University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is the expected university Edward refuses to apply to, a choice that marks his desire to leave a life already mapped out for him. It remains an unchosen destination: after deciding against Oxford, he chooses to study in London instead.

An Expected Destination

Edward’s father, Lionel Mayhew, and his teachers expect him to apply to the University of Oxford. The university represents a conventional next step supported by the people around him, but the prospect is bound up with a place that feels too familiar. Oxford, Edward thinks, is insufficiently different from Henley to provide the break he wants.

Edward’s Decision

At sixteen, after secretly hitchhiking to London for a rally in Trafalgar Square against the Suez invasion, Edward decides he will not apply to the University of Oxford. London’s streets seem larger, louder, and less predictable than the world he knows. He keeps the decision private because he does not want to invite opposition, and because it forms part of a broader effort to direct his own future—including his intention to avoid National Service, which his father believes would be good for him.

The Unchosen Path

When Edward and Florence later choose their London colleges in 1958, Edward’s choice is University College London, not the University of Oxford. The university therefore matters through the path Edward declines: it is the expected destination against which he defines his wish for a different life. The narrative does not present him studying at Oxford; its significance lies in the decision not to go.