Good Behaviour is a 1981 novel by Molly Keane. It's told from the point of view of Aroon, the only daughter of the St. Charles family. Over the course of the novel, the sordid secrets the family tries to hide are revealed, as the Anglo-Irish aristocracy slowly crumbles around them.
The novel begins with the suspicious death of Aroon's mother. While waiting for a maid to call the docter, Aroon reflects on her life and the actions that have lead her to this point. She tells of her emotionally isolated childhood in Temple Alice, as she and her brother were raised by a succession of nannies and governesses. Her disinterested parents prefer to devote their time to their various hobbies. As she grows older, Aroon's devotion to the social codes of the time, and especially to the rules of good behaviour, lead her to commit tragic actions.
This novel provides examples of:
- Ambiguously Gay: Hubert and Richard, while it's never said right out in the text, show very little interest in any of the women around them. Additionally, Aroon finds them together in compromising positions several times.
- Big Fancy House: Subverted with Temple Alice, as while it's a big house, it had long ceased to be fancy at the time the novel is set.
- The Beard: Aroon unwittingly becomes this for Richard.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Aroon is constantly trying to be close to Richard as she can. She also has a breakdown when she hears of his upcoming marriage to another woman.
- Child Hater: Aroon's mother, as she's very distant with her children. She goes out of her way to avoid them when they're young, preferring to spend her time painting.
- Desperately Craves Affection: Aroon frantically seeks love and reassurance from the men around her, to the point of over-eating in order to be noticed.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: When Aroon finds Rose cradling her father, Aroon assumes that her father is drunk again. Rose tells her that in reality, he's having a seizure.
- Heroic BSoD: Aroon goes through one at the Barraway's party, when she finds out that Richard is marrying somebody else.Aroon: I could accept nothing. I was on the floor bowing my head, rocking myself against acceptance; I was a rooted thing, torn about in a volume of storm.
- Inelegant Blubbering: At her father's funeral, Aroon collapses into this, much to the horror of her mother.
- Nostalgic Narrator: The majority of the novel is told in retrospective as Aroon looks back on her life.
- Selective Obliviousness: Aroon is in constant denial about Richard's true feelings towards her, wholeheartedly convincing herself that they are in love. Aroon's mother also takes part in this, as she ignores all of her husband's affairs.
- Ship Tease: Aroon gets a surprising one with Mr Kiely. However, she rejects him because of his lower social status.
- Unreliable Narrator: Aroon is definitely unreliable,as well as decieving the audience, she's clearly decieving herself as well.
