Waterland

Freddie Parr’s death is officially declared an accident on July 29, 1943, but neither Tom nor his father accept this declaration. Tom recounts his father’s testimonial in court as a witness, highlighting his father’s confusion over the verdict of accidental death. He then questions why Jack Parr, Freddie’s drunken father, is not implicated and postulates various answers. The chapter ends with a statement glorifying the land.

Tom addresses the present-day Mary, who is “gone, still here but gone, somewhere inside yourself […] and all that is left is your story” (116). He asks poignant questions about their youthful optimism in their “miraculous land” where “God looked down on us” (116). He elaborates on his young beauty, who “was adventurous, inquisitive, unrestrainable” but announced they must part after becoming pregnant and after “much having occurred in the interval” (117). In her seclusion, Tom says Mary is “preparing herself for her later marriage—which would be a sort of fenland” (118).

The couple marries upon reuniting three years later, after Tom serves in the war and after her father approaches Henry Crick, fearful for his daughter’s health. Tom and Mary move to London and prosper while living a very quotidian existence.