Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

The Major golfs with Alec and finds Amina teaching some of the female staff a dance. Amina is a dance teacher but admits that she struggles to make ends meet. Amina asks the Major if he can give her and George a ride to Edgecombe after his game. Alec makes fun of the Major’s golf bag, which belonged to his father. Alec mentions that Roger inquired about membership in the club.

After his game, the Major finds Amina arguing with the club secretary, who has asked her to wait by the staff entrance. Amina challenges him for treating her and her son badly. The Major is embarrassed by her antagonism, but later, in private, he apologizes to Amina for the treatment she received. When she speaks about handling prejudice, the Major reminds her that “[o]f course we will make shallow and quite possibly erroneous judgments about each other” (149), and he gently suggests that she has pegged him as an “old git” (149), which is just what she called the secretary. The Major shares that he has an aversion to the modern tendency toward confession. He likewise suggests that respect must be earned and cannot be demanded.

The Major feels uneasy about leaving Amina at Mrs.