Brilliant Satire in A Cup of T
A Cup of Tea is a short story by Katherine Mansfield, which is simply and clear. However, it depicts characters vividly and deeply, thus makes people laugh and think over human nature.
This three-thousand-word passage sharply critics the fake sympathy of the upper class. They use the poor as a tool to prove their warmhearted and innocent outlook. Rosemary, as a best illustration, sick of the dull everyday living, thus planned to do something “meaningful”---be kind to a poor young girl. Without considering carefully, Rosemary took her home---on some degree, to show off her wealth. Unlike her beautiful name, Rosemary did things quite rudely and disrespectfully. However, to a poor starved girl, it seemed not that important. Eleanor gradually got used to the splendid house and the warmhearted hostess. Rosemary achieved her goal to make the girl feel at home. But things changed when Philip, Rosemary’s husband, went back home and got surprise with Eleanor’s untidy shabby appearance. He didn’t want this poor little girl to stay in his house while his wife enjoyed this role play game. In order to let Eleanor leave, Philip praised her beauty and exploited his wife’s envy. And he made it.
This book has quite brilliant details depicture. Rosemary led a too wealthy life and thus knew little about the poor. When first met, Rosemary asked the little girl, “A cup of tea? Then have you no money at all? ” When she heard the poor girl’s answer, she expressed her surprise without covering up anything, “How extraordinary!” She said like this. I do believe that she spoke it out out of nature instead of deliberately. Rosemary was not a cruel person; in fact she was just ignorant. She cared nothing but her love and jewels or something like this. When she felt tired of this boring life style, she tried to play a kind and glorious role in such a perfect situation. Everything was perfect besides her insincere treatment to Eleanor. She took her home in order to “prove to this girl that--- wonderful things did happen in life, that---fairy godmothers were real, that--- rich people had had hearts, and that women were sisters.” However, none of the purpose came from the little girl’s need. In order to accomplish this, she ordered everything to be “natural”. She asked the girl to her room eagerly to spare her from being stared; she dragged the girl to sit in her favorite comfortable chair ignoring the girl’s feeling uncomfortably and awkward; she brought food for the girl to eat and looked around deliberately, etc. Rosemary enjoyed this game and felt good about herself.
As for another female in this passage, she was a tool on both Rosemary’s stage and this book. However, I did feel sympathy for the little girl. She lacked a sense of security. When Rosemary invited her to her house, her first reaction was that the woman would “send her to the police”. Thus it was not difficult to infer what kind of life she was leading. The reason she cannot trust others or accept others’ kindness easily perhaps fell in the classification and her former experience. When Rosemary invited her to sit down in a comfortable chair, she was quite nervous but still answered in a polite way, “I daren’t, madam.” When reading this, I felt like a bottle of vinegar pouring onto my heart. She was somehow like a little injured beast who should be taken good care of.
Although Rosemary just wanted to play a game at first, she helped the little girl anyway. However, things changed when Philip coming back. This climax plot is the most brilliant one, which depicted ugly human nature powerfully and vividly. The husband judged Eleanor by her shabby appearance, as the passage described, “His eye caught sight of the coat and hat on the floor. He came over to the fire and turned his back to it. ” After failing to advise his wife to send the girl away, he changed his persuading into praising the girl, “She’s so astonishingly pretty. She’s absolutely lovely. I was bowled over when I came into your room just now. Sorry, darling, if I’m crude and all that. But let me know if Miss Smith is going to dine with us in time for me to look up The Milliner’s Gazette.” Then he just waited in his library. As he supposed, those words worked. They pushed Rosemary into envying that little girl. “Pretty! Absolutely lovely! Bowled over! Her heart beat like a heavy bell. Pretty! Lovely! She drew her check-book towards her. But no, Checks would be no use, of course. She opened a drawer and took out five pound notes, looked at them, put two back, and holding the three squeezed in her hand, she went back to her bedroom.” The author didn’t waste any ink on describing what happened in her bedroom anymore, instead he left room for the readers to imagine how fiercely Rosemary may speak and how astonished Eleanor may be. After driving the girl to leave, she obtained pleasure of revenge. She then went to show off her deed to her husband leaning against the door, “I only wanted to tell you, Miss Smith won’t dine with us tonight. She insisted on going, so I gave the poor little thing a present of money. I couldn’t keep her against her will, could I?”
Rosemary tried to exploit her good-looking appearance to control her husband, while her husband exploited her jealousy to control her. From the story, I cannot feel the affection between these couples. Instead I can see the relationship of interest between them. Rosemary needed Phillip’s fortune while Phillip enjoyed Rosemary’s beauty. These couples were typical in upper class, through which the author criticized the fake affection ironically.
This sort of relationship, however, does existed in our modern society. They get together just for interest. It seems that they can also be happy. However, they are not unique for each other. Lacking true love, their marriage cannot go far. And perhaps this is another purpose the author hope to express in this passage.
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