is autumn, which has undertones of death, hibernation and decay before the usually severe Highland winter sets in. Then everything (and all sins) are covered in pure white.

The war time setting shows the events of the story set against a background of global struggle – so at the time of the novel, the country is at war and everyday things are much more difficult. Life on a Highland estate is not easy in peacetime but the war aggravates the poor transport links, lack of variety in the diet, fewer employment opportunities, most of which are poorly paid and require long hours to earn even a small salary.

During this time there were the stirrings of a backlash against the upper classes as some among the working class felt they were making greater sacrifices for the war effort than their masters. This has the effect of making some characters in the novel question their place in society and think about trying to push themselves upwards or ignoring the conventions of how to treat their social superiors.

The action takes place over a short time frame. This imparts pace and immediacy to the story’s plot by using the setting to cause problems that need resolution and give warnings throughout of further terrible things to come. Ancient feudal forests are being torn down, waiting for a whole new landscape to be planted, which will be free in every sense of the word. Lady Runcie Campbell believes that cutting down the trees will allow a more hopeful time to come.

Useful quotations related to setting

"It was a good tree by the sea loch, with many cones and much sunshine; it was homely too, with rests among its topmost branches as comfortable as chairs."

This quote describes the natural world that we are being introduced to and also how much of a home it is to the characters. It is not just a place of work for them.

"This wood had always been his stronghold and his sanctuary; there were many places secret to him where he had been able to fortify his sanity and hope."

This description infers that the wood is a safe and secure haven from the cares and worries of life; of being a mystical location away from the real world. It is also significant as Duror sees Calum’s presence in the wood as an end to the wood as a ‘sanctuary’ for him.

"It was a morning that seemed to beguile the mind with recollections of a time of innocence before evil and unhappiness were born.” There are many references to the Garden of Eden (and Paradise) in the novel.

Note also the description of the deer hunt in chapter six. This is one of the main turning points in the novel. The words used are from the military register: e.g. "subordinate” “commando”, “enemy” and “slaughter". These link the setting on the estate and in the wood to the wider war being fought outside this setting.

The Woods

A place of refuge?

Are the woods a biblical Eden where Calum is in Paradise? At the beginning of the novel the wood is seen by Duror as his sanctuary from the stresses of his daily life and lowly position.

A place of evil?

In Duror's eyes the woods have been defiled by the two brothers, especially Calum. Therefore, to satisfy Duror, the wood needs to be cleansed of evil. Alternatively you might perceive Duror to be the source of the evil in the woods and Calum must be sacrificed to cleanse the wood of Duror.

A small scale version of Highland society?

Are the woods being used to demonstrate what was happening in Scottish Highland society at the time? From the point of view of some of the characters, things are slowly changing for the worse. The large estates are no longer places where every inhabitant knows their position in the social order and how to interact with each other.

The storm

Think about the depiction of this - it is both a literal weather-related event and also something of significance given Calum's 'vision' and the testing of Lady Runcie Campbell’s morals and character that follows when she throws the lower class brothers out of the beach hut.

The storm is foreshadowing not only the coming storm of the war as it gets more violent, but the storm that will rip apart the fabric and social borders within the local society, hopefully creating a better world from the ruins of the old one.

The cone gatherers' hut

The hut is not fit for human habitation, yet it is where the two brothers have to try and live until they complete their task. This setting serves to emphasise the way Calum especially is thought of as an animal and treated like one.

Duror's hut

This is the setting of the problems in Duror’s life that cause him great stress and ultimately push him over the edge into madness.

The mansion

Many of the locations are designed to emphasise the differences between the classes by showing the physical aspects such as the furniture or number of rooms. They also display how the separate classes live. In effect they give each character a place in society which they occupy and, at the time in which the novel is set, cannot aspire to improve. They all 'know their place' in society and live in their own style accordingly. The Runcie-Campbells have a big house where they never use most of the rooms. Their staff occupy either one small room or a hut lacking basic sanitation or other facilities that the Runcie-Campbells take for granted.

Lendrick

Lendrick is the local village. Whilst friendly to those who live there, it is distrustful of outsiders. Again setting is important here; the village appears to be behind the times and has obstacles that need to be overcome to simply live there.

After Calum is killed and Duror dies, things begin to right themselves and change for the better as Roderick is safely brought down from the tree and Lady Runcie-Campbell finally realises what Calum represented. With his blood dripping down on her “She could not pray, but she could weep; and as she wept pity and purified hope and joy welled up in her heart.” Thus Calum’s death brings about a good outcome as evil is replaced with the hope that, having been freed from the presence of a great evil (Duror), a new wood (a new society) can be planted and the old barren ways will be replaced by a new future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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