The Complete Life of John Hopkins, by O. Henry

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SUMMARY

As it’s usual in O. Henry, he starts his writing with a philosophical deliberation. In our case, he reflects about the saying “No man has tasted the full flavour of life until he has known poverty, love, and war.” So we have to imagine that in our story, the author / narrator is going to demonstrate the truth of it, or at least, give an instance of it. How an ordinary man with a monotonous life can taste the full flavour of life?

John Hopkins was a very commonplace man. He had had the same tastes and the same habits for all his life. He dwelt in a normal flat with a ficus and a dog in an unobtrusive street and was married as most people. His wife was also an unimaginative woman. There wasn’t any surprise in the lives of these two people. One cannot expect anything that wasn’t monotony in their home.

Every weekday, when John Hopkins came from work, had dinner, made some trivial remarks about the day, told his wife some little change in his office or about the people there and then was quiet.

But today, he did something absolutely unusual: in the middle of a sentence, he suddenly decided to walk down to the corner to buy a cigar.

And now a series of extraordinary events took place. First, he forgot his money and couldn’t pay for the cigar, then he quarrelled with the tobacconist because the man didn’t sell on credit. Afterwards, a policeman arrived to where they were fighting and tried to arrest Hopkins, but he defended himself and run away. In his flight, he was rescued by a stranger in a car, who took him to his lady. The lady, however, wanted her cousin Walter Long, but, as the driver hadn’t been able to find him, he had brought John Hopkins instead. The lady needed a brave and strong man to throw out of her house somebody who had offended her; nevertheless, the offender, who perhaps was her husband, her brother or any family member, in a moment seized Hopkins, pinned him down and easily shoved him out of doors.

John Hopkins, once on the street, not at all confused, walked directly home. His wife greeted him with...

 

QUESTIONS

-What is your opinion about this saying: “No man has tasted the full flavour of life until he has known poverty, love and war”?

-Where are poverty, love and war in our story?

-What do you prefer: a routine life or an adventurous one? What is it better for our mental health?

-What are the benefits of a customary / everyday / trivial conversation?

-Somebody said: our troubles come of not being able to remain calmly at home all the time. What is your view about that sentence?

 

VOCABULARY

plummet, ostrich tips, mucilaginous, hornblende, grafted, joust, rebuses, took [spiritedly] to his hells, soak, winning, chowder, grouch at, scraper, kennels, check

Life of Ma Parker, by Katherine Mansfield

SUMMARY, by Aurora Ledesma.

Ma Parker lived a hard life. She left Stratford-on-Avon at the age of sixteen and started to work as a kitchen-maid with a cruel woman, the cook, who would not let her read her letters from home and threw them away. She also worked as a “help” in a doctor’s house. After two years, she got married to a baker. This was also a very painful experience. She had thirteen children, seven of them died very early. Her husband also died and left Ma Parker to raise the remaining six children all by herself. When they started going to school, her sister-in-law came to her house, to take care of them. One day, her sister-in-law had an accident and injured her spine, and Ma Parker had to look after this woman who behaved and cried like another baby.

Two of her children, Maudie and Alice, left her and fell into bad ways. Her two other sons went to live in another country, and young Jim joined the army and left for India. Her youngest daughter, Ethel, got married to a worthless, little waiter who soon died, leaving behind a newly born son, Lennie, to be taken care of by Ma Parker.

The story begins when Ma Parker arrives at her work as a maid in the house of a literary gentleman. She had buried her loving Lennie, who was the only ray of light in her sad life, the previous day. After opening the door, the gentleman asks her about her grandson. She informs him that he had passed away the day before. He enquires about the funeral, but Ma Parker doesn’t say anything about it and walks to the kitchen to do her work. After changing her clothes, she puts on her apron in preparation for her duties. While she is cleaning the pile of dishes in the kitchen, she remembers her small grandson persuading her to hand over a cent. She recalls Lennie’s tribulations. He had had a chest infection that he seemed not to be able to get rid of. Even though she has suffered a lot in her life, she has never complained and never broken down, but now, the day after Lennie’s burial, she is overcome and finally wants to cry.

Suddenly, she puts on her jacket and her hat and walks out absent-mindedly, lost in thought. She is unaware of her destination. She really wants to cry. It becomes difficult for her to postpone it any longer. She couldn’t cry anywhere, not at home or on a park bench. She couldn’t cry in the gentleman’s flat. She couldn’t find any location where she could be alone and cry. There is nowhere for Ma Parker to cry. It starts to rain, and she has nowhere to go. The rain can mask her tears, and she no longer has to hide and find a place to cry.

 

SOME REFLECTIONS

The story mixes the past with the present. The past is not a separate entity. Another literary device that Mansfield employs is interior monologue like “Why must it all have happened to me?” The most important, themes are social position and isolation. On the one hand, we see the literary gentleman who does not seem to understand how hard Ma Parker’s life is. He accuses her of stealing and discredits her as “a hag”; on the other hand, we have Ma Parker, a poor, uneducated woman. She pities the poor young gentleman for having no one to look after him.

QUESTIONS

-What are the things we have to say in a funeral? Do we have to tell only how nice the dead person was, or you can also talk their dark side?

-Why do you think the literary gentleman doesn’t have a name?

-In the paragraph “The result looked like a gigantic dustbin. […] or dark stains like tea.” There is a mixture of ideas: the dirty room next to the sad-looking sky. What is the relation between these two pictures?

-The literary man makes a “product called Life”. When do you think literature is Life?

-Katherine Mansfield died of consumption. What do you know about consumption and literature? Can you give us more examples of writers?

-What is the meaning of this sentence: “Then young Maudie went wrong and took her sister Alice with her”?

-Do you trust in the remedies appeared in newspapers? Do you have any anecdote?

-What kind of invalid are you: patient, angry, worried…?

-What would have to be the master’s attitude in front of an ill servant?

-What deeds do you consider that you have to do in private: crying, laughing, coughing…, but also brushing one’s teeth…?

 

VOCABULARY

parding, huskily, hobbled, marmalade, twinge, squashed, deadened, pail, roller towel, hag, area railings, chimley, range, beedles, sold up, loaves, chock-a-block, putting it on, bottils, postal order, stifled, counterpane, fitting by, as like as not

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WOMAN WORK, by Maya Angelou