Brent Cross Mall

Brent Cross Shopping Centre is a destination Mother and Christopher travel to from her London flat to buy clothes and basic toiletries. Their visit exposes the gap between a practical errand and Christopher’s ability to manage a crowded public environment: the trip ends early, and Mother has to return to the shopping centre without him.

The journey and its purpose

After Christopher reaches Mother’s flat in London, she says he can stay as long as he wants. Once Roger has gone to work, she arranges compassionate leave and takes Christopher out to buy clothes, pajamas, a toothbrush, and a flannel. They walk to Hill Lane, catch the number 266 bus, and travel to Brent Cross Shopping Centre.

The interrupted visit

At John Lewis, the number of people becomes too much for Christopher. He lies down on the floor near the wristwatches and screams; Mother takes him home in a taxi. The visit therefore does not accomplish its intended purpose, and the crowded store is presented through its effect on his actions rather than as a neutral shopping setting.

The return trip and its significance

Mother later goes back to the shopping centre to buy the items herself, while Christopher stays in the spare room. He does not want to be in the same room as Roger because he is frightened of him. When Mother returns, she brings Christopher a strawberry milkshake and shows him his new pajamas, patterned with five-pointed blue stars on purple. Christopher then says that he has to go back to Swindon. The shopping centre episode thus marks both the practical effort to care for him in London and the difficulty of sustaining that arrangement amid his distress and his fear of Roger.