The Good Soldier

Ford Madox Ford's (1873-1939) most popular novel was originally entitled The Saddest Story but was renamed because it was deemed insensitive during the bloodshed of World War I. The Good Soldier (1915), as it came to be called, was Ford's sarcastic suggestion for a new title. The Good Soldier ironically features characters who cheat, lie, and threaten one another. Told from the perspective of an unreliable narrator, The Good Soldier examines themes of reality vs. perception and cheating and betrayal.

The Good Soldier Summary

The Good Soldier revolves around the intersecting lives of two unhappily married couples: John and Florence Dowell and Edward and Leonora Ashburnham. The Dowells, an American couple, travel to a health spa in Nauheim, Germany, in order to treat Florence's alleged heart condition. At the spa in 1904, the Dowells meet and befriend the Ashburnhams, a British couple who are attending the spa to treat Edward's alleged heart condition as well. The Dowells and Ashburnhams begin a nine-year-long friendship that ends in tragedy.

Now that their friendship is over, John reflects on the couples' past. Although John initially considers Edward a moral and honest man, Edward has sordid affairs with numerous women. His dalliances inevitably get him in trouble financially, as he has to bribe and blackmail his mistresses and their husbands, so his reputation remains untarnished. Edward's transgressions leave the Ashburnhams in massive debt. Leonora seizes complete control of Edward's finances to regain control of their lives. She feels financially secure for the first time in nearly a decade while in Nauheim.

Meanwhile, Edward carries on with his sexual affairs. He is initially taken with Maisie Maidan, who is at the spa because she has a real heart condition. Edward faked his own condition in order to be close to Maisie, but his attention shifted to Florence when the Dowells took up residence at the spa. Maisie is heartbroken when she hears Edward talking badly about her, and the shock causes her to die.

FIg. 1 - Edward has multiple sordid affairs, hurting his wife and several mistresses throughout the novel.

Like Edward, Florence's heart condition is a sham. After her marriage to John, Florence feigned illness so she would not have to consummate her marriage. They have been married for 13 years without having sex, all while Florence maintains a long-term affair with an American artist named Jimmy. Florence falls in love with Edward, and the two begin a nine-year affair. She plans to marry him, but those dreams are dashed when she realizes Edward is in love with his young ward and niece, Nancy, after seeing them alone in a park together. Embarrassed and jealous, she rushes back to the hotel, only to find John has just learned of her infidelity. Florence poisons herself with hydrogen cyanide and dies.

With Florence gone, John considers marrying Nancy despite their age difference. Unfortunately for John, Edward is in love with Nancy too. Nancy does not feel the same about her uncle, but Edward's infatuation triggers a mental breakdown in Leonora. Leonora tells Nancy about Edward's affairs and shortcomings as a husband, and Nancy's innocent love for Edward is replaced by sexual longing. Tormented by his own morality, Edward sends Nancy to India to live with her father. On her way there, Nancy sends a telegram to the Ashburnhams' saying she's having a good time. With his dreams of being with Nancy crushed, Edward slits his own throat with a pen knife.

Nancy reads Edward's obituary in the paper and suffers her own nervous breakdown. She can only repeat the word "shuttlecock" from time to time. John moves her to Edward Ashburnham's old estate. Unable to marry Nancy, John becomes her permanent caregiver. Meanwhile, Leonora remarries and has a child with a kind but boring man after Edward's death.

Fig. 2 - Nancy becomes trapped in her own mind, unable to speak after Edward's death.

The Good Soldier Characters

The novel centers around four main characters—John and Florence Dowell and Edward and Leonora Ashburnham—and their often sordid interactions with other characters.

Edward Ashburnham

The "good soldier" of the title, Edward Ashburnham's immorality, reveals the irony of such a title. Edward cheats on his wife, plunges his family into debt, and feigns a heart condition so he can be near his mistress. The narrator sympathizes with Edward and paints him in a good light, but Edward's actions belie his goodness. Edward is rash and lustful. He eventually kills himself when he realizes Nancy's love is unattainable.

Leonora Ashburnham

Edward's strong-willed wife, Leonora Ashburnham cares deeply about the Ashburnham reputation. She is the one who rescues the family from debt after Edward's affairs cause financial ruin. Although she knows of her husband's affairs, Leonora stays with Edwards and continues to care for him. When she feels threatened by his lovers, she uses violence and malice to protect herself. After Edward dies, Leonora remarries a normal and respectable man.

John Dowell

The novel's narrator, John Dowell is portrayed as naive, gullible, and unreliable. He tries to care for his wife but is completely ignorant of how she uses him. John is quick to trust and believes Edward to be the ideal man and soldier, unaware that Florence and Edward have an affair behind John's back for 9 years. John's sense of morality is skewed over the course of the novel until he has no perception of right or wrong anymore. He is an unreliable narrator, unable to effectively understand the people around him or his role in his own life.

Fig. 3 - John is willfully blind to Florence and Edward's affair.

Florence Dowell

Florence Dowell manipulates her husband, John, from the beginning of their relationship until her tragic death. Florence marries John against her family's wishes but refuses to consummate the marriage. She fakes a heart condition to gain her freedom, keeping him at arms distance while enjoying the financial security he provides. Florence's ultimate objective is to be the lady of her ancestors' home in Fordingbridge, which Edward now owns. She has an affair with Edward, hoping he'll marry her. When Florence realizes he is in love with someone else, she commits suicide.

Nancy Rufford

The Ashburnhams' young ward, Nancy admires her uncle Edward and his marriage. Her innocence is shattered when she realizes the Ashburnhams are not as happy as they seem. Edward is in love with her but convinces her to return to India to be with her father because he refuses to ruin her. Ultimately, Edward kills himself when he realizes Nancy will never return his love. As a result of Edward's death, Nancy goes mad.

Maisie Maidan

Edward's mistress at the spa, Maisie Maidan is the only character who genuinely suffers from a heart condition. She is depicted as young and submissive and dies of shock when she hears Edward disparaging her.

Jimmy

Florence's first lover, Jimmy is a poor artist from a lower class. To keep their affair secret, Jimmy perpetrates the lie that Florence has a heart condition.

The Good Soldier Analysis

Throughout the novel, Ford employs the device of the unreliable narrator through the character of John Dowell. Although John tells the story of both couples, he is physically and emotionally removed from many of the events he claims to be reporting. Dowell is physically absent in several cases when the story occurs, most notably in the Ashburnham's private marital life and in Florence's affairs. John presents his perception of these events as true, but he was completely ignorant and passive when the events occurred. Readers are left with a biased narrator whose perception is skewed by the information he gathered second-hand and presented as facts.

Fig. 4 - Because John's sense of reality is skewed, he functions as an unreliable narrator.

In addition to John's biased recollection of events, the narration consists of a series of flashbacks out of chronological order. The randomness of the flashbacks muddles the novel's events, making the plot unclear. This creates a feeling of mystery as readers struggle to piece together the Dowell's and Ashburnham's past with their present. The lack of clarity readers experience mirrors John's own ignorance and uncertainty.

By the novel's end, John is emotionally numb and functions as an outsider in his own life. When he thinks of Florence's long-time betrayal and deceits, he says,

John's inability to feel emotion also makes his recollection of the story unreliable. Not only does he no longer care about his wife or old friends, but he also has no feelings at all. He has little basis for his judgment of others and no agency in his own life. Therefore, readers must question John's narration and discern the truth for themselves.

The Good Soldier Themes

The major themes in The Good Soldier are reality vs. perception and cheating and betrayal.

Reality vs. Perception

It is hard to differentiate between the actual events of the novel and the narrator's interpretation of those events. What makes it even more difficult is John himself isn't sure what is real and what is his perception. He states that for nine years, he considered Edward the ideal man—a loyal husband, a good friend, and someone he could trust. However, John's perception implodes when he discovers that Edward has been having an affair with Florence. Edward's perception is also shaken when he realizes that Florence lied about her heart condition for years to avoid having sex with her husband. John's entire identity (as Florence's husband and dedicated caretaker) fractures as he discovers how ignorant he was of reality. This constant battle between reality and perception also reveals itself in the unreliability of John's narration.

Cheating and Betrayal

The novel also examines the long-reaching consequences of cheating, not just on the cheater, but on all parties involved. Infidelity in the novel leads to debt, madness, and even death. At the end of the novel, two central characters (Edward and Florence) are dead, one has gone mad (Nancy), and one feels isolated, trapped, and broken (John). The cheating directly impacted many lives, causing each of the characters to lose their innocence in one way or another. As John remarks, no one is happy at the end of the novel, but they are all irrevocably changed.

The Good Soldier Quotes

Below are some of the major quotes in The Good Soldier.

The opening sentence of The Good Soldier is also one of the most famous lines in English literature. Although it is not apparent at first glance, this sentence reveals the unreliability of John Dowell as a narrator. He claims that he heard this story, but, in fact, he lived it, and the events had a direct impact on his life. If John tries to subtly distance himself from the story, what else is he hiding from readers?

This quote speaks to the loneliness and uncertainty that John experiences after he loses Florence and the Ashburnhams. When Florence's deception comes to light, John realizes that everything he thought he knew was wrong. He will never again live as blissfully and ignorantly now that his perception of reality has been ruined. Instead, he will constantly question himself, and the pain he endured will keep him isolated from future relationships.

John says the saddest part of the story is nobody ended up with what they wanted. Each of the characters was destined to be miserable because what they desired was just out of reach. Whether it's karma, fate, or bad luck, neither John nor any other characters will know peace.