Essays

Characterisation: Ian Bredin
Ian Bredin, who is a protagonist of Amanda Craig’s novel “Hearts and Minds”, is a 28-year-old South African from Johannesburg who lives in London now for two years. He is an English teacher at the Samuel Smiles Secondary School and shares a flat in Finsbury Park with three Australians (Kim and Liza, a lesbian couple, and Mick).
His father Quentin Bredin left his mother after less than one year of marriage to live in London which is one of the reasons why Ian decides to go there as well. Ian’s stepfather and his mother who now live in Cape Town have always been committed anti-apartheid activists and have raised him according to the values of tolerance.
After his graduation from college, Ian worked in the slums of South Africa, a charity job which he describes as being “one of his most rewarding experiences” (p.51). In London though, he is very discontented about his function as an English teacher. He complains about the system that won’t let him have lessons on the profound understanding of literature, on the contrary, he is supposed to “teach everything in gobbets” (p. 327) like he says. Literature is one of his passions though and he wants to become a writer someday.
Even though the pupils at his school are not interested in learning and some barely speak English or are able to write it, Ian will not give up on them. Unlike most teachers, he tries to wake their interest in reading and participating, prepares for his lessons and is always looking for new approaches. Also he helps one of his colleagues, Sally, when she fails to quieten her class.
Apart from being a dedicated teacher, he is an ex-rugby player that enjoys his independence. His introductory chapter is called “Freewheeling Is What Life Is About” which can be considered as his motto. He enjoys cycling, being outside, watching people and simply feeling free. It is sure that Ian doesn’t want to fit in any stereotypes which is why he wears his hair long, explains that he hates rules and that a suit would kill him (p.17). He will neither let himself be pampered by his mother nor does he want to be pressured into a serious relationship with Candice, his South African girlfriend.
After his accident though, he gives in to moving to her flat even though he knows that it will raise her hopes. In fact, he is always evasive when it comes to delicate matters like the future of their relationship or his contacting his father. It is not until his accident that Quentin finally gets to know of his presence in the country.
When Ian meets him, his father surprises him with his sheer impertinence and his sexist views, but still he is intrigued by him. He acknowledges that it is too late for them to develop a real father-son-relationship but he still likes to keep in touch with Quentin.
Quentin’s assistant Katie whom Ian meets on the day of his accident is firstly judged by him as “plain” which shows his superficial trait, especially towards the opposite sex. He is easily seduced by good looks, e.g. when he is pleased to be flirting with the ravishing Cecilia during the Rambler lunch, and cannot deny that he moved in with Candice because it was the most comfortable solution for him. Candice can offer him prosperity and yet he doesn’t feel ready to settle down. It might be for his love of independence and his wish to travel around the world or just because he knows that they don’t share any interests (she yawns while he is reading Ode to a Nightingale to her, p.229) and that deep inside, he doesn’t care too much for her (he forgets her birthday).
With her in his life and his job at Samuel Smiles he is constantly commuting between prosperity and poverty which makes him feel guilty about his lack of courage to end the relationship with Candice for the obvious reasons and about his desire to escape the difficult situation at Samuel Smiles.
Katie who has similar interests, especially in literature, is the first woman who attracts him with her character rather than her appearance or her wealth. (But these aspects are nevertheless of certain importance to him.) The moment when he knows that he is in love with her, doesn’t only fuel his resolution to break up with Candice. She further makes him realise the importance of courage (by offering refuge to Anna) but also does she show him what it is like to be rejected, which is a feeling Ian hasn’t known before but which also gives him opportunity to mature.
When he fights Sergei to protect her, “everything in Ian that has been diffuse snaps into place” (p.386) and he can act more like a grownup than before when he was feeling like a confused teenager trying to find himself. As a result of the bomb attack he realises his error in taking his mother’s love for granted and pays her a visit soon afterwards. Even though to his disappointment he couldn’t win Katie until the end of the novel, he got a job at a different school where he is appreciated by his students. He has undergone a development of character, too, and is now surer of who he is and what he wants.