Clapham Junction by Paul Theroux

*Meaning of the title: A junction is a place where roads come together or such as in this story break up in different directions. This regers to the end, where Mrs. Etterick asks for 'one single and one return to Sunbury, please'. Mrs. Etterick is going to drop her retarded daughter, Gina, at a special institution in Sunbury for Christmas. She doesn't want her daughter around: their ways are separated in the station (although Mrs. Etterick travels with Gina to Sunbury).

'Clapham' is a word that is often used by Theroux (the writer) in his other short stories (not in this book).

Narrator: The narrator is an omniscient and unintrusive narrator: he knows everything but he doesn't give a comment.

Hints in the story:

* In the beginning they are talking about Gina and Mrs. Etterick says that 'hers is not the sort of affliction that can be cured in a place like Sunbury'. We don't know what's in Sunbury but we know that there's something with Gina that cannot be cured there; she has a disease.

* Cox asks Mrs. Etterick 'Are you going away for Christmas?' and a bit further he asks 'So you might be alone?' and she answers 'I'm not sure'.

* p.111 They hear Gina's present: a transistor. Mrs. Etterick explains it 'I decided to give Gina her present early'

characters:

All the characters (4-Mrs.Etterick/Rudge/Cox/Gina) are telling stories but the important thing is that they don't listen to each other, they constantly interrupt each other; they 're very selfish in a certain way but they apparently work in the same company/building: Cox says that 'When I didn't see you in your office (p.111) ...' And Rudge said that is was 'a party with all the secretaries'. Another similarity is that they sill don't know what they're going to do with Christmas (where/with who?). Mrs. Diana Etterick: She has a daughter, Gina who is nearly thirty but she's retarded. She lost her husband Richard (who works at the university) in Thailand (while they were living there) to a twenty-one year old Chinese girl, who was determined to leave