Cold Comfort Farm

From the start of the novel, Flora demonstrates a tendency to tackle all of life’s problems head-on. Flora’s forward-thinking behavior contrasts sharply with the Starkadders’ backward views and their attachment to the past. ‘Backward’ is a term that can describe unsophisticated country folk like the Starkadders, but it can also refer to the tendency of the Starkadders to live their lives with focus on the past rather than the present.

Tradition dictates much of the clan’s behavior. At different points in the story, various characters repeat the same mantra, asserting over and over that there have always been Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm. Nobody in the family questions whether this continuity is a good or a bad thing. The fact that it has always been this way is reason enough to continue the practice. Aunt Ada is the character most responsible for enforcing the status quo, and she does so by withdrawing from the outer world. Nobody questions Ada’s long-established rules from the past, and the family tendency towards silent acceptance reinforces their commitment to the past and their resistance to change.

One clear example of the Starkadders’ characteristic resistance to change can be found in Judith’s disturbed reaction to Aunt Ada’s announcement that she will descend the stairs on a day that isn’t traditional for her to perform the Counting.