Friday, November 21, 2014

Homework for the story, "The Woman of the House"

Using the questions found on the reverse of today's worksheet or the “Guide to Literary Terms,” (click for more complete information, including theme and point of view; Word document) write a paragraph answer based on the page number given to you at class on Friday.

You may comment on more than one example (e.g. for setting you could refer to both the physical setting and the social environment) that occurs on those pages.

Remember to have one overall topic that is more general than your content so we know how you plan to answer. Write about 200 words in a single paragraph. Quote at least twice and work to integrate your quotations into your own sentences. Try to show how your page relates to something that happens either before or after it in the story.

I will post a sample answer here this weekend.

17 comments:

Brad said...

Page 8

At this point in the story, the mystery of what has happened to the crippled man deepens. The painters are curious and note Martina’s strange behaviours. But what seems most important here is William Trevor’s use of setting to help create meaning. One way he does this is through contrast: Martina’s home compared to the painter’s “dwelling.” She has closed all the windows, avoiding any contact with the two men, “watching the hands on the kitchen clock” until she could open the windows and doors again. She has a warm and secure place, notwithstanding the difficulty she had with the crippled man. In contrast, the painters build a place using “fallen stones,” a “few timber beams” and “sheets of old galvanized iron for the roof.” But, “they’d known worse.” Their satisfaction with a rough home stands in contrast to the modest farm, where Martina will live on in comfort after their prying eyes are gone. It can’t be any better said than by Trevor in his final paragraph: “Their circumstances made them that, as hers made her what she’d become.”--180 words

Famorshedy said...

Page 3

At this point, the story has just begun. The painters left the crippled man’s house and were happy that they had found the job. Throughout this page, William Trevor uses the crippled man’s traits indirectly to identify Martina’s and the painters’ characteristics. One way he does this is through contrasting: the crippled man’s trust towards Martina who lives with him compared to the painters who he has just met. As Martina came home, the crippled man impatiently asks her for the grocery list as well as the receipt “ he crossed off the items she took from the bags they were in.”, and she was expected to leave the exact change for him. In contrast, the crippled man shows his trust towards the painters by explaining patiently to Martina that, “he’d paid for the materials only.” This made Martina nervous because she knew that he wouldn’t be able to reach the money unless he had asked one of the painters to get the money from the dresser. Trevor couldn’t find a better way to compare these two characters to each other by adding theses sentences to his story by saying, “What she had saved still secreted in her clothes...” compared to the painters on the next page, “Why would they paint a house when all they have to do is walk in and help themselves?”

---224 words

Unknown said...

Page 4
I noticed two ironical scenes about Martina, the main character of “The Woman of the House” on the page four. The first scene is that she tried to prevent the crippled man from spending money on painting his house because of her worrying of the painters stealing money, but she was active to collect her own private saving. As long as she returned to her bedroom, she was delighted by her increasing private money and kept it carefully. Another ironical scene is the strong contrast between Martina and the disabled man. Though she had a sound body, her mind was crippled to some extent. She was lack of basic trust to others and always doubted, “Why would they paint a house when all they have to do is walk in and help themselves?” Actually, the Catholic boys who appeared to know little about painting didn’t cheat them and were trying to do their best. Instead, the crippled man didn’t have a sound body, but he had a relatively healthy mind. He kept a basic faith to the strangers based on the humanity. Through the skillful using of literate elements, the author presented a thrilling, complicated story for us.
198 Words.

Unknown said...

Closing in on the end of the story we are at the point where the two gypsy brothers have come to the conclusion that the woman (Martina) has killed the crippled man. As the scene plays out we can find internal conflict in the midst of the two brothers who have put all the pieces of the puzzle together and realized that they may have just unknowingly witnessed the events of a murder. Although very suspicious, the two brother do not make any accusations that Martina had actually killed the crippled man. As they wonder through the garden they find a suspicious looking area in the garden, however, “they did not say this was a grave,” shows that even though they are confident in what they know, the brothers never explore the evidence from the crime. As the story wraps up, we observe a final internal conflict in the brothers as they discuss and contemplate the whole situation and eat their food, “in uncomfortable confinement.” This story holds an enormous amount of depth and detail and in the end, we are left just like the two brothers, consigned with a feeling of uncertainty and an internal disturbance on what really happened to the crippled man.

-205 words

Unknown said...

Page 5
At this point of the story, Martina's characteristic is going through a change. She is now indifferent to her cousin's questions about her visits to the shop where she goes to see Costingan, with whom she has a sexual relationship. Martina's social status, and her past failures like her careless marriage forced her into selling herself causing a painful and tedious life. Moreover, due to the attraction to inherit the cousin's property, Martina has to put up with the crippled cousin, who thinks drinking alcohol constantly “does [him] good”
(p.05, pp 9). Martina is in an external conflict with her cousin who is always at home continuously arguing with her throughout the day. In the circumstance, the disabled cousin needs Martina to take care of him and likewise, Martina "[has] little to lose"; she needs his property (p.05, pp 2). It seems like Martina is ashamed of living with his disable cousin because she never talks about him unless people ask her. In this page, we learned more about Martina's personal life, goals, and her relationship with her crippled cousin.
-182 words

Zelka rizov said...

Page 9

Looking at the story –at this point—it seems something strange has happened to
the crippled man. It showed Martina “dreaded” what would happen after her
car engine stopped that morning, and the painters approached, she obviously
didn’t want to be seen. While Martina’s actions showed her being scared and
mysterious; “She let the car creep on, even though he was leaning on it,” at the
same time, the painters were curious as well; “Pressing himself against the stucco
surface each time he came to a window, more cautious than he guessed he had to
be.” It’s been clear that William Trevor used the physical setting in the story to
help us understand the meaning in his saying. However there is a contrast in the
story between reality and social aspect as well. The painters concluded that the
crippled man was dead, but at the same time, as we can see in the last page, their
speculation neither “ contradicted” nor “commented” upon it. To my
understanding they did not want to say anything, they sympathized with Martina
in some ways, and understood her reasons for what she may have done. What
I’ve learned is; the similar social environment does make people understand each
other and their actions in an unexplainable way.

---214 words

Unknown said...

Page 8
At this point in the story, William Trevor describes that Martina was not as same as she used to be, “even though she was similarly dressed.” Trevor creates the character through contrast. At first, she was hospitable and punctual. She talked with the painters patiently and brought them tea with biscuits exactly on time. When the painters came back after the raining days, she became offish and unpunctual, even didn’t want to meet them. She didn’t open windows and doors until she made sure they had gone. She didn’t answer them when they knocked the back door. The terrific change of the character elicits a suspension of why she presented in this way. The painters also recognized that the crippled man had disappeared since they came back. This elicits the other suspension of where the crippled man was. The crippled man was missing – it is a mystery. “No one would miss the crippled man, no one went to a lonely place.” At the same time, it is doubtful of whether Martina would pay for the painting of the house or not. William Trevor leaves an uncertain and sad end to audience.
--191 words

Unknown said...

Page 3

At the point in the story, the relationship between Martina and the crippled man seems complicate. An external conflict between them comes up. Although they live together, the crippled man certainly doesn't trust Martina. When Martina returns with the groceries they need, the crippled man wants to check “the list and the receipt”. He carefully “crossed off the items she took from the bags they were in”. Meanwhile, Martina is truly dishonest to the crippled man as well. She gets profit from shopping and hides it secretly in “the Gold Flake tin”. However, there are also trust and concern between them somehow as Martina knows the exact amount of the money they have in the drawers. “She knows at once” how much money he pays to the two “painters” after checking the money left. Moreover, when the crippled man keeps drinking and asks for more, Martina says there is no “one unopened”, “although there is”. It seems like the estrangement between them is stronger than the connections.
(188 words)

Unknown said...

Page 4
At this point in the story, William Trevor described that the painters were somewhat honest people, as it stated in the statement “why would they paint a house when all they have to do is walk in and help themselves? He said the painters were fine catholic boys”, although they would sometimes lie that they were polish. Trevor uses the characteristic to show that even honest people lie for survival. The painter’s were regarded as Gypsies they moved around looking for a better place to stay and for survival. “Survival was their immediate purpose”. Trevor contrasts this with Martina’s situation. Gold Flake tin was quite important to Martina as she secured it with its rubber band that’s where she keeps her money but she was not proud of it. Travor shows that people would do anything for their survival “ashamed how she’d let herself go, her pale blue eyes once her most telling feature half lost in folds of flesh. She wiped away the lipstick that had been smudged by Costigan’s rough embracing a few minutes they had been alone in the shop” She had to endured anything for her survival.
191 words

Unknown said...

Page 2

This section foreshadows inevitable conflicts of the story. It’s about the painters got a painting work at a farmhouse. Meanwhile, Martina was driving home. The most important thing, in this page, is William Trevor foreshadows the events to come through introducing characters. Their character traits have reflected that the story is flowing into struggles. First, the painters are liars. They sometimes said they were “Polish,” but “sometimes they didn’t.” Besides cunning, they’re defensive. The tall painter asked the crippled man to pay cash, a secure payment method. These characters seem tricky. They must cheat the house owner, I guess. While I am worried, another character—“The Woman of the House”—appears. Martina is an evil woman. She can tolerate her difficult “circumstances.” For example, she still kept driving her “old Dodge” which “should have been off the road” long ago. Furthermore, Martina achieves her desire through a devious way: at a meat shop, she did something wicked (body contact) with Costigan in exchange for some meat, because she needed money. Money has made her ignore “what she wanted”—moral sense. I predict this mean woman wouldn’t be defeated by the painters, when they meet and deal with the painting work. Their alert characteristics would make dramatic events after this section.

---212 words

Unknown said...

The settings are rich despite its short story. We get to peek at slices of lives of characters that feel interconnected to our own lives. The flow of the story seems flawless, it starts off in present, goes to flashbacks then ends up suggesting what is about to come and what is missed can be read between lines. Just by remarking that the painters “were used to setbacks” we get to know that they have been through a lot of hardships in their lives. Small details such as: Martina “could feel him(cousin) examining her” and “not wanting to look at him(cousin),” show us that she is not pleased living with a crippled man. The mood suddenly changes after the painters come from another work to farmhouse. William Trevor masterfully describes the atmosphere of “the stillness the place”, forgotten tea arrangements at “eleven o’clock and half past three.” What is more surprising is that even though we missed nine days of story, we can imagine Martina waking early to the sunrise, making breakfast for herself and not worrying about the crippled man. As to why Martina avoided the painters, we can assume that she didn’t want to tell to the painters that the crippled man passed away and she will probably pay them because she still gets her cousin’s pension and doesn’t want others to know about it.
- 229 words

Paul Chen said...

Page 8

At this point in the story, the painter found the crippled man was not in the house and the woman they had met previously was not as same as she had been at first. William Trevor has developed the painters’ emotions from curiosity towards woman’s strange behaviors, concern about the disappearance of the crippled man, to worrying about the payment for the painting. Trevor has pointed out the painters’ emotional conflicts by describing the painters’ reactions: “The younger brother, from his ladder, saw the woman crouched over a dressing table” - curiosity, “Since they had returned after the rain, they had not heard the crippled man’s voice” – concern, and “When the work was finished the woman would have said she knew nothing about what had been agreed.” – worrying. Trevor used a very simple method to present the painters’ internal conflicts. “When the work was finished” implied the painters were happy that they could collect the money after completing the job. At the same time, the painters worried about the woman didn’t want to pay them because the agreement was only made between the crippled man and the painters.

- 188 words

Emma He said...

-- Page 6 --

At page six, the middle of the story, the external conflict between Martina and the crippled man becomes apparent. First of all, they don’t have any real conversation, or rather, Martina refused to participate in the conversation. All she does with him is satisfying his minimum physical needs. She “got him” to eat at table; “got him” back to bed; gives him medicine and alcohol for lessening the pains. Besides that, she ignores his further requests, such as talking with him, or lying in his bed. (It may be a sexual demand.) She just performs the duties what has guaranteed in the “legal stipulation”, and expects to be free from the confinement during rest of her time. I also found an internal conflict of the crippled man. He is physically disabled and totally depends on Martina’s support. On the other hand, he is very clear that Martina is waiting for the pension after his death, as he repeatedly insists: “The pension is what I’m good for.” The only way that the crippled man fights against Martina’s apathy is arguing with her, even though he knows that is a useless try. Otherwise, he has to drug himself with alcohol. Both of the two main characters of this story are struggling with their painful situations. They feel helpless because at this moment, they don’t have any other choice.

-- 226 words

Unknown said...

Looking at the story from about halfway through we can already tell that Martina is a very untrusting woman. There is a constant external conflict with her cousin, the still unnamed crippled man. She is a caretaker for him but they do not always see eye to eye. She is worried about the painters having an ulterior motive to thieve from them, as noted on page four she says “Why would they paint a house when all they have to do is walk in and help themselves”. Unlike the crippled man who defends them: “they’re never a nuisance, lads like that” and only sees them as a couple of “good catholic boys”, two gypsies trying to make a living. I get the feeling from this story that she is only dealing with caring for the crippled man in hopes of an inheritance as she does not have much for herself. She never speaks of him, takes him out, and doesn’t seem to care for his constant drinking. On this page we learn a lot about the characteristics of both Martina and her cousin, and the kind of relationship they have.

-198 words

Unknown said...

Page2

At this point of story, Martina appears to the story, and mostly shows about her usual habits. In the first three rows, the fact that the two men were brothers and not Polish was revealed. And later on there will be some agreements on their work. On the other hand, Martina was just driving back the old Dodge from Carragh, and was going to grocery store. Because the Dodge was too old and had stopped many times, but was one of her necessities, she had to drive it slowly in order to keep it longer. As she gets to the grocery store, she meets the man called Costigan, and receives money from him. Between two of them, as it written from 18th row to 22nd row, there is a relationship of a transaction; Costigan offers what is portrayed “his hands all over her” instead giving her money. There is an irony at the end of the page, that if she had a child it would have made her life better. The section tells how she keeps up her life, and the method have changed her moral sense.

-187words

Unknown said...

Page 5
At this point of the story, William Trevor reveals the protagonist character Martina as a punctual care taker for the crippled man. Martina is demonstrated as a mean and selfish who wanted to received the property of disabled person after him, but to serve and look over the crippled person is not an easy job.
For the character to work as a care aid requires a great patience and punctuality. Generally, a care taker tired from serving a disabled person and exposed their work and the nature of people's disability. Martine has a great patience. Trevor writes:"She did not mention him herself except when the subject was brought up". Martin herself did not tell about the crippled person unless somebody asked. Martina has shown her punctuality as a care taker for serving the crippled person. She prepared the meal on time. As written in the story:"frying of their six-o' clock meal". She made the bed and washes the dish for her disabled cousin, but most of the time she got argue instead of thankfulness from the antagonist crippled man of the story. To sum up Martina is depicted as a mean and selfish woman, but her serving character cannot be minimized by the reader

Unknown said...

Looking at the story –at this point—it seems something strange has happened to
the crippled man. It showed Martina had done something and was trying to hide it. What would happen after her
car engine stopped that morning, and the painters approached, she obviously
didn’t want to be seen. While Martina’s reactions showed that she was scared and was acting suspicious. “She let the car creep on, even though he was leaning on it,” at the
same time, the painters were curious as well; “Pressing himself against the stucco
surface each time he came to a window, more cautious than he guessed he had to
be.” It’s been clear that William Trevor used the physical setting in the story to
help us understand the meaning in his saying. However there is a contrast in the
story between reality and social aspect as well. The painters concluded that the
crippled man was dead, but at the same time, as we can see in the last page, their
speculation neither “ contradicted” nor “commented” upon it. To my
understanding they did not want to say anything, they sympathized with Martina
in some ways, and understood her reasons for what she may have done. What
I’ve learned is; the similar social environment does make people understand each
other and their actions in an unexplainable way.