Sipsworth

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.

Sipsworth explores Helen’s struggle to overcome grief, portraying it as a pervasive, defining aspect of her character and the novel’s plot. Helen’s crippling grief distorts her sense of self and isolates her from the world. It not only makes her so inert that she can hardly do more than nap and watch television, but she also berates herself and feels guilty for surviving her loved ones.

Helen’s grief dominates her life to such an extent that she personifies it, describing it as having “long whiskers.” This imagery emphasizes how she experiences grief not as an abstract emotion but as a living entity. In the book’s early chapters, Helen practices self-deprivation: For instance, she denies herself a piece of fudge because “her desire felt foolish and vain” (41), and she also stands outside in the freezing cold before she can “reward” herself with a second bath. She believes she deserves punishment because she was once so happy; since she is convinced that her former happiness has turned against her, she inflicts emotional punishment on herself. 

The novel uses Helen’s profession as a retired cardiologist to highlight how her emotional state has clouded her rationality.