An insight into a young Curzon...

This is a link to the chapter, Regulus, from Kipling's book Stalky and Co. .
I would like to posit that the character Winton in this chapter is very much the model of an early Curzon. Like Curzon, Winton's "people aren't very well off" compared to the other boys at the school(177). Like Curzon, he is on the cusp of the class barrier: he is "First-class of the second class", and therefore is also extremely desperate to live up to the stoic model in order to keep from slipping back down the social ladder (178). The story is also makes a very strong statement about the value of classical training-- portraying and undenyable distain for the "modern side" of the school. Beyond a love of the traditional, both Winton and Curzon are "serious" men. This story revolves arround a pratical joke that is described as "the only known jest of [Winton's] serious life". The effects of this incident are described as being akin to the way "a sober-sided man's one love colours and dislocates all his after days"(166). In this description, I cannot help but see Curzon and the effects of his relationship with lady Emily.

While I do not think that Curzon's childhood could excuse his actions and the actions of other's like him in the Great War (and the horrific consequences that followed), I do think it helps explain why such men would not have been capable of making any other choices. Some in our group have expressed interest in looking at Curzon's mental state. I think this chapter does a wonderful job of illustrating the mental exhaustion that can result from following the British stoic model, and might explain why Curzon has similar moments of hazy confusion.