"Time Must Have A Stop"
Psychology, Philosophy, Literature all in One
Sebastian Barnack is a baby-faced prodigy and the protagonist of Aldous Huxley’s novel, "Time Must Have a Stop." Written in 1944, this novel follows Sebastion from adolescence to adulthood. Misunderstood and underestimated, he winds his way through events i England and Italy, discovering much about himself, about others, and about life. The events during the 1930s add political atmosphere as a character. Huxley, in restrospect, thought this was his best effort melding his ideas onto a good novel.
The names of the characters are carefully chosen. "Sebastian" is shot through with the arrows of misfortunate, per his namesake St. Sebastian of the famous painting. The title "Time must have a Stop" is drawn from Huxley’s vast storage of associations. The words are Hotspur’s—-the hothead from "King Henry the Fourth". This is a challenging book but beneath the surface of incredible erudition, it is actually humerous and hopeful.
The storyline starts as Sebastian emerges from a library reading room and a middle aged woman accosts him, "trying to detain this phantom." He is used to this-with his cherubic looks. The dowager, Daisy Ockham, has lost her son to drowning, and Sebastian with his curly hair, and look of a Rubens angel, seems to her the incarnation of her son, Frankie. He appraises her class quickly by registering the accent, and the quality of her clothes and takes the chocolates she offers. Then he feels guilty that a boy had to die for him to have these chocolates.
We later meet Sebastian’s father, a socialist lawyer who espouses causes throughout the world—-high-minded but stingy and remote. Ever without funds, Sebastian endure not
only his prepubescent appearance but wearing hand-me-downs. His mother, a more appealing person than his father, has died. Sebastian lives amongst rich kids and consorts with them in his worn out clothes, ever feekubg humiliation. His father on the road, he spends much time with his cousin Suzan who has a crush on him. Together, they take piano lessons with an old asthmatic German piano teacher who wheezes through cigar smoke and constantly chides Sebastian, the “liddle genius.” Sebastion takes his revenge revenge on the unfriendly world by teasing the ever admiring Susan. He entertains her with made-up horror stories, and fabricated romances with elegant ladies, which she believes and her indignation grows. He particularly develops the theme of a fictional Mrs. Esdaile, and their romance, which Suzan enviously listens to, believing her to be real.
In one unusual chapter in this part of the book, the act of verbal composition in Sebastion's mind is described, the searching for words and the right nuances. Sebastian's father, John Barnack, rigid and sacrosanct, secretly resents Sebastion's resemblance to his late wife, a Sebastian exults when he is sent to Italy to visit Uncle Eustace, a worldly man who shows him life's finer things. Hedonistic and overweight, Uncle Eustace also can’t stand his over idealistic brother John. While visiting Eustace, Sebastion also falls in love with an earthy but conniving caretaker at Eustace's mansion and is seduced. Life is very different here in affluent Italy. Uncle Eustace, an art collector, even gives Sebastian a Degas, an apt representation of his earthy nature. Better yet, he promises Sebastian new evening clothes (a tux) so he can go out with his well heeled friends. But before the evening clothes are bought, Uncle Eustace dies. Sebastian, suddenly realizing he will not get his evening clothes, decides to swap the Degas for a new tuxedo, being greatly cheated. An auditor of the late uncle's estate notes the missing Degas and accusations of theft against innocent employees multiply. Sebastian remains silent, while the falsely implicated suffer.
Finally, he knows he must get the Degas back. Unable to do so himself, he enlists the help of Uncle Bruno, a dotty, religious zealot. Uncle Bruno is able to retrieve the painting but at great cost--calling on compromised friends that inadvertently make him, Bruno, an enemy of the Italian Fascisti. The Fascist police imprison and mistreat Bruno and hasten his declining health. Sebastian undertakes the care of the dying uncle, and while doing is profoundly altered by the old man's kindness and spirituality. Bruno's effects a transformation in Sebastian, helping him achieve vision, awareness, maturity, love, and compassion for others.
