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The Singing Lesson Themes 1. Marriage and Gender Biased Society The protagonist of the story is a thirty-year-old woman, who is engaged to a twenty fiveyear-old man. This man, Basil, calls of their engagement without giving any concrete reason other than the fact that he found himself to not be a marrying man . This puts Miss Meadows in a state of despair. Throughout the story, it s clear that Miss Meadows feelings for Basil are lukewarm; her real concern about their broken engagement is that others will judge her for being single. Her shame at being single again is such that Miss Meadows thinks, after the breakup, she could never face the Science Mistress or the girls once it got known. She would have to disappear somewhere, which suggests that losing Basil is less significant to her than losing the appearance of his love within the school community. This shows the importance of marriage in the life of a woman approaching thirty. So much of a woman s worth came from marriage, that she would consider giving up a steady job just to avoid people seeing her as a failure. This story shows how marriage became tied to a woman s validation and sense of self, so much so that they would even take a flaky man in place of having no man at all. Through the melodramatic depiction of Miss Meadows emotions: her over-the-top despair when her lackluster engagement ends, and her feverish joy when her engagement is feebly renewed Mansfield seems to be poking fun at people who assume that following social norms is so high-stakes. 2. Despair and Cruelty From the very first line in which Miss Meadows has cold, sharp despair buried deep in her heart like a wicked knife despair is the story s defining emotion. The severity of Miss Meadows s despair is noteworthy: she is described as bleeding to death because her heart has been pierced by Basil s letter. While recalling snippets of this letter, she asks her students to rehearse a sad song about youth and happiness disappearing, which emphasizes the magnitude of her grief. The story s setting also contributes to Miss Meadows s sense of despair. The story is set in late autumn, when the weather is so cold that it might be winter. As the students wail while rehearsing their sad song, Mansfield describes the willow trees outside with their leaves mostly gone and the wind and rain blowing against the windows. Between Miss Meadows own expressions of grief, the mournful song her students sing, and the stormy autumnal setting, Mansfield depicts a world that is saturated in despair, in which despair seems to be the natural state of everyone and everything. The story implies that the source of this pervasive despair is cruelty. Miss Meadow s despair is rooted in the cruelty of others, both her fellow teachers and Basil. The way he breaks their engagement is particularly cruel: he leaves her a note instead of speaking to her in person, and the note itself is inconsiderate, especially because he initially wrote that marrying her would fill him with disgust. While he crossed out disgust and replaced it with regret, he didn t bother to cross it out well enough that she couldn t read it. This hurts Miss Meadows profoundly and makes her know that Basil doesn t love her. While a broken engagement should be grounds for sympathy and compassion, Miss Meadows expects only judgment and scorn from her colleagues at school. This leads her to such despair that she feels she will have to abandon her job entirely rather than face her cruel colleagues. In her despair, she is cruel with her music students, who then begin to despair themselves, weeping openly in class. Mansfield initially describes the students as rosy and bubbling over with gleeful excitement, but then Miss Meadows is cruel: she ignores one student s gesture of kindness (Mary Beazley handing her a yellow chrysanthemum), is brusque in her rehearsal instructions, and encourages them to put their saddest emotions into the song. This leaves many of the students in tears, which is a startling example of how cruelty makes others feel profound despair even young students who were, moments ago, joyful. In this way, The Singing Lesson shows cruelty and despair to be interlinked despair leads to cruelty which leads to more despair. 3. The Lament and the Environment The central idea of the story is to show how a person s emotional state and mood can affect their actions and the way in which they view the world. As Miss Meadows enters her class in a state of deep despair, any gaiety around her was met with scorn. To start with Mansfield uses the setting of the school (the cold corridor) to reflect how Miss Meadows is feeling. This sense of coldness is further explored when Miss Meadows is talking to the Science Mistress and she tells her it is rather sharp. Again Mansfield may not only be describing the weather but also how Miss Meadows is feeling. Next she grimaces at her sweet colleague who is trying to make small talk with her, and even gets irritated by her gaiety. So consumed in pain she is, that she even refuses to take from her favourite student the flower she has gotten her. It is also interesting that Miss Meadows mood appears to have a negative effect on the girls in her music class. This is noticeable by the choice of song that Miss Meadows tells the girls to sing a lament. Mansfield telling the reader, as the girls are singing the song, that every note was a sigh, a sob, a groan of awful mournfulness. This line is significant as in many ways, the girl s response to the song mirrors how Miss Meadows is feeling. Just as Miss Meadows is feeling sadness, by choosing a lament and telling her class to sing it, she appears to be transferring or allowing her own mood (of sadness) to affect the girls in her class. Even the weather outside, the rain and the whispering willows seems to be reflecting Miss Meadow s cold and the tormented self. This goes on to show how, during times of crisis, the boundary between one s internal world and external world collapses, and the turmoil of the internal world begins to seep into our interaction with the external world. The singing lesson that takes place in the story perfectly captures this blurring of boundaries in context of Miss Meadows. 4. Reliance and Appearance. Mansfield also appears to be exploring the theme of reliance and appearance. The reader is aware that Miss Meadows is older than Basil (she is thirty, Basil is twenty five). At the time the story was written thirty would have been viewed upon as old, when it came to a woman getting married. If anything it is possible that Miss Meadows is aware, that due to her age, she may never again, now that Basil has called off the engagement, get the opportunity to marry and as such is reliant on him to marry her. It is also interesting that Miss Meadows believes that she may have to leave her job, now that Basil has called off their engagement. This plays on the theme of appearance, Mansfield tells the reader that (Miss Meadows) she would have to leave the school, too. She could never face the Science Mistress or the girls after it got known. She would have to disappear. This line may be important as it is from it that the reader suspects that Miss Meadows is concerned about how she will appear to others (the Science Mistress and the girls in her class) now that Basil has called off their engagement. She was desperate to get married to him for her honour and grace, not for love or affection. She was not concerned by how much (or little) Basil loved her, as she reflected: I don t mind how much it is. Love me as little as you like . She was ready to settle for a man who might not love her at all to appear settled in her life. At the end the drastic shift in her attitude due to the actions of her partner reveal her complete reliance on her relationship for happiness. Similarly, Basil not only accepted the Head Master wife s invitation to dinner, though he called it a perfect nuisance , but got dressed for the occasion in the bright blue shirt and a dark red rose in his buttonhole, because he too wanted to keep up appearances for social propriety and advancement. Thus in their relationship with each other and in their interaction with the society at large, both Miss Meadows and Basil kept on their appearances for the sake of their public image. 5. Music. Music, central to many of Mansfield s stories is especially evident in "The Singing Lesson." Miss Meadows allows her inner turmoil to influence not only her song choices when teaching her class but the way in which the songs are interpreted. She picks a lament for the classes first song and instructs her students not to feel any emotion while singing and their voices are as a result, lifeless and a reflection of Miss Meadow s inner thoughts.The students instinctively pick up on Miss Meadow s emotions and become subdued and afraid as a result. The music serves as her inner emotional outlet without having to divulge her private thoughts. After Miss Meadows receives Basils apology her music choice reflects her change in the mood and she sings a happier song, allowing her own voice to sing loudest, symbolizing her return to happiness Character Sketch Miss Meadows Enjoys respect in her academic environment (promptness with which her students obey her, Mary Beazley offers chrysanthemum everyday) Dedicated Teacher (despite her inner turmoil attends to her duties) Susceptible (affected by life s tribulations) Low Self Esteem ( nobody has been as surprised as she; it had been a miracle) Self-conscious (worried about her public image) Believed in gender roles and stereotypes (ready to give up her career) Fears social stigmatization (being unmarried at thirty) Entangles her emotional aspects with her professional life (her anguish taints her exchange with her students and colleagues) Conveniently delusional Basil Self-obsessed (his feelings, his appearance, his liking of furniture) Insensitive (his cold letter to call off the marriage, disgust was scratched out lightly) Takes Miss Meadows for granted Fickle minded (two opposing letters) Not a passionate lover Fake (keeps up appearances;dresses up for the dinner though he hates to go) Title The singing lesson is the backdrop against which both the plot and the character is revealed. The singing lesson is the mirror of the ongoing turmoil in Miss Meadow s life The singing lesson itself appears to be alive. Symbolism Symbolism is the systematic and creative use of arbitrary symbols. The symbolic significance lies in the abstract meaning rather than the literal meaning of it. In the broadest sense a symbol is applied to a word or set of words that signifies an object, images, events and characters which are often used deliberately to suggest and strengthen meaning. The beauty of the symbol is its compactness and it makes possible much be said in a few words. Symbols found in the stories of Katherine Mansfield are varied and harmoniously form an integrated part of the story. These symbols add a new dimension to her stories and intensify their effect by extending their depth as well as breadth. The effective use symbols and imageries, intensifies the despair and the emotional upheaval of Miss Meadows. Cold corridor (coldness that has gripped Miss Meadows heart) Knife (immense pain) Baton (authority and control) Songs (Miss Meadows changing mood) Chrysanthemum (hope and optimism) Ostrich Feather Boa (denial to accept truth) Willow Tree with few tiny leaves (Miss Meadows relationship drawing to a close) The Rain Outside (ongoing storm in Miss Meadows s life.) Suggested Questions: 1. Comment on the inner turmoil of Miss Meadows in the story, The Singing Lesson . What does it speak of human mind set? 2. Comment on the interior monologue in The Singing Lesson . 3. Describe Miss Meadows mood before and after receiving the telegram. How did it affect her class? 4. The Singing Lesson is well written with the use of apt symbols to describe the characters and the environment in the story. Illustrate with examples. The willow trees---fishes caught on a line (Page (94) Pathetic Fallacy: A type of personification where human emotions are attributed to aspects of Nature. Ex-clouds looksulking The repetition of lament fans her sorrow to humongous proportion and she sees Nature partaking in her suffering. The alliteration with w heightens the intensity of the pain and suffering as felt by Miss Meadows.
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