Gordon comes from “the most dismal of all classes, the middle-middle class, the landless gentry” (37). His family became prosperous during the Victorian era; his grandfather made his fortune exploiting the proletariat, the urban working class, and immigrant workers. He also exerted tight control over his children’s lives: “Gran’pa Comstock had been at the greatest pains to drive all of [Gordon’s uncles] into professions for which they were totally unsuited” (38). Only Gordon’s father, John, defied Gran’pa Comstock by marrying while Gordon’s grandfather was still alive. However, even John Comstock, who had a “slight literary turn” (40), obliged Gran’pa Comstock by becoming an accountant—a career he failed at.

Gordon describes his relatives as “grey, shabby, joyless people” who squandered the family fortune not through reckless spending sprees but on bad investments and failed businesses (39). Gordon’s uncles and aunts either never married or married only in old age. Gordon himself attended a series of “wretched, pretentious” boarding schools where he was bullied for not being as rich as his classmates (41). His sister Julia received barely any education at all. Instead, his mother and sister worked to help pay for his tuition.

In school, Gordon developed “unorthodox opinions” and read the books the headmaster of the school banned (43).