- In Katherine Mansfield's "Garden Party," what do we learn about Laura when she talks to the workmen about the placement of the marquee? How sure of herself is she? How does she demonstrate confused feelings toward the workmen? Describe Laura's thoughts and feelings when she visits the Scott family and views the corpse. Why does Laura think Scott's dead body is "wonderful, beautiful"? What has Laura learned by the end of the story?
- In Jean Rhys's "The Day They Burned the Books," 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? What do Mr. Sawyer's books represent to Mrs. Sawyer? Why does she want to destroy them?
- In Alice Munro's "Walker Brothers Cowboy," what is the narrator's attitude toward Nora? Compare her description of Nora with her description of her mother. How does our view of the father change when he visits Nora? How does the narrator's view change? Does she feel estrangement or a greater sense of fellowship?
- In Margaret Atwood's "Death by Landscape," referring to Lois's collection of paintings of the Canadian wilderness, the narrator 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?
6/03/2015
Postcolonial Voices: (deadline: 6/17)
Write an essay (250-300 words) based on ONE of the following questions; cite relevant texts to prove your points:
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Question 4
49302007 JoJo
Of course Lois makes uneasy because Lucy is disappeared, who take part in the Camp Manitou every summer and winter. Lois still very sad and also very scared, because why Lucy climbed the dangerous cliff, and wanted to go pee, and then suddenly disappeared? We don’t understand that Lucy never returns, but Lois never give up, she must believe Lucy lives in the wilderness. On the one hand, Lois and Lucy's feelings are inseparable friends, even if it is encountered animals or cliffs in the wilderness, two little girls are easy to skip difficulties. Nevertheless, Lois feels very inferior, because Lucy is nothing as good as Lois, her beauty, "so blonde, with translucent skin and large blue eyes like a doll's", learning ballet and very cute American girl can not match Lois. Actually, her mood is not very good when all is said and done, I think. However, we can only imagine what kind of fright that Lois has on the wilderness after the incident, and she “bought the pictures” because of Lucy, she must still be inside the Camp. Atwood descrbesto show the readers a symbolic perception of “Death by Landscape.”
By the way, we believe that this is a non unusual phenomenon, it must be a magic power, because Lucy suddenly disappear beyond this point if there is a scientific phenomenon, like the Bermuda Triangle, many passing boats, aircraft and personnel would mysteriously disappeared.
Q3
410102073 Jessie
In Alice Munro's "Walker Brothers Cowboy," the narrator and her younger brother follow their father going out for selling things, and they visits Nora, who was obviously the ex-girlfriend of their father. When Nora changes her clothes and goes out, the narrator is astonished about Nora’s dressing because her style is totally different from her mother. The narrator’s mother is weak, and she only wants to stay at home do the sewing instead of going out with her husband and kids, and this makes her has a boring image. Compare to the narrator’s mother, Nora is an energetic and interesting woman, who makes the narrator’s father drink Whisky, which her father has never drunk. She also tries to make him dance with her.
The narrator’s father’s mood has changed since he saw Nora. Before their visit, he felt a little upset because of his unsuccessful business trade, but his emotion was cheered up by Nora. These are all discovered by the narrator. “I feel my father’s life flowing back from our car in the last of the afternoon, darkening and turning strange, like a landscape that he has an enchantment on it” (Line 1, Paragraph 2, page 1469). However, the narrator is considerate of her father. She knows it is not suitable for her to tell her mother about their visit to Nora, and she decides to keep it as a secret. Although she thinks the relationship between her father and Nora is not just the relationship as normal friends, she still chooses not to say the truth. Maybe it is because she sees her father’s the other side which can be rarely seen, and she wants to treasure it and keep it as a secret between her father and her.
410202030 李以婷
Q2
I think that it is reasonable that Eddie doesn’t like the daffodils. First, he has never seen the flowers so these are nothing for him. Second, he doesn’t like the English. The daffodils usually are found in the British literature and represent the spirit of the British Empire. It is a noble and pure symbol for the English. In the story, Eddie and the young narrator live in a country colonized by the British Empire and there aren’t daffodils planted. Although they learn all things about the British Empire and even have completed or half the blood relationship of white but are thought that they are not true English and even are much worse just t because they don’t be in the motherland. For them, the English is far but takes control them tightly and viciously. They know it seem to be not fair and have some problem between them and the English but can’t tell their feeling clearly when they are just children. They only express their mind through the detestation of the daffodils as the symbol of the British unconsciously.
That Mrs. Sawyer burns Mr. Sawyer's books also means a rebel against the English’s oppression. We can know that Mrs. Sawyer must be a black or hybrid. She suffers people’s prejudice by scold or beating due to her identity, even if all people there don’t be referred as the true English, especially her husband. She always bears this treat. When he dies, her negative emotion bursts out. Thus, she destroys Mr. Sawyer's books which are about the “real” English “and also symbolize as the English.
410202011李昀蕙
I’d like to answer question 4.
The similar images and surroundings within the paintings that remind Lois of the strange incident make her uneasy. Even though there are no people or animals in those paintings, Lois believes that there is someone looking back out, and that person is her best friend who just vanished when they were at the camp, Lucy. Also, the art collection shows how Lois has been living. She has been carrying this feeling that she was sentenced and condemned for something that was not her fault, and the knowledge that she had been singled out stays with her (1497). When she looks into the paintings, she sees the same landscape as the place she went camping with Lucy, also, she sees the only possible explanation of the disappearance of Lucy that she must be inside the painting, hiding behind the stone island or trees and alive.
Lois was once close to nature, but never wants to get near to nature again later. Lois is drawn to nature for her wishes to be an Indian, be adventurous, pure and aboriginal. She is fascinated by the activities in nature, like the canoe trip. And nature is where her best friend, Lucy and her reunion take place. They have sweet memories of the camping in nature, where they grew up together and shared everything like a twin. However, nature was also where she lost Lucy, who disappeared for no reason and made her go through a lot of confrontation which felt like interrogation. Nature reminds her of losing Lucy who was being not too far from her and just vanished and became a mystery. Therefore, she cannot stand being anywhere around nature.
In Katherine Mansfield's "Garden Party," what do we learn about Laura when she talks to the workmen about the placement of the marquee? How sure of herself is she? How does she demonstrate confused feelings toward the workmen? Describe Laura's thoughts and feelings when she visits the Scott family and views the corpse. Why does Laura think Scott's dead body is "wonderful, beautiful"? What has Laura learned by the end of the story?
We can know that Laura has a social class gap between these workmen. Like in the page 1336-10, “ Laura’s upbringing made her wonder for am moment whether it was quite respectful of a workman to talk to her of bangs slap in the eye. But she did quite follow him.” As for Laura herself, interacting with these workers let she feel like a work girl, not a rich girl. At that moment, she experience a feeling that never surge over her heart. The way they act, the words they say, like” I don’t fancy it.” “You want to put it somewhere where it’ll give you a bang slap in the eye, if you follow me.” ( page.1338-10) These tiny act lead Laura start to wonder if it’s right for women to talk like that.
When Laura step into somewhere like slum area, the landscape start to change. When the Scott family invited her into the house, there are two emotion to emerge: one is she never go into this kind of house, that is curiosity. Another feeling I think is because at that moment if she doesn’t obey their request, Laura will probably be in danger. After she see the corpse, I think some inspiration about life and dead is strong than a shock of first to see the corpse. “ What did garden parties and baskets and lace frocks matter to him? He was far from all those things. He was wonderful, beautiful. While they were laughing and while the band was playing, this marvel had come to the lane. (page. 1347-7)
At the last, Laura say: I am content. (page.1347-8) When her brother come to her and try to comfort her no to cry, Laura say that the reason why she cry is because she was stunned by the life.
Q3
410102008黃暐婷
The narrator thinks Nora is different from her mother in a good way. Her mother lives in the past when they were once rich. She cannot accept the fact that they had become poor. In order to show her dignity, she dresses as a lady when shopping, pretending to not be in the same par as the neighbors while she actually is. The narrator loathes her mother’s act for not being strong enough to face the reality optimistically like her father. Nora, on the other hand, deals with the harsh environment with easiness. She has short hair and wears a dress with big flowers, which makes her youthful and energetic. She also laughs a lot. When the narrator’s father mentions the chamber pot incident, she laughs as hard as her little brother did, which her mother would never find funny. Nora also drinks whisky, listens to music and dance.
Before the visiting, we feel that the father is a flat character and has been what he is since ever before. It seems to the narrator that her father is always there. Unlike with her mother, the narrator is very close to her father because he fits easily and faces optimistically to the reality. He did not shun the tramps but treat them with no difference as other people. He teaches her geology, and makes her understand the tiny share they have of time. However, when visiting Nora, the narrator gradually sees the father that she did not know about. She understands that her father was not always who he is and has a past that she didn’t know before. The character becomes round, and the narrator feels estrangement.
410102002 李卉潔(Q
2)
The reason why Eddie does not like daffodil is because it is a symbol of British oppression. Being a colonial of English, Eddies has a sense of inferiority. His mother is a colored woman, so he cannot be recognized by others. On the other hand, daffodil is the flower which is the national emblem of Wales and is always praised by poems. Therefore, Eddie and the young narrator just do not feel the same way when the poems praise daffodils. The young narrator says, “I also was tired of learning and reciting poems in praise of daffodils... ”. (p1350)
For them, England is a “home” that they have never been to. It is hard for them to make sure that England is their home or not. When the narrator calls herself English, “real English boys and girls” deny what she says. Although she says she does not want to be an English to make herself feel better, Eddie and she still have a lot of image of the land that they have never been to. The narrator says, “London, the beautiful, rosy-cheeked ladies, the theatres, the shop, the fog, the blazing coal fires in winter, the exotic food (white eaten to the sound of violins), strawberries and creams…”(p1350) Those beautiful images present that even if they feel they are not “pure English”, Eddie and the narrator still reveal the desire to fit in.
Mr. Sawyer's books represent Mr. Sawyer's presumption and vanity to Mrs. Sawyer. Before Mr. Sawyer dies, he insults her because she is a colored woman and she never talk back. Therefore, after his death, she burns his books which represent Mr. Sawyer’s superiority.
It seems like Mr. Sawyer uses those books to show that he is on different level of others.
410102003 張懿萱
Q3
In Walker Brother Cowboy, narrator thinks Nora and her mother are different types of woman. Nora is a woman who is an interesting as well as an extroverted person. About their wearing, Nora wears a dress is flowered more lavishly than her mother owns, green and yellow on brown, some sort of floating sheer, which can make her become more youthful. Compare to her mother who wears a navy blue with little flowers, sheer worn over a navy-blue slip, which can make her become more genteel. About their view on poor life, Nora accepts her fate, living happily and pleased with herself, and she will dance and drink Whisky. On the other hand, her mother still wants to maintain the decent life just like they had their own business, a fax farm before. However, things had changed long time ago, their life are not well-fixed anymore. Her mother can’t reconcile about the reality and live in a dull life. Her mother is lack of energy and don’t like to go out, only do the sewing at home and would hardly find the funny from jokes.
Before they visited Nora, her father seems to accept all the hard conditions happened in his life. However, when he met Nora, he found that he feels drawn to the pass as his wife. At the beginning, her father will sing the song created by himself about his selling life. And after the visiting, he said “I seem to be fresh out of song.” The little girl, the narrator discovers another side of her father that she did not know such as drinking Whisky and knowing how to dance. She also finds that her father was not the one she thought before. Her father, an optimistic person becomes darkening and turning strange which she cannot imagine.
410102005 張群
Lois got homesick, and suspected her parents of having a better time when she wasn’t there than she was, although her mother wrote letters to her. All this was when she was nine. By the time she was thirteen. Lois has participated camps in wildness for many years. In her childhood, being around nature occupied a large proportion in her life. Nature is closely related to Lois. She wanted to be an Indian. She also wanted to be adventurous and pure, and aboriginal. Lois moved to a condominium apartment in one of the newer waterfront developments when she experienced a terrible event. This building has a security system and the only plant life is in pots in the solarium. It is very different from wildness. She isolated herself from wilderness.
She bought a lot of paintings which show landscapes, but they make her very uneasy. They are pictures of convoluted tree trunks on an island. The shape of convolution that looked like a charm fascinated her. She was drawn to and repelled wildness. There is a love-hate relationship between wildness and Lois. Hate relationship —wildness is like her trauma. She wanted to break away from wildness because her best friend disappeared in the wildness. Lois went to wildness no longer. Love relationship — wildness is like the link that Lucy lives in parallel universe and always stays with her. Although painting is the depiction of the wilderness, each one of paintings is a picture of Lucy. Lucy is in Lois’s apartment. She is entirely alive. Lois can’t resist wildness because it is a part of her life.
410102024 王涵瑩
Question 2
The reasons why Eddie does not like daffodils have some of reasons. First, daffodils are not grown in his country. However, it has many daffodils grown in England. He can only see daffodils on the books. Also, it is hard for him to imagine the picture of the daffodils. In addition, the flower represents the spirit of England. Daffodil also represents the strong culture of the Britain Empire colonizing their country for Eddie and the young narrator. Therefore, they do not like the English because they always judge and treat people differently by their race and skin colors. Mr. Sawyer’s books represent the invading English colonial strength for Mrs. Sawyer. She wants to destroy the books to prevent her son behaves like her husband who sometimes abuses her with his ‘sacred English joke’.
410102023 郭祐寧
Question 1:
In Katherine Mansfield's "Garden Party," what do we learn about Laura when she talks to the workmen about the placement of the marquee? How sure of herself is she? How does she demonstrate confused feelings toward the workmen? Describe Laura's thoughts and feelings when she visits the Scott family and views the corpse. Why does Laura think Scott's dead body is "wonderful, beautiful"? What has Laura learned by the end of the story?
Laura said "Good morning", copying her mother's voice when she was discussing with the workmen. And she felt so ashamed and stammered like a little girl. But Laura was recovered by his smile. Obviously, Laura is so different from her other family members because she thinks their workmen are so adorable and so kind-hearted. You will find Laura is a girl who deals with the workmen more fair and equally.
Laura saw a workman doing this: He bent down, pinched a sprig of lavender, put his thumb and forefinger to his nose and snuffled up the smell. Laura was shock by this scene and she said " How many men that she knew would have done such a thing? Or thought "Why couldn't she have workmen for friends rather than the silly boys she danced with and who came to Sunday night supper? Therefore, Laura cannot understand why such a workman knows how to appreciate those lavender.
Laura felt so nervous that she just wanted to leave the basket and go when she stood by Scott's house. In the house, on the way to see the corpse, Laura wanted to get out, to get away from that house. But the door opened and she walked straight through into the bedroom where the dead man was lying. As Laura was viewing that corpse, she just couldn't go out of the room without saying something to him. And then, Laura gave a loud childish sob.
Laura thinks Scott's body is wonderful, beautiful because he is pure. He is a workman just like those who work in their family as gardeners. She also learned that the experience was marvellous. It seems that she crosses the absurd class distinctions. Due to the racial segregation at that time, it's too hard for Laura to have opportunity or access to enter the low status family. Maybe Laura will not feel bad to be with those guys like the corpse because it's a daily life for low status people.
Q2
In Jean Rhys’ “The Day They Burned the Books,” Eddie, in the voice of his also young peer narrator, was a descendant of a truly white English man coming from the homeland England and a colored woman from Caribbean. Born with multiple identities, he was inherently confronted with issues of cultural conflicts. His father, Mr. Sawyer, obsessed with his English inheritance and everything about the homeland, educated his son to be like him with images of daffodils, which are the national flowers of Wales, and every detail he used to think of when thinking of the most wonderful times in the past. Because of his not so admirable background, Eddie didn’t feel much the same way his father views their “home,” didn’t behave the way his father expected him to, and was positioned on the marginal part of the society, separated from the decent ones. He hated everything about England that put him into this present circumstances and thus doubted its credibility, as shown in the text, saying, “I don ‘t like strawberries ......and I bet that’s a lie.” on p. 1350.
To both the narrator and Eddie, daffodils symbolized England, but they reacted differently. Eddie detested them, as described above. The narrator, a white, though sneered by children coming from England, still secretly wanted to belong to the culture of “home.” Though not shown apparently, her secret longing was cast on people around her gossiping about “London, the beautiful, rosy-cheeked ladies …the word 'strawberries' ....the proper English pronunciation.” They both have English roots, so they both struggled with the issue of cultural identities.
Mrs. Sawyer represents the victims under colonial government, and Mr. Sawyer the oppressor. Mrs. Sawyer in the story, was inferior to her husband as Mr. Sawyer intended to, degrading her by humiliating her by calling her “nigger,” saying “You don’t smell right to me,” and pulled her hair then bawled at her saying “Not a wig, you see.” at a dinner party he held. Eventually the colonizer retreated, but the existing damage was undeniable. After Mr. Sawyer passed away, the books he cherished very much were all he remained. Having been oppressed for such a long time with no voices allowed to express, Mrs. Sawyer finally took up the authority and took revenge on Mr. Sawyer by burning or selling out his most treasurable collections as we see from the perspectives of the narrator, “And as for Mrs. Sawyer…. I knew rage, but this was hate.”
410102007 英美三 宋祖睿
Assignment 3: Q1
At first, Laura recommends to place the marquee on the lily-lawn. However, one of the workmen disagrees because he thinks the marquee is not conspicuous enough. Then, she gives another suggestion of placing the marquee on a corner of the tennis-court. Because the small band are going to be performed in the same corner, the tall workman tells Laura to build the marquee against the karaka-trees. Finally, the workmen had shouldered their staves and were making for the place.
We learn that Laura thinks a lot before she decides where to put up the marquee. She is careful and sensitive for little things. For example, the lily-lawn, the band and the karaka-trees. She is not seasoned like her mother or sisters. She is not dogmatic and willing to refer to the workmen’s opinions. From her dialogue with the workmen, we can see that her taste and perspective are different from the other members in the house.
In the beginning, Laura copies Mrs. Sheridan’s voice which sounds so fearfully affected. Suddenly, she feels ashamed and stammers like a little girl. She demonstrates the confused feeling from being a young woman to a hostess. Furthermore, she thinks the workmen and the morning are actually very nice; however, she must be business-like because of the marquee.
When Laura is on the road to the Scott family, she wishes she had put on a coat to cover her frock and the big hat with the velvet streamer. Laura is terribly nervous and she wants to be away from those staring eyes. When Laura views the corpse, she thinks the young man sleeps so soundly, deeply, remote and peaceful. When it comes to garden parties, baskets and lace frocks, they are all meaningless. Laura has a feeling of happiness and feels content.
Laura thinks Scott's dead body is wonderful and beautiful because she sees Scott knew his place. Scott was a carter. On the Hawke Street, Scott was thrown out from his horse and dead. He did not have a presumptuously wishful thinking of pleasing the member from the wealthy class. He just strived for survive and his family.
By the end of the story, Laura has learned that everyone has one’s own live. She said, “Isn’t life.” Not everyone lives like herself. There is no need to flatter or pity one’s live. Everyone has to face their own everyday life and tries hard to live a life one wants. “Isn’t it?” said Laurie.
410102033 陳世豪 (Q2)
Compare to the narrator’s mother, she prefers Nora more. In the Great Economic Depression, her mother cannot accept the truth that they are not rich anymore. For her dignity, she dresses up as a lady when shopping in order to show that she is different than anyone there. She also dresses up the narrator but the narrator doesn’t like it at all. The narrator thinks that her mother is not optimistic as her father (she likes her father very much.) Nora overcomes the difficulty and her style (short hair and fancy dress) is young and energetic. Her mother represents weakness because she doesn’t want to go out and Nora represents health because she goes to the henhouse to make clean. Her mother doesn’t laugh when hearing the song her father make but Nora does laugh. Besides, Nora drinks and dances.
The narrator loves her father because he always companies with her and he is optimistic to face the truth. However, when visiting Nora, the narrator finds out that her father’s unknown habits and behaviors such as drinking whiskey and dancing. Her father becomes a little unfamiliar and strange. The narrator feels estrangement.
410102001 林儀歆
I think we can learn about Laura when she meets the workmen, it is the first time she got in touch with the lower class people. It is fresh and exciting to her. She wants to copy her mother’s voice to talk to the workmen, represents she is educated to be an intellectual person, who cannot get along with different class’ people or she should pretends as a high class person to put up job. Actually Laura’s personality is an innocent child, in her mind; she thinks there is no distinguish between classes. So she wants to make friends to the workmen, but she feels confused with why she cannot make friends to them. Instead, she has to make friends with the silly boys. The bottom village gives Laura a poor and dirty image. She feels she wears too shining in that place; she really wants to put on a coat. She feels nervous when she asks one of a woman in that village. She doesn’t want to stay in the village too long.
I think the reason why Laura thinks Scott’s dead body is “wonder, beautiful” is because Mr. Scott sees peaceful. And to Laura she thinks that the death of Scott is a way to leave all things along. It may not be a bad thing. She thinks that he can go far away from trouble or worry in life. I think Laura has learned that class makes a big problem in human’s life. She may has a strike on the reality world are so different from the world she was grow in. She finds that she is a sensitive girl, who can feel so many things that high class people cannot. In the end of the story, she feels regret. I think this is the best demonstrate of what she has learned.
1. Lois used to have a friend Lucy in summer camp. She said that was her summer friend. Unfortunately, Lucy was missing in their 13 years old. Before Lucy disappeared, they walked around the landscape together. Then Lois wanted to pee, Lucy want aside. When Lois finished, Lucy was missing. Lois was frightened by her missing. After, Lois was under the crowd stress. “She felt the other girls in the cabin watching her with speculation in their eyes. Could she have done it? She must have done it.” For Lucy’s missing, Lois could not do anything for Lucy or explained to the mystery for herself. Because the girl was missing, any sentence was not strong enough to explain. To find Lucy out seems the only way to explain everything. “Lois worked all this out, twenty years later.” The mystery in her head 20 years more that she always wondering how it could happen. She still wants to find Lucy out, she kept those landscape picture because she believed that Lois might hide in one of these bushes. She had them just like she had Lucy inside of these pictures. I thought Lois afraid to go to those landscapes, but she loved to collect their paintings. Because the things won’t change in a painting, but things always changing in the reality. So, the thing she see in the paintings was unchangeable views and her summer friend Lucy.
410102014 陳萱
Q1.
Laura tries to put herself on a high position in front of workers, but ends up being attracted to these lovely workers. When Laura’s mother gives her the authorization of holding the party. She acts like a child, holding her breakfast, but tries to imitate how her mother supervises these workers, because she wants to look as if she can handle the party. However, all these workers are more experienced than Laura is. When the worker denies Laura’s suggestion and suggests where the marquee should put. This is how Katherine writes to describe Laura’s thought, “Laura's upbringing made her wonder for a moment whether it was quite respectful of a workman to talk to her of bangs slap in the eye .But she did quite follow him.”(p.1338) Even though, Laura actually wants to make friends with these workers, because she finds them cute. They have friendly smile and nice blue eyes. And one of the worker pinches a sprig of lavender, and Laura notices his caring gesture for the smell of lavender and thinks that these workers are really good man. This makes Laura wonder if the social status is that really important.
When Laura steps into the poor area, her mind starts to change. On the way to visit the Scott family, she feels very disturbed, but when facing the corpse, Laura is suddenly bathed in the purity. She sees the deceased sleeping so peacefully, and thinks of the party that is just over and the workers she meets. She becomes mature and realizes the true meaning that people are equal; they need not only compassion, but also the respect, and that is not related to the social class.
410102026 吳培菱
Q4
In Margaret Atwood's "Death by Landscape," referring to Lois's collection of paintings of the Canadian wilderness, the narrator 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?
Lois had been haunting by her memory of her best friend, Lucy, disappearing. It was the summer camp that they met and became the best friends during Lois’s childhood; however, Lucy was gone when they were around a cliff without any adults around. She was accused of guilt, but the fact of the matter was that she did not do anything and she was freaked out when she lost her best friend. When she is looking at the paintings she buys, the memory of that summer creeps and haunts her. Wilderness is a part of Canada, and the summer camp she attended during her childhood was also in the wilderness. She connects nature with Lucy’s death. It was nature where Lucy was gone, and it was nature where Lucy was hiding in. What she sees in the painting is her memory of Lucy and that lunch time when she lost Lucy, and she believes that Lucy is probably in one of these paintings. She is drawn to her memory of that day in the paintings. Lois is looking for Lucy in these paintings and wishing her to come to tell her it was just a joke and proves her innocence. She is repelled because the memory haunts her of Lucy’s disappearance and adults’ accusation of her killing Lucy even though they could not find her body or any signs of Lois was guilt.
Abner Lo - 410102062
Question 3:
In Jean Rhys’ “The Day They Burned the Books,” Eddie and the narrator were both searching for their identity as colonials in the Caribbean. Because they are not from the motherland they were often alienated by the “real” English boys and girls. So when it came to understanding the significance of daffodils, Eddie and the narrator could not bring themselves to love it since they can’t see one in the Caribbean. To them, the daffodil was something for the “real” English and it was not something they could claim for themselves. In addition, Eddie and the narrator learned about daffodils through books and reciting poems that praises daffodils. Taking all that into consideration, Eddie’s rejection about daffodils was no surprise since he was a colonial and that he couldn’t claim something that was for the “real” English.
Eddie and the narrator was an outcast when they tried to fit in with the English boys and girls. For one example, when the narrator tried to call herself an English around the other “real” English boys and girls, they told her that she was not English but rather a horrid colonial. However, out of both the narrator and Eddie, Eddie was the one who struggled most with his identity crisis because of his English father and his coloured mother. In the story despite Eddie being white like his father, he was rejected by those around him other than the narrator herself. Eddie was a freak in retrospective when compared to the other kids. Eddie was white but he had the blood of the coloured. Despite Eddie’s mother being black, Eddie couldn’t fit in with the coloured kids due to colour of his skin. Given their situations, Eddie and the narrator couldn’t fit in anywhere, not with the white and not with the blacks.
Mr. Sawyer in the story represented the colonizers and the dominant race, while Mrs. Sawyer was subjugated. In the story, Mrs. Sawyer was always oppressed and suffered from her husband’s abuse. As a result, shortly after the death of Mr. Sawyer, Mrs Sawyer decided to burn the books her husband kept. The reason for this was because the books symbolized the English’s power over the non-whites. So as a way to get rid of white influence from her household she decided to burn the books. In a way, Mrs. Sawyer portrayed her hate for her colonizers by burning their knowledge, culture, history and literary art which were in the books.
詹欣芳 410202036
Q1.
At first, Laura tries to copy her mother's voice and behave more maturely when she talks to those workmen. According to her behaviors, we learn that she seldom talks to people from working class and she is taught to act genteelly by her family. However, her personality is far different from her mother and sisters. When Laura sees a workman smell the fragrance of a sprig of lavender, she thinks those workmen are very nice and she becomes very curious about them. She is sure that she would like to make friends with those workmen rather than those boys from the upper class. And she thinks the class distinctions are to blame for her alienation with working-class people. Spiritually, she doesn't feel the class distinctions at all. However, virtually, the class distinctions are always there. When Laura is on her way to visit the Scott family, she feels uneasy because she feels those working-class people are staring at her and her delicate clothes. I think that she feels guilty about her class and lacks of consciousness about the difficult lives of poor people. When Laura sees the dead body, she thinks he is “wonderful, beautiful” because he finally gets his freedom; he doesn’t have to suffer the class discrimination and the poverty anymore. Laura thinks it’s good to get rid of these things and she is content. In the end, she cries because she finally understands what life is. In my opinion, she understands that sometimes life is not easy at all, sometimes it’s unfair and quite difficult. She takes a lesson from the visit, although it’s sad, she learns what she wants to know; that is the life of the working-class.
410202050 英美二 李岱融
I’d like to answer question two.
Daffodils are often praised and mentioned in British literature, so they become the symbols of British Empire. And I think Eddie doesn’t like daffodils because the place he lives is colonized by British Empire. Moreover, he doesn’t know who he really is. I think maybe Eddie wants to be Caribbean more but his father is English so that he can’t be Caribbean. However, Eddie also can’t be English because of his mother. So he has a paradoxical double identity that makes him always be snubbed just like the young narrator by “real” English children who always praise daffodils. And I think that’s why he doesn’t like these flowers. And for Eddie and the young narrator, I think both of them just see daffodils as exotic things like strawberries, actually they don’t like them because these things represent the British Empire. And the English control them tightly, make them always be teased by “real” English children for their races, so both of them don’t like the English, either.
For Mrs. Sawyer, Mr. Sawyer's books mean a kind of oppression which is pressured by the British Empire. And she has been controlled by these ideas—racism and colonial people are not important and inferior for a long time. I think she feels very angry but she can’t express her angriness to her English husband. So when Mr. Sawyer died she immediately burns his books to revenge him and to rebel to power of imperialism and colonialism. Also, I think Mrs. Sawyer wants to get freedom. Mr. Sawyer's death for her means he cannot control her anymore. And she also wants to be totally free from the British Empire so she tries to destroy those books.
410102044 英美三 薛姿黛
Q1
In the “Garden party,” the workmen want to put the marquee in front of a tree. However, Laura doesn’t like this idea, because the marquee will hide the lovely karaka-trees. She prefers to put the marquee in a corner of the tennis- court which will hide a band. But she quickly forgets the karaka-tree thing since she saw one of workmen pinch a sprig of lavender, and smells it. She was surprised by a workman who is so sensitive to the smell of flower. Laura’s attitude is different from her family attitude, even different from the society attitude. Class distinction is not important for Laura, for example she rather to be friends with workmen than the silly boys she danced with. The young girl is not condescending to the workmen.
At first, Laura’s mother wants Laura to bring a basket of leftover to poor, but she think that is not appropriate. And when she got into the death man’s house, it is just like different world for Laura. Because of her costume, she thinks it’s not suitable to wear a beautiful suit now. Therefore, Laura wants to leave there all the time.
Finally, Laura sees Scott, the corpse, and she thinks he was happy, peaceful, and wonderful. He was far away from all the things, and there was no more suffering for him. After Laura watching this scene, she is content, and starts to cry. She realizes the reality and that is the true life. She finds out that her family is so narrow-minded. Life is not only one side, but complicated, and defiantly more than the party.
410102065 英美三 張沈婷
Q3
The narrator’s mother like to wears a fine dress and walks like a “ lady” when she goes out. Also, She is a pessimistic people, she always unhappy, blaming and complain of her unsatisfactory life. As time goes by, her mother falling into a depression and effected her unconsciously. In the story, we can see the relationship between narrator and mother is "uncomfortable” by the words : “We leave my mother”. In the view of narrator, Nora is totally different from other people that she has met. Nora wears the strange dress with the smell of cologne. She depicted as an imperfect woman by her heavy arms, dark freckles, short hair, black , coarse and curly, white and strong teeth. Although, she is a Catholin, but she has a optimistic personality, sociable and youthful. In the short time she knows Nora, the narrator grows to like her more than her mother. The narrator has a close relationship with her father. She has learn a lot of lessons such as “how the Great Lakes came to be” from her father. So, we can know that she treats her father in the way of companionable and trusting. In the end of the story, she found the deep mystery of her father after visited his former girlfriends named Nora accidentally. The narrator thinks that her father was cheerful to get along with Nora more than her mother. In a key moment, her father drinks whisky and talks a lot of people whose names she has never heard before. So, this moment brings the reason and make she feel estrangement with his father. Finally, The narrator dissolves in a self-consciously, as a result, a preadolescent child is forced to grow up.
410001005 黃美嘉
Q1
When Laura talked to those workmen, she tried to imitate her mother’s voice. She wanted to show the authority that her mother gave to her. Although she just a little girl, she could feel the level’s difference between her and those workmen. She wanted to control things and place everything well in the beginning. But she found the sentences workmen said are interesting. She thought those workmen are cute and friendly. She liked their smile. And the action of one workman pinched a spring of lavender, and smell it made Laura thought they are better than those silly boys she danced with in Sunday night. After get along with those workmen, she wanted to make friend with them. When Laura went to slum, she thought here is poor and things are old. Those are the thoughts came up in her mind at first. Then she felt that her clothes and accessories show she was not belong there. She hoped she can get a coat to cover the clothes she wore. She felt nervous and uncomfortable when she was looked at by people there. She saw the corpse and did not afraid. A totally unknown feeling appear in her mind. She felt purity. The dead body is wonderful because he don’t need to bear anything from this world. Laura got some idea and feeling she never got. Those feeling made her touched the different world from her owned. And she got some truth of death and life.
When talks to the workmen, Laura wants to act like an upper-class at first, it is her upbringing to make her “tried to look severe and even a little bit short-sighted” and “copying her mother’s voice” (p1338). She loves arranging things, but she follows the workman’s advice. I think that Laura wants to show her ascendancy of her class, but when she talks with the workman and also impressed he appreciated the lavender, she does not think the class is important. Besides, she thinks the class is a fault, she has not feel the class distinction. However, when she visits the Scott family, she actually feels the differences between the classes. The cottage below her house is smoky and dark, the surrounding, the people, and even the clothes are totally different from Laura’s life. She is shocked, and wishes she never come. When she views the dead body of the young man, she sees herself. The garden party, the lace frocks are not matter to the young man, and also not matter to her. She envies him because he is far from these things and looks so peaceful, and this makes him wonderful and beautiful. She understands that what she be taught to treat the low-class is wrong, and she feels shame for her frocks and the exquisite hat. She is sorry for her upbringing and the attitude she looks the world. In the end, she learns the life is not what she learns from her class, it is quite complicated.
410102054 英美三 黃琦涵
I am going to answer question 4. Lucy’s disappear makes Lois uneasy. The main reason is that Lucy was Lois’s best friend and before Lucy disappeared, Lois was the last person who got along with her. At that time, Lois, a thirteen years old girl, was interrogated aggressively by the camp leaders. Lois did not have any idea of where Lucy was, but these adults just forced her of taking the responsible of it. (P.1495- 96) Lois was innocent, but she could feel other children’s suspecting gazes about her connection with Lucy’s gone. (P.1497, line 1) For Lois, this accident made she traumatize and uneasy. In my opinion, Lois’s relationship with nature is contradictive. Lucy disappeared in nature, so nature was a sad place to Lois. However, nature is a place which Lucy existed. Therefore, in Lois’s mind, nature is a contradiction to her; after Lucy gone, she hated nature, but she needed to find Lucy by nature. Because of this contradictive sense, Lois is both drawn to and repelled by nature. Until now, Lois cannot believe that Lucy died, and she told to herself that Lucy just was playing hide and seek with she. Lois wanted to find Lucy, so she formed the habit of collecting the pictures of landscapes. Lois believed that Lucy was alive and hided in somewhere, so Lois needed more and more paintings of landscape to find her. (P.1498) For Lois, the experience of Lucy’s disappear is a kind of shadow living with her mind. Through these paintings, Lois could get a little comfort.
英美三 李靖淇 410102048
Q2
The reason that Eddie is not fond of daffodils is because the daffodils symbolize the British oppression. Those flowers are unfamiliar to both Eddie and the young narrator, because they do not grow in the West Indies where they live, and just usually use in English poetry. Moreover, both of Eddie and his friend struggle with their cultural identity for they have the English roots. When people have never seen the England, they make the definite meanings about the beautiful, the rosy-cheeked ladies, and the fog. It makes doubts about their “home”. Besides, their relations for their “real” English are awkward, they just feel that it is a horrid colonial.
Precisely, Mr. Sawyer, Eddie’s father, is one of English descents that he is obsessed with his respectable English heritage and anticipates his son to be the same as him. However, Mrs. Sawyer, Eddie’s mother, has a nice education, but she is a colored woman who lives in Caribbean, so she is still the nigger to her husband. Nevertheless, those books emblem Mr. Sawyer’s supercilious behaviors about his superiority, and they also represent the British imperial oppression to Mrs. Sawyer. These painful effects of cultural hybridity make Mrs. Sawyer out of breath. After Mr. Sawyer died, she just wants to quit of the so-called English identity, so she makes a decision to burn them. By doing burning books, she considers that she may throw off the dark past, and free from about her colored.
610288204 課程系多元所 崔珮芸
I’d like to answer question 4.
In Jean Rhys's "The Day They Burned the Books," Eddie says that he doesn't like daffodils because his father always talks about them which symbolize his national identity to England. Moreover, Eddie doesn’t like his father because he saw his father has racial discrimination.
To both Eddie and the young narrator, these daffodils mean the national flower of Wales (England). Actually, the narrator was tired of learning and reciting poems in praise of to daffodils because she didn’t think she is real English girl and she also didn’t much want to be English (p.1352). She thought she is not English; she is a horrid colonial. Although she had thought about this, she couldn’t be like Eddie who is brave to express himself and reject to the Ideology of mainstream culture.
Mr. Sawyer's books represent a kind of chauvinism to Mrs. Sawyer.
His books are including The Encyclopaedia Britannica, British Flowers, Birds and Beasts, various histories, books with maps, Froude’s English in the West Indies and so on (p.1351). All of these books are related to England. These books symbolize civilization and traditional value of colonizer.
The reason why Mrs. Sawyer wants to destroy these books is that she belongs to oppressed nation for a long time and desires to be release. Therefore, after she burnt these books, she was breathing free and east and her hands had got the rhythm of tearing and pitching. (p.1352)
410102004 英美三 陳慧敏
Q2:
In Jean Rhys's "The Day They Burned the Books," 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? What do Mr. Sawyer's books represent to Mrs. Sawyer? Why does she want to destroy them?
Ans:
When we studies English poetry especially the Romanticism period, daffodils are quite common in the text. In addition, the daffodil is the national flower of Wales. Therefore, I think it can be seen as a symbol of the British culture and the British Empire. Eddie‘s father is an Englishman who marries a coloured woman in the West Indies. In my viewpoint, the reason why Eddie says he doesn't like daffodils is because he struggles with his complicated identity also he is confused about where he belongs to. We know that daffodils do not grow in the West Indies, so no doubt he does not like it. He confronts a contradictory situation that he hates daffodils and the English, but he likes to read books about the British Empire at the same time. To Eddie and the narrator, these flowers mean an English identity and also it represents the British imperial oppression to the colony. When the young narrator calls herself English, other children reply, “you are not English; you’re a horrid colonial.” (1350) However, the narrator indicates that she wants to be French or Spanish more than English. We can know that she does not like the English too. Both of Eddie and the narrator do not know much about England, and they do not long to be the English in their consciousness. Although their skin color is white, both of them are not “real English”. Books represent civilization, culture and they can be used as a tool to brainwash people’s mind. Mr. Sawyer collects books about the British literature and culture. To Mrs. Sawyer, those books are the tool that advocates the British Empire. I think Mrs. Sawyer wants to destroy the oppression and exploitation from the British Empire, also the insult from her husband and the society.
Those pictures she bought are about landscapes. She had been to a summer camp with her childhood friend and after one incident, her friend disappeared in the wildness. After that, the leader of the summer camp and police tried to find out why Lucy disappeared. They kept asking Lois because they thought there must be something happened between them. Lois really didn’t know what happen to Lucy but she still thought she had done something bad. ” She felt terrible-guilty and dismayed, as if she had done something very bad, by mistake.”(p1495) Lois was too young to afford this kind of incident and even those adults kept pushing her so she may had a trauma. Therefore, when she was looking at those landscape paintings, she felt unease.
Nature to Lois is a thing that contains lots of story. It used to be a happy land; however, after her friend, Lucy disappeared from nature, it became a nightmare. She thought Lucy was in nature. She could find her in it so she drawn to nature. However, Lucy disappeared from nature and she lost her friend from it so she repelled by nature.
“She looks at the paintings, she looks into them. Every one of them is a picture of Lucy. You can’t see her exactly, but she’s there, in behind the pink stone island or the one behind that…” (p1498) From this passage, we can know she see Lucy in the painting. She totally believe painting is where Lucy is.
410102028 英美三 陳雅森
Q4
The paintings which Lois collects in her house are reflections of her childhood trauma. The paintings are pictures of Canadian wildness, and are not naturalistic artworks. The scenes and the frames of the space are divided into several tiers, which makes the paintings more complicated and mysterious, like a labyrinth, as if it never has an end. The style of paintings reflects her mental condition and the complexion of the incident in her memory, tangled, endless.
All these paintings remind Lois that Lucy is missing. Lucy is the one who makes her love camping and spending time in nature, and Lois sees Lucy as her duty. However, Lucy suddenly disappears in the woods and cannot ever be found. To Lois, Canadian wildness is the only connection between her and Lucy, in which she meets her, and loses her. By this reason, she hates and is afraid of wildness which engulfs her friend. But she cannot help drawing by nature, because the truth is never revealed, no reason, no outcome (Lucy's body). The unknown result makes the incident never has an ending, and the loss in her childhood becomes a trauma in her life, haunting her in her rest of life. The traumatic event occurs in her mind, and shapes when she turns out as an adult. Collecting paintings is the way she deals with her past, and she tries to find Lucy in paintings. Yet the paintings make her feel uneasy. Because she sees her guilt of neglecting her duty, the pain of loss a friend, and the terror of the unknown accident and wildness in the paintings.
Every picture to Lois is an entrance and a link that lead a way to her memory and her psychological world to find Lucy. Through the frames and surfaces of the pictures, she sees Lucy, in every painting.
410202027 龔宥蓁
I'd like to answer Q2.
In English literature, daffodils are very common and they represent noble British people who are in a prominent position. I think the reason why Eddie says that he doesn’t like daffodils is that he is suffered from the conflicting self-identity. His father is an English man, while his mother is a coloured women. Eddie doesn’t know which side he belongs to so that he has doubts about home. These flowers symbolize the British Empire in which are full of oppression and discrimination. Both the young narrator and Eddie don’t like these flowers, and English neither. The young narrator doesn’t want to be a colonist under British control. As for Eddie, he is suffered from the paradoxical sense of identity.
I think Mr. Sawyer’s books represent the oppression impose on British colony. The colonists are oppressed and in severe control of Britain and they cannot rebel against them. Mrs. Sawyer wants to destroy those books because she despises British Empire and those evil things they did to conquer colonies. She grabs the chance that her husband is dead and burn those books to get herself free again. Mrs. Sawyer wants to enjoy the freedom without her husband who is a symbol of the oppression under British Empire being aside.
Answer to question 2:
The reason why Eddie says he hates daffodils is because it is a typical symbol of England. Even though his father constantly talks about them, he actually hates them and wants to get rid of them. I think this is also a hint that talks about the colonized people’s attitude toward the colonists and their culture. Both children struggle with their cultural identity because they have English roots, but are growing up in the Caribbean. Eddie does not want to be English like his father, but when his father dies, he is angry at his mother for burning his father’s English books. Those books are Eddie’s closest tie to being English and he cherishes them. His father tries to force an English identity upon him while his mother tries to take his English identity away. The books of Mr. Sawyer’s symbolize his control or even abuse toward Mrs. Sawyer. It’s like a cage that contains her. This also represents the situation of the colonial background of Caribbean. The book is like the relationship between English and the native Caribbean. Burning the book means Mrs. Sawyer finally has a chance to break free from the past which she was being caged. And it also means the resist to the exploitation by the colonists by the colonized people. Jean Rhys had similar life experiences as the narrator and Eddie. She was raised in Dominica, but had a Welsh father and Creole mother. She felt out of place in Dominica, but estranged from her European roots. I think this is the key fact about the mind struggle of the two children, and also a reflection of the historical background of the Caribbean.
(410002014 英美四 蔡孟霖)
410002015
英美四 黃琦恩 Sidra
Answer to question 1:
At first Laura tried to become an adult, so she imitate her mother’s manner. Just like wear adult’s coat, but still could not handle the coat’s curves. It would look unfit and ridiculous. She was a sensitive girl. She cared about the nature and worker’s mood. She was afraid of these workers at first because she never connected to these people came from lower classes. This afraid came from people faced to unknown. She like the little goose who leave the pond, it was its first time to start its adventure. It would be afraid but curious to face these new things. She offered three places to set the marquee, but she was afraid of make wrong decision. When she saw the tall worker would enjoy the beauty of the lavender, she realized that these worker might not like that image she thought.
Laura said, “Forgive my hat.” That is, the gorgeous beautiful hat appeared in the poor house just like mock the poor. When we faced to corpse, we need to shows our respect, but the hat only gave the poor that she was only gave a despise charity. With this hat, she felt shamed on it and want to escape the family. When she finally saw the body, she felt the peace from it; light smile sooth her panic. Whatever we belong the classed, we faced the same death. She learned the death at the last. Whatever the road we chose, we all went to death at the end.
410202024 英美二 龔穎俐
When Laura talking with the workmen, she is trying to copy her mother’s voice means she is one of the high-class members and she is still learning their behaver and thought, however, she isn’t deeply affected by some of their stereotypes yet. She is like a little girl and she is not sure about what she said. She has a sensitive heart that she observes every workman’s movements and expressions. Besides, we also can know she loves nature by she is wondering why karakas should be hidden by the marquee. When she felt confused toward the workmen, she is thinking some differences between the workmen and “the silly boys she danced with and who came to Sunday night supper”. And she found out the class distinctions is an absurd fault.
When she visits the Scott family, she feels fear and scared, she wants to go back as soon as possible. She found that she is unsuitable at there. While Laura see the corpse, she think it is “wonderful, beautiful” because the dead body looks so peaceful. The dead body is far away from all the worries such as classes and wealth.
It won’t keep fighting for living and be treated like an animal. At the end of the story, Laura knows what the death is. “Forgive my hat,” she said. I think she wants to represent her class apologize for their extravagant quality of living, insensitive behavior and the class distinction. She understands that life is short and simple, and always coexists with death.
410102034 英美三 Annabella
I want to answer the question 2.
A: Daffodils is one of the National Flower in British Empire, which was praised countless times by poets and writers. In the story, daffodils symbolized the image of the British Empire, which also symbolized the image of Eddie’s father. Thus, Eddie didn’t like daffodils was reasonable. As for these flowers’ meaning for these two kids, the image of western world will be a good answer. To the young narrator and her best friend, nothing can represent a strange place but some representative flower. Especially the kind of flower showed in English literatures again and again. They both had problem with identification, since they are not approved by black children either white children. They both are awkward with their identity. Which made the young narrator and Eddie suffered.
Mr. Sawyer was not a good husband, as a result, we can conceive Mrs. Sawyer doesn’t like him at all. In fact, Mr. Sawyer was a little bit different with some typical British gentlemen, he was not one of them. He punched his wife several times, and gave her both mental and physical torture at the same time. In Mrs. Sawyer’s mind, British men are certainly cruel and terrible. They are such a group of devil, so are their books. Mrs. Sawyer burned those books after her husband’s death was that she wanted to destroy anything represent her husband and his country. Through the young narrator’s description, we can realize Mrs. Sawyer actually can read books. However, she decided to burn it and sell it. To her, only clear all details that can remind her about her husband can really release her.
In the story, daffodils symbolize the British Empire and imperialism that Edddie doesn’t like it. “I also was tired of learning and reciting poems in praise of daffodils. (Page 1350) From this part, we could know that daffodils do not grow in West Indies, and it usually especially in English poetry. Daffodils often appear in the romantic works, so many friends around Eddie talking things of England like they had been there for many times; nevertheless, none of them had the experience had been the experience going there. The young narrator and Eddie living in Caribbean, where colonized by England, are the mixed race. To Eddie, his father is a British, but his mother is Caribbean. Therefore, he is a hybrid; this circumstances makes him locate at a confusing position. Eddie claims that he does not like strawberries and daffodils, which are English, even though his father tells him. The narrator sates her relation with the few ‘real’ English boys and girls she had met were awkward. (Page 1350) Both children struggle with their cultural identity because they have English roots, but are growing up in Caribbean. From some words in the story, we could know Mrs. Sawyer had suffered from his husband, when they in the library the girl recognizes that this was hate. The author make Mrs. Sawyer is a educated, decent and venerable colored woman. In my opinion, this makes reader believe that she have a good reason to burn all of his books.
410102064 曾嘉榮
Q2
The reason why Eddie says he hates daffodils is because it is a symbol of England. Although his father talks about it all the times, he still hates it. I think it because of his lost of identity, he is confused about where he belongs to. He hates the flower where it came from, he also hates the British empire, still he love to read English poetry. In other words, Eddie hates daffodils is because it is a mixture of both British and West Indies just like himself.
To Eddie and the young narrator, the daffodils mean an English identity and also represents the colonial background of Caribbean. “you are not English; you’re a horrid colonial.” (1350) From this quotes, we can see that there are no acceptance for the beings of Eddie and the young narrator. They feel suffocated, that's why the narrator wants to be French or Spanish more than English. Because they are not real English, they will be seen differently as the flowers.
The books symbolyzed the relationship between English and the native Caribbean. Burning all the books means setting herself free from her husband and cleanse all the struggle that her children have.
410102037 陳欣瑩
Q4
In Margaret Atwood's "Death by Landscape," Lois and Lucy were not only friends but also sisters. They share their emotions with each other. During that canoe camp, Lucy was languorous because of complicated domestic affairs. When they felt bored and made the climb, Lucy just vanished into thin air mysteriously. For a little 13-year-old girl knowing best friend’s disappearing, it’s unacceptable. Especially those irresponsible adults, the camp leaders and the police, induced her to take responsibility for Lucy’s disappearing. They asked her questions like they were sure that she’s a criminal. They didn’t want to be blamed to, so they made her a scapegoat. I think it all made Lois’s mind collapsing. Because of the incident, Lois had a contradictive feeling towards nature. She met her best friend there, but then lost her there. She was once close to the nature, playing and making friends there. But in that familiar nature, she lost her best friend and the incident brought tragedy and trauma to her. It was her first canoe camp, and her last. (p.1487) She began to collect paintings, pictures of tree trucks, stones, lakes, rivers, etc. However, this is not truly for collection. I think it’s some kind of consolation for her and it’s her way to deal with the trauma. She deeply believed that Lucy was in those paintings though she was not seen exactly. But she was there. Lois believed it. (p.1498)
410102049 英美三 林士傑
Q3:
The narrator thinks Nora has some attractive and special personalities which are different from her mother. Her mother still lives at the time when there were rich. She dresses elegantly even when she goes shopping in order to show her nobility to the neighborhood and act like her family is not affected by the Great Depression. She is unable to accept the truth and fate that they are poor now. What’s more, her mother prefers to stay home and do the sewing rather than spend time going outside with her husband and children. In contrast, Nora is totally an extrovert. She faces her hardship with optimism like the narrator’s father does. It also feels like she has the endless energy and passion. What makes her distinguishing from the narrator’s mother is that she drinks whisky and dances.
Before their visit to Nora, the narrator’s father is kind of influenced by the economic situation and worries a little bit about his family even though he is as buoyant as he used to be. However, after the visit, her father’s emotion is fully cheered-up by Nora, which is never seen in the narrator’s eyes. The guy in front of her is definitely different from her memory and even unfamiliar and unknown. Although she realizes that the relationship between her father and Nora is not just friendship and feels estrangement, she still decides to bear in mind and keep this secret for her father. Maybe, it is because she sees the other side of her father, which is worth cherishing and memorizing.
610102605 英教三 陳亞帆
Q1:
Laura, a young girl with a high status and rich background, feels a little embarrassed and has to raises her voice while encountering the workmen at first. What is more, her artistic talent and desire of arranging things is not proved as the workmen keep denying her opinions with the language she is not even familiar with. However, out of my surprise, instead of using her authority to command like a princess who is born with silver spoon in her mouth, Laura accepts all - both their suggestion of the location to set the marquee and even their crude wording. Furthermore, she not only pays respect to the workmen’s proficiency, but also shows her appreciation toward their personal qualities such as being amiable, unrefined, and natural; she likes those people who are from different class, and wants be around with them, from the bottom of her heart.
Laura struggles on her way to Scott’s house, but she does continue on, overcomes the feeling of not belonging, and finally find the dead man is not at all horrible as she thinks can be. To me, the reason Laura think Scott’s dead body is “wonderful, beautiful” is that it is, in fact, death brings her to a world apart from her comfort zone, and it actually makes all men equal. Gender, age, and status are meaningless in front of the great equality.
410002061 英美四 申傳勝
In Jean Rhys's "The Day They Burned the Books,"
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?
What do Mr. Sawyer's books represent to Mrs. Sawyer?
Why does she want to destroy them?
I think daffodils and strawberries are both symbolized the imperialism of British Empire. In the story, Eddie says that he does not like them, because these items are always related to English, even though his father always talks about them.
And the flowers, I think it represents the spirit of England, and it means nothing but the poems they learn and read, and both of them can’t and don’t want to relate themselves to the flowers because it relates to the idea of English.
About the feeling toward English, The narrator and Eddie are both English descending children. I believe the reason they don’t like English is strongly due to their original family. The narrator is an English girl, and Eddie has an English father and a colored mother. Worst of all, Eddie’s father expects Eddie to be like him. Both of them are unsure of their cultural identity.
However, Mrs. Sawyer wants to destroy these books is because she wants to erase the traces of British Empire and these evil thoughts about colonialism. In the other hand, she wants to destroy the books to prevent her son from becoming like her husband.
410202016 英美二 王珮文
I would like to answer question 1.
Laura suggests to put marquee in the lily-lawn, but workmen refuse and say she should put it in the place where give you “a bang slap in the eye.”, the difference between their uses of words makes Laura wonder is it respectful of them to talk to her like that. At last they decide to put marquee in front of karaka trees, but Laura isn’t sure whether it’s a good idea or not. And the event that tall fellow cares about lavender makes Laura want to get on much better with men like them. Although Laura is confused, we can see Laura’s personality and attitude toward those workmen is different from her mother. Working class men is not like what she thought before. Also, from the sentence: “…workmen for friends rather than the silly boys she danced with…” I think narrator uses her to criticize upper classes and their misunderstanding of working classes.
When Laura is sent to Scott’s family, she has a complex mind, being afraid and struggle about going down or not, but also has a statement that her action will be the most successful. The narrator describes Laura’s dialogue with the woman and Laura’s fears in details. That gives us a stronger feeling toward Laura’s reaction to the corpse. To the dead, class difference means nothing. And I think the words wonderful and beautiful mean that the world without unequal treatment. “Forgive my hat”, said by Laura, and hat means her class, advantage and privilege. For the last sentence Laura said: “It was simply marvelous.” I think this “it” represent her visit to Scott’s family also means the successful she said before. We can see her feeling sorry and having a deep reflection about class difference.
英美二 陳乙萱
Laura enjoys arranging things, and she is always very confident that she can do it much better than anyone else. However, when the workmen come to set those party stuffs, Laura tries to make herself be business-like, but she also feels a little bit awkward meanwhile. After one of the workmen gives her another constructive suggestion to put the marquee in a more conspicuous place, Laura starts to understand that she is not exactly more professional than the workmen. The word the workman uses,” a bang slap in the eyes,” is quite fresh to Laura, and she takes this brand-new word for her reverence and admiration to the workman. Laura observes those workmen so closely that she finds the tall fellow’s movements elegant and beautiful from his unique taste, caring for the smell of lavender. Suddenly, Laura feels that she’d love to hit it off with workmen instead of the silly boys who just dance with her, and she also feels like a work-girl. As the tall fellow draws something that is to be looped up or left to hang of an envelope, and it dawns on her these class distinctions are absurd. When Laura visits the Scott family, she is extremely nervous and afraid, for she thinks it is a mistake and disrespect for the dead to get dressed like going to a party, and she deeply regrets over having not put on a coat and bringing the scraps from the party. Then, Laura sees the dead, Scott, and she finds him wonderful and beautiful because he is sound asleep like a pure baby and feeling like no more earthly things can wake him up, passing away peacefully. Laura sobs eventually, for she feels so sorry about her lavish hat, and she shows real empathy with the dead and the Scott family.
410102016 英美三 方映程
Q1.
From the interaction between Laura and the workmen, we can learn that Laura is a sensitive girl. At the beginning, she feels she must be business-like in order to match up her upper middle-class background. When Laura is greeting with those workmen, she tries to look severe and a little shortsighted. In addition, she copies her mother’s voice, attempting to be mature to have the authority to give orders. However, she sounds fearfully affected, and she begins to stammer like a little child.
When the tallest fellow gives Laura a friendly smile to make her not so nervous, it makes her feel that “how nice workmen are.” Moreover, when he bends down, pinches a twig of lavender, and snuffs up its smell, it makes Laura wonder how many men will appreciate things like that? The interaction with the workmen makes Laura rethinks about her narrow-minded upbringing, which doesn’t concern much about the condition of poverty.
Later, when Laura visits the Scott family and views the body of Scott, she feels horrified and nervous. On one hand, she has never enters into a run-down neighborhood, where the living condition is poor and wretched. On the other hand, Laura is still in her fancy dress and her striking hat with the velvet ribbon, she wishes she put on a coat, so that she does not look so conspicuous.
In the end, when Laura sees the body, she thinks that Scott is sleeping so soundly and deeply, so remote and peaceful. Laura does not think the body looks scary; instead, she thinks the corpse looks wonderful and beautiful. This marvelous experience makes Laura become a better and mature person. She also begins to realize that life is more than wealth and giving parties, we need to concern about the well being of others, and different kinds of social injustice around the world.
410102006 英美三 姚佩君
Q3
By Nora’s personality and the style of her dressing, the narrator thinks that Nora is different from the narrator’s mother. The narrator’s mother is an arrogant woman who lives in the past and can’t accept her husband’s present job. In the description of the story, the mother refuses to allow her children to play with the neighbors’ children and thinks her husband’s job is a ridiculous career. These descriptions represent that the mother can’t accept the fact that the family financial situation become poor. So she continually pretends that she is a noble woman and enjoys her life and tries to make her daughter to accept these fantasies. Different from the narrator’s mother, Nora is an optimistic woman who accepts the reality and has a great effort on her life. In the story, Nora is described as an energetic woman who chats happily and dances with her visitors friendly. In addition, she does not laugh the narrator’s father’s job, she respects any job.
Since the narrator’s father visits Nora, his mood had change, and a lot of smile appears on the face. He chats with Nora with a humorous tone, and shares the recent news to each other. In this description, the narrator finds her father’s different aspects. After they departs from Nora’s house, the narrator observes her father’s expression and makes an important decision in her mind that she does not tell her mother anything happened. Although she thinks the emotion between her father and Nora is not just a friendship, but she thinks this is a precious secret with her father, because of this secret, she can get the deeply realization to her father.
410202042 康如儀
Q4
On account of Lucy’s sudden disappear, Lois feels unease and very shocked, and even she grows up. After Lucy disappears in the forest, Lucy is blamed by those adults. So, she maybe thinks that is all her fault. If she pays more attention to Lucy, maybe she will not disappear. And Lois is a thirteen years old girl, she is an innocence child, this thing may make her a big effect so that this thing will be left in her mind. What’s more, Lois does not get good concerning after the event. Lucy disappears in the nature, so Lois is afraid of nature. She cannot imagine that nature eats her friend and people cannot find her body, either. Hence, Lois stays away from the wild land. If she approaches to nature, she will recall Lucy. Nature is so tremendous and Lois is very small, so she realizes nature’s horror. Lois buys many paintings in her apartment because she dare not approach to the forest. And there are no animals and humans in those paintings. It is very strange, but it is not for Lois. It is a way for Lois to find Lucy. She thinks Lucy nay hide in those paintings. So, she continues to buying paintings. I think Lois has some mental illness problems because a little girl probably does not appear in a picture. Lois looks at those pictures in order to find the probability that the evidence which Lucy is still alive.
410102032 許喬閔
Q2
Eddie doesn’t like daffodils because it symbolizes British oppression. Though daffodils are often used in English poetry, there is no daffodils in indie. Therefore, Eddie never saw a daffodil before but he was educated to think that daffodils are beautiful and wonderful. To Eddie and the narrator, both of them don’t like daffodils and think daffodils just like a way that British Empire control colonized people. Besides, in the essay Eddie and the narrator are always discriminated by other boys who are pure English boys. They will snub Eddie and the narrator haughtily when they call themselves English and say that you are horrid colonials because they are hybrid.
Thus, Eddie and the narrator feel that British Empire isn’t their home. English is so far and just try to take over the colony. As for Mrs. Sawyer, she burned those books just for getting rid of his husband and taking revenge on him. These books represent British patriarch culture and racism so these books are just like Mr. Sawyer. Besides, she doesn’t want her son to read these books. In the essay Mrs. Sawyer is always mistreated by her husband and Mr. Sawyer usually humiliates his wife in pubic and even beat her up. In addition, she doesn’t want her son to become like her husband because these books are real English and can affect her son’s mind.
410202051 宋惠筑 英美二
Q2
宋惠筑 410202051 Q2
I think that Eddie doesn’t like daffodils is because daffodils are not planted in the place he lives and are the representative of English poetry his father keeps talking about but he couldn’t see. Eddie and the young narrator were both live in Caribbean, where the daffodils were not exist. They had to learn and recite poems in praise of daffodils which made them feel tiring. I don’t think daffodils have much meaning to them. Who will like a thing you have never seen and known about? Though they live in the place where British Empire was colonized, they still not think they are the ‘real’ English. If they say they are English, the ‘real’ English boys and girls will deny them. And they were just children, I think their feelings about English still were uncertainty.
I think Mr. Sawyer's books represent to Mrs. Sawyer is a kind of self-righteous superiority. Books mean knowledge, and knowledge means civilization. From the way Mr. Sawyer treated Mrs. Sawyer we can see that Mrs. Sawyer was oppressed by her husband, but she couldn’t do anything for fighting back because she’s a colored woman and had no status in a colonized society. When Mr. Sawyer dead suddenly Mrs. Sawyer burnt the books immediately. I think that is what she want to do for a long time, she finally got free and could burn these useless books which are not civilized at all.
410102009 英美三 葉郁筠
Question 1
At the beginning of the story, Laura appears as a middle class young lady. She has different points of view about where to put the marquee. Laura and the workmen, they care about different things due to their social status. Laura is somehow better than the workmen only because she was born in a wealthy family. She is even confused when one of the workmen talks to her in a quite disrespectful way; since nobody dares to talk to her like that. But then she realizes that the workmen are friendly and nice. She starts to compare the workmen with the silly boys she danced with and who came to Sunday night supper. And then she found out that those workmen are better than the silly boys, she feels at home when she is with the workmen. That is when she starts to realize that we cannot label people with their statuses. After visiting the Scott family, Laura feels like a square peg in a round hole. She is so different from the people living in the little cottages. She is ashamed of wearing such fancy clothes and hat. It seems like Laura and those people are from different world. At the moment she saw the corpse, she feels content. The dead body is so beautiful and peaceful to Laura. Nothing will wake him up again, not the garden party, not the basket, and not the lace frocks. At the end of the story, Laura cries but she cannot explain the reason why. It is the complicated life makes unable to explain. She knows she just have to live with it.
The things that makes Lois uneasy is probably the memories being unfolded by those paintings, which are all about the landscape and nature, the exact place where her friend Lucy disappeared from her eventually and forever without any sensible reason. The vanishing of her friend Lucy was truly a mystery, which perplexed and affected her a lot that the feelings of guilt or uneasiness lingers for her entire lifetime. It was not her fault though, she still can’t forsake the happening and relieve the heavy burden inside her heart completely. As a result, whenever she looks at the paintings, the whole incident will occur to her again and emerge from her mind, which causes her to feel somehow uncomfortable. Her relationship to nature is intricate--both fascinated and repulsed by it because it was where the good memory shared with her friend and the creepy memory of losing her friend occurred. The two girl had nice time with each other during the camp joyfully in nature, yet nature happened to be the last space that Lois had sighted Lucy before she vanished from the earth and left Lois alone ultimately. She was once so closed to nature with those happy memory; however, the incident also had a tremendous impact on her, and that makes her feel repelled by nature. In other words, nature was like a dangerous and ominous surroundings to her eventually. Things she saw in those paintings were not only the landscape (nature) she used to engage herself in but also the place where her friend might hide within, the only possible answer for her unreasonable disappearance. Lois could only convinced herself by believing that her friend was somewhere inside the landscape, a place that can give her a more rational account of Lucy’s leaving or death.
英教二 黃絜巾610202610
Q4:
In Margaret Atwood's "Death by Landscape," mentioned that Lois spends much of her time collecting the paintings, yet they do not fill her with peace.On the contrary, the paintings show landscapes that make her very uneasy.Because they recalls her summer memories at Camp Manitou when she was at the ages of nine to thirteen.The event happened that Lucy says she is going to go urinate, yet she does not return. Instead, Lois hears a scream, although she cannot identify it.Then Cappie blames her because she needed a plausible explanation in order to justify and make sense of the unreasonable nature of Lucy’s disappearance. From now on, Lois fears the depiction of the wilderness by nature .
So Lois collects paintings and she believes that Lucy alive in the landscapes. (P.1498)Since Lois cannot overcome her obsession or make sense of the unknown, Maybe she will continue to live in this shadowy reality, unable to conquer her fear of the mysterious wilderness.Lucy’s disappearance take control of her life. Nothing more was found from Lois so that we began to wonder if she was dead .So that she believes it would exists somewhere.(P.1497)
A sense of guilt from Lucy’s mysterious death.The guilt has tormented Lois,stalling her life.Lois has merely gone through the motions of life. Lois decided to find maybe Lucy’s spirit hide in the painting.Lucy’s disappearance and did not possess the ability to change the outcome.Nature once brought unforgettable memories for her.However, it was also give a horrible experience.No one can imagine how Lois was suffering from the agonies. After all, For this reason she has been living two lives and pretending Lucy still alive in the other space. Maybe it can make her feel better.At the end of the story, Lois can finally accept the wilderness as part of herself.
410202035 英美二 張如寧
I would like to answer Q4.
The things that makes Lois uneasy is probably the memories being unfolded by those paintings, which are all about the landscape and nature, the exact place where her friend Lucy disappeared from her eventually and forever without any sensible reason. The vanishing of her friend Lucy was truly a mystery, which perplexed and affected her a lot that the feelings of guilt or uneasiness lingers for her entire lifetime. It was not her fault though, she still can’t forsake the happening and relieve the heavy burden inside her heart completely. As a result, whenever she looks at the paintings, the whole incident will occur to her again and emerge from her mind, which causes her to feel somehow uncomfortable. Her relationship to nature is intricate--both fascinated and repulsed by it because it was where the good memory shared with her friend and the creepy memory of losing her friend occurred. The two girl had nice time with each other during the camp joyfully in nature, yet nature happened to be the last space that Lois had sighted Lucy before she vanished from the earth and left Lois alone ultimately. She was once so closed to nature with those happy memory; however, the incident also had a tremendous impact on her, and that makes her feel repelled by nature. In other words, nature was like a dangerous and ominous surroundings to her eventually. Things she saw in those paintings were not only the landscape (nature) she used to engage herself in but also the place where her friend might hide within, the only possible answer for her unreasonable disappearance. Lois could only convinced herself by believing that her friend was somewhere inside the landscape, a place that can give her a more rational account of Lucy’s leaving or death.
Eric Liu 劉至揚 610202605
4. In Margaret Atwood's "Death by Landscape," referring to Lois's collection of paintings of the Canadian wilderness, the narrator 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?
In Margaret Atwood’s “Death by Landscape”, despite the fact that Lois found uneasy looking at the paintings of the Canadian wilderness she bought, “she wanted something that was in them”(1487). Lois’s relationship to nature was twofold. On the one hand, she feared the nature – it had taken Lucy away and might perhaps take her away if she dare come close to any form of it. On the other hand, in Lois’s mind, she always thought of the possibility that Lucy might still hide somewhere in Lookout Point where Lois was guilty of leaving her behind. Hence, having a connection to nature ensured a path for Lucy to come back. Lois’s collection of paintings of the Canadian wilderness served as pathway to nature, where she was protected by each of the picture frames, yet, “every one of them is a picture of Lucy”(1498). Keeping these pictures helped Lois not to be blamed by herself for deserting Lucy. She could be somewhere in the pictures, “you can’t see her exactly, but she’s there” and “she is entirely alive”(1498). These pictures, to Lois, were not only “windows”, but “doors” (1498) to nature, if anytime Lucy was willing to walk out of the nature, she could come back to meet Lois.
410102025
Q2
In this novel, daffodils not only represent the national flower of British but also a symbol of colonialism and imperialism. Eddie didn’t know what daffodil is until he educated, he knows this flower has oppressed meaning. Daffodil can easily find in English poetry. It is the reason why Eddie does like it. The narrator has the same thoughts with Eddie. Eddie and narrator were West Indian Children. They lived in the place where is colonialized by the British. Though they lived in their own country, they can’t learn their mother language so I think English is kind of bully for them. They forced to educate English. Even though they don’t like it, they have to accept it. They were also bullied by the white children. Therefore, they don’t like the daffodils, English and the British. It is so oppressed for them. Mr. Sawyer is English man so his works have imperialism thought. Mr. Sawyer's books like the daffodil that represent the British and English educated. These book are oppressed Mrs. Sawyer. Because Mr. Sawyer is English man, he would give some pressure on Eddie and his wife. Finally, she burns the book of Mr. Sawyer when he died. I think this action means that she want to destroy the British Empire and get freedom for her husband.
410102013
謝宜螢
3. In Alice Munro's "Walker Brothers Cowboy," what is the narrator's attitude toward Nora? Compare her description of Nora with her description of her mother. How does our view of the father change when he visits Nora? How does the narrator's view change? Does she feel estrangement or a greater sense of fellowship?
Answers:
In the story, the narrator feels at a loss to respond to Nora’s behavior and she is a little over her head. Nora invited the narrator to dance. “Nora whirls me around in front of my father—causing me to stumble, for I am by no means so swift a pupil as she pretends—and lets me go, breathless.” Nora is quite different than the woman her mother looks like. Her mother is always a decent and ladylike snnobism. Nora, on the contrary, rude and much offensive. When Nora meets Ben Jordan, the narrator’s father during her housework, Ben greets her with humor and Nora “gathers all the towels in front of her and holds on to them tightly, pushing them against her stomach as if it hurt,” revealing that Nora’s caring and a tacit agreement between Ben and Nora. Nora’s interaction with Ben Jordan, the narrator’s father, shows different way he looks like before. It’s simply a man, getting along with a friend. Without the responsibilities of father, husband, and wage-earner, he just an amusing and modest boy.
At first, when Laura talks to the workmen, she tries to imitate her mother’s dignified attitude. However, the girl who wants to be “business-like” is not actually Laura herself. She doubts about her upbringing when hearing the workmen say that the marquee should be put to an obvious place that will give “a bang slap in the eye.” The fresh dialect shocks her because it is quite different from her educated upbringing.
Although Laura appreciates the workmen’s wildness and natural expression, especially when seeing one workman’s behavior of caring for the smell of lavender. She is still aware of the class distinction between them. However, she just ignores the class and wants to be friends with them. In p.1339, the narrator describes that she feels like a “work-girl.”
Laura’s mother gives her a basket with the feast food to visit the neighbors. Laura feels curious that if they will like it. She feels something strange because her mother’s behavior totally lacks of empathy. When Laura walks through the dark lane, she feels ashamed because of her splendid dressing in the poor slum. “She wished now she had put on a coat. How her frock shone!”(p.1346)
The praise towards Scott’s dead body is Laura’s epiphany. Although the party and the band are running at the same time, they cannot disturb Scott’s body. Laura feels content because she sees the peaceful face far from the snobbish feast. The pure life in front of her strikes against her experience of upbringing.The shock twists her thoughts about the life and class distinction.
410002020 周煒傑
When Laura talks to the workmen about the placement of the marquee, she wants to be mature, so she “copies her mother’s voice” at first. However, she thinks she is ashamed about trying to act like her mother, an adult. She is a teenager who wants to be a mature adult. When she see a workman “caring for the smell of lavender”, she is amazed because she cannot think of anyone of her friends who would act like this. She wants to interact with these workmen more. She thinks they are more interesting than people she knows. She wants to experience more worker class.
When she is visiting the Scott family, she thinks that she does not belong to the area with her fancy dress and hat. She cannot fit the area. She is different from everyone in the neighborhood. Therefore, she would like to escape the area as soon as possible. When she looks at Scott’s dead body, she thinks the dead man looks “so peaceful”. He is away from the reality. He is like dreaming something beautiful and not in agony anymore. In the end, she realizes that it is always difficult when it comes to an issue on class distinctions. There is a gap between the different classes. Laura tries to cross the gap, but, eventually, she fails, so she said “forgive my hat”. What hat symbolize is Laura’s class, upper class.
Q1 41003A35 吳冠儒
She was delightful when she was talking about the marquee with workmen. She appreciated the elegant of workmen, their looks, their words, their costumes, are all she dream about. When she visit Scott’s family, she felt that they are low class, have many children with low education, and the mistress was just like a maidservant, do all household duties. And she was scared about the corpse. She thinks the dead body is “beautiful”, “wonderful” because the man just likes her, they are the same. Before, she could not realize this kind of feeling, even the low class, they just like us, we are the same type. We were not become two kinds because of our family, background, fortune, education or even sex. Finally she learned that to respect other people, and become a polite person.
Q1 410102050 陳炘暘 Joe
When Laura talks to the workmen, she acts like her mother's voice. Although her mother's voice must show that she is noble, but Laura just does not know how to start a conversation with the workmen. In addition, her voice sounded fearful because she does not know them much. To sum up, she is a innocent girl who just starts to learn.
Laura is not sure of herself actually, though her mother thinks that Laura is very artistic. When she suggests the workmen to set the marquee on the lily-lawn, she does not insist on her opinion. Instead, she is persuaded by the workmen.
All things that the workmen do is new to her. Laura feels interested in the words workmen used and the scene that one of the workmen smells lavender, even she would like to get alone with more workmen.
Because Laura is so young and unfamiliar with these people, she is afraid of anything there. She just wants to leave the basket and shows that she feels sorry for the accident. When she views the body, nothing scares her. The body seems to be asleep for her. If she were like him, she would not need to face her mother and sister who Laura does not like, so the corpse is wonderful and beautiful in Laura's opinion.
At the end of the story, Laura learns there are still a lot of thing she needs to know, just like that the hat she wears is not appropriate in the funeral and she needs to be sorry for that accident, though her mother does not think so.
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