A Cup of Tea by Katherine Mansfield: Creates a Contrast Between the Bland Ordinariness of a Cup of Tea
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A CUP OF TEA
BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD
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Comment [LS1]: The title is linked to the central incident in the story and also acts as a linking device between Rosemary and Miss Smith. As Rosemary emerges from the antique shop in the cold, winter weather, she feels she ‘ought to go home and have an extraspecial cup of tea’. Immediately after that Miss Smith appears, begging desperately for something Rosemary has plenty of but which Miss Smith needs to sustain her existence. Miss Smith’s need for a cup of tea offers Rosemary a chance for the ‘extra-special’ tea she longed for and provides her with the means of creating an adventure for herself. Comment [LS2]: The title also creates a contrast between the bland ordinariness of a cup of tea and what actually takes place between the two women. Having tea with someone indicates friendship and some sort of ‘connection’: unpretentious, natural and hospitable. However, the circumstances under which these women take tea are the opposite. Comment [LS3]: The story opens with a comment about Rosemary’s appearance, showing that image is very important to her and a pivotal feature of the story.
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Rosemary Fell was not exactly beautiful. No, you couldn't have called her beautiful. Pretty? Well, if you took her to pieces... But why be so cruel as to take anyone to pieces? She was young, brilliant, extremely modem, exquisitely well dressed, amazingly well read in the newest of the new books, and her parties were the most delicious mixture of the really important people and... artists - quaint creatures, discoveries of hers, some of them too terrifying for words, but others quite presentable and amusing. Rosemary had been married two years. She had a duck of a boy. No, not Peter - Michael. And her husband absolutely adored her. They were rich, really rich, not just comfortably well off, which is odious and stuffy and sounds like one's grandparents. But if
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A CUP OF TEA
BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD
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4
5
Comment [LS1]: The title is linked to the central incident in the story and also acts as a linking device between Rosemary and Miss Smith. As Rosemary emerges from the antique shop in the cold, winter weather, she feels she ‘ought to go home and have an extraspecial cup of tea’. Immediately after that Miss Smith appears, begging desperately for something Rosemary has plenty of but which Miss Smith needs to sustain her existence. Miss Smith’s need for a cup of tea offers Rosemary a chance for the ‘extra-special’ tea she longed for and provides her with the means of creating an adventure for herself. Comment [LS2]: The title also creates a contrast between the bland ordinariness of a cup of tea and what actually takes place between the two women. Having tea with someone indicates friendship and some sort of ‘connection’: unpretentious, natural and hospitable. However, the circumstances under which these women take tea are the opposite. Comment [LS3]: The story opens with a comment about Rosemary’s appearance, showing that image is very important to her and a pivotal feature of the story.
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Rosemary Fell was not exactly beautiful. No, you couldn't have called her beautiful. Pretty? Well, if you took her to pieces... But why be so cruel as to take anyone to pieces? She was young, brilliant, extremely modem, exquisitely well dressed, amazingly well read in the newest of the new books, and her parties were the most delicious mixture of the really important people and... artists - quaint creatures, discoveries of hers, some of them too terrifying for words, but others quite presentable and amusing. Rosemary had been married two years. She had a duck of a boy. No, not Peter - Michael. And her husband absolutely adored her. They were rich, really rich, not just comfortably well off, which is odious and stuffy and sounds like one's grandparents. But if