#aunt julia

We got little hints that they are half sisters, that Julia is the eldest and that it’s a father that they share. When asked if Julia spent summers at the house as a kid she said, “a few” and when she said Jeremiah had her fathers eyes, it didn’t seem like a compliment, more like seeing a ghost.

Perhaps Susannah’s father cheated on Julia’s mother, just like Adam cheats on Susannah and maybe in part why she doesn’t leave him right away.

If Julia is significantly older than Susannah (maybe 5 years or more) then maybe Julia has memories of the beach house when it was her parents and just her there. And maybe after her parents separated and Susannah came into her life, the beach house that once felt like a paradise became tarnished by the heartbreak of her mother. Perhaps Susannah’s love of the house is kind of like a jab in the wound of what used to be her family.

I’m not saying it’s logical to blame a sibling for being born and/or for causing divorce but people have held grudges for less and I think changing the ‘bad guy’ to aunt Julia means that they’re trying to mirror the relationship of Susannah and Julia with that of Conrad and Jeremiah.

I think ultimately Julia will reveal that her and Susannah grew apart due to something or some one that fractured their relationship and it never healed. They will never have the chance to come back together, and I think that will remind the boys, or at least Conrad, that their bond is too important to screw up, that they don’t want a future like Susannah and Julia’s and it will push them into doing whatever it takes to mend their relationship.

I think Conrad will end up seeing himself in Julia in the way that Susannah’s magical, carefree and fun loving personality is very similar to Jeremiah’s. She’s cold and distant in a way where you can see the thoughts race by and the pain being pushed down. She’s fought her emotions so much that she’s allowed it to fester and now she’s causing even more harm because she’s letting her pain hurt other people. It’s a vicious cycle and it is very Conrad. I think even them sharing a childhood room is meant to symbolize this connection, being the eldest, perhaps carrying a burden of some kind… I don’t know we will see.

Aunt Julia:

moving the furniture out like that do u feel happy. tricking a bunch of kids do u get joy from that. GRIEVING kids who clearly stated everything here was chosen by their dead mom.

As I've said before, ALL of this drama over the beach house couldve been avoided had Susannah preplanned & left her 50% ownership to Jeremiah & Conrad. This wasn't a surprise death...she knew about her condition for a while. She had plenty of time to file the paperwork, especially during the period she decided to deny cancer treatment. I mean she managed to secure random things like pre-planning Steven's graduation gift, why didn't she look into securing the house for the boys? The house she repeatedly told the kids to continue the magic happening, well after she's gone 🤔

And Instead of going the legal route, Susannah decided to write a letter to her estranged sister telling her that she trusted shed "do the right thing and keep the house in the family"....a house the sister has very negative feelings towards. Did Susannah really think Julia wouldn't sell it????

I'm not trying to berate Susannah, I'm trying to understand how we got here; cuz It all just feels a bit unrealistic. Susannah would’ve made sure the boys stayed in possession of the summer house, one way or another. Yet she failed to make it happen.

But I'm glad it all came to a good conclusion at the end, and the boys now have possession of the house.

Norman MacCaig’s ‘Aunt Julia’ was the first poem I remember reading which made me think ‘I need to do this’.  I was about fourteen at the time. I’d been excited by Ted Hughes’ early animal poems, Roger McGough’s ’40 Love’, and John Logan’s marvellous ‘The Picnic’ (in Michael and Peter Benton’s Touchstones 5 —now out of print). The difference with ‘Aunt Julia’ was that I came upon it in the first…