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Char acter istic & Text Analysis: a cup of tea

2004 9

100027

Abstract From a scanning of the short story A CUP OF TEA by Katherine Mansfield, the protagonist of the passage is she: Rosemary Fell.
A clear example of an upper middleclass lady living an extrordinary pleasant life among smart people, beautiful flowers and qntique and precious
object. Study the story by using characteristic and textual methods, I will try to criticise the text objectively in relation to its functional features.
Key words Rosemary Fell; Charming; Elegant; Education; Characteristic analysis; Text analysis

I.INFORMATION ABOUT THE STORY

Scanning the story first, we come across with a rich couple named
Rosemary and Philip leading an untroubled, desirable life and they
seem to love each other since- we have no implication whether they love
each other for money or not and everything goes well in their lives.
Rosemary spends money without getting into trouble and giving no reason
or excuse to her husband in doing this. Everyone in a society admires
Rosemary not maybe for her beauty but for her remarkable features such
as being interested in current movements from every aspects, seeming as
an intelligent young woman, reading the modern books. She has the
power of money and gets whatever she desires without acconting for
anything to anybody.
Not only we encounter with her weakness in her dialogue with the
shopman but also in her being jealous of Miss Smith when he utters
lovely words for this girl and behaves as it is predicted by Philip who
knows directing her and makes her behave as he desires taking advantage
of her faulty character successfully. She asks directly-having no hidden
meaning in her words- Am I PRETTY? , which ironically reveals her
ex -behaviours to Philip even she supposes that Philip is not aware of
the truth.

II.ANALYSIS
1)Characteristc Analysis:
The common view that a literary text is likely to be comprehended
better if it is studied in parallel with characteristic analysis which
emphasizes the crucial role of the functional features of the text
contributes much to the development of literary criticism.
When we look at the story we realize that main participant is
Rosemary and most of the processes are acted by her.When we count
all the sentences describing her or the ones in which she takes place we
realize her dominancy at once.
In many ways Rosemary is presented us very active .There are
descriptions both
for her physical appearance and for her
characteristic features and interests:
She was young , brilliant , extremely modern, exquisitely well
dressed, amazingly well read in the newest of the new books ...
Even the words describing her are beatifully chosen ones and there
is nothing which makes her inferior-as it is obviously seen -she is not a
woman adored for her goddess beauty but she is an active figure in a
society with her doings; however it is not clear whether she makes it to
be seen like that or she is really the one known in a society.
Her hat, really no bigger than a geranium petal, hung from a
branch...
The writer of the text here uses metaphorical phrases while
describing Rosemary s hat. Infact the writer doesn t generally use such
things , the language of the text is direct but here , in describing her
appearance,she does this . Infact it is to reflect the prominence that is
given for her.
She is mostly the actor where the girl is the goal or sometimes the

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beneficiary recipient:
I want you to. To please me.
Here I , Rosemary, takes part as an actor whereas you ,Miss
Smith, is the goal and want is the process which is stated by Rosemary.
We may infer that Rosemary is dominant and makes others do whatever
she wants to.
I only want to make you warm...
This time what she desires to be made by her is something good as a
concept; but even it is good for Miss Smith, it is directed by Rosemary
and shows her power on her by regarding Miss Smith as a helpless
creature which is to be pitied and looked after.
Come and sit down, she cried, dragging her big chair up to the
fire, in this comfy chair.
And the circumstantial features where the actor is Rosemary gives
clues for her rich ,comfortable life style.
Looking at how she sees the world around her, we realize that she
can mention about what she likes or dislikes and reveals her ideas
directly and freely; we have lots of verbs telling us about her cognition
and affection:
Yes, she liked it very much, she loved it.
Rosemary admired the flowers.
Rosemary gave no sign.
Rosemary laughed out.
She decided...
She wanted to spare this poor little thing...
She saw alittle battered creature with enormous eyes...
I hate lilac.
The other participants I d like to analyse on this text -apart from
Rosemary - are the girl,Miss Smith, and Philip. Even though Philip
hasn t got as many turns as Rosemary and Miss Smith, I d like to
examine the processes of him in order to display the currents of events
as a whole- he is the efficient figure in the sequences of events in the
story-; in other words it is vital to handle it here to maintain the entirety
of the text.
Physical descriptions are used to introduce Miss Smith and these
descriptions sometimes tell us about the life style of her and mostly
show us inferiority of her when compared with Rosemary basically:
...Rosemary turned. She saw a little battered creature with
enormous eyes , someone quite young , no older than herself...
...a light , frail creature with tangled hair, dark lips, deep lighted
eyes,...
...thin ,birdlike shoulders.
...poor little thing.
And we have implications about her manner which are presented us
from the eyes of the writer:
...she seemed dazed.
she seemed to stagger like a child,...
She is the goal where Rosemary is the actor:

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You are not taking me to police station.

Here the actor is again Rosemary even the sentence is uttered by the
other , she will act the process; the girl is aware of this and she is the
recipient again.
Rosemary drew the other into the hall. the other is the girl.
Although her acts are mostly led by Rosemary, we have
implications about her feelings as follows:
The girl almost cried out .
...burst into tears
the girl gazed back at her.
she felt how simple and kind her smile was.
When we take Philip as a participant , there is no sign for his
physical appearance and no utterance for his personality also. Philip is
not as bright as Rosemary but he makes himself realize as soon as he
enters the story towards the end and we can only guess something by
means of the sentences as follows:
Philip smiled his charming smile.
The we can say that he has charming smile that makes effect on
Rosenary.
But what an earth are you going to do with her?cried Philip.
So, he accounts for something and she behaves in line with Philip
s desires.
Even though he enters at the last scene , he is the actor in the
sentences where Rosemary is the goal :
I wanted you come... Here Rosemary is the goal. ( You =
Rosemary )
Philip jumped her on his knee. This is the statement in which
Rosemary is the recipient whereas Philip is the actor.
As soon as he takes a part in the story, he behaves also like an
observor :
..he said curiously, still looking at that listless figure, looking at
its hands and boots...
By means of this characterist analysis , I have also seen that a
literary text can be interpreted effectively,scientifically,and most correctly
when its functional features are studied in detail and one can enjoy the
passage even after its characteristic features are dealt with,which is
supposed to make the meaning and charming beauty of the work of art
loss.
2)Text Analysis:
a)Textual Linguistic
Early text linguists concentrated on the development of various
paradigms for the study of how sentences interconnect. They have drawn
attention to the various linguistic devices that can be used to ensure that
a text "hangs together" the concept of textual cohesion. Such devices
include the use of articles, lexical repetition and personal pronouns to
refer back to entities the use of linking words to establish a particular
logical relationship of, say, contrast, concession or addition between two
or more sentences in a text. Other types text linguistic themes include:
developing a typology of text types such as written text types.
The most commonly known classification is that typological variation
can be reduced to 5 functional types: argumentative texts, narrative texts,
descriptive texts, expository texts and instructive texts. In some versions
of this theory, the 5 types tend to be viewed as textualisation-strategies.
It is not uncommon for a single text to incorporate parts which fall under
different functional headings (for instance, a novel may consist of
descriptive, narrative and argumentative episodes; a newspaper editorial
is likely to contain narrative and argumentative parts). From libraries and
bookshops to advertisement posters, from newspapers text is everywhere.
We can study the structure of the text in terms of the flow of elements
which follow a temporary sequence (narrative analysis), or in terms of the
logic/persuasive structure of assertions in order to convince an audience
about a claimed truth (argumentation and rhetoric analysis).
If we intend text as a communication of a message, we can
systematically analyse its content (content analysis) or the interaction of

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different actors involved (discourse analysis). Finally, we can refer to the

vast cultural/social context of meanings from which text emerges
(semiotics analysis). Narrative analysis deals with how tellers interpret
real events into narrative: what is the focus of the analysis is how
narrators structure perceptual experience, organize their memory, rebuild
events of life assigning, reordering and reshaping meanings.
What is interesting is the way in which various elements,
protagonists, times of the story are ordered and systematised. All this
furnishes precious information about the subjective perspective of the
narrator, about the context on which meanings are grounded, about values
that narrator wants to emphasis and those he/she wants to conceal.
Texts are produced in isolation. We have at our disposal a choice of
registers or varieties of language and each choice is made on the
basis of the specific situation in which we found ourselves. Units of
communication do not coincide with units of grammar and they have
different standards of acceptability. A text is not just a list of sentences.
The sentences intertwine with each other to create a coherent and
cohesive whole. This is done through semantic and grammatical choices.
Different text types focus on the receiver s attention on different aspects
of the communicative situation and are related to different mental
activities.
b)Text analysis from the novel:
In fact the reader can infer a lot of information about Rosemary Fell
and her world from the following details in the story:
From her charming personality brilliant and extremely modern .
From her elegant clothes well-dressed .
From her up-to-date education amazingly well-read in the newest
of the new books .
From her interesting acquaintances important people and artistsquaint creatures, but others quite presentable and amusing .
From her beloved people She had a duck of a boy. No, not PeterMichael (8-9). And her husband absolutely adored her .
From her high social condition if Rosemary wanted to shop she
would go to Paris if she wanted to buy flowers, that car pulled up to
the perfect shop in Regent Street .
As a result the general content of the passage unveils an apparently
too perfect and happy existence of the protagonist, far from all the real
travels of human life. As to the literary genre, the passage through the
evident sense of humour the narrator exploits towards Rosemary and her
golden cage, probably anticipates a surprising and unexpected conclusion,
frequently adopted in short stories.
The text may be divided into three paragraphs: Paragraph 1: (1-11)
grandparents. Paragraph 2: clothes (12-22). Paragraph 3:( 23-28).
Paragraph 1 opens with a clear effective statement Rosemary Fell
was not exactly beautiful (1.1) which introduces the protagonist in a
usual way, and enhancing a defect not a quality and in this case a
physical quality. Moreover, the third person narrator dwells on this aspect
and ironically interacts with the implied reader no, you couldn t have
called her beautiful. Pretty! Well peaces (1-3), considering Rosemary
the mere object of this analysis. On line 3 the narrator starts a detailed
description s of Rosemary s characteristics and mainly her opportunities
to live in a sort of paradise where she naturally moved playing the role of
the perfect lady. In fact the narrator satirizes her social condition they
were rich, really rich not just comfortably well of grandparents (9-11),
almost revealing a sort of envy. The sequences are mainly descriptive and
static.
In paragraph 2 the narrator establishes a strong interaction with the
implied reader. But as you and I would go to Bond Street (12 -13)
stressing on the social difference between Rosemary and other common
people and enhancing her proud way of addressing to shopkeepers and
shop assistants in her dazzled, rather exotic way.. . I want those
(15-16). yes I ll have all the roses in the jar (16-17) No, lilac I hate
lilac , (18). In this paragraph the reader is able to understand Rosemary
s well- determined personality through her way of choosing flowers and

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION

giving immediate orders. Give me those stumpy little tulips. These red
and white ones (20-21). The shopkeeper and the shop assistant behaved
respectfully, confirming her sense of superiority. The attendant bowed
and put the lilac out of sight, as though these only too true (18-19).
And she was followed to the car by a thin shop girl.. clothes (21-22).
Paragraph 3 opens with time and place references. One winter
afternoon (23) she had been buying in a little antique shop in Curzon
Street (24), which probably represent the starting point of the story itself
and the narrator, to increase the reader s curiosity dwells on the antique
dealer s respectful but grotesque manner of welcoming her. and the man
was ridiculously fond of serving her. He beamed whenever she came in.
He clasped his hands, he was so scarcely speak (25-27). In the last
two paragraphs the sequences are narrative and consequently dynamic.
Stylistic devices & Cultural References:
The text presents the author s perception of the theme of irony dealt
with: the description of the character and the situation is carried out
through a rich and amusing vocabulary; a lot of attention to the exact
choice of adverbs. The narrator s ironically effect is based on the contrast
between what is been said and what is actually meant and involves the
reader who is deeply influence by her point of view.
The syntax is clear and simple, the brief utterances are essential for
the general comprehension of the passage and the written is quite
appealing. The main strategy is the continuous interaction between the
narrator and the reader, seen as a couple of close friends, ready to mock
Rosemary. Among those writers who adopt these strategies there was K.
Mansfield who was interested in characters rather than plot. She focused
on meaningful moments of consciousness of her characters and analysed
their inner personalities.
Katherine Mansfield can be compared to Joyce and Woolf whose

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literary approach she clearly adopted and to nowadays female writers of

short stories such as Rosemary Timperly, Irish Murdoch In the first
part of the XX century Modernism was associated with those authors who
focussed their attention on the psychological development of human mind
and who invented new techniques such as interior monologue and stream
of consciousness.

III.CONCLUSION
Looking at K.Mansfield s story, we come across with variability
making the text closer to real,authentic usage by means of questions,
answers, requests, imperatives,exclamations and so on.
To begin with turn-takings between Rosemary and Miss Smith, it is
seen that there are lots of questions and answers. Both the narrative
statements directly by the writer and the dialogues between the
participants are involved in the story. Ideas of the characters and their
acts are told by the writer of the text as a narrator whereas the chain of
particular events ,speech acts are presented via a lot of dialogues in the
text.K.Mansfield is like an observor describes the characters ,the events
and gives us clues about what the characters are thinking to themselves.
For instance, Rosemary is made to think and speak to herself after being
jealous of the girl and we can follow her plans which is going to occur.
Having analysed this literary text by not commenting on it with my
superficial impressions but examinig it in details, I have obtained more
objective criticism. Furthermore, it has proved that our impressions
supposed to be uttered intuitively and unconsciously has hidden
conscious in itself and kept hidden unless it emerges by studying it
with its grammatical features which helped me to analyse the short story
of Katherine Mansfield more empirically.

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3.2

newly sprung sprung

my luve
melodie ,
Till a the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt
wi the sun

, ,

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o , 13 my only luve ,
And fare thee weli
[5]

1 . [J]. 1979 19-17.

2 . [J]. 1979 19-17
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