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Marion, one of the novel’s two narrators, is a woman of great determination. Throughout the novel, Marion seeks to create a life that defies the expectations of those around her. As a girl she attends grammar school, a level of education beyond her parents’ wishes for her. As she finishes grammar school, she declares her intention to become a teacher despite the discouragement of her school’s deputy head, and she attends teaching college. In a time and place that provides little support to women seeking careers, Marion succeeds in creating a professional life for herself. The same tendency to move against the grain is apparent in her romantic life. When Marion first encounters Tom, her infatuation with him feels hopeless. As the somewhat awkward friend of Tom’s younger sister, she seems to stand little chance of attracting him. Nevertheless, she ultimately not only succeeds in getting his attention but becomes his wife. Decades later, after her trip to Venice helps her understand the love between Patrick and Tom, she succeeds in bringing Patrick back into their lives against Tom’s wishes and eventually convinces Tom to reconnect with him.
Despite her ability to bend circumstances to her will, Marion is nevertheless frustrated by the limitations imposed on her by her society and by Tom’s refusal to have the kind of physically and emotionally intimate relationship with her that she desires. She chooses to become a teacher, though women in 1950s England are not expected to hold careers after they marry, and as a result she battles with Tom who wants her to conform to societal norms. While she feels an intense sexual attraction toward Tom, societal conventions treat women’s desire as unnatural, making Marion believe that she should be a passive recipient of sexual attention. Marion finds herself without a means to ask for Tom’s physical affection in the way Patrick can. She can only do her best to show him that she is willing to accept whatever attention he decides to provide. Though Tom satisfies his sexual needs outside of their marriage, Marion doesn’t have access to the same freedom. She finds herself trapped in a marriage that requires her to deny herself the intimacy that she most wants.
