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Chapter 4: Girlhood of Anna Brangwen
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Rainbow, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Search for Meaning
Love and Sexuality
Gender Roles
Religion and Spirituality
Industrialization and Modernity
Summary
Analysis
On the day of the wedding, the sun is shining bright in the sky, though the ground remains muddy from recent rain. The Brangwen household buzzes with excitement as everyone crowds into the parlor, waiting for the ceremony to begin. Anna stays upstairs, while Tom nervously takes sips of brandy, feeling proud and overwhelmed. Lydia, dressed beautifully, provides a steady presence, which Tom relies on among all these people.
The contrast between the bright sun and the muddy ground reflects the mixture of emotions surrounding the wedding. The brightness symbolizes the joy and optimism of the occasion, while the lingering mud suggests underlying complexities and uncertainties. Tom is especially nervous for the wedding because Anna is the most meaningful relationship in his life, and it scares him that she is leaving him for someone else, even if she will still be close by.
Themes
As the house gradually empties in preparation for the ceremony, Anna finally appears, descending the stairs in her white silk dress and veil. Her future mother-in-law, Mrs. Alfred Brangwen, immediately fusses over her, straightening the folds of the dress and veil with a critical eye. Suddenly, a shout from the window announces that the bridegroom’s carriage has just passed. Anna, her eyes flashing through her veil, sharply orders her father to find his hat and gloves. Flustered, Tom hunts around, his hair ruffled, while everyone else has already left. Eventually, he finds the hat and gloves and is ready to leave.
Anna’s descent down the stairs in her white dress finalizes her transition from girlhood to womanhood. The look in her eyes demonstrates her assertiveness and the power she still holds, even on a day traditionally associated with a woman’s submission to her new husband. Anna’s sharp command to Tom reflects her confidence and independence, signaling that even as she enters a new life stage, she is still the same person she always has been.
Themes
The ride to the church fills Anna with joy. Meanwhile, Tom sits beside her, bewildered by the strangeness of the event. He contemplates his own wedding and his relationship with Lydia. As he moves toward the altar with Anna, his mind drifts between the present and past, making him feel unsure whether he is attending his daughter’s wedding or his own. The priest’s question, “Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?” finally jolts him back to the moment. Startled, he replies, “Me,” and Anna smiles under her veil.
Tom’s contemplation of his own wedding and relationship with Lydia presents marriage as a cyclical connection across generations. Tom’s disorientation makes it difficult to differentiate between the past and the present. He sees himself and Lydia in Anna and Will. Importantly, he knows how difficult marriage can be at times and has reasonable worries about what will happen between Anna and Will. Still, when the priest asks him the all-important question, Tom gives his blessing.
Themes
Once the ceremony is over and the marriage certificate is signed, the wedding party leaves the church and returns to the Marsh farm, where the celebration begins. Tom, becoming more boisterous with each drink, leads the guests in a series of toasts. His brothers, Frank and Alfred Jr., join in with their own bawdy additions, and the party’s energy grows rowdy. Tom, feeling inspired by the occasion, attempts to give a speech about the meaning of marriage, mixing sincerity with humor as he muses on the importance of a man and a woman coming together to make an angel. The crowd’s responses range from amused to scandalized, but the atmosphere remains lively.
Tom’s speech captures his conflicting emotions about marriage; his attempt to blend the profound with the playful sees him trying to make sense of such intimate relationships, which speaks not only to how he feels about Anna and Will, but also about his own marriage. Although Tom’s speech seems a bit confused and perhaps even sacrilegious to some of the crowd, he is ultimately trying to say that marriage is a bond between two humans that results in more than the sum of its parts.
Themes
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At the end of the night, a carriage arrives to take Anna and Will to their new cottage. Amid loud cheers and final farewells, the young couple boards the carriage and sets off to start their married life. After the newlyweds leave, Tom and a few other men decide to continue the revelry by caroling outside the couple’s new home. Inside the house, Anna hears the singing and recognizes her father’s voice, along with Alfred Jr.’s, as she and Will nestle closer together in bed. As the hymn echoes outside, their hearts beat in rhythm, and they lose themselves in the warmth of their newfound intimacy.
Tom’s continued presence, expressed through the act of singing, symbolizes his lingering emotional connection to Anna, even as she begins her new life with Will. Inside, Anna and Will begin their transition into married life, which is new and strange territory for both of them. Although they are alone with one another, the outside world still persists, as the singing outside their window demonstrates.
Themes
