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“What We Think of Married Life”
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Running in the Family, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory, History, and Story
Alcoholism
Ancestry, Homeland, and Identity
Irresponsibility in the 1920s
Colonialism
Summary
Analysis
Ondaatje records brief, anonymous memories of Mervyn from family and friends. One speaks of the day Mervyn almost killed his family while driving drunk, nearly careening over a cliff. Another tells how Mervyn as so drunk that Doris couldn’t see her children off to England properly, since she had to return to his bedside and make sure he didn’t hurt himself. Another person remembers how Mervyn was always gracious and charming toward them, although they knew there was trouble at home and Mervyn’s servant kept buying him more alcohol.
Ondaatje pointedly contrasts Mervyn’s dangerous drunken behavior, such as threatening his family’s lives by driving drunk on a cliff, with memories of him as a gracious and gentle man. This contrasts depicts Mervyn as a complex individual, conflicted between the reckless, even violent nature that emerges during his drunkenness and his naturally kind and charming self.
Themes
One of the siblings recalls hearing their parents shout at each other all night. Another sibling recalls believing that everyone in Colombo must think their family a disgrace because of Mervyn, but realizes everyone still has fond memories of the Ondaatje family. A friend remembers how sad and pained Mervyn’s face was in his later years, how subdued. A sibling recalls their childhood as “a nightmare.” A friend recalls how Mervyn tried to make right with Doris one day, and how Doris nearly went to see him.
Ondaatje’s siblings’ memories reiterate the pain and trauma Mervyn’s drunkenness caused them as children, again suggesting that alcoholism has a ruinous effect on a person’s entire family. This seems especially true if the addicted person is a parent, responsible for fostering the lives of their children as well as their own. However, Mervyn’s attempt to make amends with Doris suggests that he wanted things to be better.
Themes
