We need to be very careful when examining the character of
Laura and what she might represent in this excellent short story. Certainly, you are
right that, at the beginning of the story at least, she seems to represent a new
understanding of the social order with her disavowel of class distinctions. Note her
thoughts about her solidarity with the men who come to put up the
marquee:
It
was all the fault, she decided... of these absurd class distinctions. Well, for her
part, she didn't feel them. Not a bit, not an
atom...
However, in spite of
such spirited declarations, the way that her mother is able to tempt her into forgetting
about Mr. Scott and his unfortunate demise through a new hat and her participation in
and enjoyment of the party suggests that she comes to act on these "absurd class
distinctions" just as much as her sister and
mother.
However, the one ambiguous note comes at the end,
when Laura contemplates the body of Mr. Scott, and sees that he is at
peace:
What
did garden-parties and baskets and lace frocks matter to him? He was far from all those
things. He was wonderful, beautiful. While they were laughing and while the band was
playing, this marvel had come to the
lane.
Such lines suggest that
Laura comes to reflect on her own life and existence in the upper class of which she is
a part and judges it, finding something beautiful and eternal in the silence of the dead
man. This could be used as evidence to suggest that Laura does indeed represent a new
understanding of society after the horrors of WWI.
No comments:
Post a Comment