The water gardens are first described as "intensively cultivated for vegetables... The area was regarded by the people who had nothing to do with its work as a site of natural beauty and an object of civic pride." This makes the water gardens seem very beautiful and full of life as there are obviously vegetables growing there as it was "intensively cultivated for vegetables" and it is admired by other people so there must be many people that visit to see the water gardens. This is a very positive description of the water gardens which then contrasts drastically with Stephens thoughts on the boat ride back.
"He was repelled by the water gardens; their hectic abundance seemed to him close to the vegetable fertility of death. The brown waters were murky and shot through with the scurrying of rats from the banks where the earth had been dug out of trenches and held back by elaborate wooden boarding. Heavy flies hung over the water, beneath the trees, dipping into the rotting tops of cabbages, asparagus and artichokes, that had been left unpicked in their reckless prodigality. What was held to be a place of natural beauty was a stagnation of living tissue which could not be saved from decay." is just the start of his grim description of the "decaying" water gardens. His change of mood could be caused by the "unnatural heat of the day" or because he felt "hot and thick-headed from the wine" he had been drinking. This binary opposite of life and death is relevant to the book as it is set in world war one so death is a strong theme running through out. The reference to "trenches" is ironic because it is countryside like this that would be turned in to trenches. He even describes it as if it is already a trench as the "earth had been dug out" there is the"scurrying of rats" and "Wooden boarding", this could be describing a trench as well as the water gardens. This is heavily foreboding the approach of war and suggest this water garden will be turned in to a battle field. He also describes how each character would easily waste away in the decay; "Beards tongue would decompose... Little Gregoire and Lisette would be the mud of the banks...and madame Azaire.. would not out last or rise above some forlorn, unspiritual end in the clinging earth." this could foreshadow the death of these characters. Or it could be Faulks trying to convey the message that everyone can die and will be equal in death as they will all decay in to the ground. The divide between class is a big theme through out the book so I think Faulks wanted to convey that everyone is equal in death and that this (or war) can unite people.
All this talk about death and decay is then again contrasted with Stephens thoughts about Madame Azaire. at the start of the boat ride he describes how he " found room for his feet on the floor of the boat while trying not to touch hers." This avoiding of touch between the two of them just enhances the intensity when they do touch or make eye contact. on the way back Madame Azaire's "foot lay unresisting against Stephens leg... Stephen left his leg where it was, Madame Azaire was too hot or too indifferent to shift her position." There is a lot of description about the physical contact between the two of them which may, if it were between two different people, go unnoticed. But as it is mentioned multiple times it shows the importance of this to Stephen. Faulks then writes "The simple frission this touch had earlier given to his charged senses now seemed complicated; the sensation of desire seemed indistinguishable from and impulse towards death." This could either mean he is a sadistic psychopath that will get the same feeling from love as from death and "desires" death. Or on the other hand it could be the wine he had drank mixed with the "unnatural" heat that causes this confusion, I think this is Stephen getting the two binary opposites life/love and death mixed up in his head as he is confused for his feeling towards Madame Azaire and is conflicted whether to act on them or not as she is a married woman.
