.
There are several features to this story such that it stands out a lot from Joyce's other short stories. To pick one, I notice that the main character, Maria, not only has a name, but is frequently and concretely referred to it rather than mostly pronouns like in Eveline.
she nearly cried outright.
It's interesting to contrast Maria's emotional reactions versus a character like Eveline and her emotional paralysis.
“O Bob! Bob! What am I to do? What am I to do at all?” She would put an end to herself, she said.
I wonder about the significance of the difference between quoted and un-quoted dialogue, such as this instance.
She waited on patiently, almost cheerfully
I wonder if a sentiment analysis is able to accurately capture the drastic change in emotional tone between this point and the previous several paragraphs.
Eveline
This is the first central character that has an actual name, but Eveline is only ever referred to by her name once or twice in this entire short story – she is referred to by pronouns for the vast majority of it.
Mangan’s sister
What seems to be a common feature in Joyce's short stories is that its central characters, including narrators, are nameless.
but I remained silent
Between this short story and "The Sisters", I think the concept of "paralysis" is somewhat of a running thread among the two. The paralysis in "The Sisters", besides the physical symptoms of Father Flynn, is manifested in the boy/aunt's inability to eat or talk due to Father Flynn's influence even after death. We see a similar sense of paralysis and inaction in the narrator (also unnamed) in "An Encounter" as he is subjected to the man's awkward and inappropriate dialogue.
She pressed me to take some cream crackers also but I declined because I thought I would make too much noise eating them.
The boy's precautions with noisy crackers are almost as if he might disturb Father Flynn and the accompanying aura in the room, despite him being dead. The pervasive influence of the dead is akin to that in Mansfield's The Daughters of the Late Colonel.
That was why the girls had never married, so people said. They could have married anybody.
Mr. Neave's daughters' avoidance of marriage would exacerbate his retirement anxiety, since they have not started families of their own and his business has to continually provide for them.
They were strangers to him. Life had passed him by. Charlotte was not his wife. His wife!
Estrangement from his spouse feels very reminiscent of Marriage à la Mode's William and Isabel.
She didn’t even recognise him again.
Is this due to forgiveness? Blissfulness? Suppression?
programmes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_card "A dance card or programme du bal... is used by a woman to record the names of the men with whom she intends to dance each successive dance at a formal ball."
Titania
I wonder if the stem/lemma of "Titania" is something like "titanium," which would be indicative of Isabel's strong-willed nature (at least compared to William).
On his way to the station William remembered with a fresh pang of disappointment that he was taking nothing down to the kiddies
As we've seen in previous Mansfield short stories, the narrative begins in media res.
“Good heavens—why! I—I don’t mind it a bit. I—I like waiting.” And suddenly her cheeks crimsoned, her eyes grew dark—for a moment I thought she was going to cry. “L—let me, please,” she stammered, in a warm, eager voice. “I like it. I love waiting! Really—really I do! I’m always waiting—in all kinds of places...”
We see the usage of hyphens/em-dashes as a literal sign of emotion, the first time we see so from the girl. Although the ending of this story seems to indicate some sort of coming-of-age or newfound characterization, I'm a bit confused in identifying how so, since there wasn't an apparent transformative event like we've seen like in the previous two short stories.
XII
I wonder what the subheadings signify, since the physical settings don't drastically change all that much from one section to another. Perhaps narrative time analysis could be employed to see if anything distinguishes one section from another from a textual standpoint.
A perfect fountain of bubbling notes shook from the barrel-organ, round, bright notes, carelessly scattered.
The bright, radiant imagery is coupled with the seeming, delayed realization that the sisters have this newfound freedom from their father's control, having been a week since his passing.
And now the porter’s head,
A porter is a servant who is employed to carry luggage. The ridicule of the porter in their father's prized top-hat is emblematic of social class differences that seems to be a common thread so far in Mansfield's short stories.
the—the—
The narration is third-person, yet there are moments like this when Laura's inner dialogue (i.e. more brief, parenthetical phrases) bleeds into the narration.
garden-party
I wonder if the hyphenation of garden party has any significance, particularly since the title itself is non-hyphenated.
They were Brahmins (he said) who had forfeited their caste in the service of the god.
Not only the Indians, but other characters throughout the novel have forfeited/sacrificed their lives or reputation for the sake of the Moonstone either directly or indirectly: Rachel, Rosanna, Mr. Jennings, etc.
It’s only in books that the officers of the detective force are superior to the weakness of making a mistake.”
The self-awareness of Sergeant Cuff's own fallibility subverts his seemingly flawless detective logic set up in the first half of the novel, especially given how observant he was portrayed to be versus somebody like Superintendent Seegrave.
Gooseberry
https://www.agmrc.org/commodities-products/fruits/gooseberry
"In the early 1800s a “gooseberry craze” was prominent in Europe, with the trend extending to the United States around the same time... unfortunately, also in the early 1900s, the growing of gooseberry and related currants became federally banned because of a fungal disease called white pine blister rust"
“Only the protest of the world, Miss Verinder–on a very small scale–against anything that is new.”
This statement encapsulates the general xenophobic undertones and uptight English norms that other characters direct towards Jennings.
*Confessions of an English Opium Eater!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_English_Opium-Eater
Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas de Quincy: "Since there was little systematic study of narcotics until long after his death, De Quincey's account assumed an authoritative status and actually dominated the scientific and public views of the effects of opium for several generations."
The writer is entirely mistaken, poor creature.
Franklin and Rosanna's interactions are so often characterized by misunderstanding & miscommunications (this instance + Franklin's final comment about Rosanna that drove her to her death).
the bared wet surface of the quicksand itself, glittering with a golden brightness, hid the horror of its false brown face under a passing smile.
I remember somebody described quicksand as symbolic of deception, which this description, along with the recent revelations, personifies.
I happen to be one of the most un-English Englishmen living
It doesn't really seem so, since Mr. Bruff holds Victorian English customs close enough to distinguish the Indian's courteous behavior to Mr. Luker's vulgar traits.
Oriental stranger
Mr. Bruff and Miss Clack both refer to people of Indian descent as "Oriental," whereas Betteredge almost exclusively referred to them as Indian. I ran NLTK concordance and dispersion plot to verify this observation.
I write with the tears in my eyes, burning to say more. But no–I am cruelly limited to my actual experience of persons and things.
The narrative must be constrained to only information known at the present, and this is a difficulty that Miss Clack acknowledges.
“I have been seriously ill, Drusilla, for some time past,” my aunt began. “And, strange to say, without knowing it myself.”
It is interesting that Miss Clack is the first person that Lady Verinder informs her illness about, even before her own daughter, Miss Rachel. Perhaps the ethos of Lady Verinder's status and the magnitude of trust it takes for this kind of confession helps us trust Miss Clack's narrative even more.
three Oriental noblemen
This is perhaps the first time we see the three Indians described as "Oriental" – we could perhaps verify this with NLTK functions.
I am indebted to my dear parents (both now in heaven) for having had habits of order and regularity instilled into me at a very early age.
This is an instance where, much like how Betteredge's narrative is partially a retelling of Penelope's account, we have to trust some secondary verification for the accuracy of Miss Clack's narrative.
“That’s not a respectful way to speak of any gentleman,” I answered. “If you wish to inquire for my lady’s nephew, you will please to mention him as Mr. Franklin Blake.” She limped a step nearer to me, and looked as if she could have eaten me alive. “Mr. Franklin Blake?” she repeated after me. “Murderer Franklin Blake would be a fitter name for him.”
I commented once about how Betteredge seems to address some characters with prefixes and others without, and this is the most concrete acknowledgement within the novel itself of that difference that I'm curious about.
She betrays an incomprehensible resentment against Mr. Blake, Mr. Superintendent, and myself–otherwise, the very three people who have all, in their different ways, been trying to help her to recover her lost jewel.
This observation could be potentially made amenable to sentiment analysis techniques (e.g. sentiment of Miss Rachel's dialogue with the three listed characters).
The Indians had gone clean out of my head (as they have, no doubt, gone clean out of yours).
If the Indians were indeed innocent, then what "purpose" do they have in this mystery besides a relatively minor red herring?
Sand–in respect of its printing off people’s footsteps–is one of the best detective officers I know.
The Shivering Sands is perhaps the only exception to this statement, since one cannot imprint footsteps in quicksand. Rosanna's fascination with the Shivering Sands is perhaps symbolic of her own history; much like we cannot discern her history, we cannot discern footsteps from quicksand.
I expressed my opinion upon this, that they were a set of murdering thieves. Mr. Murthwaite expressed his opinion that they were a wonderful people.
The contrast between Betteredge's and Mr. Murthwaite's views shines light on Western estrangement of Eastern cultural values and norms (i.e. the value of one's caste by any means necessary), to which Mr. Murthwaite has de-mystified and even sympathizes with because of his immersion in India.
Unless, after long experience, I am utterly mistaken, those men are high-caste Brahmins.
Despite Mr. Murthwaite's extensive lived experience in India, I find it interesting that he still has to qualify his observation, further underlining the inherent uncertainty of personal recounts that is a running thread so far in the novel.
Do your looks belie you?” “No, sir,” I said. “My looks, on this occasion at any rate, tell the truth.”
Mr. Franklin has previously shown a knack for detecting Gabriel's inner, real opinions (“Mr. Franklin, I imagine, must have seen my private sentiments in my face”). While Gabriel's "looks" can refer to his physical features, it can also signify his figurative point-of-view, his reporting of the accounts that he claims in the beginning to be 100% truthful, though his narration is non-immune to information loss and personal biases.
From all I can see, one interpretation is just as likely to be right as the other.”
Conventionally, objectivity has more "correctness" than subjectivity. Yet, why does Mr. Franklin's admit that his explanation, supposedly imbued with objectivity, is merely just as plausible as Gabriel's wholly subjective interpretation? Is a "subjective-objective point of view" even possible, given that they're usually dichotomous?