Not the worst
Hilda is “one of those people who get their main kick in life out of foreseeing disasters.” However, she enjoys “only petty disasters, of course.” As for “wars, earthquakes, plagues, famines, and revolutions,” she “pays no attention to them.” The first irony is that it would be more reasonably to worry about really important problems and catastrophes than these trivial things Hilda occupies her mind with. It is “fixed firmly in her mind” that they will “end up in the workhouse.” The irony is that if they ever “do get to the workhouse” Hilda “won’t mind it a quarter as much as” George does.
Beautiful suffering
George thought that “fat” people like him were “the life and soul” of parties. Solemn looks didn’t suit them at all. According to him, people like him were created only for cheerfulness. That was how people – “some people” – were “expected to behave.” “Suppose Hilda went off for a week-end with somebody else,” it would rather “please” him. But suppose he did care, would he “fling” himself down “in a paroxysm of weeping?” Of course, no! With “a figure” like his, it would be “downright obscene.” The irony is that George sincerely believes that suffering – either physical or emotional – requires physical beauty.
