A Dill Pickle Katherine Mansfield

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A Dill PickleKatherine Mansfield
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About the Author

• Katherine Mansfield
• An outstanding short story writer. She was
  born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1888. She
  studied at Queens College, London, where she met
  D.H. Lawrence and John Middleton Murry, a famous
  critic, whom she later married. After years of
  ill-health and struggle as a freelance writer and
  reviewer, she achieved success with Bliss and
  Other Stories (1920) and The Garden Party (1922).
  Just as she won world fame, however, her health
  grew worse. She died of tuberculosis in 1923.

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About the Author

• Katherine Mansfield
• Critics praised her for her capturing the
  essence of Chekhovs art for stories emphasizing
  atmosphere and actual life rather than exciting
  plot, and for her refreshing originality and
  sensitivity to beauty.

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About the Author

• New Zealand's most famous writer, who was closely
  associated with D.H. Lawrence and something of a
  rival of Virginia Wolf. Mansfield's creative
  years were burdened with loneliness, illness,
  jealousy, alienation - all this reflected in her
  work with the bitter depiction of marital and
  family relationships of her middle-class
  characters. Her short stories are also notable
  for their use of stream of consciousness. Like
  the Russian writer Anton Chekhov, Mansfield
  depicted trivial events and subtle changes in
  human behavior.

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About the Text Main Idea

• This is a story about a young man and a young
  woman who had been lovers once and now meet again
  after six years of separation, and as they
  reminisce, we begin to know what happened six
  years ago that finally led to the end of their
  relationship. In the story, the author artfully
  points up Vera, the heroines sensitivity and the
  mans insensitivity to others their feeling,
  attitudes and motivations,and the mans
  self-involvement.

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About the Text Word Study

• egoist n.
• a person who is always thinking about
  themselves or what is best for themselves.
• egoism n.
• egoistic/egoistical adj.
• luxury n.
• sth that is expensive and enjoyable, but not
  essential,
• e.g. a luxury hotel/flat live in luxury
  live/lead a life of luxury
• luxurious adj.

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About the Text Word Study

• exasperate n.
• annoy, vex, irritate very much,
• e.g. She was exasperated at/by his
  stupidity.
• haunt vi.
• to visit (said of ghosts) regularly
• Here to return repeatedly to the mind,
• e.g. a haunting melody

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About the Text Word Study

• maniac n.
• (1) mad personwild and foolish person
• (2) (derog or joc) person with extreme liking
• (for sth)
• e.g. Shes a football maniac.
• maniacal adj violently mad extremely
  enthusiastic
• e.g. maniacal behavior, a maniacal expression
  on his face
• air n.
• appearance, manner, carriage,bearing
• e.g. She set about her task with an air of
  quiet confidence.

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About the Text Word Study

• grimace n.
• an ugly twisted expression on the face to
  cause laughter or to show pain,disgust,etc
• e.g. Bernie gave a grimace of disgust and left
  the room.
• grimace vi (at sb/sth)
• e.g. She grimaced in/with distaste a the
  thought of it.
• pagoda n.
• religious building on Asia, usu a tall tower
  with several stories each of which has its own
  overhanging roof

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About the Text Word Study

• infuriate vt.
• make sb extremely angry
• e.g. I was infuriated by/with their constant
  criticism.
• It infuriated me to think of the money weve
  wasted.
• infuriating adj. very annoying
• e.g. It was infuriating to be so close and
  get unable to contact them.
• melancholy adj.
• very sad,causing sadness
• e.g. A funeral is a melancholy occasion.

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About the Text Word Study

• impulsive adj.
• (of people or their behavior) marked by sudden
  action that is undertaken without careful thought
• e.g. an impulsive man, comment, decision
• In a burst of impulsive generosity, I offered
  to pay.
• impulse n. (on impulse)
• impulsive adj.
• impulsion n.
• impulsiveness n.

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About the Text Word Study

• barbarian n.
• a person who is primitive or uncivilized
• barbaric/barbarous adj.
• barbarism n.
• barbarity n.
• decorate vt.
• to put things in a room or house to make it
  more beautiful,
• e.g. We decorated the Christmas tree with
  tinsel lights.
• decorator n.
• decorative adj.
• decoration n.

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About the Text Word Study

• loathe hate sth very much
• Expansion the synonyms of a word which
  are
• in meaning, e.g.
• to dislike (to loathe) to like (to
  adore) small (tiny)
• big (huge, enormous, immense, colossal)
• sure (positive) possible (probable)
• to surprise (to stun to shock) angry
  (furious)
• hungry (famished) tired (exhausted)
• pleased (overjoyed) interesting
  (fascinating)
• many (numerous) fine (excellent
  superb)
• poor (destitute) old (ancient)

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About the Text Word Study

• mysterious adj.
• 1. full of mystery hard to understand or
  explain,
• e.g. a mysterious event/crime
• 2. Keeping or liking to keep things secret
• e.g. He was being very mysterious ,and
  wouldn't tell me what he was up to.
• mystery n.
• mysteriously adv.
• self-engrossed adj
• occupied with ones own thoughts or interest
  paying no attention to anything other than ones
  own business

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About the Text Expressions

• peel an orange
• take off the peel of an orange
• to peel potatoes to husk the rice to shell
  the peas
• to wed the garden to skin a cat to gut the
  fish
• to dust the tables
• You were saying
• an expression used to encourage someone you
  just interrupted to continue to speak
• this thick of his
• more emphatic than his trick,
• e.g. look at that son of yours, the
  husband shouted
• at his wife, he stinks!

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About the Text Expressions

• for all in spite of all,
• e.g. (1). For all our efforts, we still
  couldn'tt save his life.
• (2). For all his power,he is still the
  most despised person.
• out of all proportion to the occasion
• (1).completely uncalled for totally
  unnecessary under the circumstances
• (2).a reaction, result, emotion, etc that is
  out of proportion is too strong or great,
  compared to the situation in which it happen.
• e.g. The fear of violent crime has now out
  of proportion to the actual risk.

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About the Text Expressions

• find ones place in life
• to find a successful career
• apart from
• some distance away from
• compare Apart from (Besides) these reasons,
  there is yet another factor.
• mournful lover
• sad lovers whose greatest wish is to die
  together

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About the Text Sentence
Paraphrase

• 1. But now,as he spoke,that memory faded. His was
  the truer. (para 15)
• But now, as he spoke, that memory about the
  ridiculous scene gradually disappeared. After
  all, his memory was the truer one. They did have
  a good time on the whole that afternoon.
• 2. He had lost all that dreamy vagueness and
  indecision. Now he had the air of a man who has
  found his place in life.
• At that time, the man was much younger, full
  of dreams,very unpractical, very unclear about
  what he should do with his life. But now he
  looked like a man sho has found a successful
  career.

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About the Text Sentence
Paraphrase

• 3. As he spoke,she felt the strange east that
  had slumbered so longhungry stare upon those
  places.
• The strange beast probably refers to her
  long-cherished wish to travel to all those
  distant and mysterious places. It had been hidden
  deep in her heart for quite a long time because
  it was impossible for her to realize it given her
  financial and health conditions. But now this old
  wish seemed to be suddenly awakened.

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About the Text Sentence
Paraphrase

• 4. Only I did desire, eventually, to turn into a
  magic carpet and carry you away to all those
  lands you longed to see.
• a) magic carpet The allusion comes from the
  story in the Arabian Nights which describes how a
  magic carpet can carry people wherever hey wish
  to go.
• b) Once again we see the other side of the man.
  He can sometimes say beautiful things.

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About the Text Sentence
Paraphrase

• 5. As he spoke she lifted her head as though she
  drank something the strange beast in her bosom
  began to purr
• She had just heard something which was so
  comforting and refreshing that she felt good. Her
  long buried love for the man seemed to wake up
  again.

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In-class Discussion

• Questions on Comprehension Appreciation
• What was Vera and the mans relationship six
  years ago?
• What happened to Vera and the man respectively
  during the past six years?

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In-class Discussion

• Read for Details
• She smiled, he frowned. Why? (para. 2)
• She smiled because she was very glad to see her
  old friend. He frowned because he could not place
  her. He could not recall where he had met this
  women before.

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Read for Details

• 2. What could Vera have seen in the man that made
  him not without attraction? (para 30)
• For one thing, he was young, energetic, most
  likely good looking. And he could sometimes say
  things that were extremely touching to Vera.

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Read for Details

• 3. Why do you think Vera sold the piano? (para
  42)
• There seems to be only three possible reasons
  One, she lost interest because there was no one
  to appreciate her music Two, she had to go from
  place to place, chasing after warm sunshine, and
  therefore found it impossible to carry the piano
  with her Three, she was financially hard up and
  needed money.

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Read for Details

• 4. You are not going? (para 53)
• a) Why did Vera suddenly begin to unbutton
  her collar again and draw down her veil?
• b) What had the man said to hurt her
  feelings?

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Read for Details
Possible Answers

• 4. (a). It indicates that Vera was going to
  leave.
• (b). The ma said It seems such ages ago
  whereas it was only 6 years, showing that he had
  practically forgotten everything about their past
  love The man also said that he had to take such
  a leap to that time, showing again that he had
  ceased to cherish that memory. What hurt her most
  however, was the way he described how he couldn't
  help laughing the other day when he read her last
  latter again, the letter she must have found it
  very difficult to write six years ago. He
  practically treated the whole thing as a joke.

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In-class Discussion

• Read for Details-Question
• 5. It simply was that we were such egoists, so
  self-engrossed, so wrapped up in ourselves that
  we had not a corner in our hearts for anybody
  else. Is this a pretty accurate description of
  the man himself? Do you think Vera is just like
  the man?

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Read for Details
Possible Answers

• 5. It is just a pretty accurate description of
  the man himself. He is making an important
  confession he really has not a corner in his
  heart for anyone else. Therefore Vera was right
  to leave him 6 years ago and she is also right to
  leave him now.

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After-class Questions

• 1. Why does Veras relationship with the man end
  the way it did? Is it a natural development? Why
  or why not ?
• 2. Do you agree with that both he and Vera are
  such hopeless egoist that they havent a corner
  in their hearts for anybody else?

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• The End