Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene

Connor writes:
Plot Summary:
In the book Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene, you follow the adventures of a retired banker, Henry Puling, with his Aunt Augusta. Henry is a solitary man who has lived alone for a number of years, has never married, and recently retired from the bank to spend more time growing his petunias. The story opens up with Henry attending his mother’s funeral where he becomes reacquainted with his mother’s sister Augusta. After the ceremony and the cremation of his mother Mr. Puling is invited to his Aunt’s apartments for tea. His aunt reveals to him that he is not in fact the blood son of his mother. Apparently his father had gotten a friend of his mothers pregnant, the young girl did not want the baby so his mother agreed to marry his father and fake the pregnancy all to save the reputation of her friend. Augusta describes her sister as marrying and dying pure. He and his aunt then delve deeper into each others lives, he explains what his life has been for the past 50 years since they had last met and she explains about what her life consists of. He finds that his Aunt Augusta is a lively old woman who has had many travels and adventures. She has traveled all over the world and seems to have had a different consort in every country. She is also is not afraid to voice what she thinks. She has no qualms about acting or speaking about appropriate matter. Henry is often embarrassed by his aunt’s openness into her private affairs. This meeting comes to an end with an offer to accompany her on a trip in the near future. This trip came much sooner than Henry expected his aunt called him a few days later inquiring to as if he would like to accompany her on a trip to Brighton. There they go to visit an old friend of Augusta’s, a psychic who tells him he will have many adventures in the near future.

Literary Elements:
Characters-
• Aunt Augusta: A strong willed woman who is presented as the aunt of Henry Puling but is not. She has spent her life traveling around the world and has not seen Henry in 50 years. She has many different loves and consorts the most recent of which an African American named Wordsworth.
• Henry Puling: He is the main character of the story a boring retired bank manager who has few interests in life. He spends his day’s unmarried growing petunias. His supposed mother has recently died when he is re-introduced to his “Aunt” Augusta.
• Wordsworth: He is Augusta’s African American consort who lives with her and attends to her needs. He has very peculiar practices but is loved deeply by Augusta. Early into the story he leaves England because he is suspected of possessing cocaine. It is believed that he switched the ashes of Henry’s mother with cocaine.
Themes, Setting, Conflict:
There are many themes to this story, as it progress more and more are revealed. Some themes are, growing older, finding yourself, and love. The characters of this book travel all over the world searching for these, and even trying to escape them, in the case of old age. Henry goes with his aunt because he believes that it will help him to better understand himself and even acquires the taste for adventure along the way