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Katherine Mansfield |
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Questions |
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1. |
Mansfield one wrote that she longed for ‘power over circumstances’.
By looking at two or three of her female characters, write about the ways
in which this longing is expressed. What are the obstacles to power? How
successful are these characters in achieving power? |
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2. |
Write about the child characters in ‘Prelude’ and ‘At the Bay’.
How does Mansfield use the children’s world to comment on the adult
world? In what ways are these worlds similar and in what ways are they
different? Pay close attention to the language surrounding the children
and compare it to the adult sections. |
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3. |
Mansfield’s life was full of journeys, changes of address, sudden
departures. Choose a story in which a physical journey is undertaken and
write about what the journey means to the central character. What is at
stake for the character? Is the journey a success? You should also look at
the ways in which the language of the story conveys ideas of
movement and change and risk. |
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| 4. | Mansfield’s work is concerned
primarily with the situation of women. Critics have therefore tended to
pay her male characters less attention. Choose two or three male
characters and write about the ways in which they are presented. How are
their interior lives suggested? Look at the way the men relate to the
women but also examine whether there are other things that define them as
characters. |
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5. |
Mansfield became convinced that the plot of a story was less important
than character and atmosphere. Choose a story which shows this. How does
Mansfield go about creating the atmosphere? You might like to look at the
ways Mansfield uses landscape and weather. How does she make us pay
attention to ordinary lives when nothing much seems to be happening?
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Aitken | Alda | Alley
| Atack | Batten | Bowen |
Britten |
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