Thisbe’s birth

Thisbe’s birth, one day before Auden’s graduation, changes the shape of the occasion: Robert cannot attend Auden’s speech, while the news of a new stepsister reaches Auden through an exhausted phone call. The birth also prompts a revealing exchange between Auden and her mother about Robert’s absence and the name he and Heidi chose.

Birth and the Missed Speech

Thisbe Caroline West was born the day before Auden’s graduation, weighing six pounds, fifteen ounces. Robert called the following morning, exhausted, and apologized that he would miss Auden’s speech. The timing makes the birth an immediate family turning point, but not a simple celebration: the new baby’s arrival coincides with a milestone Auden had prepared to mark without her father present.

During the call, Auden asked how Heidi was. Robert said she was tired after a long labor and had undergone a caesarean, a procedure she was unhappy about; he hoped rest would help her feel better. Auden asked him to pass on her congratulations. Robert then urged her to give her speech with the combative encouragement he typically brought to academic matters, which he framed as a battle. His support reaches her by phone even as his absence remains unavoidable.

The News at Home

After the call, Auden’s mother came into the kitchen in her robe and poured coffee. She guessed that Robert would not be coming; Auden explained that Heidi had given birth and that the baby was named Thisbe. The exchange places the birth within the aftermath of Auden’s parents’ separation: the news is also confirmation that Robert’s household has changed, while Auden and her mother share the kitchen on graduation morning.

Auden’s mother objected to the name, remarking that Robert had many Shakespeare names to choose from and that Thisbe would have to explain hers throughout her life. Her criticism shifts the conversation from the physical facts of the birth to the lasting identity a name can confer. Auden did not argue back; she returned to her speech notes, and after a moment her mother sat down beside her.

Names and Family Identity

The naming dispute carries a family irony. Auden’s mother had allowed Robert to name Auden and her brother: Auden’s name honored the poet W. H. Auden, Robert’s favorite, while Detram Hollis was a professor Robert admired. As a child, Auden had wished for a more ordinary name, but her mother had presented its obscurity as a test of whether someone might be her intellectual equal. Faced with her mother’s criticism of Thisbe’s name, Auden privately considered that the same logic might apply to the baby, but chose not to say so.

The birth therefore introduces Thisbe both as a newborn in Robert and Heidi’s family and as the subject of an argument over how names shape a person’s life. In the graduation-morning scene, that question sits beside another unresolved change: Auden’s father is absent from her milestone, yet still offers encouragement, while Auden and her mother return together to the speech she is about to give.