Over-protecting (The abstract is taken from “Alicia’s Diary”)
Alicia is so happy to receive a letter from her dear sister that she can barely contain her excitement and sit still. Her little sister in Paris now. Being her attentive self, she notices that Caroline often mentions a certain someone named M. de la Feste. She guesses that her “dear sister” is falling in love with this young man and that is “a very awkward, risky thing for her!” She can only hope that their mother “has an eye on these proceedings.” The irony is that their mother “never sees a drift of anything,” so it would be quite inconsiderably to rely on her. She could easily overlook the whole situation. Truth to be told, she is “less of a mother to Caroline” than Alicia is. Here is the second irony. Alicia blames her mother for inattentiveness, but in fact it is Alicia who fails to notice that Caroline is not a small child anymore. She is mature enough to take responsibility for her own actions. Such overwhelming and – frankly speaking – slightly oppressive protectiveness will cost Alicia her own happiness.
Irresponsibility (The example is taken from “Absent-Mindedness in a Parish Choir”)
This Christmas the band had been out to one “rattling randy after another every night,” and had got next to no sleep at all. Then came “the Sunday after Christmas, their fatal day.” That year it was so “mortal cold” in the church that they could hardly sit “in the gallery;” for though the congregation down in the body of the church had “a stove to keep them off frost,” the players in the gallery had “nothing at all.” So Nicholas brought “a gallon of hot brandy and beer, ready mixed, to church with him in the afternoon.” The irony of the situation was that it had never occurred to Nicholas to dress up more warmly or take some kind of a blanket to throw it on his knees. The only idea they could come up with was brandy.
