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The Broad Sunlit Uplands, May 1945
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Life After Life, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Life, Reincarnation, and Alternate Possibilities
Fate vs. Choice
Family and Love
War and Death
Gender Roles and Expectations
Summary
Analysis
Mrs. Haddock, the midwife, is sipping a third glass of rum. She had been on her way to deliver Ursula when the snow had forced her to take refuge in a pub. The barkeep tells her that they could be stuck there for days, and she may as well have another drink.
Atkinson reiterates word-for-word the scene in the ninth “Snow” chapter, demonstrating the cyclical nature of time, confirming the way in which random events (like the snow) can radically change lives, and once again allowing for the possibility that Ursula did not live at all, leaving an open question of what might have happened if Mrs. Haddock had made it to the birth in the first place.
Themes
