Muriel Spark's short story "You Should Have Seen the Mess" is about a young woman named Lorna who tends to dismiss anything different from her, or anyone who won't accept her, as messy. She says the first quote about Willy Morley, an artist who the Darbys introduce her to. The unstated message in this quote is that Lorna can't quite understand Willy. He says he wants to paint her, but he never does so. He says she is beautiful, but he never really pushes the relationship beyond that. Lorna dismisses him because he gives away his money, which she doesn't understand; underneath what she says is the reality that Willy confuses her, so she rejects him.
The second quote is about Mr. Marwood, who is a colleague of Lorna's at Low's Chemical Company. Even though Mr. Marwood looks proper, he isn't college educated. Lorna points this out to dismiss him, as she tends to find a reason to dismiss everyone. The reason she likes Lows's is that there is "special lighting over the desks," and she remains distant from her co-workers. She is defensive because she did not get into grammar school, so she points out other people's educational gaps. The unstated message in this quote is that Lorna tends to dismiss everyone she meets so she can remain untouched and unaffected by them. As she insists on cleanliness in the world, she also insists on keeping her soul antiseptically clean and untouched.
Friday, July 24, 2015
What is the unstated message in these quotes from the Muriel Spark story "You Should Have Seen the Mess"? 1. "...but he went round like a tramp, lending people money, as I have seen with my own eyes." 2. "He is well spoken, although he has not got a university education behind him."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Why is the fact that the Americans are helping the Russians important?
In the late author Tom Clancy’s first novel, The Hunt for Red October, the assistance rendered to the Russians by the United States is impor...
-
Friar Lawrence plays a significant role in Romeo and Juliet's fate and is responsible not only for secretly marrying the two lovers but ...
-
Suppose that the average daily food consumption $F$ of a herbivorous mammal with body weight $x$, where both $F$ and $x$ are measured in pou...
-
Resourceful: Phileas Fogg doesn't let unexpected obstacles deter him. For example, when the railroad tracks all of a sudden end in India...
-
Pablo Neruda's "Ode to My Socks" is full of figurative language, including similes and metaphors. Similes are figurative compa...
-
In the late author Tom Clancy’s first novel, The Hunt for Red October, the assistance rendered to the Russians by the United States is impor...
-
Evaluate $\displaystyle \int x^2 \cos mx dx$ by using Integration by parts. If we let $u = x^2$ and $dv = \cos mx dx$, then $d...
-
At the beginning of the Victorian period, science was generally in accord with religion, and the study of nature was conducted in such a way...
No comments:
Post a Comment