Class, Hierarchy, and Selfishness Theme Analysis

“An Englishman’s Home” satirizes the rural English upper class. Every single major character is a member of this socioeconomic bracket, and the story’s humor derives in large part from the petty squabbles and minor injustices within their insular little world. Above all else, Waugh pokes holes in the cliché conception of wealthy landowners as magnanimous benefactors to their communities. In doing so, Waugh calls attention to the petty nearsightedness of the landed gentry: despite their proclamations of altruism, their actions always stem from self-interest and pride.

Take Lady Peabury as an example: when Mr. Metcalfe tells her that Mr. Westmacott has sold his field, her first reaction is to condemn Mr. Westmacott’s actions, implying that the sale was downright “indecent.” In her eyes, Mr. Westmacott’s offense was to sell the field without first consulting his neighbors, all of whom far exceed his own status and means. She doesn’t even consider whatever financial need or personal struggle motivated his decision. Waugh drives the point home in the next few lines, in which it looks like Mr. Westmacott’s wife will reap the consequences of his actions, as Lady Peabury implies that she will no longer make her the secretary of the Women’s Institute. That Lady Peabury would use the Women’s Institute, one of her own moral initiatives for the betterment of the community, as a tool to retaliate against Mr. Westmacott’s wife underlines both her oblivious selfishness and her pettiness.

The other wealthy neighbors in Much Malcock adhere to the same general idea, and even to their own detriment. After all, Mr. Metcalfe and Lady Peabury’s petulant battle of self-interests results in them both spending more money than either of them had intended. Many of the gentry’s actions are supposedly performed with the lower and middle-class villagers in mind—indeed, their compromise to resolve the central conflict hinges upon their desire to contribute to the public good and funnel wealth into the community. At every turn, however, Waugh colors his characters’ motivation with insincerity and fickleness rather than with a genuine sense of altruism.