Justine Albaugh - Laura's Strange Reactions to Titus

Once the novel introduces the idea of Titus moving to Great Mop we begin to see a different side of Laura. To me, she starts to seem sort of evil. I understand that Laura moved to Great Mop to be independent, but the hatred she feels when she is around Titus, in Great Mop, is really strange to me. One day she goes on a walk and as she is leaving Titus calls out, "Where you off to, Aunt Lolly? Wait a minute, and I'll come too"(142). Laura only wants to be alone. His voice begins to haunt her in the next few days. She starts to be very greedy and refers to the ground and the natural surroundings around her dubbed, "all hers." She doesn't want Titus to have anything to do with her new life in Great Mop, and mentally claims ownership of the nature. While she is showing him around the town she says that she feels ashamed by his company. Her inner-thoughts regarding Titus grow increasingly filled with dislike. He spoke in the woods and Laura felt, “a cold shiver at his words” (147). To me, this all seems rather cruel. She hasn’t seen her nephew, who she claims to love, in a significant amount of time, and now she cannot even handle his presence? Warner writes, “He had no idea how he had havocked her peace of mind, he was making her miserable in the best of faith (149). Titus appears to be kind, and Laura does not consider this as she reacts so unfavorable to his company. Laura has no control over her own life and doesn’t know how to control her emotions or even really know what she wants. She is unable to move forward, yet retreats to her old ways as “Aunt Lolly,” when Titus comes to down. However, she does this to herself. No one in the story ever forces her to do anything. She enforces this retreat as the passive, in the dark, character and her dislike for Titus’s presence is dramatic and annoying to me.