SUMMARY, by Núria Lecina
The text is narrated in the third person by an unknown narrator. In some moments, another narrator takes part with some question or comment. There are a lot of changes in the narration. The text it’s full of descriptions of the main character, other people and places or atmosphere.
Ian is the main character. He is a young painter who
lives alone in Paris, in a typical French building in a top flat in front of Senna’s
River. The description that Katherine writes shows us different aspects of the
boy, sometimes contradictory.
We read that at first glance he seems an interesting
man, elegant, clever and handsome. In spite of that, we read that he also is an
impossible man, unbearably heavy and especially shy, very shy. He has difficulties
to achieve a normal social relationship, and his relationships with women who are interested in him always end badly. Ian doesn’t
answer to the kindnesses of these women. He hides inside his shell, like a
tortoise. He closes and disappears.
He lives in his own world; he has an introvert life
with his own routines. He is excessively tidy with home things. He thinks about
his economy and the way to organize his savings. All in his life has to follow some
pattern to be right. For instance, in front of his bed, there is a notice with
this advice: GET UP AT ONCE.
One afternoon he was in the window having a snack when
he saw a girl in the building across the way in front of him. The girl went out
to the balcony with a flower’s pot. She was a bit odd in her clothes and maybe
in the way she spoke to another person. He didn’t know who spoke to her. Perhaps
somebody she lived with?
At this moment Ian understood that she was the only
person he really wanted to meet. She appeared to be the same
age as him. He fell in love with her just at that moment. He began to imagine things
about her life and also how his life would be like with her. But the girl did
not notice the presence of someone watching her. She carried on his
routines.
From this day, he felt a change in his life: he had a
challenge and this was to get as fast as he could a new pattern of behaviour to
order his routines and actions: NOT TO LOOK AT HER AND NOT TO THINK ABOUT HER
UNTIL THE PAINTING IS FINISHED.
Ian wanted to meet the girl, but he hadn’t any idea of
what to do. He didn’t have experience in this matter. His shyness drowned him. Every
day he observed the girl, every time he had more and more desire to meet her. One
day he discovered that every Thursday she went out with a basket, probably
shopping. One Thursday, when the girl left home, Ian decided to act. He went down
to the street and followed her. He saw more and more clearly that they were
soulmates.
She seemed lonely, serious. Then he saw the opportunity.
She entered a shop and bought an egg, only one. The same that he would have chosen.
When the girl came out, he went into the store and bought the same. Quickly he followed
her, and when she arrived to her building and entered the lobby, he went in behind her and said:
“Excuse me, Mademoiselle, I think you dropped this”,
and he showed her the egg.
And he handed her his own egg!!!
That scene seems taken from a basic manual to begin relationships.
Maybe the object isn’t the most appropriate, but I hope everything will work very well with them.
PERSONAL OPINION
As in Chopin’s composition, Ian finds love, and it appears suddenly, like leaves (feuilles) and flowers in Spring. In this short story, Katherine Mansfield presents the awakening of the love in a young man. One man that, in spite of his difficulty with relationships, has the same emotions and feelings as the other people.
In my opinion, Ian suffers some dysfunction in social
abilities. He constantly needs rules for his actions, he always needs order around
him. It seems he is afraid in front of new situations; this is, from my point of view, the reason why he doesn’t answer people and hides like a tortoise. Maybe
he suffers from some minor autistic disorder.
QUESTIONS
-Why does he say “you nearly screamed” when the boy
was in your studio?
-Who was the person “who started to give him a
mother’s tender care”?
-When do you know that someone is an artist?
-What kind of pictures do you imagine Ian French
painted?
-How do you imagine the family’s girl and the girl’s
character?
-Why did he give her an egg at the end of the story?
What does the egg symbolize?
-What is the meaning of the title?
VOCABULARY
rousing, stony, rag-time, Broken Doll, fishy, ladling, booths, awning, still life, spangle, peppered, daffodils, draper's, dairy