(I just have the online version, so I copied the section I wanted to close read because there are no pages!) “Sad! To remember her, as I did, the liveliest, happiest child that ever laughed the day through, and to see her now, in the flower of her age and her beauty, so broken and so brought down as this!”
Although the passage above seemed insignificant as just a passing thought by Mr. Gilmore, it stood out as it demonstrates the contrast of Laura Fairlie. Throughout Mr. Gilmore’s narration, he often talks about, or to, Laura as if she were a child. Innocent, and unable to make her own decisions with the need of an older man to guide her through her impending marriage. His exclamation of “Sad!” paired with “and now” is a dismal view of Laura. By assuming “and now” it insinuates that she is unable to change and is now stuck in this cycle of childhood purity, unable to be the woman she is. He then goes on to say that she is “broken” and “brought down” to who she is yet again reaffirming that she is no longer a woman but a shell of one. “Broken” followed by “brought down” sounds as if she is unable to be put back together like glass shattered. And if she were to be able to be rebuilt, she would still have pieces missing as it’s difficult to put together a glass broken.
Mr. Gilmore then uses the “flower of her age and beauty” to describe her. He could be using “flower” to depict her beauty like a flower; or, in the way that flower is used in a sexual manner. Not that he is viewing her as a sexual object, but that she is at the age to be “deflowered”. This view then contrasts his previous observations, viewing her as the “child that laughed the day through”. This again insinuates the young characteristics that Laura embodies, and that Mr. Gilmore looks down on her as a woman and a child, whether that be implicitly or explicitly.
I really appreciate the connotation of deflowering that you brought up. This description falls in line with Mr. Gilmore’s comments at the end of his narrative that created a link between Miss Fairlie and a possible daughter. Mr. Gilmore’s seeks to fill the father-shaped hole in Miss Fairlie’s life through his paternalism. However, as you brought up, he seems to think that Miss Fairlie cannot be “fixed,” even though he could leverage his legal background to help her.