Summary

Eliza writes to Lister in a calm frame of mind, trying to work out how she ended up at Clifton, and demonstrating her awareness of current affairs. She knows that Lister will never read the letter, and that none of her previous letters reached her either.

In “Children of the Earth,” the relationship between Eliza and Lister is closer and more romantic, since their kiss. In preparation for a visit to the theater, the Middles read out Shakespeare’s As You Like It in class. Lister wants to take the part of Rosalind (with Eliza reading Celia’s lines) but Miss Lewin decides otherwise. In the Slope, Eliza cuts Lister’s hair even shorter than usual. Then they read the parts of Rosalind and Celia, from a book which Lister has smuggled upstairs...