Jean Rivard - University of British Columbia

Heroines
(191, 216, 235). In order to prevent war, Aleta insists, people must learn to
"love their enemies." The novel turns, in fact, on the tolerance which
unfolds between two people who, from their first meeting, are "sworn enemies"
(87). Beynon deliberately makes the couple antithetical in every
respect—physically, morally, philosophically. The Scotsman McNair is
huge, the Canadian Aleta tiny. He smokes cigars and has a drinking problem;
she is non-smoker and belongs to the women's temperance league. She
is a virgin, a "clean" woman, whereas McNair has, like Niels Lindstedt in
Grove's Settlers of the Marsh, married an "unclean" woman (read prostitute)
as penance for one night of sin. Ever since his "fall," McNair has taken a vow
of chastity, frustrating to Aleta, a passionate woman longing to be involved
in a sexual relationship. McNair is egocentric, beginning most sentences
with "I," whereas Aleta puts the needs of others, including McNair, ahead of
her own. McNair is a regular church-goer, whereas although Aleta retains
her belief in God and Christianity, she rejects what she calls "churchianity."
McNair is an arch conservative; Aleta is a social democrat. McNair enlists;
Aleta is an ardent pacifist.
It is significant that both are journalists (although for rival newspapers),
making their living through words. Through casual conversation, intellectual
discussion, and even heated argument, each learns respect for the
other, to be supportive of what each perceives to be the other's weakness.
McNair dislikes the suffragist movement, but defends Aleta's right to "stick
to what she believes in" (123). Aleta deplores McNair's alcoholism, but she
stands by him, deeming his fault a "mistake," not a "crime" (160-61). In
spite of their obvious differences of opinion about Canada's involvement in
the war effort, McNair encourages Aleta to overcome the "spirit of cowardice"
(211) that plagues her, and to "come out strong" against the war (140).
Several critics have disregarded the importance of McNair as a figure who
tests Aleta's tolerance. In her play The Fighting Days, Wendy Lili seems to
miss the point of Beynon's novel, upon which her script draws heavily. Lili
shows Aleta and McNair often in heated disagreement, but she does not
make them opposites who must learn the true meaning of democracy, to
leave "each the other one to choose his [sic] path" (Aleta 255). In not sending
McNair off to war, Lili destroys the complexity of Aleta's arguments.
Anne Hicks also misreads Beynon's depiction of McNair, finding it seriously
flawed: he is "domineering and discreditable," his "political arrogance presents
too obvious a contrast to Aleta's humane uncertainty," and his "senti-
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