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Book Review of Brat Farrar

Abstract

The novel Brat Farrar, written by Josephine Tey, explores the different themes of human nature, family and belonging, and fate and free will. This book review will further analyze the different components within each of these themes and the change of personality in each character over the course of the story. Throughout the protagonist, Brat Farrar’s, time with the Ashbys, he quickly comes to understand and reveal new truths that highlight the importance of identity, morality, and personal conscience. Additionally, the novel also shows the influence and sense of belonging that a family can have on an individual, no matter the blood ties after both Brat Farrar and Simon Ashby’s characters are further analyzed. Through emphasizing each character’s fate and destiny, the novel examines how each individual’s fate is influenced by their past actions and choices. By analyzing these themes, this essay will call attention to more details in character and event development as new truths slowly unveil.

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Brat Farrar, a novel by Josephine Tey, starts by introducing the Ashby family, a household in England that had an estate in the country and a horse riding business near its stables. The Ashbys were mainly led by Aunt Bee, the sister to Bob Ashby and his wife, the previous owners of the estate before they died. The previous owners had left Aunt Bee with four children: Simon, a boy of twenty-one years; Eleanor, a girl of eighteen years; and twins of nine years. Shortly after their parents’ death, Patrick, Simon’s older twin brother, had gone missing and left a suicide note. Meanwhile, Brat Farrar, an orphan who came to London from America, meets Alec Loding, who convinces Brat to impersonate Patrick and claim the Ashby family inheritance. For a few weeks, Alec privately trains Brat to understand Patrick fully, so that he can completely impersonate him. Later, Brat Farrar arrives on the Ashbys’ estate, with the identity of ‘Patrick’, and soon convinces everyone except Simon, who completely denies the possibility of his coming back. Over the time spent with the Ashbys, Brat is suspicious of Simon, and believes that he already knows that he is an imposter, even though Brat had impersonated Patrick’s identity flawlessly. Soon, a series of investigations lead Brat Farrar to the conclusion that it was Simon who killed Patrick to gain the Ashby inheritance. His suspicions are confirmed after Simon attempts to murder Brat, as his existence threatens Simon’s opportunities. However, Brat survives, and in a fight, severely injures himself and Simon dies. After Simon gets exposed, it is also discovered that Brat is in reality the illegitimate son of Aunt Bee’s cousin Walter.


There is much to the dark and comparatively more complex side of human nature, where guilt and morality can be easily defeated by the natural desire for items that one may not have currently. One instance within the novel would be when Brat Farrar meets Alec Loding, who persuades him to impersonate the supposedly dead Patrick Ashby, in order to gain the Ashby’s family estate and inheritance. At first, stricken by greed, Brat continues on with Alec’s plan and creates a fake identity to deceive the Ashby family members into believing that Patrick Ashby had indeed not committed suicide. However, soon guilt comes over him, especially once Brat realizes how important Patrick was to the Ashbys and how happy they were to see him come back to them, and so thinks of stopping the plan. While the longing for fortune and wealth is unable to persuade Brat Farrar to continue impersonating Patrick, another factor makes him hesitate in his decisions: the longing for family and a sense of belonging. “ If it were a simple matter of a prodigal's homecoming, your aunt's acceptance of you would no doubt be sufficient to restore you to the bosom of your family.” (Tey, 7). Similarly, his desire for fortune, and wealth controls Simon, and the Ashby family's inheritance, and so he murders his own brother, Patrick, in order to get his hands on the inheritance, as shown in later parts of the novel. As stated in The New Yorker about the theory of morality, a certain individual’s moral beliefs are born out of the evolutionary history of the society and community it is around. As it is a human instinct to follow through with one’s desires, individuals are influenced by society and will do things that may be morally wrong to achieve their goals. Throughout the novel, many characters are shown to have a longing for things such as fortune and money and participate in multiple morally wrong practices in order to achieve their goal.


Oftentimes, the sense of belonging and love that a supportive family can offer is extremely crucial in people’s lives, no matter whether the family is tied to blood or not. Throughout the novel, Brat Farrar’s conscience tells him to quit the plan of impersonating Patrick multiple times, the idea is always put off once Brat thinks about the loving community he enjoyed living with when he was with the Ashbys. Brat Farrar grew up as an orphan, with no family or parents, and so it was the first time he ever felt like he was part of a certain community. His desire led him to his final decision to stick with the plan, although it was morally wrong. According to many sources, including the National Institute of Health, the family creates a sense of belonging, no matter the blood ties: “Family belonging encompasses feelings of inclusion within one's family, including feelings of being understood, of having fun together, and of being paid attention to.” (NIH, 2). Meanwhile, Patrick’s supposed suicide also caused different emotions to be felt within the family; because of their strong blood ties and family bonds, Patrick was often remembered or grieved by them. For instance, Aunt Bee took care of the family in place of Patrick, Eleanor grieved Patrick’s death, the twins were still too young to understand much, and Simon treated Patrick with hatred and resentment. Simon’s unusual reaction to seeing ‘Patrick’ back again also aroused his family member’s suspicions: “Why should you think that? I know it won't be easy for you to have Patrick back—it won't be easy for any of us—but there's no use making a fuss about it.” (Tey, 8). While Brat is mostly seen as an observant and hardworking boy in the family even without blood ties, Simon is seen as a failure despite their blood ties. Even though Brat Farrar isn’t a biological descendant of the Ashby family, he earned a strong sense of belonging during his days with them.


An individual’s fate is not always destined beforehand but may be influenced by that individual’s actions and decisions. Fate and destiny are often impacted by a person’s free will and justice, rather than being told by the stars. Throughout the novel, many events highlight how free will is a major factor in a person’s fate, and can affect it greatly. For instance, Simon’s fate was not destined to be but was instead caused by his crimes and dark inner heart. If Simon had not pushed Patrick off the cliff, causing his death, just for the Ashby inheritance, his fate would’ve been completely different. He even had the audacity to perform the same crime once again, but this time on Brat Farrar, because Simon realized that if Brat continued on like this, his crimes would be exposed sooner or later. However, it was precisely this decision that caused his downfall; as Simon started to use larger crimes to cover his past crimes, his actions were quickly exposed, gradually leading to his ultimate fate. During a final fight with Brat Farrar on the cliff, Simon falls into the deep abyss, just like Patrick: “It made no difference to him, except to press him out a little from the face of the cliff. But to Simon, already bent over by the weight of Brat's arms and body, it was fatal.” (Tey, 29). In addition, Patrick’s fate was not destined at first, but rather was caused by Simon’s free will to murder him for wealth. The main factor that determined Patrick’s death was not destiny, but Simon’s decision to choose wealth over innocence. These past events and Simon’s past crimes were the key to shaping his ultimate fate: If Simon had not decided to murder his brother, Brat Farrar would not have come to the Ashby estate with the goal of impersonating Patrick. Brat would have also never realized Simon’s crimes, which led to Simon’s death whilst he attempted to commit the same murder once again. In Shakespeare’s tragedy novel, Julius Caesar, a famous line is said by Cassius, a Roman nobleman: “It’s not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” (Shakespeare, 1.2.). This quote precisely summarizes the theory behind the different characters’ ultimate fates within the story.


Brat Farrar narrates the experience of the protagonist, Brat, who has a goal of impersonating Patrick Ashby, who supposedly committed suicide, and earns the Ashby family’s inheritance. However, in the middle of his journey, Brat Farrar discovers a truth behind Patrick’s twin brother, Simon, who might have been the cause of Patrick’s death in the fight for fortune and wealth. Throughout the novel, many characters are shown to have a longing for things such as fortune and money and participate in multiple morally wrong practices in order to achieve their goal. In addition, while Brat is mostly seen as an observant and hardworking boy in the family even without blood ties, Simon is seen as a failure despite their blood ties. Even though Brat Farrar isn’t a biological descendant of the Ashby family, he earned a strong sense of belonging during his days with them. Furthermore, over the course of the novel, many events highlight how free will is a major factor in a person’s fate, and can affect it greatly. For instance, Simon’s fate was not destined to be but was instead caused by his crimes and dark inner heart. Similarly, Patrick’s ultimate death was not destined but caused by Simon’s free will and choice to murder him. In other words, an individual’s fate is not determined by destiny but is influenced by their own actions and decisions.


Works Cited


Tey, Josephine. “Brat Farrar”, project Gutenberg


Krishnan, Nikhil. “Does Morality do us any Good?”, the newyorker


“Factors Associated with Perceptions of Family”, NIH


Shakespeare, William. “Julius Caesar”, project Gutenberg

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