More on Philip and Domestic Spaces by Larisa

The reading for this class is getting more interesting all the time! I am really loving the focus on sentimental and domestic novels that we have had the past few weeks. In this posting I would like to respond to some comments from Dr. Gaul about my last post about The Lamplighter . Here are her comments to my last posting:
I wonder if you could go a little further with your ideas?  Why do you think Gertrude has to leave the house and go to the summer house to meet Philip?  How is his placement in that space (and in a series of hotels throughout the novel) significant to his character's development? Were you meaning to suggest that Philip becomes domesticated when he enters Emily's space?  Why do you think he builds a new home for them at the end of the novel?

First of all, I have been doing a lot of reading about houses and the use of domestic spaces, but have not found anything that discusses the purpose and function of a summer house, so I will just have to analyze that space based on my reading of the text. The summer house at first seems to be a place solely for lovers to meet. So Gertrude and Philips affectionate conversation there was initially confusing because I knew from early on in the novel that he was her missing father. Cummins description of Philip and the “youthful fire of his eyes” (258) immediately convinced me that he was Gertrude’s father since Cummins had just described “the deep brilliancy of her large dark eyes” (258) and frequently used the descriptor of fire to describer Gertrude’s temperament. Consequently, all the lover-like scenes between Gertrude and Philip never convinced me that there was a romance there. And when Gertrude remarked that Emily had never met Philip, I knew that something was a foot! (I am too well read in the sentimental genre to not spot these clues!)

When we first meet Philip, he is in the hotel’s breakfast hall (257), when we see him again it is on a steamboat where he is mysteriously lurking in shadows before introducing himself to Gertrude (266). Then later he is on a mossy rock (270). He keeps popping up like a stalker in a 21st century TV show on Lifetime. And yet he isn’t a stalker--we know that because he is always in scenes of nature and always ready to aid Gertrude. He isn’t like Mr. Bruce, who we first meet as a snake in the grass; he never did anything to help Gertrude. He was only an annoyance. Philip, on the other hand, is frequently pictured in natural scenes. For example, when they meet on that Sunday morning and she cries for his pain, he uses nature to illustrate his painful experiences (277). After that he flits in and out of indoor spaces, but never stays inside for very long. He is continually on the edge of the groups, unsure of his welcome. It is not until he meets with Gertrude in the summer house, a domestic space that is both inside and outside, that he accepts the invitation to fully return to domesticity as a father and lover/husband. When Gertrude takes his hand and he willingly goes with her to Emily, his return to his former home and former love indicates his return to domesticity. He stops moving around, popping in and out of scenes, and becomes a solid fixture in the family that Gertrude has created for herself as our sentimental heroine. And because Philip is finally domesticated by Emily, he is able to really settle down and build a house. This new house is also a sign of renewal and reconciliation with the family he left and the mistakes he has made--he is the Prodigal who has returned home. Cummins describes it eloquently this way: “And is the long-wandering, much-suffering, and deeply-sorrowing exile happy now? He is; but his peace springs not from his beautiful home, his wide possessions, an honorable repute among his fellow-men, or even the love of the gentle Emily. All these are blessings that he well knows how to prize; but his world-tried soul has found a deeper anchor yet,--a surer refuge from the tempest and the storm; for, through the power of a living faith, he has laid hold on eternal life” (421). Like Gertrude, Philip has been re-claimed and rescued, and found his way back into domesticity, but also into the arms of a heavenly father through his reconciliations with Emily, Mr. Graham, and Gertrude. This final scene of domesticity is punctuated with a beautiful sunset that reminds us that the once-wild Philip is now inside looking out and a firm fixture of domesticity.