ROBIN JENKINS

‘THE CONE-GATHERERS’

INTRODUCTION

‘The Cone-Gatherers’ by Robin Jenkins is set in Scotland during World War II. It is set on the estate of the Runcie-Campbells, a wealthy Scottish family.

The action takes place over a few days in Autumn in the forest on the estate. The trees are to be cut down to provide wood for the war effort.

The cones from the trees are to be collected before the forest is destroyed so that the trees can be replaced.

Brothers Calum and Neil have been sent to do this hard, demanding work.

THEMES

• The main themes in the book are:• Good versus Evil• Class conflict• War

• Jenkins cleverly uses imagery to convey depth of meaning below the surface:• Trees • Weather • Seasons • People

CHAPTER ONE

• In the opening chapter we are introduced to Calum and Neil who are high in the trees gathering cones. It is set during WWII and the forest is to be cut down for wood and needs to be replaced. Thus the reason for gathering cones. • We also find out that Calum is very

compassionate to animals and is very sensitive to their pain. He has released rabbits from their traps which angers Duror, the main character in the novel. • The reader begins to learn of Duror’s shocking

opinions. He hates the brothers, particularly Calum because of his deformity and wants him out of his wood.

GOOD - CALUM

• Calum has a childlike innocence and an affinity with nature• Calum cannot understand why animals kill each

other• He successfully blocks out the war• The extent of Calum’s love of animals is realised

when he sees a rabbit in distress• Calum is skilled in carving – nature

EVIL - DUROR

• Calum’s compassion for the rabbits angers Duror• He vows to get rid of the brothers • Duror spies on the brothers – his hatred revealed • Duror thinks that his obsession with the brothers is a ‘noose

of disgust’ • Shocking revelation from Duror’s childhood. His revulsion of

anything imperfect stems from childhood. • There is an indication that Duror may act on his feelings of

hatred• He is obsessed with the brothers and cannot help spying on

them• Shockingly, Duror supports the Nazi regime • He fantasises about murder• We become aware that the hatred in Duror will not leave

him without tragic consequences

CLASS

• The brothers live in squalid conditions• Neil is aware of the vast differences between

them and the Runcie-Campbells• He questions their living accommodation when

there are more suitable, humane solutions

SETTING

• Significance of the war – good versus evil, Duror, Calum• The silver firs – class• The cone-gatherer’s hut – class

CHAPTER TWO

In chapter two we meet Dr. Matheson as Duror is walking home form the woods. He offers Duror a lift home, which for Duror is an inconvenience as he will have to make small talk with the doctor.

The doctor seems to be more interested in the lack of food due to the war and is not at all happy about it as he is used to fine food such as venison and whisky.

Duror returns home to a desperately unhappy home life. His wife, Peggy, is morbidly overweight and is bedridden. We also meet the dour, hostile mother-in-law Mrs Lochie. She blames Duror for her daughter’s misfortune and wants him to spend more time with her.

We are of course, aware that Duror is repelled by anything that is deformed.

CHAPTER TWODUROR

• Duror meets Dr. Matheson. We can tell he is not happy about having to talk to the doctor

• Duror’s wife Peggy is morbidly obese. Why is this so significant?

• When asked about Peggy he is compared to a tree. What does this tell us about his relationship?

• The doctor is suspicious that despite Duror’s stalwart and stoic appearance, something dark lurks in his mind

• The doctor admires Duror’s stoic nature• Duror is desperately unhappy at home yet he

hides his suffering • Duror thinks of the cone-gatherers and how he is

becoming obsessed• Has Duror known that his sanity would, at one

time, escape him?

DUROR’S UNHAPPY HOME LIFE

• Duror wishes that he could be in the ‘miserable hut’ rather than be at home

Mrs Lochie• She, like Duror will never show her suffering • Mrs Lochie is aware of, and not afraid to

comment on, Duror’s dissatisfaction with his married life

Peggy• Duror likens Peggy with Calum• Peggy and Duror were, at one time, happy

DUROR’S MADNESS

• Duror has a strong bond with his dogs• His dogs then sense the inner turmoil in

their master’s mind as he fantasises about thrashing them – he manages to regain control• We first hear of the deer drive and the

hatching of the evil plan to create immense suffering for the brothers

CHAPTER THREE

In this chapter we are introduced to Lady Runcie-Campbell’s rather clumsy son, Roderick. We are also introduced to his sister Sheila and their uncle Captain Forgan.

It is in this chapter that Duror involves Mrs. Morton, the cook-housekeeper, and Lady RC in his plan to destroy the cone-gatherers.

THE RUNCIE-CAMPBELLS

• Roderick – a clumsy child• Captain Forgan says he is envious of Duror’s life

on the estate. However Duror would much rather be at war – note Duror’s bitterness

DUROR’S LIES

• Mrs Morton is used by Duror and becomes involved in his plot. She has shown no hostility towards the brothers• Duror tells Mrs Morton that he saw Neil

exposing himself in the woods and is a threat to young girls like Sheila• Mrs Morton and Duror have feelings for each

other but perhaps now Duror is incapable of love• Duror admits to Mrs Morton that he needs help

CHAPTER FOUR

Day two – in a discussion with Lady RC, Duror suggests that Calum and Neil be used as beaters. She asks Mr Tulloch and he agrees that they can be used. However, he phones back to explain that Calum has scruples over being a beater. Lady RC asks Duror for advice and her Christian values are overcome by her aristocratic values. Later though she proposes a compromise – that only Neil be used. Duror will have none of it. Thus the fateful deer hunt is to go ahead.

LADY RUNCIE CAMPBELLCLASS

• Lady Runcie Campbell struggles with her Christian Values, she should be compassionate to those less fortunate than her. However, her aristocratic status often contradicts this. The theme of class often explores this contradiction (note how she was so easily persuaded by Duror to make them stay in the hut)

• Lady RC cannot understand Roderick’s admiration for Neil

• Lady RC does not want the brothers near her home• Tulloch explains Calum’s squeamishness to Lady RC

and she refuses to understand (conflict between Christianity and class)

CALUM• Lady RC directly compares him to Christ

DUROREVIL

• Duror knows that his actions are wrong and will implicate Lady RC in his evil plan

• Imagery is used to convey the fact that he is aware he is overcome with evil (filth)

• Roderick’s dislike of Duror • Duror considers another opportunity for evil – he

imagines that Roderick has a terrible accident and dies

• He does not understand why he responded the way he did

• Imagery used to describe the terrible lies • Another admission from Duror that he is totally

aware of all the evil he is doing: Peggy, Mrs Morton, to destroy the CGs.

CHAPTER FIVE

In this chapter we learn of Neil’s worries over Calum. He is fearful of Calum’s fate should anything happen to him.

Duror tries to climb the tree but suffers from dizziness. The brothers learn that they must take part in the deer hunt. Neil, furious on behalf of Calum, tells Duror that they are ‘free men’ and that they will not take part.

Calum, out love for his brother, agrees to try his best to take part.

CLASS

• The hut is a symbol of humiliation for Neil• Neil is humble and believes that the RCs

represent the power of the world

Evil• Neil is aware of the hatred that Duror has for him

and his brother but cannot understand it

EXTENDED METAPHOR OF TREES

• There is another example here of the extended metaphor of the trees:• “He was like a tree still straight, still showing

green leaves; but underground death was creeping along the roots.”• This is also where Duror has his first thoughts of

suicide.

CHAPTER SIXTHE DEER DRIVE

Lady Runcie-Campbell organises a deer hunt in honour of her brother, Captain Forgan, who is on leave from serving in WWII.

Neil is outraged on behalf of Calum that they have been asked to act a beaters. Neil insists that they do not take part.

It is in this chapter that Duror reveals to others the psychological problems he has been experiencing.

CHAPTER SIXTHE DEER DRIVE

This chapter is a turning point for many reasons. Up to this point it has only been the reader who has been aware of the evil within Duror. At the deer hunt his deterioration is exploited publicly. It is also the point at which it is clear that the cone-gatherers will no longer be able to remain in the woods.

Furthermore, after the deer hunt, we are to a large extent, shut off from Duror’s thoughts. We do not see him very often in the rest of the novel and often only through the eyes of other characters.

THE DEER DRIVEDUROR

• Duror’s nightmare – he reveals his mental state to others• His plan to kill Calum is connected to the fact that

he has come to hate his wife and longs to be rid of her• Duror has repressed his feelings which is why he

appears stoic and ‘stalwart’• Duror’s intense hatred of Calum continues to

grow and it is shocking to the reader to discover that his evil plan to rid them from the wood is far from over (reference to Christ)

CLIMAX OF THE DEER DRIVE

• Calum, with overwhelming sympathy for the deer flings himself upon the deer, regardless of his own safety • Duror laughs like a madman• He carries out the savage attack on the deer• He asks for Peggy in a state of confusion• He furiously attacks Calum • It seems that both Duror and Lady RC blame

Calum for the horrific events • Duror’s misery returns with the realisation

that his wife is not dead

THE DEER DRIVECLASS

Lady Runcie-Campbell is horrified at the outcome of the deer hunt. She automatically blames Calum.

However we also notice that Lady Runcie-Campbell believes in the system of privilege and tries to make sure that her Christianity justifies it.

It is in this chapter that we see Roderick and Mr Tulloch try to bridge the gap between Lady RC and the cone-gatherers.

THE DEER DRIVECLASS

• Mr Tulloch and Captain Forgan mistake Duror’s motives for attacking Calum• Lady RC sides with Duror in blaming Calum• Mr Tulloch is a decent man. He is fair and

expects others, including Lady RC to be the same.• Roderick is also fair and he can see that

unfairness in the treatment of the cone-gatherers. • The silver fir trees act as a barrier between

the upper and lower classes. If the cones are not gathered, the trees will not be replaced after the war.

CHAPTER 8CLASS

• Lady RC takes her children to the pictures. They meet Calum and Neil and Roderick suggests that they give them a lift back otherwise they will have to walk but Sheila strongly objects.

CHAPTER 9DUROR/THEME

• Duror returns from his consultation with Dr. Matheson • Here we witness Duror's inner turmoil. This is how he really

feels – he is a man on the brink, as his physical positioning at the edge of the pier highlights. The actions which he considers are not only brutal, but final. Furthermore, there is a direct contrast here between his outward appearance and his inner feelings.

• Duror “stared” at the water which would indicate that he is looking for himself, seeking an answer in his reflection. However, because it is night, he can see nothing below him but darkness. Thus there is no hope for him, no salvation.

• Duror appears to realise that he has reached the end. However the fact that he "halted" would suggest that he is unable to end his own suffering.

• Duror's longing for the end encourages sympathy from the reader. There is an inherent sadness here, and the realisation that death would be preferable to life is expressed through the use of the word "wish".

CHAPTER 9THE PUB

• The men in the pub feel a degree of sympathy for Duror’s predicament with Peggy.• A soldier in the pub tells a joke about fighter pilot

and an ape.• We learn that the brothers’ mother committed

suicide after the birth of Calum.

CHAPTER 10CLASS

• Lady RC makes her usual visit to Peggy. The theme of class is exemplified by the behaviour of both women: Lady RC cannot stand Peggy’s ‘fawning’ manner while Peggy ‘simpers’ and fawns over her because she is an aristocrat.

CHAPTER 10RODERICK

• Sir Colin has concerns about his son. He writes letters in which he wishes to be reassured about Roderick’s ‘manner of speaking…to the lower orders’. He believes that failure to adhere to the class structure would be ‘downright disastrous’. • Roderick however admires the cone-

gatherers and his desire to visit them after his mother would refused them a lift, makes his lie to her. • Roderick in the wood – references to

Christian in ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ a religious allegory

CHAPTER 10RODERICK

• This ‘quest’ is very improtant to Roderick. He wishes to give them a ‘cake of friendship’ • The cake should take the form of a reparation• He thinks of the journey through the wood as a

pilgrimage – imaginative• He sees Duror and thinks of his as evil and

wonders if he has gone mad.• He wishes to protect the cone-gatherers from

Duror• Roderick feels frightened when he notices Duror –

he feels defeated.

THE BEACH HUTCHAPTER 11

• This incident is important because it reinforces: • Social class/Neil’s bitterness• Calum’s goodness• Duror’s evil• LRCs battle between Christianity and class

THE STORM

• Chapter starts with a storm approaching. This has two purposes, a literal and a figurative. • Literally, storms are violent so the storm is a

metaphor for violence. “…indigo clouds had been mustering” reflects early hints at inevitability of outcome whilst “black clouds were now overhead. Thunder snarled” pg 121 represents the growing animosity of Duror. It is an indication of what’s about to happen with Duror. “yet…peace and brightness persisted” pg 122 could be seen as Calum’s goodness – not yet extinguished or Roderick’s growing sense of justice and compassion for the men.

CALUM’S GOODNESS/NEIL’S BITTERNESS

• Calum asks Neil if he saw the light – Calum asks if it is heaven ( this shows the extent of Calum’s innocence and Neil’s realism “there was no merciful God” pg 123.) • This is relevant because Calum is about to be killed.

Neil is lower down in the tree – partly because of his rheumatism and partly because Calum is a better climber. It also makes Calum nearer to death/God/heaven. • Their individual disabilities make them more

vulnerable in the face of the storm and the fact that “they were the only living creatures left in the treetops” pg 120 increases the isolation that they have been battling against since their first days on the estate. Their position is also representative of their vulnerability.

LRC’S BATTLE BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND CLASS

• They head for the beach hut • Calum knows that they’re not allowed “the lady will

be angry again” • “this represented not only dryness and warmth but

humanity”. • This is another by-product of Duror’s evil. • LRC WOULD have let the CGs have the beach hut

but Duror talked her out of it. She has no idea about their living conditions BUT doesn’t care enough to find out herself.

• The storm itself is symbolic of LRC herself when she accosts them in a violent and uncontrollable fury

LRCS BATTLE BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND CLASS

• The phrase “for God’s sake” is loaded with heavy irony – she is behaving in the most unchristian way. Her anger suggests that she is not only fighting for her property BUT her place in, and the survival of, the social system.• When Calum says that Neil was only helping him keep

dry she says “For Christ’s sake.” She has so much Christianity that she will not even let them be dry. p 130 “Your father’s right. After this war, the lower orders are going to be frightfully presumptuous”. This shows what Lady Runcie Campbell is like. • She is scared she will lose her position. She doesn’t

think that the working class should have any rights.

SOCIAL CLASS

• There are various points emphasising the gulf of wealth between Lady Runcie Campbell and Neil and Calum e.g. toys broken being replaced.

• Neil knows Calum would pick the toy, which is broken, because it is disfigured like him. It is a human figure – feels it might be hurt.

• Calum’s inherent goodness is shown once more through his initial apprehension and reluctance to enter the hut, and his desire to protect Neil and take the blame for their “astonishing impudence”.

• The toys are a physical representation of Neil’s resentments of the RCs.

• The broken toys represent their carelessness and easy disregard for others.

SOCIAL CLASS

• Lady RC goes mad when she sees that Neil and Calum have a fire going

• Neil is ashamed and doesn’t speak up “a lifetime of frightened submissiveness held it down”. This shows their lack of control over the social system in which they live.

• Neil’s inability to raise his head is symbolic of the class system and social prejudice that holds him down.

• They laugh at Calum because he can’t get his coat on. Sheila doesn’t recognise how wrong it is – she humiliates them.

• Roderick recognises his mother doing wrong again.

SOCIAL CLASS

• It is Calum and Neil’s fire but Lady Runcie Campbell is getting the benefits. This is a metaphor – the working class do all the work but the higher classes get the benefits.

RODERICK'S ATTITUDE

• Roderick’s face is described as ‘grave and tense’ following his mother’s outburst• His mother is anxious about his ‘oversensitive

conscience’• Lady RC remembers Duror’s treatment of Peggy

and decides to talk to him about pity.

CHAPTER 12

• The focus in the chapter is on Mr Tulloch• Neil makes a phone call to Mr Tulloch after

the encounter with Lady RC• Tulloch makes an appointment to come

and investigate the incident• Neil wishes he and Calum be taken away

from the forest• Tulloch is kind and understanding• Brothers will be replaced• Neil demands an apology from Lady RC in

person

CHAPTER 13LRCS BATTLE BETWEEN

CHRISTIANITY AND CLASS• “in none of her many rooms…. The one where she sought them

most was Roderick’s.”• There are two clear points in this line. She has many rooms

while Neil and Calum live in a one-room hut – this is a contrast• Lady RC is worried about Roderick. This is a contrast with the

way she threw Neil and Calum out into the rain. She sees him as a fragile flower.

• She is a “practical Christian” – she can’t admit wrong. A practical Christian is someone who is Christian when they want to be. Her Christianity is valid as long as it supports what she does. She goes against a fundamental Christian ethic.

• See Matthew 25:31-40: the parable of the sheep and the goats.

LADY RC - CLASS• P 141 This speech makes Lady Runcie Campbell into a

caricature. The speech is about her attitude to her land, “angry and frustrated” – she is like a child having a tantrum. There is an irony that she is arrogant and overbearing. She doesn’t want to be treated equal to other people – she wants things to stay the way they are.

• “inferiority” – This idea is fundamental to Lady Runcie Campbell. She is superior to everyone else – the others are subhuman. She has “civilised bases” keeping her in place.

• “patronising” “condescending” – It is far more condescending to presume how they are going to react. She wants to perpetuate her superiority – she does this by treating them inferiorly

LADY RC – CLASS

• When Roderick expresses the fact that he doesn’t know – another reference to war – it changed the way society worked. A lot of the arguments that she is coming out with are similar to Nazi arguments. Her privilege is inherited and not based on any sort of work. It is to do with birth – same as Nazi beliefs that you had to be born blue-eyed etc. Jenkins wants to show us that her attitude causes what happens at the end.

LADY RC

• Lady Runcie Campbell does not have a lot of self-knowledge. At the end of the Chapter “it is ….involved”. At the beginning we are reminded of her wealth and then at the end we are told she is reminded through a memory that we are all brothers in God. By being born we are all involved. This shows that she cannot say she is not involved in what is to come. For much of the chapter she has gone on about how superior she is. Yet she doesn’t really seem to have listened to what her father was saying – she says that she got her Christianity from her father. There is also a reminder that she is partly responsible for what is about to happen.

THE DOCTOR

• The doctor came from an ordinary working class background – He cares no more for Roderick than he would for any other son. He is polite enough not to ask why he was called when there is nothing wrong. The doctor is not flattered at being called out by her. The point of the doctor being in the story is that he is everything that she finds inferior but we can see that he is superior to her. This is a contrast with the pretend superiority that Lady Runcie Campbell has.

CHAPTER 14

• At the beginning of the chapter we discover that Calum and Neil have gone to a rocky promontory (a point of land that juts out into the sea). It is rocky because there is an allusion towards Christ’s crucifixion – it is at the top of a hill-where Christ was killed.

RODERICK AND THE CGS

• The last thing that Calum says is “Cheerio,” sang the little man.

• Calum is singing like an angel. This person is innocent, he is someone we shouldn’t wish any harm.

• Roderick looks for Calum and Neil because he wants to apologise – he wants to be an equal. Roderick wants to be absolved of his sins – religious references.

• He is sad when he discovers that they are leaving.• Tulloch tells Roderick not to go near them – he doesn’t want to

cause any friction. • Roderick shows an interest in the cones etc. This shows that

Roderick has an interest in the cone gatherers. This also shows that even ‘inferior’ people have expertise. In their jobs Neil and Calum are the best – they have superiority.

RODERICK AND THE CGS

• The author brings up the thought that Roderick doesn’t like climbing trees yet this is an irony because at the end of the novel he wants to be like the cone gatherers and so goes up the tree and gets stuck. He does this because he wants to appreciate what the cone gatherers do.

TULLOCH AND THE CGS

• Lady Runcie Campbell wants Neil and Calum out of the wood – Neil and Calum want out.

• Tulloch asks if they can stay till Saturday. She grants it.• If he had mentioned the incident at the beach hut she would have

been in the position to either admit she was wrong or admit that she wasn’t really Christian.

• Instead of Neil and Calum he is going to send conscientious objectors – they are deformed in mind rather than body (Calum). Lady Runcie Campbell has to take these people.

• Tulloch doesn’t hate conscientious objectors – he says that they are not cowards. Tulloch is reminding us that we cannot condemn people because we don’t think the same as them. Tulloch also makes the point that his wife and men disliked them at first but eventually they saw them for what they were – it was the same with Calum. This is what Lady Runcie Campbell fails to do.

DUROR’S LIES

• Duror suddenly appears when Lady RC and Tulloch are talking – note his description – no dogs, gun, dirty, dishevelled

• He has with him the doll which now becomes ‘obscene’• Tulloch explains that Calum would only have mended its leg

and that he had carved a squirrel for his own daughter• However the mood is destroyed when Duror rambles

hoarsely to Lady RC, making accusations of the foulest kind against Calum

• Duror keeps repeating the word ‘seed’• Lady RC is absolutely horrified by this out burst and asks

Duror if he has gone mad• He is sent away to continue his work

THE DOLL

• “Bosom……..shameful” the implication of the conversation between Lady Runcie Campbell, Duror and Tulloch is that of sexual implications.

• Lady Runcie Campbell doesn’t see the doll as innocent. When Tulloch asks for the doll for his daughter she sees the doll as obscene.

• Tulloch knows that Calum would have made a leg for the doll – biblical allusion of the cripple who couldn’t walk.

• Tulloch says that Duror is ill. If Lady Runcie Campbell has to admit that Calum and Neil have been treated badly then she has to admit that she treated them badly.

• It shows Calum innocent personality as he purely sees the doll as a broken toy with no sexual implications that Duror has spread rumours about.

• We see Duror dressed very ruggedly and is ill mannered. His shameful appearance shows the image of mind as well. His mind has become very deluded and has taken every opportunity to make the cone gatherers life’s a living hell.

KEY SCENE – THE ENDING CH15 & 16

• The Ending• The ending is important because we learn

about:• Lady Runcie Campbell’s realisation• Duror’s final decline, outcome of evil• Calum’s murder (culmination of Christ

allegory- personification of GOOD)• The results of social class• Setting – links back to warships etc Also

promontory is now tainted forever.• Could be argued that it has a ‘happy’ ending

LADY RC - REALISATION

• Roderick climbs the tree – he admires the cone gatherers – he cannot get down• LRC acts calmly and decisively • At one point however she turns on Harry as she

thinks he implied cowardice (extreme insult in aristocratic society)• She needs the cone gatherers help but Neil

demands she ask herself• She is appalled at the idea but decides to go• It is she who finds Calum’s body• She goes down on her knees among the blood

and cones

LADY RC - REALISATION

• She cannot pray but she can weep• As she weeps pity and joy and hope well up in her

heart• The fact she decided to go to the cone gatherers

is a great concession for her• The ending shows she has learnt a lesson about

rank and Christianity

DUROR’S FINAL DECLINE

• Graham tells Duror that the CGs refused to help Roderick – Duror walks off in their direction without speaking• Graham tells LRC about Neil and Duror – • LRC goes in search of the CGs – she hears

a gun shot• She hears another shot and knows that

Duror has killed himself• Evil appears to triumph over good but

Duror cannot live with the emptiness that is left – evil destroys itself