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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in An Englishman’s Home, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Class, Hierarchy, and Selfishness
Hypocrisy and Elitism
Social Mobility
Summary
Analysis
Mr. Metcalfe observes the barometer in his fine country home. He is deeply interested in the habits and behaviors of “true countrymen,” which he obsessively notes and aspires to replicate. Thus, he seeks out his gardener, Boggett, and cheerfully informs him that it looks like rain—after all, that’s what a true countryman would do. Outside, however, the sky is clear and blue. As Metcalfe and Boggett discuss the weather, Metcalfe allows his short-spoken peasant gardener the final word in the conversation. He values salt-of-the-earth types like Boggett, especially since he has only recently moved to the countryside. Metcalfe adores his beautiful new property and his new role as its owner.
The opening passage establishes that Mr. Metcalfe is an enthusiastic and well-meaning, if rather inept, student of the country lifestyle. His admiration of the lower-class, apathetic Boggett hints at his surface-level geniality, and his apparent misreading of his barometer establishes his own cluelessness. Simply owning land, the story gently implies, doesn’t necessarily make Mr. Metcalfe a “true countrym[a]n.”
Themes
Metcalfe muses about the size of his land, which is relatively modest. Still, he is pleased with his seven acres of “unspoilt” land and the “dignified” house that sits upon it, especially since he could have afforded more, but chose a more manageable and profitable amount of land to own. Having made his fortune in the cotton trade in Alexandria, he is especially eager to integrate into the English pastoral lifestyle. Although the local villagers in Much Malcock have called this house “Grumps” for decades, Metcalfe is fussily insistent that everybody call it “Much Malcock Hall” instead.
Metcalfe’s perspective on land ownership is that of the businessman he once was: he’s primarily concerned with return on investment. However, the return he gets, in this case, has more to do with his romanticized image of the tranquil and picturesque English countryside than it has to do with financial concerns. Metcalfe’s attempts to rename his estate represent another one of his efforts to establish and control his own image within the larger community; like his neighbors, the name “Grumps” predates him and has greater local authority.
Themes
There are three other prominent households in Metcalfe’s area. They belong to Lady Peabury, Colonel Hodge, and Mr. and Mrs. Hornbeam, respectively. Lady Peabury is a widow who enjoys creature comforts that hint at her wealth and heritage: cultivated gardens, novels, dogs, and porcelain. She lives in Much Malcock House. Colonel Hodge doesn’t have much money, but he’s active in prestigious community organizations. He calls Metcalfe dismissive names (“the cotton wallah”) behind his back, and he also lives in a fine home: the Manor. Lastly, despite being on relatively equal footing with the other households in income, the Hornbeams stand apart because of their affectedly rustic, artistic lifestyle. They live at the Old Mill.
Metcalfe’s neighbors are all caricatures of the English upper classes. They differ in their habits and income, but unlike Metcalfe, all of them have lived in Much Malcock for decades and have become part of its community. In this section, it becomes clear that Metcalfe’s insecurities are justified; both Colonel Hodge and the Hornbeams look down on his business career and criticize him in the company of others. Hodge’s name for Metcalfe, “the cotton wallah,” combines several insults into one. “Wallah” is an Indian English word for a person with any duty, but Englishmen in this period particularly often used it in relation to Indian service professions, and it tends be derogatory in certain applications. When Hodge says it, the word underlines the financial motivation of Metcalfe’s career, compares it to lower-class trades, and draws attention to his foreignness relative to his new neighbors in the English countryside. Of course, this section also sets up the flaws and hypocrisies of Metcalfe’s neighbors. Peabury is self-indulgent, Hodge poor and brash, and the Hornbeams leechlike and pretentious.
Themes
The villagers of Much Malcock benefit from the combined presence of these wealthy households. The rich funnel their money into community buildings and organizations, and the town residents are comfortable and satisfied with their quality of life. At Much Malcock Hall, Metcalfe carefully oversees the household chores before finishing his morning routine with breakfast and the newspaper. At breakfast, his wife scoffs at his report of his conversation with Boggett, calling the gardener’s advice “nonsense.” As Metcalfe settles into his newspaper, the first section of the short story concludes with a humorously hyperbolic forewarning of the conflict to come.
“An Englishman’s Home” frequently revisits the idea of the wealthier classes using their money to protect the welfare of their larger communities. This passage introduces an ideal vision of how this principle should work: the gentry build and preserve common buildings and care for the town financially, and the peasantry go about their work and maintain the status quo. In this way, they uphold the class system. As the expression referenced in the title suggests, each wealthy household views their responsibility to the villagers as not unlike that of a ruler to their subjects; it’s their job to control, preserve, and beautify their kingdoms.
Themes
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