How to Stop Time

Giving a lesson on the causes of World War II and how the events of the 1930s created an environment for war, Tom is on autopilot. He mentions reading a newspaper the day Mussolini declared victory. A few students notice the comment. He recovers: “I wasn’t there, but I felt I was. That’s the thing with history. You inhabit it” (199).

After class, Tom sees Camille talking to Martin, the music teacher. Tom walks past them, and Martin makes a comment about him being lost. Camille asks about his lesson and invites him to the weekly teachers’ gathering for drinks at the Coach and Horses. He accepts.

Hendrich places Tom in London as a hotel pianist. Life is good for Tom. He drinks cocktails, flirts with women, and parties with playboys and flappers. The Roaring Twenties is an age of noise. Music is now important. Tom enjoys his new role as Daniel Honeywell. After a while Tom becomes melancholic again. He wants to do something for humanity. Agnes refers to it as “time guilt.” She visits Tom in London and cautions against reading Freud, who believes truth is found in the unconscious parts of the psyche, like dreams.