Relationships

Relationship are one of the underlying themes of the novel and there are different kinds of relationships. There are the usual male-female relationships. These involve Pickering and his wife and Pickering and his secretary. Pickering and his wife have been married for many years and have a good solid relationship, but he does have a brief one night fling with his former secretary, Ellen Feller. She and her missionary husband remain married so they can inherit from her aged father. If they divorce, they will both be cut our of his will. She is attracted to Pickering, and he is to her, but they maintain a business relationship. She makes it known that she is available when he picks her up to take her to the ship leaving for Hawaii, but he tells her to get dressed and that his wife is waiting. When she arrives in Brisbane...