The guilt of Philip is another Potter theme. Not only does Marlow carry the guilt of his mother suicide he also feels guilt for the institutionalisation of Mark Binney, after he suffered, because of Philip, a beating which, in the words of the school-teacher, "none of you will forget". The misjudged guilt of Mark Binney Marlow replays in his detective story, he is being framed for the body in the river. The body, of course, represents his dead mother. In the detective story Binney dies, it transpires, at the hands of Marlow. Guilt had been a favourite theme of Potters as far back as Stand Up Nigel Barton (1965).