Life of Ma Parker Katherine Mansfield 1

“Life of Ma Parker” Katherine Mansfield 1

Katherine Mansfield (1888 -1923) • Katherine Mansfield (Kathleen Mansfield Murry) is a British-New Zealand short story writer. • Her writing is regarded as modernist mainly in terms of its technical and thematic characteristics. • As she writes in English, her writing is considered within the context of Anglophone literature. 2

Brief History of New Zealand as a British Subject 3

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• In 1642, Dutch Navigator Abel Tasman reached the South Pacific Island group. • They could not reach the main land due to the threat by the native people. • The native people living in the mainland were Maori people. • The Dutch named the island group after Dutch province called Zeeland. 5

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British Settlement • British explorer James Cook. • In 1840, Britain established first permanent European settlement on New Zealand at Wellington by signing a treaty with the Maori people. • By this settlement, New Zealand became a separate colony. 7

• The country is still a British subject and the head of the state is Queen Elizabeth, and she is represented by Governor General. • The official languages of the country are English, Maori language and New Zealand Sign Language. 8

Katherine Mansfield (1888 -1923) • She was born Kathleen Masnfield Beauchamp in 1888 in New Zealand. • She had a quite wealth and prominent family. • She started to publish her stories in high school magazine. 9

• As a young woman, she was critical about the politics of England in the colonial New Zealand. • She represented Maori people in a sympathetic manner. • The disillusionment and alienation she felt in New Zealand had become a recurring theme in her writing. 10

• Mansfield moved to London for university education. • At college, she worked for the college newspaper. • Returning New Zealand after college, she started to write and publish as a professional writer with the pseudonym K. Mansfield. 11

• Mansfield never felt herself satisfied in New Zealand though she led quite a comfortable life. • She left New Zealand moved to England never to return again. • She married a singing teacher and left him the same day. 12

• Mansfield was thought to have had a few lesbian relationships. • Her marriage is also thought to have been broken due to her lesbian affairs. • She later married John Middleton Mury, who was an editor of a literary magazine. • Mansfield was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1917, and she died in 1923. • Most of her writings remained unpublished during her lifetime. 13

“Life of Ma Parker” • It was first published in a literary magazine in 1921, and it was later included in the short story collection The Garden Party: and Other Stories in 1922 before Mansfield’s death. 14

“Life of Ma Parker” as a Modernist Story • Mansfield is considered a modernist writer. • Her stories display certain characteristics of modernism such as the use of interior monologues, nonchronological sequence of events, and emphasis on the psychologies of characters. • “Life of Ma Parker” can also be regarded as a modernist story specifically with respect to its technicality. • Thematically, the story represents the hardships, struggles, and burdens of modern life. 15

• The story has an “in-medias-res” beginning. • The conventional plot structure is disrupted. • The characters, their backgrounds, and the events are gradually introduced and presented to the reader in the course of the narration. 16

• The story is narrated mainly though internal monologues. • Internal monologue/interior monologue/internal speech/inner voice is a literary device commonly used in modernist literature. It is also interchangeably used with stream of consciousness. • This literary device is associated with the twentieth century psychological novels and stories. • Internal monologue is narrative technique that exhibits the thoughts passing through the minds of the protagonists. • The thoughts of the character might be either loosely represented or more rationally structured. 17

• If there is a third person narration in a text, interior monologues generally begin with a phrase such as “he thought” or “his thoughts turned to. ” While the water was heating, Ma Parker began sweeping the floor. “Yes, ” she thought, as the broom knocked, “what with one thing and another I’ve had my share. I’ve had a hard life. ” Even the neighbors said that of her. (2) 18

Class Distinction • Class distinction is represented mainly through the relationship between Ma Parker and the literary gentleman. • Lack of communication. • Lack of sympathy and understanding. • Indifference of the gentleman to the struggles of Ma Parker. 19

“I hope the funeral was a – success, ” said he. Ma Parker gave no answer. She bent her head and sobbed off to the kitchen, clasping the old fish bag that held her cleaning things and an apron and pair of felt shoes. The literary gentleman raised his eyebrows and went back to his breakfast. (2) 20

Class Consciousness • Both the literary gentleman and Ma Parker are aware of the social classes they belong to. They are also aware of the boundaries between the different social classes. • Consider the gentleman’s attitude to housekeeping and housekeepers. Otherwise, as he explained to his friends, his system was quite simple, and he couldn’t understand why people made all this fuss about housekeeping. “You simply dirty everything you’ve got, get a hag in once a week to clean up, and the thing’s done. ” (2) 21

• The story juxtaposes the intellectual literary gentleman to the ignorant and uneducated Ma Parker. Yes, she was born in Stratford-on-Avon. Shakespeare, sir? No, people were always asking her about him. But she’d never heard his name until she saw it on theaters. ” (2) 22

The Gentleman’s Inability to Feel Empathy with Ma Parker • It is impossible for upper-middle-class people to understand the struggles of the working class. “A baker, Mrs. Parker!” the literary gentleman would say. For occasionally he laid aside his tomes and lent an ear, at least to this product called Life. “It must be rather nice to be married to a baker”. Mrs. Parker didn’t look so sure. “Such a clean trade, ” said the gentleman. Mrs. Parker didn’t look convinced. “And didn’t you like handing the new loaves to the customers? ” “Well, sir, ” said Mrs. Parker, “I wasn’t in the shop above a great deal. We had thirteen little ones and buried seven of them. If it wasn’t the ‘ospital it was the infirmary, you might say!” “You might , indeed, Mrs. Parker!” said the gentleman, shuddering and taking up his pen again. (3) 23

Hypocrisy of Upper-Middle Class “Oh by the way, Mrs. Parker, ” said the literary gentleman quickly, “you didn’t throw away any cocoa last time you were here – did you? “No, sir. ” “Very strange. I could have sworn I left a teaspoonful off cocoa in the tin. “He broke off. He said softly and firmly. “You’ll always tell me when you throw things away – won’t you, Mrs. Parker? ” (4) 24

Loneliness and Isolation • They are overruling themes in the story. • Both Ma Parker and the literary gentleman are lonely. • Most significantly, Ma Parker’s life is surrounded by the losses of every kind. • Some of her children die, her husband dies, her children leave the house for different reasons. • Working and caring for the other people, Mrs. Parker spared little time for herself and she is driven into loneliness. 25

Ma Parker’s Boots as a Symbol for the Struggles in her Life Then she tied her apron and sat down to take off her boots. To take off her boots or to put them on was an agony to her, but it had been an agony for years. In fact, she was so accustomed to the pain […] That over, she sat back with a sigh and softly rubbed her knees. (1) 26

The Contribution of the Setting to the Theme of the Story • Setting of the story is rather symbolic with respect to the emotional statuses and socio-economic circumstances of the characters. • The setting as well as the weather play an important role for conveying the melancholic, tragic, and sad tone of the story. 27

The Apartment • The literary gentleman’s apartment is representative of the upper-middle class. • Mrs. Parker does not belong to this sphere of English society. • She is only accepted when she is on duty. • Her struggles, pain, and losses are not important in the apartment. 28

The Weather as a Symbol • The rainy, cloudy, overcast, windy weather mirrors Ma Parker’s depressed psychology, tragic life, and her feelings of loneliness and isolation. • The street described as cold and the rain that starts when she needs to cry suggest that there is no bright and hopeful future for Ma Parker. 29

Study Question • What is the significance of the title of the story? How does the title relate to theme of the story? What does the title say about the character of Mrs. Parker? 30