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| Tom Thomsons, "Sunset," 1915, National Gallery of Canada |
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
2) In Jean Rhys's "The Day They Burned the Books," daffodils and strawberries are loaded with symbolic meanings. What are they? Why does Eddie say that he doesn't like daffodils? What do these flowers mean to both Eddie and the young narrator? How do they both feel about the English, and why?
3) What is the narrator's attitude toward Nora ( in Munro's "Walker Brothers Cowboy")
4) Referring to Lois's collection of painting of the Canadian wilderness, the narrator in Atwood's "Death by Landscape" says, "Looking at them fills her with a wordless unease." What makes Lois uneasy? What is her relationship to nature? Why is she both drawn to and repelled by nature? What does she see in the paintings?
62 comments:
2) In Jean Rhys's "The Day They Burned the Books," daffodils and strawberries are loaded with symbolic meanings. What are they? Why does Eddie say that he doesn't like daffodils? What do these flowers mean to both Eddie and the young narrator? How do they both feel about the English, and why?
Daffodils and strawberries both symbolize the imperialism of British Empire. For Eddie, a hybrid boy, he is not sure about his own identity; thus, he tries to seek for his sense of belonging in those books from England. Daffodils and strawberries are both indispensible elements in romantic English literature. For example, daffodils stand for the hope in William Wordsworth’s poem. In Christian society, strawberries have always been linked with goodness and purity. These two things are so romantic and positive; however, they are satire in the story. “The word ‘strawberries’ are always spoken with a guttural and throaty sound which we imagined to be the proper English pronunciation.” People who have never seen daffodils and strawberries in the Caribbean just learn about these two subjects from books. Their unseen beauty is praised by those who live in the tropical area. How ironic it is! From the colonial education, we can see how British imperialism planted. People strive to be “proper” English except for Eddie. As a hybrid, Eddie despises the kind of colonial authority. Maybe Eddies ever tries to identify himself as English. However, he is not accepted because of his impurity. With ambivalence, Eddie escapes from the uncertainty by means of denying the beauty of daffodils, strawberries, and the city (London). For Eddie, daffodils and strawberries are more than romantic; they stand for his British identity and colonialism.
#410002043 鍾亞筑
Question No.4
Despite there is no people, or animals shown in Lois's collection of paintings, she feels like there is someone or something. Even though the paintings are beautiful nature that people can feel relaxed looking at them, Lois doesn't feel that way, instead, she feels difficult because of her lost friend.For her, those paintings are not just landscapes, but a great mystery. Even now, no one knows what happened to Lucy when she had suddenly disappeared. It put Lois in unease, because she is the one who was with Lucy at that time, and she still can't understand how it happened and feels guilty. Moreover, the fear of wilderness makes her feel uneasy too. She likes nature, at the same time is afraid of its great wilderness. In her paintings, she sees Lucy that it's said in the story, " You can't see her exactly, but she's there." In each painting, Lois sees her somewhere hidden. It's just like where Lucy belongs to be, in the apartment of Lois. Lois even hears her, happy or recalling shout. Lois, eventually, thinks herself the part of the wilderness. Now she is adapted to the fact that the landscape is where Lucy meant to be at.
英美三 葉子菁 410002028
Q3
The narrator feels a little uneasy toward Nora because Nora is completely different from her mother and she can also finds the unusual relationship between Nora and her father. Compare with Nora, the narrator’s mother is much more traditional and pessimistic. She forbids her two children to play outside for fear that they would get lost. Furthermore, the poor living situation makes her depression. So when the pee splashes on the narrator’s father’s head in a business, he asks his children not to tell their mother lest she worry about it. However, Nora seems to be a new woman under the narrator’s description. She is a Catholics and enjoys the narrator’s father’s tragedy. In addition, she teaches the children how to use the gramophone and invite the narrator to dance. When dancing with Nora, the narrator feels breathless in Nora’s smell of whisky, cologne, and sweat. This unfamiliar and new smell makes the narrator kind of uneasy. In the narrator’s heart, she knows this strange beautiful woman not only impresses her due to the differences from her mother but also makes her father in a moody mind. She appreciates her father’s true temperament and chooses to keep Nora as a secret.
410002030 英美三 吳敏綾
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
In "The Garden Party", we can notice many differences between contrary classes. “Four men in their shirt-sleeves stood grouped together on the garden path. They carried staves covered with rolls of canvas, and they had big tool-bags slung on their backs.” These four people are just workmen of the marquee. Their clothes and big tool-bags totally have great contrast to the party. Their class is almost the lowest one in the society. However, Laura’s attitude to the workman is different from her family. “He bent down, pinched a sprig of lavender, put his thumb and forefinger to his nose and snuffed up the smell.” “How many men that she knew would have done such a thing? Oh, how extraordinarily nice workmen were, she thought.” This shows delicate class relation between Laura and the workmen. “Stop the garden party? My dear Laura, don’t be so absurd. Of course we can’t do anything of the kind. Nobody expects us to. Don’t be so extravagant.” “It’s only by accident we’ve heard of it. If someone had died there normally－and I can’t understand how they keep alive in those poky little holes－we should be having our party, shouldn’t we?” Because of her family’s high class, theses paragraphs show Laura’s sister, Jose and her mom’s complacency and narrow view, also the indifferent reaction to other people. “’Forgive my hat’, she said” This shows that Laura is extremely shameful to her class. The hat is an opposite symbol between high and low class.
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
I think it is a very ironic story which can reflect Taiwan’s social phenomenon. From the story, we can find out that the family only cares about their life and fame. Although somebody had died because of the accident, and that guy is their neighbor, the snobbish family still went on the party. When Laura immediately suggests that they should cancel the party, they think her words ridiculous. The most unbelievable thing is that Mrs. Sheridan suggests Laura to send the leftover food down to the family. She thinks it’s the best sympathy for that poor family. It reminds me of our government officials. Why I want to mention them is because most of them are on the social upper class, but they can’t truly experience real life. For example, when people ask them why the vegetable price is so high, they’ll tell you “why don’t you buy meat?” Take another example, when Taiwanese suffer from the natural disasters like typhoon or earthquake, government officials should pay attentions to their people, however, most of time, they will tell you they have tried their best to save each people, but actually at that time they go abroad to “ investigate” or celebrate for the Father’s day(hey, come on! It’s Father’s day.), etc. The story reflect a very common phenomenon is the fact that the gap between the haves and haves-not is widening. When the rich have much more power, money and superiority. But, how about the poor?
Compared with the selfishness and self-righteousness of high class seeing the simplicity of the poor from "The Garden Party". After imitating her mother’s voice, Laura’s self-consciousness let us see more difference between rich and poor clearly. Because of simple-minded, workmen knows to slow down their pace and admire the beauty of surroundings. Unlike the boy from the rich dancing with Laura, they maybe only cares about being attracted. The big cost of setting marquee makes the comparison between Scott’s house which is small and dark. Buying all the flowers only in order to decorate the marquee, and it maybe can feed Scott’s family whole year. To someone who needs help, these meaningless expenses is very precious. In the latest news, the rich drives sports cars running through the streets; however, there are still a lot of people cannot even afford the houses. The gap between rich and poor becomes bigger. The attitude of Laura’s family’s toward Scott’s death and the poor reveals their ignorance. The party is to celebrate the happiness and life, but how can it go on when your neighbor dies? In addition, it’s affected that Mrs. Sheridan presumptuously asks Laura to give leftovers to Scott’s family. On the surface, this gift seems helpful for them; however, it reveals Mrs. Sheridan’s rudeness and stingy. From the story, knowing that class relations is a hard problem to solve. How to balance this situation is a big question.
49902064 張宏瑋
1. The Garden Party reveals the class gap of Upper class and working class which has how incredible disjointed parallel line in the world. The Upper class, the Sheridans is a wealthy, high-class family who live for thinking of themselves’ business rather than the common people. In their world, they have fashionable and luxurious family party almost everyday. However, there is someone kind of different from those people— Laura Sheridans, the youngest daughter of the Sheridans and the narrator. Laura is the girl who has lived under the class’ protection for years. But with her immature and unaffected value, she has class-consciousness to feel something wrong with the class relations but not cruelness like her family. When hearing the death of their worker, her mother planned to continue the party. But in Laura’s thought, she knew it was bad news, they should cancel the party and care about the worker’s family. So, after the party, they took some leftovers and went to the worker’s home with the party dressing. Laura felt something weird and spoke out the three words “forgive my hat”. The fancy hat not only showed improper to the funeral, but also represented what Laura is. And the little girl knew it’s improper for the poor and also she realized life is more than that.
1)What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
The Garden Party reveals the class issue between illusion and reality, also life and dead. Laura, the girl who is born in a rich family, wake her own conscious of the class during the dead happens while she is holding the garden party and she has her own thinking about this event which is so different from her families. When she first meets the four working men, she feels that she is definitely different from them. She decides to imitate her mother’s voice to talk to them. However, she feels ashamed about herself and regret to do that. She gradually find out these men’s kindness that make her feel wonderful and want to make friends with them. She starts to wonder that how ridiculous the class relation is. She thinks these men who have lower class than her are much better than those people who have the same class with her. When she hears about the news of dead, she feels very pity for the poor neighbor family. She asks her families to cancel the party, but she only gets refusal. When she thinks of the glory party and the sad death, she feels strong conflict in her mind. She is the only one who cares about the dead and feels wrong about the whole class system. She feels terribly wrong when she wears the beautiful dress and hat with a basket full of their waste food to go to visit the dead’s family. Laura makes a strong contrast with the poor little cottage. When she looks at the dead, she thinks that he is wonderful and beautiful. That shows Laura finally see the reality and finds out the evil and ugly behind the rich and glory. Her illusion for what companies her grow up collapse when she sees the simply marvelous which is caused by the horrible class relationship.
410002011 李彥儀
(4) Lois feels uneasy because she had a horrible memory about the canoe trip when she was a girl. In the canoe trip, she got acquainted with an American girl whose name was Lucy. However, something happened to Lucy and changed her. It seemed that she was not interested in everything and became depressed. The last time Lois saw Lucy was on the top of the slope. Nobody knew what happened to Lucy and nobody saw her again. When Lois looks at the paintings about the nature landscape, she still feels guilty and sorry about Lucy. Moreover, at that time the chief of the camp even wanted Lois to take the whole responsibility of the accident. It definitely caused some mental trauma to Lois all the times .Before the accident happened, Lois loved to go out and enjoyed being with nature. However, after Lucy got lost, she repelled nature because it would remind her of the tragedy. According to the first paragraph, readers can find Lois is satisfied with the city life because it will make her be far away from the nature. However, the contradiction is that she collects a lot of paintings of landscape. I think the reason why she collects paintings is that she imagines she can see her friend hidden behind the rock or the tree through the paintings. However, she doesn’t have the courage to get contact with the nature, and so she tries to find her by collecting different kinds of nature paintings. The author uses this way to create a grotesque atmosphere. It will make readers think about it by themselves.
410002046 蔡易紘
410002066 謝孝昇
3)“…as we talked-London, the beautiful, rosy-cheeked ladies, ……the exotic food (whitebait eaten to the sound of violins), strawberries and cream-the word ‘strawberries’ always spoken with a guttural and throaty sound which we imagined to be the proper English pronunciation.
“No, and I don’t like daffodils either. Dad’s always going on about them. He says they lick the flower here into a cocked hat and I bet that’s a lie.”
“I also was tired of learning and reciting poems in praise of daffodils, and my relations with the few ‘real’ English boys and girls I had met were awkward. I had discovered that if I called myself English they would snub me haughtily: ‘You’re not English; you’re a horrid colonial.’”
“We sat under the mango tree and I was holding his hand when he began to cry. Drops fell on my hand like the water from the dripstone in the filter in our yard. Then I began to cry too and when I felt my own tears on my hand I thought, ‘Now perhaps we’re married.’
Daffodils and strawberries should not be existed in West Indian but in England. These flowers actually symbolize British oppression. Eddie and the girl live in West Indian but educated by English education. It is because the British colonial. Daffodils play a remarkable position in English literature, yet these West Indian children have never seen such a flower. That’s why Eddie dislikes daffodils. Both of them are in the same situation, fighting against British imperial oppression. Eddie initially hates book but internally dislike racism. Their feeling is very complicated and dilemma.
英美二 410102043 林萱怡 Olivia
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
In the story, it’s clear that there is a gap between the classes. Laura, is an upper-class girl whose house can afford the party, including the marquee, the exquisite sandwiches, the cream puffs, and a lot of canna lilies. By contrast, the dead, Scott, is a lower-class carter who lived in the mean little cottages. We can imagine how poor the family was that “She found herself in a wretched little low kitchen, lighted by a smoky lamp.”
Furthermore, “They were the greatest possible eyesore, and they had no right to be in that neighbourhood at all. They were little mean dwellings painted a chocolate brown. In the garden patches there was nothing but cabbage stalks, sick hens and tomato cans. The very smoke coming out of their chimneys was poverty-stricken. Little rags and shreds of smoke, so unlike the great silvery plumes that uncurled from the Sheridans' chimneys.”, “When the Sheridans were little they were forbidden to set foot there because of the revolting language and of what they might catch.”, and “It was disgusting and sordid.” Those are the thoughts from the upper-class to the lower-class. They think that they are superior to them. In addition, they consider of the leftover the pressure for the lower-class - "Let's make up a basket. Let's send that poor creature some of this perfectly good food. At any rate, it will be the greatest treat for the children." The class gab is not only their environment, but their values.
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
In this short fiction, we can clearly realize the gap between middle class people and labor class people, the writer using three different person: Laura, Laura’s mother and chap’s wife, to present the class problems.
Laura’s mother is obviously a classical middle class woman. When she hears the tragic of the chap, the first words come out from her mouth is, “…I can’t understand how they keep alive in those poky little holes” In my opinion, She is not teasing, but sympathetic to the chap, and she expresses her words with the concepts thinking that labor class is the lowest class in society. I think it is a basic concept of middle class that the reason why people become a labor class is lazy, and middle class people have higher status than labor class. Compare with Laura’s mother, the dead chap’s wife is represent the labor class. When Laura comes to their house, she has a pair of depressed eye looking at Laura, and she is curious what the girl comes here for. Reflect the labor class, who are explicit by middle class and doesn’t know how to resolve this unfair situation. So, when a middle class woman come to them, they shock and wonder that this girl can save them from the desperation. Laura exactly represent the person who are middle class and try to eliminate this unfair situation. But she doesn’t know how to do it, Laura only can do is, said sorry to them. ”Forgive my hat” in the novels final she said. Even though she has a heart with a justice, she merely make apologize to the chap’s family, and sorry about the middle classes rude treatments who think sand some bloody breads can comfort the dead chap’s family; sorry about herself that even she want to help them, but she doesn’t know how to do it.
41000A005 台灣三 裴浩哲
英美二 410102052 葉靜芝
2)
In The Garden party, we can observe that there is an obvious class distinction between the Sheridan family and those lower-class people. They lead different life, wear different dressing, and worry about different things. Through Laura’s point of view, we can see those dissimilarities. For instance, during the party, Laura feels that “Ah, what happiness it is to be with people who all are happy, to press hands, press checks, smile into eyes.” (Page 1345) It seems that upper-class people lead a very carefree and wonderful life. They only care about themselves and they are indifferent toward others’ well-being. There is a young man died that morning they hold the party, when Laura thinks to cancel the party, her family think totally opposite. We can tell from their behavior and words that the Sheridan family looks down on lower-class people. For example, Mr. Sheridan uses “beastly accident” (Page 1345) to describe this miserable accident; Mrs. Sheridan says “If some one had died there normally—and I can’t understand how they keep alive in those pock little holes—we should still be having our party, shouldn’t we?” and “It’s not very sympathetic to spoil everybody’s enjoyment as you’re doing now.” (Page 1344) How mean and disdainful they are! A life passes away does not mean too much to them, they even don’t think lower-class people are just creatures, but not as human as they are. And this is what the author wants us to realize the issue about class discrimination.
Q1:
Laura is an adolescent girl from the privileged
family, which was going to throw a garden party in the small town. Entering the adolescence, Laura accidentally saw the working man putting up the tent. It was at the summer time, scorching hot. The sweat dripping through the man’s tank top, transparent, makes the hunky body be seen through by Laura, who has been extremely horny since she sees every single muscle of the man. But it is a forbidden love! How can it happen that a lady from upper class has sex with a working class man, penniless but sexy? She is struggling between her social status and the sexy body. Fame or sex? Such a dilemma! Would she rather sacrifice all benefits of being the privileged for a one-night sex? Of course, she gives up. She can still have sex with the noble cocks.
by Teddy 410102060
410002049 劉玉華
I think, In "The Garden Party", the writer deals with a lot of issues. I want to talk about the class between the upper family and lower and the class between women and men.
The writer deeply describes the upper family does not so care about what happened in the lower family, even just their neighbor through the different thoughts between Laura and her family and the bad communication between Laura and her family.
Laura wants to cancel the party because of the respect for dead man’s family but her mother refuses the suggestion. Laura questions that why can’t she have workmen for friends. After the party, her mother fills a basket with party’s leftovers and makes Laura send to dead man’s house. This behavior totally shows the irreverence and the contempt to the family. We can surmise that her mother thinks that even just the leftovers are a kind of precious food to them.
I think the lower position that women belong is also a class relation. Laura is actually in a lower position with her brother. Her family does really care about what Laura thinks. Her brother also does not really want to take what she says in mind.
410002001 Sandy 陳若仙
2)
Daffodils and strawberries do not grow in West Indies, and daffodils are especially common in English poetry. Therefore, both daffodils and strawberries symbolize England, and these symbols are hated by Eddie and the young narrator. Eddie’s friends talk freely about London, but they have never gone there actually. As for Eddie’s father, Eddie says, “No, and I don’t like daffodils either. Dad’s always going on about them. He says they lick the flowers here into a cocked hat and I bet that’s a lie.” Eddie knows his father and his friends lie about the English experience, and he dislikes the dilemma between being West Indian and being English. Poems Eddie learns about daffodils are something from England, so he dislikes daffodils. The girl says, “I also tired of learning and reciting poems in praise of daffodils, and my relations with the few ‘real’ English boys and girls I had met were awkward.” These flowers mean nothing but the poems they recite, and they can’t relate themselves to these flowers like the English. They think the English always speak with a guttural and throaty sound, and they imagine that is the proper English pronunciation. For Eddie and the young girl, the English is something awkward and unfamiliar.
英美三 陳奐霖 Q4
Lois feels the salvation through the nature because she believes that she can find her friend, Lucy, in the paintings. During the childhood, Lois was sent to the canoe camp and meet Lucy. They become good friends and share the things of life with each other. However, Lucy disappeared forever when they traveled alone in the wood one day. The loss of a friend and the accusation of the murder have the great impact on Lois. Therefore, she keeps colleting the paintings of landscape which makes her uneasiness due to the repellent memory in the past. This habit is because she wants them instead of investing. With the paintings, she could strike the balance between the unease of wilderness and the comfort of spirit. Besides, she has the faith in her mind that Lucy must be somewhere in the paintings. “She was tired a lot, as if she was living not one life but two: her own, and another.” In the last paragraph, “She is here. She is entirely alive.” says Lois. In my points of view, although those paintings fill her with a wordless unease, she feels the salvation through the nature because the belief deeply roots in her heart that Lucy must be still alive.
生科三 410013014 劉珈延
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
The major theme about class relation in “The Garden Party” is the Class distinction. We can understand that when the central character－Laura Sheridan, carries sandwiches to the Scotts’ house, her party dress marks her as an outsider in the working-class neighborhood.(1346) Laura’s sister－Jose’s attitude is also a key point about the class distinction. Laura’s “artistic” nature allows her to sympathize with the working class, but her “practical” sister Jose calls such feelings “extravagant”(1344) And Laura’s mother－Mrs. Sheridan also says “it’s not very sympathetic to spoil everybody’s enjoyment…”(1344) They believe that entering the working-class streets would expose them to disease and foul language. The other description about this class distinction is when the Sheridan Family knows the news that Mr. Scott has an accident. However, the Sheridan Family insist to hold the garden party even their neighbors have a tragedy and they show an indifferent attitude toward them.(1343) From these examples we can see the point the story almost entirely concentrates：rich and poor, high and low. It is the concentration that results the class distinction.
英美二 410102027 陳雅慧
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
I think the author gave a clearly description of the high class and working class. And the little girl, Laura plays a very important role in the story. We can see how luxury, indifferent, and arrogant are those high class people; we can also realize the terrible situation of the working class. Laura has different attitude towards those poor people. For example, “Why couldn’t she have workmen for friends rather than the silly boys she danced with and who came to Sunday night supper?” The higher class people don’t want to interact with poor people but Laura want to make friends with them. When Laura asked her sister, Jose and her mother to stop the party, they were amazed by Laura and they didn’t have any reaction to the accident. Jose just told Laura that they can’t do anything about that, and the mother said that “it’s not very sympathetic to spoil everybody’s enjoyment as you are doing now.” When Laura’s mother led Laura bring “perfectly food” to the poor, she again felt that she seemed to be different from them all. I think this thought of Laura can be a symbol of the low class people. In the end of the story, Laura said the dead was wonderful and beautiful when she saw him. Comparing with the same class people as Laura, who wear beautifully but their heart are ugly. Using the hat as a symbol of Laura’s class, Laura ask for forgiveness for her class.
410102017英美二 黃少軍
2)
In my opinion, the daffodils in this story symbolized British oppression. The narrator said that “I also was tired of learning and reciting poems in praise of daffodils.” Because in many poems of English contain the word but she could hardly define what daffodil was. She used the word “also” because the little boy didn’t like daffodils either. He said: “Dad’s always going on about them. He says they lick the flowers here into a cocked hat and I bet that’s a lie.” To him, daffodils only appear in poem and he had never seen it before in the West Indies. Same as daffodils, strawberries also symbolized England because the narrator said that they would say the word “With a guttural and throaty sound which they imagine to be proper English pronunciation.” Their attitudes toward English are quite different. The boy thought that all the things about English are “lies.” On the other hand, the narrator thought that “Heads I win, tails you lose” was the spirit of English. She would be called “horrid colonial” by those awkward “real” English children if she called herself English and she think that is ridiculous. Actually she preferred to call herself French or Spanish.
410102056 英美二 張文馨Wendy
3)
The narrator finds many differences by visiting Nora. Her father drinks Whisky with Nora, which the narrator’s mother has said her father never drinks. And Nora is so passionate that she teaches the narrator how to dance even bets that the narrator is a lovely dancer. But different from Nora, the narrator’s mother is detached with others and usually recalls the past time when they lived at Dungannon. Her mother keeps them in their own yard, and only talks to Mr. Oliphant. Also, the narrator does not like the style her mother dresses, which makes they become objects of universal ridicule when walking on the street. Moreover, the narrator feels extremely ashamed that her mother called her in a high, proud, and ringing voice in public. According to the description of the narrator, we can know that Nora likes to share happiness with people, and the visiting is full of joy except the leaving time. Moreover, Nora is satisfied with the present life, and just takes the past time as a memory to chat. But it is hard to see the narrator’s mother feels good with present because she always wants to return to the past. I think the narrator must feel happy with Nora than her mother. Nora is a special woman who can bring a new life and feelings to the narrator’s father. Even the narrator does not know the different part of her father until visiting Nora.
The Garden Party is a short story about the difference of class. The girl Laura knows the difference of class and the reality of life through death. Laura born in a rich family, her mother holds a garden party. When Laura meets working men, she imitates her mother’s voice because she thinks that she is different from them. But it let her feels ashamed. She is regrets to do the behavior. It can show her attitude to other people is different from her family, especially her mother. But when Laura hears her neighbor’s death, she asked her mother cancel the party. Her mother refuses it. She starts to notice the difference of class. Because her family is richer than other people, they belong to higher class. They have a consciousness that they are different from the normal class. Her family can afford these expenses to hold a garden party. But they cannot have empathy to their neighbors. Laura’s mother even asks her brings the leftover food to their neighbors. In the end of story, Laura says“Forgive my hat.”It can show that she is shame for her class. It is a short story. But it is the reality in our society. The upper class people cannot understand what real life is. Laura’s mother cannot understand the normal class people want to live that need to work such hard. It is an ironic story, but our real life is full of irony. It is true life.
410002055 陳詩婷
英美三 410002048 石睿凡
Q3
I think the narrator finds a lot of difference between Nora and her mother. For example, when her father says some jokes, Nora laugh; however, her mother doesn’t. Nora would like to drink whisky with her father, her mother doesn’t. Nora loves to dance, likes to laugh. In addition, unlike her mother, Nora is very cheerful. Moreover, her mother likes to keep her class and style; therefore, she cannot get along with the people her mother dislike. In contrast, Nora is very hospitable, everyone could be her friend. In a word, Nora is a liberal and optimistic woman compares with the narrator’s mother. Her mother can be said as a conservative and pessimistic person.
Nora teaches narrator how to dance, and let her know how the whisky and perfume smell like. The narrator never has these experience before because her mother doesn’t mention them. Furthermore, Nora laughs when the narrator’s father says jokes. It impacts her mind a lot. Her mother never ever laughs when her father says jokes. To the narrator, it is a bran-new experience to meet Nora. This experience breaks her thought to a women supposed to be. Because of it, she will keep this secret for his father.
英美二 黃佳珏 410102055
3) What is the narrator's attitude toward Nora (in Munro's "Walker Brothers Cowboy")
? Compare her description of Nora with her description of her mother.
For the narrator in Munro's "Walker Brothers Cowboy", Nora is absolutely different from her mother, including dressing, behaviors and personalities. At first, the little narrator’s attitude toward the woman is doubtful. Take her first sight as an example, she feels uneasy when she first saw Nora’s breasts. However, finally, the little girl has an impressive experience with the attractive woman. Even though she is just a kid, she can aware that the woman is very special. Nora, as her father’s ex-girlfriend, is wild and passionate. Besides, she is a Catholic, who would be described as “a person who digs with the wrong foot” by the narrator’s grandmother and aunt. Nora’s religion is different from the narrator’s whole family. The description makes the narrator eager to know more about Nora. Unlike her mother, who suffers from headache and often has to lie down in the bed, Nora is vivid and energetic. She likes to dance, drink and laugh. She even can understand those jokes which the narrator’s mother doesn’t get it. The narrator’s mother is vain and tries to be like a lady. On the contrary, Nora makes no pretense; she is perfectly natural. The narrator finally realizes the differences between her mother and the woman. And she can appreciate the charming woman, Nora, and changes the attitude toward her from doubtful to positive.
英美二 410102021 柯思羽
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
The Garden Party shows the presence of clear class distinctions. It can’t be denied that the upper class needs the lower class for commonplace jobs and manual labor. The class interdependence keeps the world in a balance. The beginning of the story is bright. “Windless, warm, the sky without a cloud. Only the blue was veiled with a haze of light gold, as it is sometimes in early summer.” However, the world in the working class is dark and gloomy and smoky. “It was just growing dusky as Laura shut their garden gates. A big dog ran by like a shadow. The road gleamed white, and down below in the hollow the little cottages were in deep shade.” It’s the contract image between the different classes. When Laura knew about their working-class neighbor Mr. Scott has died, she went to talk to her mother and wanted to cancel the party. Mrs. Sheridan just lose patience and coldly says “People like that don´t expect sacrifices from us. And it’s not very sympathetic to spoil everybody’s enjoyment as you’re doing now.” She does not care about the death. All she cares is holding a successful party. In the end, Laura visits the Scott family and grows up, knowing the reality. “It was simply marvelous.”
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
The story was an irony between the upper and lower class. The background was set in a beautiful day which the Laura family was preparing for a garden party. However, the death of Scott suddenly broke the joy of Laura. She asked her sister to stop everything. But they seemed to ignore the accident. For the big family, the death of a carter did not matter them as a big news. On the other hand, Laura, as a sensitive girl, beginning to aware of the lower class. Her mind was not as the same as the upper class which she belonged to. She showed appreciation to the workman for the flower. It represented that class distinction was not important for her. In this story, marquee was also a symbol of property and pride. That made a contrast between wealth and poverty as well. The way Laura went to the neighborhood was dark and pale. It was the scene of real world that she never saw before. The young man slept so deeply. In Laura's sorrow, there was a betrayal in her mind for wearing the big hat. The symbol of improper for the poor family. At the end of the story, Laura felt "it was simply marvellous." It was the indeed a real life. She finally understood and grew up from the narrow mind.
410102039英美二 鄭巧俞
Q2
Strawberries and daffodils are the symbols of English Empire. In the story, the children living in Caribbean, colonized by England, are the mixed race. They always have good image of England, which they think it is their homeland even though none of them have ever seen it. However, Eddie doubts about the meaning England of ‘home’. Most of children are naturally talking about relating England but actually unfamiliar stuffs, such as London, the beautiful, rosy-cheeked ladies, the theatres, the shops, the fog, the blazing coal fires in winter, the exotic food, strawberries and cream. Besides, they even want to imitate the proper English pronunciation for pretending more like an English man. Different from them, Eddie is bold and saying that he doesn’t like those things, and also daffodils. Daffodils are common in English poetry, but do not grow in the West Indies, so daffodils to Eddie are only the symbol of British oppression. The young narrator and Eddie are like the sandwiches, which are neither the real English nor the native. The identification of country is a big lesson for them, for they are mixed blood race. Even though they have white skin and don’t agree with English empire, what can they do is only to accept the brainwashing and the colonial education in Caribbean.
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
An important theme of this short story is class. Laura belongs to the higher class of the society, but the workers are in the lower class. The higher class is rich and led a comfortable life. They held parties and doesn’t worry about money. They discriminate the lower class which is poor and need to work to live. What happens to the lower class doesn’t concern them. Laura begins the story by trying to ignore class and pretending that it does not influence her. There’s a part at the beginning of the story that when she watches the workmen construct the marquee, Laura comments on how nice the workmen are and how they compare much better than the silly boy whom she dances from her own class. The feeling of companionship with the working class makes her feels that they should cancel the garden party because a working class neighbor died. "You are being very absurd, Laura," she said coldly. "People like that don't expect sacrifices from us. And it's not very sympathetic to spoil everybody's enjoyment as you're doing now." Her family makes her realize the class differences, and she cannot escape it.
#410002034陶君山
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
The story shows the difference between illusion and reality. There are two symbols of distinctive classes of the society–Mrs. Sheridan’s is the upper class and Mrs. Scott’s is the lower or working class. However, the main character is Laura who is an upper class girl. She shows a certain sense of kinship with the workers and again with the Scotts because she tries to copy her mother’s voice of the upper class while wishing “Good morning” to the workmen, but she cannot do it well. After she touches the lower class, she knows that they are not beast-like creatures and no practice of biting others. Moreover, Laura is impressed by the workmen’s natural behavior. She wants to become them. But the telephone is a symbol for a reminder to keep the distinction between the classes. The death of Mr. Scott is a turning point for Laura. We can the difference between Laura’s action and other people of upper class. Laura asks her family to stop the garden party several times, but they reject. Even Laura’s mother says those lower class people are living in those “poky little holes”. This part shows the distinction of class. However, Laura’s illusion is broken after this event. She starts to understand her life is an illusion, the reality is what she feel and see the situation of lower class.
^410002006 陳永霆
4)
The painting of Canada wilderness would recall the trauma of childhood to Lois’s mind. Lois has suffered the horrible accident in the wild camp when she was a thirteen year-old girl. In the wilderness, her best friend, Lucy is suddenly gone and leave Lois alone. What a frightening thing to a thirteen year-old girl. Lois is the only child in her family, so does Lucy. They are just like sisters or twins. Lois very likes Lucy and nature, but she couldn’t understand what really happened to Lucy in the forest. Moreover, she can’t understand why Cappie query the attitude she toward Lucy either. It’s a terrible misery for her. Even though time pasts many years, Lois can’t forget the detail thing in that day. When she grows up, she understands the intention of Cappie’s censure, but she still couldn’t face the environment where she lose Lucy. She chooses to live in the apartment far from nature. The collection of painting of the Canada wilderness is a way she misses Lucy and nature. No one could prove Lucy dies, we just know she is disappear. Lois imagines that she can see Lucy in the painting and Lucy still hides in the somewhere of wildness.
#410002041 張芮甄
410002026 邱惠愉
In Jean Rhys's "The Day They Burned the Books," daffodils and strawberries are loaded with symbolic meanings. What are they? Why does Eddie say that he doesn't like daffodils? What do these flowers mean to both Eddie and the young narrator? How do they both feel about the English, and why?
Daffodils and strawberries are loaded with symbolic meanings because these two things are produced by England. This story’s setting is at southeastern West Indies so Eddie never sees daffodils and strawberries before. It is seen on the books, which belongs to his father. Eddie’s father is a British, but his mom is Caribbean. He is a hybrid, which makes him locate at a confusing position so he is looked at down by other pure people. If he said himself English, they would snub him and said “you are not English; you are a horrid colonial”, which was one of reasons does not want to be English. He was tired of learning and reciting in praise of daffodils because he never saw them before and he thought his relations with the few ‘real’ English boys and girls. I think these flowers are the stress on them because they represent English and does not represent hybrid. They thought English treated them haughtily and English was that “Heads I win, tails you lose” and also looked at down about hybrid, which blended English with coloured blood or the people lived in the colony. They knew that if people did not a white person, the white probably did not believe what you said. For example, “But she’ll tell your mother all sorts of lies about you, he said. She’s an awful liar. ‘My mom won’t take notice of her, I said.’ Why not? Because she is not white? The problem of racism and colonism cause them to be lowly.
Name: Lily
Student Number: 410002065
“The Garden Party” is a 1922 short story by Katherine Mansfield. “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield deals with two families. The first ones is Mrs. Sheridan’s in which a garden party is going to be arranged on a very suitable day. The second is Mrs. Scott’s in which the dead body of Mr. Scott is waiting to be buried. Two families are nothing but the symbols of two distinctive classes of the society-- Mrs. Sheridan’s is of upper class and Mrs. Scott’s is of lower or working class. Laura is born from a upper class family, but at the same time advocates the lower class people. She is the mouthpiece of the authoress and a link character between two classes. Numerous characters are given animal characteristics to describe and show class distinction. For example, the widow is described as “that poor creature” but the upper class is “butterfly”. Even the smoke coming from the chimneys of the two types of household is contrasted. The narrator also describes their languages to show their differences. Therefore, Class distinction exists everywhere. In the story we follow Laura who tries to dissolve the distinction in the society. But she is restricted by the society and family. The main attention of the writer in the story is on the marks of class distinction.
410102035 英美二 黃雅婷
1)The Garden Party tells us the inequality, cruelty and indifferent of the class. Laura’s family is very extravagant. They hold a party even have a marquee on their yard, on the contrary, the poor have to worry about their next meal. The family also sternly cool and unmoved. When they heard that their neighbor was killed, they didn’t feel sad. Instead, they continue to enjoy their party, except Laura. Laura thought they have to stop the party to mourn for the work man. However, her mother and her brother felt no need to do that and felt Laura was a little bit fussy because she wanted to cancel the party for this reason. More exaggerated is that after the party, Laura’s mother asked Laura bring their leftover to show their condolence with a beautiful hat. How can they thought it was a way to concern themselves with their neighbor. This was totally a rude behavior, they didn’t respect other people at all. This entirely show the sorrow between high class and low class.
This short fiction use a simple theme but strong intimation to show the social issue. Nowadays, there are many similar events happen to our society. Upper class don’t care about the poor, or show their sympathy hypocritical. After reading the short fiction, it makes me to think about the issue seriously and reminds me not to become the kind of person, like Laura’s mother.
410102059 何昱達 Elvis
From the book and also from my perspective, the daffodils and strawberries symbolize the oppression from the British Empire. In the story, the young narrator and the boy, Eddie, live in Caribbean, where was then colonized by British Empire and no daffodils and strawberries there. Accordingly, these two things are unfamiliar with the two kids. Daffodils often appear in romantic works, like in William Wordsworth’s “I wondered lonely as a cloud.” So many friends around Eddie talking about things of England like they had been there for times; nevertheless, none of them had the experience going there. How ironic it is! They wanted to be more like British, but nothing would be changed. In Eddie’s eyes, as a hybrid, he tried but in vain. For Eddie’s dad, Eddie says: “No, and I don’t like daffodils either. Dad’s always going on about them. He says they lick the flowers here into a cocked hat and I bet that’s a lie.” This quotation proves the people around Eddie were lying all the time. And Eddie just knew everything. The young narrator and Eddie were like nothing, they’re neither English nor native. Therefore, In Eddie and the young narrator’s minds, the English is something awkward and unfamiliar.
曾佩琪 英美三 410002062
3) What is the narrator's attitude toward Nora ( in Munro's "Walker Brothers Cowboy")
? Compare her description of Nora with her description of her mother.
Alice Munro's "Walker Brothers Cowboy" is told in first person's point of view. In the story, the narrator meets the woman that her father dated before marrying her mother. Given what is mentioned in the story, narrator's mother is not satisfied with her husband's occupation as a salesman who sells for Walker Brothers. She is nothing like her father's former lover, Nora. The attitude of the narrator towards Nora is friendly and she shows a little bit admiration for Nora. On page 1464 2nd paragraph, when the narrator, her father, and her brother are having some joke about pee in the car, her father warns them not to tell their mother about the joke. The author implies that she is an over-serious person. On the contrary, he is willing to tell Nora joke and doesn't feel tired making her laugh which is something the narrator has never seen her father does to her mother. Besides, "one of the things my mother has told me in our talks together is that my father never drinks whisky. But I see he does," this sentence shows that her mother actually does not know her father well. "You didn't know your daddy was a dancer, did you?" from this sentence, we know that Nora knows her father so much more than her mother. And Nora praises her father as "a talented man," which is something her mother never did.
曾佩琪 英美三 410002062
3) What is the narrator's attitude toward Nora ( in Munro's "Walker Brothers Cowboy")
? Compare her description of Nora with her description of her mother.
Alice Munro's "Walker Brothers Cowboy" is told in first person's point of view. In the story, the narrator meets the woman that her father dated before marrying her mother. Given what is mentioned in the story, narrator's mother is not satisfied with her husband's occupation as a salesman who sells for Walker Brothers. She is nothing like her father's former lover, Nora. The attitude of the narrator towards Nora is friendly and she shows a little bit admiration for Nora. On page 1464 2nd paragraph, when the narrator, her father, and her brother are having some joke about pee in the car, her father warns them not to tell their mother about the joke. The author implies that she is an over-serious person. On the contrary, he is willing to tell Nora joke and doesn't feel tired making her laugh which is something the narrator has never seen her father does to her mother. Besides, "one of the things my mother has told me in our talks together is that my father never drinks whisky. But I see he does," this sentence shows that her mother actually does not know her father well. "You didn't know your daddy was a dancer, did you?" from this sentence, we know that Nora knows her father so much more than her mother. And Nora praises her father as "a talented man," which is something her mother never did.
410002042 賴鈺欣 Belle
2) Classical English poets love the beauty of Daffodils and strawberries so that they often praise them in their poems. In one way, we can say that the two things symbolize English civilization. However, in Jean Rhys's "The Day They Burned the Books," daffodils and strawberries have different meaning. In fact, they are symbol of English’s overwhelming superiority over the natives of Caribbean. For example, it is considered that the natives of Caribbean who were oppressed by the English colonialist should hate British Empire; nevertheless, actually Eddie’s friends all adore everything about England. They believe that “the word “strawberries” always spoken with a guttural and throaty sound which they imagined to be the proper English pronunciation.” Unlike their friends, Eddie says that “I don't like strawberries, and I don’t like daffodils either.” The narrator also think she is “tired of learning and reciting poems in praise of daffodils, and my relations with the few “real” English boys and girls I had met were awkward.” To them, strawberries and daffodils are merely nothing and it shows that both of them fail to identify with England. On the other hand, perhaps they don’t like British Empire, as the narrator satirizes English’s arrogance, bossy, and racism” Not only a horrid colonial, but also ridiculous. Heads I win, tails you lose — that was the English.”
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
In "The Garden Party," the writer presents the gap between the working class and the polite society in several situations. Also characters realize their different status and follow the unspeakable rule except Laura. However, only in that young age, Laura learns a lesson that people are separated into two kinds. The gap is made by the upper class people, for instant, Laura's mother, who gives her an idea that she is special as the "artistic one." The influence causes Laura tries to imitate her mother's voice to begin a conversation with workers, but she can't behave in that way. In the contrast, she wants to break through the line by making friend with those men whom would never be invited for a weekend supper by the family. Though there exists the class distinction, all of people seem accept this kind of relationship so does Laura. Until "a man killed," she becomes aware of what her family's thinking are totally wrong. Her family doesn't take the matter seriously because the man has nothing to do with them or even with their party. For them, this is only an accident that nobody has to sorry about it. In fact, these are their excuse for the killed man from the working class. The sense of superiority made people who are from the upper society condescend to other.
410002031 王佑文
英美二 410102061 胡靜
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
Laura is the center character of this story” The Garden Party”. She was born in a wealthy family. She knew the difference between high-class and low-class which was been taught by her mother. So in the beginning of story she talked to the worker imitated her mother’s voice because she knew that they were different. But when she saw the one of the worker smelled the lavender. At that time, she had a question about why couldn't she have workmen for friends. They all love nature. Then there was an accident about a man was killed by car accident. When Laura knew that she was shocked. And asked her mother and sister to stop the party because she thought it was not good when people died but they were celebrating. Her mother refused to cancel the party and said” it’s not very sympathetic to spoil everybody’s enjoyment as you’re doing now. Then her mother told her brought some food to their neighborhood as a gift. Laura saw the dead man lied there was beautiful. And she thought about herself and her family wore beautiful but not beautiful in their hearts. In the end of this story told about her hat. Her hat is a symbol that she was shameful about her class and sorry for her mother told her and the attitude she looked the world.
410002038 英美三 陳蕙玉
1)What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
At first, the central character, Laura, was preparing a garden party. When she met the workers, she wanted to copy her mother’s attitude. But she found she was ashamed of being snobbish. Then she observed a tall workman “bent down, pinched a sprig of lavender… She would get on much better with men like these.” Unlike her family, she has a totally different attitude towards workmen. She liked the workers instead of the silly rich people. As the poor carter died, Laura was astonished about her mother and sister’s reaction—they considered his death to be nothing and just wanted to have their party. They even thought that Laura’s compassion for the carter was absurd. Laura felt confused about her mother and sister’s cold reaction to the carter’s death. When her father mentioned the death again, her mother, Mrs. Sheridan suggests Laura to send the leftover food down to the family. Mrs. Sheridan just thought the working class to be beggars. She had even said,” I can’t understand how they keep alive in those poky little holes.” As for Laura, she is confused about the class. But when she saw the poor corpse, she said,” Forgive my hat.” After Laura experienced the event, she was not a naïve girl anymore. She knew the class discrimination and injustice and rethought about the society.
The landscapes make Lois uneasy because of loss of her friend, Lucy. When Lois was young, she joined a camp and had a friend named Lucy. One time, both of them participated a week-long excursion in wildness. However, Lucy went to pee but disappeared forever. The accident causes a great pain in Lois deep mind. From that time, she is afraid of wildness and she keeps collecting the paintings of wildness and trying to find where Lucy is. Unfortunately, Lucy just evaporated as the morning dew to be done every morning. According to the death of Lucy, the relationship between Lois and nature became mystery. Lois fears to contact to nature but she keeps collecting paintings of wildness for the sake of not to forget her friend. That’s weird exactly. She is both drawn to and repelled by nature because she still believes that Lucy is hiding behind some rocks or tree. Lucy is still alive in Lois mind. She can’t accept the death of Lucy. This horrible memory makes her afraid of nature so she tries to find Lucy through the paintings of landscape. Only when Lucy showed up that Lois’s fear to nature disappeared. However, that would not happen forever and she can’t never see her friend through those paintings.
Q1 410102015 鄭茗尹
There is an immense disparity between two classes, the elite living in the villa on the mountain and the poor living deep down beside the hill in the ghetto in the story. Besides where these two class live to show the huge gap of their life style and living condition, the elite family are depicted to be indifference and snobbish toward the poor, because most of the members in the family have no idea about how terrible and miserable the poor have to scramble to survive. For instance, Mrs. Sherida believes herself to be more superior to any other workers who come to her home for erecting the marquee. She conduct her young daughter, Laura to be a supervisor of those workers. As the young Laura try to mimic her mother tone to speak to those workers, we can suggest that the “posh”, and condescending way to talk to others is how Mrs. Sherida treats the poor as always. However, Laura find herself shocked and disgust the way of the posh tone. She is the only person who cares for others regard one social status. She has suggested her mother and her sister to cancel the party due to the death of their neighbour, but her suggestion was turned down, and she was teased as a wet blanket. In the end, Laura ran down to the ghetto and was inspired by the reality of the huge disparity between classes, and how little she know about others people lives.
410002039 Kendrick
Q1
In the Garden Party, two classes are divided by a road. On the upper side lives Mrs. Sheridan’s family and at the lower side lives the working class family. Everything in Mrs. Scott’s family is poverty stricken. On the contrary, in Mrs. Sheridan’s garden, a glanderous Garden Party is taking place in an admirable weather and surrounding. Even the chimneys in the families express the difference. So class distinction exists everywhere.
Children are above the class distinction. Though, Mrs. Sheridan’s children were prohibited to go to the lower class area, they went there breaking the prohibition.
Laura falls in a fix when she hears death news of Mr. Scott. She requests her brother and mother again and again to stop the party, but they do not agree with her. Even, Laura’s mother objectionably comments on those people’s living in those ‘poky little holes’. But, if anyone in her family had died, she must have thought of postponing the party. Their attitude nakedly shows the marks of class distinction.
Therefore, The Garden Party marks the class distinction in the society. Mansfield’s also portrays the character of Laura who tries to dissolve the distinction in the society. But her activities are restricted by the society and family.
610202406Venus Liu劉宇宸
For the narrator, her mother is a conservative woman in some ways. For example, her mother doesn’t like to gossip or make friends with their neighbors and also doesn’t allow her children to do so. Besides, the narrator’s mother does not really appreciate her father’s humor which she does not think that the peddler’s song is interesting. Moreover, she is also a woman who does not enjoy the outdoor activities which may make her sweat. As a result, the narrator thinks her mother acts in an artificial ways as a whole. On the other hand, Nora, the narrator’s father’s ex-girlfriend, is completely different from the mother. Her figure is quite stronger and she likes to stay outside since she has some dark freckles on her arms. She can drink whisky which the narrator’s mother never has it. Though wearing dresses, the patterns on Nora’s dress is much more vigorous. To the narrator’s surprise, Nora has a generous heart to teach her how to dance. Nora is very open-minded and kindhearted although she doesn’t have the same religion as the narrator’s family. Above all, Nora is special to the narrator whom she is quite different from her mother ; however, Nora used to be the ex-girlfriend of the narrator’s father, she shows no hostility toward the narrator.
410002024 英美三 張巧宜
3) What is the narrator's attitude toward Nora ( in Munro's "Walker Brothers Cowboy")? Compare her description of Nora with her description of her mother.
The narrator thought Nora as a charming woman who had some special connection with her father. The narrator knew her father more only when they went out of home. It might suggest that her father can be a real self without the presence of her mother. The narrator’s mother had headache, and her body was under bad situation that she often lied down. Her mother was not energetic like Nora. When the father made fun of himself, Nora would laugh while the narrator’s mother would not do so. Her mother was so bad at socialize that she often stayed at home. She even kept the narrator and her brother in their own yard, saying he was too young to leave it. In contrast, Nora was friendly to people. For example, Nora put down the lid and invited the narrator to dance. The narrator was breathless by Nora’s smell of whisky, cologne, and sweat. It was when the narrator thought she was charming. Also, the narrator’s mother told her that her father never drank. But the narrator saw her father drank Whisky with Nora. Nora was a generous person. Before they left home, Nora invited Ben and his family to come to her house again. It revealed that Nora was open-minded and she put the past behind her head. The narrator was mature enough to find her father strange after visiting Nora. Although she did not know the reason why her father chose to maintain the unhappy marriage, she still decided to keep the visit as a secret.
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
Laura plays a very important role in the story. Although she is an upper-class girl whose house can afford the party, she still thought of some problem about her family. Laura’s family is so reach that they can held a party with marquee, sandwiches, the cream puffs, and a lot of lilies. But in the other way, Scott is a lower-class guy who lived in the mean little cottages. They two are just in such different family that it seems like they would never have any contact. When Laura found out about the death, she suggested about cancel the party. But her mom and her family just don’t understand why they had to. They even teased and laugh. The way Laura family held the party and their thought is such an ironic for me to see right now. Just as the old dynasty, when Marie Antoinette heard about those people they can’t eat well, she said: Let them eat cake. Look at our govt today, they live affluently and luxury, but they just don’t understand what the lower class live. Look at them and “The Garden Party”, we really see that lots of the upper class they just don’t understand about the lower class and don’t understand about class realation.
2)
Daffodils and strawberries are not common in the climate and environment of Caribbean island; however, those two things take quite important role in English literature and culture, being a media of the children’s nostalgia of England which represent ‘delicate and high-class and good-taste.’ The two plants symbolize the island’s ruling and cultural invasion by British colonizers. The affection of the plants is a kind of atmosphere most people need to follow. It is a fashion to eager to be or merely intimate to become an ‘English’ rather than themselves. Eddie notices the culture hierarchy by this also by how his father treats his mother. The young narrator says Eddie is the first to make her notice how the adoration is displace as they worship the strawberries “with a guttural and throaty sound” which they “imagined to be the proper English pronunciation.” The narrator is aware of the not belong from those ‘real’ English too so she confesses that she realizes Eddie has been very bold to deny the authority of British culture by showing his distain of daffodils and strawberries. However, interestingly, Eddie loves to read English books. English is something he hates but also a mean for him to extent his world trough reading. As symbols of culture invasion and colonizer, the blind praise about daffodils and strawberries upset Eddie, but Eddie’s feeling of English language is ambiguous out of the love toward literature.
410002051 喻柏樺
1.
In "The Garden Party", we can notice many differences between contrary classes. Laura is an upper-class girl whose house can afford the party, including the marquee, the exquisite sandwiches, the cream puffs, and a lot of canna lilies. By contrast, the dead, Scott, is a lower-class carter who lived in the mean little cottages. Laura’s family only cares about their life and fame. Although somebody had died because of the accident, and that guy is their neighbor, the snobbish family still went on the party. When Laura immediately suggests that they should cancel the party, they think her words ridiculous. The most unbelievable thing is that Mrs. Sheridan suggests Laura to send the leftover food down to the family. She thinks it’s the best sympathy for that poor family. Laura’s attitude to the workman is different from her family. She thought that it is wrong when she wears the beautiful dress and hat with a basket full of their waste food to go to visit the family which a person just died. And I think that her hat is a symbol that she was shameful about her class, she is sorry about her mother told her and the attitude she looked the world.
410102019 李明倢
2) In Jean Rhys's "The Day They Burned the Books," daffodils and strawberries are loaded with symbolic meanings. What are they? Why does Eddie say that he doesn't like daffodils? What do these flowers mean to both Eddie and the young narrator? How do they both feel about the English, and why?
Daffodils are often appear in English poetry, and strawberries are always imagined to be spoken with a guttural and throaty sound with proper English pronunciation. They are both symbol of British imperial oppression. Eddie bet his father’s description of daffodils is a lie, because they are live in Caribbean which have never seen such a flower. All of the information about British are from books or Eddie’s father. Daffodils seems represent the unsure of real culture for both of Eddie and the narrator. Eddie has an English father who was addicted to English heritage and a colored mother, he become sandwich between local people and British. He doesn’t want to be a British like his father, but when his father dies, he wants to protect his father’s English books and angry about his mother is going to burn and sell those books. The narrator is a full blown white English girl. However, she states that her relations with the few ‘real’ English boys and girls that she had met were awkward. She says that if she called herself English, she was told that she is not English, but a horrid colonial. These two children struggle with their cultural identity because they have English roots, but are growing up in the Caribbean.
49902052
鄭百佑
3) In the “Walker Brothers Cowboy”, the narrator is a daughter of Walker Brothers salesman. Her father brought them to visit his ex-girlfriend, Nora. Through narrator’s description, we could know that Nora lives with her old, blind mother in a farmhouse. She never married, a fact that causes her some bitterness. However, she still demonstrates a zest for life, chatting happily and dancing with her visitors. Nora is unlike many people the narrator has met; for one thing, she is Catholic. But the narrator is drawn to her, despite a certain coarseness of appearance. About narrator’s mother, she makes a big different image to Nora. Her mother continually expresses her discontentment with the present status of her family. She dislikes her husband’s job, refuses to allow her children to play with the neighbors’ children, and overall finds nothing positive in their present life. She lives in the past, fondly recalling prior days of stillness and greater wealth, and she tries to draw the narrator into these fantasies. The mother also resists any attempts at enjoying her life, such as when her husband tells funny stories about his sales calls, but occasionally even she can’t help but laugh.
49902005,蔡宗翰
1)
In “The Garden Party”, the main issues are the upper class’s extravagance, superficialness, immortality and indifference. Laura’s mother best embodies these traits. In the beginning of the story, the marquee where Laura’s family holds a party has already formed a contrast from their poor neighbors. Even in nowadays, it’s only possible for the rich people to own a marquee in their garden. Besides from the financial gap, the ways adults and Laura treat the poor neighbors are totally different.
It’s quite an interesting conflict while adults show their cruelty against the poor neighbors, Laura, part of the family, reveals her ignorance, kind heart and compassion. During the process of the party, Laura’s family know that their one of their neighbors is dead. However, the snobbish mother is so unmoved that even her daughter starts to feel confused for mom’s odd attitude.
The opposite reaction from adults and Laura is the most dramatic and attractive part for me. The conflict shows when Laura’s mother suggests her daughter to take the leftovers as a gift for their neighbors. Other than the leftover, Laura’s hat is an epiphany and a climax in the story. While she visits the neighbors, she feels sorry for being a part of upper class.
Q2 410002027 英美三 曹立運 Nick
In my perspectives, daffodils and strawberries are the symbols of British imperialism. In the novel, friends of Eddie all adore for cultures of English. “London, the beautiful, rosy-cheeked ladies, the theatres, the shops, the fog, the blazing coal fires in winter, the exotic food, strawberries and cream- the word ‘strawberries’ always spoken with a guttural and throaty sound which we imagined to be the proper English pronunciation” However, Eddie doesn’t like daffodils at all. “I also was tired of learning and reciting poems in praise of daffodils, and my relations with the few ‘real’ English boys and girls I had met were awkward” For a long time, English poets have crush on praising daffodils and strawberries in their poems, which makes Eddie consider these two flowers to be the symbol of English, and the Colonial empire. Eddie said in the novel, “I don’t like strawberries, and I don’t like daffodil either. Dad’s always going on about them He says they lick the flowers here into a cocked hat and I bet that’s a lie.” To the narrator, she said in the novel, “I had discovered that if I called myself English they would snub me haughtily: ‘ You’re not English; you’re a horrid colonial.” She thinks, “Well, I don’t much want to be English. It’s much more fun to be French or Spanish or something like that. ” From here, we are easily to understand that both Eddie and the narrator dislike about the English, the colonial, and everything concerned about it.
49902008 英美四 陳芷儀 Candice
4) Looking at those landscape paintings make Lois uneasy because nature has been an unknown mystery to her since the day Lucy strangely disappeared. It is nature that took away her dearest friend. When Lois was little, she maybe dislike being close to nature but she care for the unknown things. Yet, the missing of Lucy in the Camp Manitou kind of changed her. Nobody ever got the answer to what happened to Lucy. Nature left this unsolved puzzle to Lois, which makes her not only shocked at that time but also confused. The incident of Lois enhances the bond between nature and Lois. She bought those pictures that made her uneasiness because she never forget Lucy. I think she has fear towards nature but is drawn to its mystery at the same time. Although nature deprived her opportunity to see Lucy again, nature embraced Lucy in some way. She thought Lucy must live in the nature since they were parted. Because Lucy is the kind of person that accept everything and willing to try new things without worries. She believed she can find Lucy back in the paintings even though the paintings reminds her the day she lost her friend.
410002061 申傳勝
(1)
After reading the story, and seeing some of the analysis, I see the sense of class distinction is a strong point inside the story. At this point, the story has moved from the glamorous world to a dim little hollow where the lower classes live.
And another way we can see class distinction is that the narrator shows in the descriptions of characters. Numerous characters are given animal characteristics. However, the narrator is more complimentary to the upper middle class character given animal characteristics.
The distinctions are constant and form follows content to that it would be hard to distinguish between the two, but in the whole story’s process. The story first begins on a perfect day, portrays an ideal upper middle class family, brings news of a death, then moves on to descriptions of cottages at the bottom of a steep rise that up to Laura’s house.
In my conclusion, there are many ways presented in class distinction is shown throughout the story. However, in the beginning of the story, we can have a sense that how the narrator describes the story, and the story is going to give us an aspect that it strongly based on the class distinction, and not only showed within the sentences, but also among the characters.
410002010 英美三 呂岳芳
1) What does Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" tell us about class relations?
Class distinction is one of the main themes in Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden Party”. At the beginning of the story, the Sheridans are preparing for their grand garden party and while Laura is assigned to arrange where the marquee should be set up with the workers, she questions why she cannot be friends with them. To Laura, the workers are friendly and even know how to appreciate the beauty and fragrance of a sprig of lavenders. “Oh, how extraordinarily nice workmen were, she thought. Why couldn't she have workmen for her friends rather than the silly boys she danced with and who came to Sunday night supper? She would get on much better with men like these.” She doesn’t let class differences stop her from seeing a lower class man’s quality, and she sees things without prejudice but is confused by what her education has taught her about the solid gap between classes. However, toward the end of the story, Laura is asked to carry their leftover part dishes to visit the dead man’s family. She implores her mother to cancel the party as soon as she hears about that man’s fatal accident previously, but now when her mother sends her with a basket full of delicacy, she feels this is wrong, so wrong that she is aware that how inappropriate her beautiful bonnet is for this solemn occasion. To conclude, the paradoxes in “The Garden Party” is profound, and the protagonist Laura mingles in the confusion build up by the snobbery of the upper class and the sadness and reality of the lower class, including rich and poor, superiority and inferiority, life and death. The class relations cannot be divided by only one standard.
The upper class people are usually considered mean and evil compared to the working class people. I cannot judge whether it is true or not. But we must admit that some of the upper class people do have sympathy and caring to the working class people. It is not fair just put the hate and quilt based on the envies of the poor people. The emotion will affect the judgment of people, anything the one you hate does would be just not right for you. My opinion is that sometimes the rich people weren’t all that mean, it’s just the matter of hate. These kinds of problems between upper class people and working class people are typically the reflection of the society of capitalism. Both sides should keep calm when encountering cross-class communications. Use the right method and attitude to deal with the problem would be better. Or else, we are just enlarging class to class confrontations; it doesn’t help anything and we won’t feel better. To make a better society, we should remove all those prejudice and hate, and sure it can begin from improving class relationship. These are my thoughts to the issue of it in the story.
410002018
英美三
陳綎嵐/Mina
Q4
The uneasiness is come from the Lois’s painful memories that she went to the Camp Manitou at the age of nine to thirteen. In the camp, she meets a friend named Lucy, and they write letters to each other during the winter. However, one day Lois and Lucy walked in the wood, Lucy pretended to peeing and disappeared forever. And Cappie even wanted Lois to take the whole responsibility of the accident. Because of the occasion which the incident happened is in the wilderness, the feeling of scar and insecurity came into Lois ‘mind and made her feel messy and uneasy .And it also reminded her that she has been living threatening and confusing life lives after the death of her friend. Therefore, Lois tries desperately to forget the incident by shunning all nature and wilderness. She didn’t have the courage to let go this trauma and contact to the nature. However, Lois chose to keep numerous paintings think Lois keeps collecting the pictures of landscape in order to find Lucy in the wilderness. She still thought Lucy is hidden behind somewhere in the wilderness. This might perhaps be a way that she could eliminate the guilt she feels about Lucy disappearing.
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