I'm re-reading it, but I'm afraid I still don't at all understand what goes on with Charles and his father when Charles wants money. What are they trying to accomplish with all the dinner parties? And why does Mr. Ryder decide to pretend that Jorkins (the guy Charles invites over) is an American? I'm sure I'm very dense, but I don't understand this part at all.

oh boy ... you came to the right place...will it be obi...or gherkin...or.....

Charles's father doesn't like him very much and enjoys messing with him. One of the reasons Charles is attracted to the Flytes is that, dysfunctional as that family is, it's still more family than he himself has ever known (witness what a rotten job he does of being a husband and father).

At least, that's my take on it.

OK, so Mr. Ryder is trying to get Charles to leave by waiting him out? But how does Charles expect to get the money he wants by inviting people to dinner? At least, that's what I thought was happening, what with him describing the guy he invites as a weapon.

He's hoping to annoy his father enough to get him to pay him to leave, IIRC.

I wouldn't go so far as to disagree with Father about this. But my take has just been that Charles's dad is punishing him for overspending, and Charles has no real capacity to fight back. He can't leave, because he's got nowhere to go. He can't really opt out of the 'social' side of living at home, since formal dinners and other such things are just expected. (And Waugh loves to take shots at the expectations of the upper crust British.) So he's completely stymied. But I take it that it is another unavoidable convention of the British upper classes that one can invite friends to dine. I take it Charles invited Jorkins mainly because Jorkins is such a complete bore. I have never thought that Charles believed he'd get any money out of his father, I always just thought he was doing the only thing he could think of as a way to try to repay his father's unkindness by making his father have to behave at dinner. But what Charles didn't anticipate is just how cleverly evil his dad is. He can't turn away the guest, but he can make the event so wholly uncomfortable and unpleasant for Charles that he'll be sure that Charles won't do it again. And that's what he does.

BTW, there are things in Waugh that may not make a whole lot of sense. He's a comic genius, and sometimes it's OK to just laugh at the ridiculousness even if you don't get what the heck it's doing in the story.

That sure sounds like a dreadfully boring book, sure am I glad I've never read it....
(Translation: Hello, I'm a troll, please feed me, I'm so hungry)

This makes a lot of sense, thanks a lot!

Mr. Ryder is so awesome. I love the part where he says something along the lines of "The only advice your cousin Ambrose offered me was to wear a top hat on Sundays - and do you know, I always did? I never saw that it made any difference, but I always wore mine." He's so deliciously nonsensical.

Since I am more like Faramir than Denethor, what I see in the hearts of men moves me more to pity than to scorn ... and this is a case in point.

You seem to have missed the second part of that comment which explains the first part

The Marchmains in this story.... that lifestyle is so hard for me to understand.
Getting dressed up to eat dinner in the house (castle) you're already in.
Set times of the day when drinks are just brought to you.

I like it so far, but it's very hard for me to conceptualize much of the lifestyle.

Surely you're not one of those barbarians who doesn't dine in evening clothes?

.....while wearing a "Snuggie" and eating in front of the TV. Same here.

Not that long ago, because I am not yet an old lady, people got dressed up in their "Sunday Best" for Church.

When we were going to travel by airplane, we dressed in our Sunday Best - today, people get on a plane looking like they are going to clean the garage.

We went out for a nice dinner, it was real tablecloths and real manners, we children learned how to sit up properly and use the proper fork - today, people think Chili's or Appleby's or Outback is "fine dining". On holidays like Thanksgiving, we again dressed in our Sunday best and ate of the good china - now, we wear sweatpants and guzzle soda from red solo cups.

Yep, it is difficult to conceptualize that people could have been elegant because that is gone today.

I lived as you describe.

GKC

I suspect you largely, still do. Good on you for it.

Well, I've slipped a little.

GKC

If you look at back issues of Sports Illustrated you'll sees that it it's not that long ago that men used to put on a suit and tie to go see a baseball game.

Revisiting Bridehead Revisited again? This must be the third or fourth thread I've seen on it.