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Hello Northbound
I read your posts and often agree. But I have to disagree here about Bunting. You see I don't think she was insulting Robert if you listen to what she said exactly. She was saying that he ,Robert would be a good advocate for the Memorial cause since he agrees with everything it stood for(although apologizing after Carson spoke up would bolster my case a little more). She just came off as more tactless and not knowing how to 'finesse' her views in such a strongly conservative setting - but not maliciously rude.
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I think what she was saying (and Tom too) was that England paid a huge price in blood and treasure for WWI, and it was not worth it. It gained them nothing. History pretty much agrees 100% with her, and even by 1924 people did. People lost everything; sons, husbands, dynasties. The country was bankrupted by it. And she has paid a price too. If not for the war (which she did not get to approve, since she couldn't vote) there would not be a huge man shortage and she might not be left a spinster. It has hurt her personally just as it did other people.
Now, I don't think the war memorial was "condoning" the war: just honoring the sacrifice of those who died. So that was the wrong target for her criticism. It's kind of like with the Iraq War: just because a lot of people were against it doesn't mean they didn't support the troops. Not at all. So I think their opinion was valid and frankly correct, as far as the war not being worth it. But that's a separate matter from the memorial, which is to honor the soldiers and not the war itself.
My biggest problem was what she said to Rose's friend who was just being nice, and her nasty crack about Robert not being asked to head the memorial committee. That was making it personal, which is different from criticizing the war.
But on the other hand, Robert did not just shut down their opinions about the memorial: he shut down their opinion about the war itself. And he said they were not "allowed" to hold that opinion, which is ridiculous. It was a commonly held opinion even then. Even he had asked
"what was it all for?" right after it ended. He was shutting down all discussion that did not validate his views, which is condescending and intolerant. God forbid someone should disagree with His Lordship!
He can't and should not
tell people what to think. She was being too pushy and confrontational about it, but Tom wasn't. Robert should not have responded by telling them both to STFU. He should have found another way to diffuse the bomb, a way that wasn't so patronizing and controlling.