England

England is both a real destination and a place shaped by Tessa’s imagination: she loves it, but her picture of London comes from novels rather than modern life. The planned trip for Hardin’s mother’s wedding brings those versions into view while marking a change in Hardin’s position. At first he refuses to go; later he tells Tessa that they will travel together the following weekend.

Setting and Literary Image

England enters the story as a destination associated with a wedding and with Tessa’s enthusiasm. At dinner, Hardin’s father says the trip will be an amazing experience for her because she has told him how much she loves England. His remark connects the place to a longstanding interest, rather than presenting the journey as merely a family obligation.

The conversation distinguishes England from the literary image through which Tessa knows it. Hardin’s father cautions that modern London is not quite like the London in her novels, and Tessa laughs at the contrast. The exchange does not detail what she expects to see or how the real city differs; it establishes that her affection for England is partly formed by fiction, while the planned visit will take her into a present-day place beyond the page.

The Wedding Trip and Hardin’s Reversal

The immediate occasion for the journey is Hardin’s mother’s wedding the following weekend. When the possibility of attending is raised, Hardin initially says he is not going. The reminder that it is his mother’s wedding makes the refusal more pointed, but the available scenes do not explain why he first intends to stay away.

Later, after returning to the room and finding Tessa asleep, Hardin gets into bed beside her and tells her they are going to England next weekend. She wakes and reacts with shock. He repeats that the trip is for both of them, then insists that she wants to go and should not argue. His earlier refusal has become a shared plan, and his words present the decision as something he has settled on for them rather than a question he is opening for discussion.

Confirmation and Practicalities

At dinner, Hardin’s father says that Hardin’s mother has told him Hardin has decided to go to England. Hardin confirms the decision briefly and signals that he does not want to continue the table conversation. When his father asks Tessa whether she is going too, she says she still has to finalize her passport but will go. The trip is therefore agreed upon by both of them, although at this point the passport remains an outstanding practical step.

The scene gives England a double significance: it is a place Tessa is eager to experience, and the setting of a family occasion Hardin first declines and then chooses to attend with her. His father’s comment about the difference between modern London and its literary counterpart adds a light counterpoint to her excitement. The journey remains planned rather than shown here, so its importance lies in the decision to go and in the contrast between Tessa’s imagined England and the real destination ahead.