Tony: Character profile

Pamela Rushton is the wife of John Rushton.  She has beautiful blue eyes, which a number of people have commented on, and a medium, well-formed, rounded nose.  She has a mouth which often expresses doubt or perplexity, but which can suddenly break into a spontaneously radiant, un-self-conscious smile, as if recovering some aspect of her character which has often been hidden or concealed, for whatever reason.  Her teeth were sound and well-formed when she was young, but she has had problems since, which have resulted in her having to wear a denture.  Her ears are medium sized.  When young she had abundant, beautiful brown hair, which she often wore “naturally” long and wavy as an adolescent, but which she styled more distinctly in her twenties and thirties.   She has long had a “thing against” facial hair in women, and will try to pluck out such hairs of her own!  She has always been of short to medium height, with a balanced figure, though the effects of arthritis have caused her to become shorter and more “stooped” in recent years.  Her arms are comparatively slim, and were even more so when she was younger.

As a young girl she was very shy, a quality which she was afraid would be interpreted as being distant or withdrawn, particularly by male company.  She is always grateful for a touch of humour in conversations to reduce tension (her husband’s often droll or wry humour is much appreciated for this reason).  Her voice was more “mannered” when younger, in the sense of being cultivated, official or “Queen’s English”, particularly when she was a secretary.

Her dress until late adolescence was much influenced (and sometimes made) by her mother.  She preferred subdued but delicate, subtle shades, for example darker check patterns which set off her long brown hair.  After marrying medical student John Rushton in 1949 she was influenced in her appearance by her husband’s professional aspirations, together with the general “new look” ambience of the post-war years.  Consequently, she adopted more ambitious styles, for example abstract designs, though she was also happy to wear simpler and more reticent styles such as longer skirts with delicate, dainty cardigans/tops.

Born in 1928, in this novel she is 73 years old.  Her background on her mother’s side was what might be called “genteel”, whilst she has inherited from both parents a practical, often humorous, attitude to life.  She was born in Essex.  Her father became a departmental head in a chemical manufacturing company, and her mother, like her, was a secretary.  After the birth of her first child in 1955 she became a housewife.  In later years, when her husband had become a consultant, she took a quiet but sincere pleasure in being “the doctor’s wife”.

She had done quite well at school, but had a considerable fear of maths and mental arithmetic (which she had to subdue as a secretary) together with a certain lack of appreciation of historical chronology and the relations between different historical epochs.

Pamela inherited a fairly conventional Church of England belief, and would often go to church, particularly in her middle age.  Her sensitivity to others’ suffering, particularly that of animals, has made her sceptical of a more “whole-hearted” faith, but she has remained keen to believe in some kind of final salvation and perhaps continuance after death.

Her husband has encouraged her interest in pictorial art.  She has enjoyed knitting and, more recently, introductory embroidery and tapestry work.  Her reading veers towards social observation and/or comedy, whilst she also likes books on bird-watching and natural history.

Her shyness has tended to make her cautious in forming friendships, though for this very reason she is drawn to more ”self-confident” women, and has formed deep relationships with one of two of them who combined social adroitness with tenderness and an appreciation of Pamela’s more gentle nature.

In her relationship with her husband, she has long been highly appreciative of his apparently calm and meditative attitude towards circumstances and other people, whilst appreciating the less obvious but considerable emotional side of his nature.  More practical in her own way than she likes to believe, she loves her husband’s level-headed approach to problems, together with his more indulgent interests in cars, paintings and antiques.  She greatly values his opinions, particularly when they confirm or support her own.