Katherine Mansfiels - the lady´s maid

hvor lang er den?

to sider :)

Der er lidt probemer med at vedhæfte filer, så den kommer her:

Katherine Mansfield: The Lady´s maid
TASK 1:
The main character is named Ellen. The story is told from her point of view but at the same time meant to be told to “madam.”
Ellen is a maid and serves “my lady”. When she was four years old her mother died. After that she lived with her grandfather, who owned a hair-dresser´s shop. One day she cut off her hair and her grandfather got mad at her. She ran away from home and moved in with her aunt. When she met “My lady” and started to serve her, her aunt was relieved. Ellen has served My Lady ever since which is a sign that Ellen is a very loyal person.
Once she fell in love with a man named Harry who owned a flower shop. When Harry asked her to marry him Ellen was thrilled but as the wedding day got closer she chose to stay with “My lady” after all. This could show that she was afraid of new commitments. Because Ellen ran away from home and had to work from an age of 13 she didn´t have much of a childhood. As she told “madam” at the bottom of page 2 : “And I don´t remember feeling – well – a child, as you might say.” You can also see this when Ellen tells the story about the donkeys - she wanted to ride a donkey like My Lady´s nieces were supposed to. Since Ellen grew up without her parents perhaps she wanted to get really close to somebody. This somebody turned out to be My Lady.
We never really hear my lady´s real name. She just goes under the name “My Lady”.
My Lady is an elderly woman who apparently died because of a stroke. Ellen worked for My Lady when the story took place and had done that for a long time before.
My Lady was not used to doing things herself, which you can see on page 3 near the bottom: “… then she dropped her handkerchief and began to stoop down to pick it up herself – a thing she never did…”
Ellen seems to think that My Lady never thinks of herself (page 3, bottom). This could be the truth but according to the story about the doneys My Lady doesn´t neccesairly think of Ellen so much either. Ellen doesn´t seem to realize this - maybe because she´s naive, maybe because she just wants someone to care about her.
Ellen seems like she has lost her mind and therefore makes up things. She contradicts herself. An example of this could be on page 2 just above the middle when she says: ”…No, she never recovered, madam. She had a stroke at the end. Last words she ever said was – very slow, ”Look in – the – Look – in--“ and then she was gone.” and in the very beginning of the story Ellen tells Madam that she just gave My Lady tea.
The reader of the story can see that Ellen is rambling but Ellen, herself, can´t.

The structure of this short story is a little confusing. First of all: Even though Ellen answers madam´s questions we never actually hear madam talk. This could be a sign that madam is just an imaginary person, just like My Lady most likely is when the story takes place. Second of all: As already mentioned, Ellen sais things that contradict themselves. It might make sense in Ellen´s mind but as a reader it can confuse you a bit.

When I read the story I thought it reminded of the short film “Dinner for one” which is shown every new year´s eve on Danish television. The short film is about an elderly lady who celebrates her 90th birthday with “all of her friends” The problem is that all of her friends are dead. Even though her friends are dead she keeps the same procedure every year. This seems to be exactly what Ellen does – even though My Lady is dead Ellen still gives her tea every night.

TASK 2:
“... But one day I managed to get a pair of scissors and - would you believe it, madam? I cut off all my hair; snipped it off all in bits, like the little monkey I was. Grandfather was furious! He caught hold of the tongs - I shall never forget it - grabbed me by the hand and shut my fingers in them. "That'll teach you!" he said. It was a fearful burn. I've got the mark of it to-day.”
“... No, madam, grandfather never got over it. He couldn't bear the sight of me after. Couldn't eat his dinner, even, if I was there. So my aunt took me. She was a cripple, an upholstress. Tiny! She had to stand on the sofas when she wanted to cut out the backs. And it was helping her I met my lady ...”
“… Men en dag lykkedes det mig at få en saks og – ville du tro det, frue? Jeg klippede alt mit håt af; klippede det af i stykker, som den lille abe, jeg var. Bedstefar var resende! Han tog tangen – jeg vil aldrig glemme det – tog min hånd og kom mine fingre ind i den. “Så kan du lære det!” sagde han. Det var en frygtelig smerte. Jeg har mærket fra det i dag.”

“… Nej, frue, bedstefar kom sig aldrig over det. Han kunne ikke bære synet af mig efter det. Kunne ikke engang spise sin aftensmad, hvis jeg var der. Så min tante tog mig. Hun var en krøbling, en møbelpolstrerinde. Lille! Hun blev nødt til at stå på sofaerne, når hun ville skære ryggene op. Og det hjalp hende, at jeg mødte min frue …”

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#4

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slap af, det var ikke for at provokere. Jeg spurgte bare.. Teksten fylder to sider i word men jeg kunne ikke uploade dokumentet da uploadningstingen ikke virkede :(

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