Keys to Unit Two
(1) I. B. Singer: The Washwoman
(2) Frank Sargeson: A Piece of Yellow Soap
1) Questions for Discussion:
(Suggested answers for reference)
(1) Does the piece of washing soap have the ―power‖ as the narrator tells us? What is the ―power‖
that forces him to take off?
(The piece of yellow washing soap is, of course, an ordinary one. The narrator is a ―na?ve narrator‖who believed that it had some sort of mysterious ―power,‖while the readers are expected to know better. This power comes from the narrator’s deep sympathy for the tragic fate of the washing woman. Seeing the situation, he simply could not continue to demand the payment which he knew the woman was unable to produce.)
(2) In this Unit, we have two stories about two washwomen. There are a lot of similar descriptions
and common characteristics in the two stories. Find and list them.
(They were both reduce to desperation, depending solely on washing for living. Both were hard-working and uncomplaining, quietly but almost heroically bore their burden and struggled for a hard existence. The author describes their common feature –the white and shrunken fingers – as symbol of suffering in the lives of the working people. They both were both dead by the end of the stories.)
(3) The two first-person narrators tell two stories of two washwomen who shared similar tragic
fate. Discuss the differences in the narrators that result in the differences in the way the two
short stories are told.
(Singer’s narrator knows more and tells more about the washing woman, often making direct comments and revealing his own feelings about the life of the woman whose story he is telling. He frequently emphasizes that what he is telling is real, and hints that the story has significance. The narrator’s voice is very close to the author’s. Please see more in ―Reading Tips‖ on page 11. On the other hand, Sargeson’s narrator is a na?ve one, that is, the narrator’s understanding is purposely made shallow, and the reader need find by himself the real meaning in the situation. So the narrator st
ands at some distance from the author. Please see more in ―Reading Tips‖on page 15. Therefore, in Text I, we, as readers, are basically ―given‖ or ―received‖ the story, while in Text II, we need to participate imaginatively in the story to ―dig out‖ the true meaning the na?ve narrator has left unexplained.)
2) Explanation and Interpretation:
(Explain the implied meaning of the following sentences, and point out their significance
in the context of the story.)
From “The Washwoman”:
(1) She had been so sick that someone called a doctor, and the doctor had sent for a priest.
(According to the custom, a priest should be present while one is dying. The implied message
is the doctor thought that he could do nothing to save her, and the best thing to do was to prepare
for her death.)
(2) ―With the help of God you will live to be a hundred and twenty,‖ said my mother, as a
blessing.
―God forbid!...‖
(―My Mother‖ extended a good wish for long life to her, but the washing woman thought that
a long life was a terrible thing, because it only meant suffering longer.)
sort of noble(3) Her soul passed into those spheres where all holy souls meet, regardless of the roles they
played on this earth, in whatever tongue, of whatever religion.
(A good person, like the old washwoman, would go to heaven because she had a noble soul.
She would rise above all the earthly considerations of class, race, nation and religion. )
From “A Piece of Yellow Soap”:
(4) My eyes would get fixed on her fingers and the soap, and after a few minutes I would lose all
power to look the woman in the face. I would mumble something to myself and take myself
off .
(The narrator could not bear to look at this washing-tub slave for too long. He would have to find some excuse and leave. He could not push her over the cliff while she was standing on
the verge of total desperation.)
(5) She had a way too of feeling inside her handbag as she passed me, and I always had the queer
feeling that she carried there a piece of soap. It was her talisman powerful to work wonders…
(Possibly in the bag there were a few pennies that the woman had earned from her washing,
and she was going to buy food or some necessities. Seeing the narrator, to whom she knew she
owed money, she unconsciously or protectively put her hand in the bag. The narrator, being
―na?ve,‖ misunderstood her reaction while they met in the street.)
Suggested Homework:
Translate the following paragraphs from “The Washwoman” into Chinese:
The bag was big, bigger than usual. When the woman placed it on her shoulders, it
covered her completely. At first she stayed, as though she were about to fall under the load.
But an inner stubbornness seemed to call out; no, you may not fall. A donkey may permit
himself to fall under his burden, but not a human being, the best of creation.
She disappeared, and mother sighed and prayed for her.
More than two months passed. The frost had gone, and then a new frost had come, a new
wave of cold. One evening, while mother was sitting near the oil lamp mending a shirt, the door opened and a small puff of steam, followed by a gigantic bag, entered the room. I ran toward the old woman and helped her unload her bag. She was even thinner now, more bent. Her head shook from side to side as though she were saying no. She could not utter a clear word, but mumbled something with her sunken mouth and pale lips.
For reference only:
衣服包很大，比平时更大。妇人将那一大包衣服驼在肩上，包袱把她的身子完全盖住
了。一开始，她稳住脚，好像随时都会在大包袱的重压下倒下。但似乎有一种内在的毅力在呼唤，让她挺住，不能倒下。一头驴可以允许自己被重压压垮，但人为万物之灵，则不可趴
下。
她渐渐走远，母亲叹了口气，默默为她祈祷。
两个多月过去了。冰雪消融后，冰雪又至，新一阵寒潮袭来。一天晚上，母亲正坐在
油灯旁补衣衫，门突然被推开，一团小小的雾气引领着一个巨大的包袱进了屋子。我跑上前去帮老太太卸下包袱。她愈加消瘦，背更驼了。她不停地晃着脑袋，像在说太过分了。她连
话都说不清楚，从瘪陷的嘴中透过苍白的嘴唇嘟哝了几声。
Keys to Unit Four
Somerset Maugham: Mr. Know-All
2) Questions for Discussion:
(Suggested answers for reference)
(1)What are the undesirable qualities of Mr. Kelada according to the narrator? Find them out in
the text and list them. Are they good proof that Mr. Kelada is an unpleasant person?
1）…my fellow passenger’s name was (not) Smith or Brown. (not Anglo-Saxon sounding) (line 9).
2) When I went on board I found Mr. Kelada’s luggage ..and toilet things (showing bad taste) (lines 11-16)
3) Mr. Kelada was short and of a sturdy build, cleanshaven and dark skinned, with a fleshy, hooked nose and very large lustrous and liquid eyes. His long black hair was sleek and curly. (His physical features indicate that he is not a white European.) (lines 32-34)
4) He spoke with    a fluency in which there was nothing English and his gestures were exuberant. (lines 34-35)
5) Mr. Kelada was chatty. (line 57)
6) Mr. Kelada was familiar. …(observing) no such formality. (lines 64-68)
7) ―The three on the four,‖ said Mr. Kelada (participating in other person’s card game, being rather nosy) (lines 71-81)
8) I not only shared a cabin with him and ate three meals a day at the same table, but I could not walk round the deck without his joining me. (caring little about other people’s privacy) (lines 85-86)
9) He was a good mixer, and in three days knew everyone on board. He ran everything. (line 90-91)
10) He was certainly the best hated man in the ship. We called him Mr. Know-All. (line 94)
11) He was … argumentative. He knew everything better than anybody else. (lines 96-97)
But the above list only proves that Mr. Kelada was a person of different culture and behaved differently. Nurtured by his more Oriental culture, he behaved in a way that was nothing wrong in itself, but was disliked by the narrator of the story, who held a prejudice against non-Western culture.
(2) Underline the descriptions of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay, and discuss the contrast between the couple.
Mr. Ramsay:
1) He was as dogmatic as Mr. Kelada and resented bitterly the Levantine’s cocksureness. (lines 103-104)
2) He was a great heavy fellow from the Middle West, with loose fat under a tight skin, and
he bulged out of his ready-made clothes. (lines 106-108)
3) He was argumentative (lines 122-124) and insensitive (lines 155-170)
Mrs. Ramsay:
1) Mrs. Ramsay was a very pretty little thing, with pleasant manners and a sense of humor. (lines 110-111)
2) She was dressed always very simply; but she knew how to wear her clothes. She achieved an effect of quiet distinction. (lines 111-113)
3) You could not look at her without being struck by her modesty. It shone in her like a flower on a coat. (lines 115-116)
(The husband and the wife are very different almost in every way. One is loud, fatty, aggressive and the other is quite, pretty and modest. The contrast gives the reader an impression that the man is unworthy of the lady and may indicate at possible lack of harmony in the marriage.)
(3) We have been given enough hints about the true value of the necklace and the possible story behind it. Can you find them?
1) ―They’ll never be able to get a cultured pearl that an expert like me can’t tell with half an eye.‖ He pointed to a chain that Mrs. Ramsay wore. ―You take my word for it, Mrs. Ramsay, that chain you’re wearing will never be worth a cent less than it is now.‖ (lines 134-137)
2) Mrs. Ramsay in her modest way flushed a little and slipped the chain inside her dress. (line 136)
3) ―Oh, in the trade somewhere round fifteen thousand dollars. But if it was bought on Fifth Avenue, I shouldn’t be surprised to hear that anything up to thirty thousand was paid for it.‖ (lines 145-147)
4) ―Oh, Elmer, you can’t bet on a certainty,‖ said Mrs. Ramsay. (line 155)
5) ―But how can it be proved?‖ she continued. ―It’s only my word against Mr. Kelada’s.‖(line 159-160)
6) Mrs. Ramsay hesitated a moment. She put her hands to the clasp. (line 164)
7) ―I can’t undo it,‖ she said. ―Mr. Kelada will just have to take my word for it.‖ (line 165)
8) The Levantine took a magnifying glass from his pocket and closely examined it. A smile
of triumph spread over his smooth and swarthy face. (lines 170-172)
9) … Mrs. Ramsay’s face. It was so white that she looked as though she were about to faint. She was staring at him with wide and terrified eyes. They held a desperate appeal. (lines 173-175)
(4) Why did Mr. Kelada choose not to tell the truth of the value of the pearl necklace?
(Obviously he wanted to help the helpless lady by not revealing the true value of the necklace. Otherwise she would have to face an awful and embarrassing explanation. He might have regarded Mr. Ramsay as being unworthy for the lady and acted out of disdain.)
(5) Why did the narrator say by the end of the story ―I did not entirely dislike Mr. Kelada‖?
(He seemed to be aware of his own prejudice after he had seen the positive quality of the Levantine: wisdom, self-sacrifice, and sensitiveness to other’s misfortunes.)

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