SUMMARY, by Josep Guiteres
Bertha Young, a 30-year-old young woman, was married
to Harry, whom she adored and loved, just like he adored her. They had a
daughter, Bertha, whom she loved madly. Her husband had money and a good job,
and they lived in a beautiful house with a garden. They also had friends of
similar level to theirs.
Bertha felt completely happy, perhaps until the end of
the night when they had invited the couple Norman Knight and wife, a theatre
entrepreneur, Eddy Warren (a writer), and Pearl Fulton (a decorator) to dinner.
Bertha felt admiration and affection, or perhaps
something more, for Pearl, unlike her husband Harry, who apparently detested
her.
At the end of the dinner, when the guests left, Bertha
realized that Pearl and her husband Harry were in a relationship. So Bertha
asked herself the big question: and now what is going to happen?
PERSONAL REFLECTION
Because of the details that Katherine provides in her
magnificent short story “Bliss”, and because of the analysis that Dr Oliver
Tearle makes of the short story, I believe that if Katherine had continued
writing after Bertha’s question, “what is going to happen now?”, she could have
written a lot of different endings, but due to her short life she decided not
to waste time on it, leaving this work to her readers.
QUESTIONS
-The story’s morality seems to be “ignorance is
bliss”, or “out of sight, out of mind”. From your experience, what do you think
it’s better: to always tell the truth, or to hide the things you imagine they
can hurt?
-According to your view, why the baby is called
“Little B”?
-Why is Bertha suddenly full of desire for her
husband? Why was she generally cold?
-At the end, what do you think it will happen to their
marriage? Is he going to break up with Miss Fulton? Is Bertha going to forgive
him?
-What can be the meaning of The parable of the young women? (page 180, line 4/5)
-Along the story, we find some hints / signs that make
us suspect that something happens between Miss Fulton and Harry. Can you tell
us some of these hints?
-“Bertha guessed Miss Fulton’s mood so exactly…” This
was Bertha’s first impression. Do you trust first impressions? Tell us an
anecdote of yours where you had a first impression, and then, after knowing
better the person, you had to change it.
-“In the drawing room, perhaps she [Miss Fulton] will ‘give
a sign’ [to Bertha]”. Do you believe in love at first sight? How can you be
aware that someone is in love with you?
-What is the meaning of these different symbols?
Fiddle
Tangerines, apples, strawberry, grapes
Pear tree (in bloom)
Cats (grey, and black -its shadow)
Lobster flesh
VOCABULARY
bowl a hoop, fiddle, M’m, tangerines, nursery, tugged,
sound, make sb out, dullish, catching sb’s heels, couches, jonquils, stodgy, fluke,
rose to a man, bored, fillet, snip, conservatory, teeming