#what do dairy godmothers say
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#what do dairy godmothers say#scoobidy doobity doo#i inflict sickness upon you#(i have it too)#submas#subway master ingo#subway master emmet#spiderware#spidercomic#submas au#alternate universe
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This is a g/t continuation of the post on my main about my mr. Plant oc, Grace Needles. Main acc: @dairy-godmother
Grace was bored. She was writing in her diary one day and decided to go out for a walk. She had been planning this for ages. See, a few weeks ago, Grace noticed the lowering temperatures. She realized she was running out of time to set her viscous trap. She took a glob of her manager’s head substance ages ago and was still running out of time to use it. So she immediately got to work, mixing it with glue and placing little traps all around a woodsy void. she was planning to catch all sorts of things, hoping for bugs, small mammals, and birds to get stuck. She would free them obviously, as she wasn’t expecting her mixture to be so sticky. Her mistake. She didn’t see any creatures in the traps. She was down to the last one, right by a tree stump.
The little acorn girl was practically melted into the viscous trap. She was so little. Grace would like to say that her heart melted the second she saw the thing. Grace would be lying. Grace was too excited to even notice the thrashing and shaking as she grabbed the trap (acorn girl inside) and started to run home. She started trying to extract the fluid trap as she ran, but ended up extremely annoyed by how sticky it was. She ended up putting her little handful in a jar from her purse as she headed home.
Grace arrived home with excitement pouring out of her face. She poured the contents of the jar onto her desk, the journal still open, and continued to peel it off of the little acorn girl. She put what she could extract into the jar and started studying her catch. She examined her boots and legs- which seemed to be skinny and covered with little scrapes. At this point, the little girl passed out. She probably wasn’t able to handle all the shaking and movement and- being captured. Grace continued to study her until she was content. The only interesting thing she found was that the little acorn hat was unremovable. Grace left her there to get a snack from miss viscous. All the discovering and excitement had made her hungry.
When she returned, the little girl was awake and… intently looking at Grace’s diary. The feeling was gone. Grace rushed over and slammed her hand down on the acorn girl, pinning her against the desk. She didn’t know what to do. That diary- that page in particular- was pure evidence of everything she’d ever done. There was no way she was letting some insignificant little nut spread the world about the void’s little darling. Grace’s hand covered the acorn girl entirely. The thought was… irresistible. The little girl eventually stuck her head out. Grace was never good at reading emotions, but this… was undeniable. Fear, sadness, anxiety, and self loathing all perfectly expressed in one face. It was pathetic. Grace couldn’t do it. She couldn’t possibly fathom seeing that expression on the little girl’s face again and it was such a convincing display that Grace lost nearly all willpower.
But she still couldn’t just let her go. This little acorn had confidential information and grace still had examinations to do. She made her decision.
“Viscouuus!! We have a new roomaaate! Don’t ask questions or you’ll end up like the void superstar jr. contestants!!”
In retaliation, Miss Viscous walked up the stairs and peeked through the door.
“If this has anything to do with why half my face is missing, you’ll end up eating those words, Grace,” Viscous said, scanning the room. When she finally noticed the hostage in Grace’s hand, she got serious. Before Viscous could say anything, Grace got up and slammed the door in her face.
“Remember Hugh Mann!” She said, “Everything is fine!”
Grace finally released the little acorn girl. She made sure she couldn’t get off the desk. She whispered in the sweetest voice she possibly could.
“Sorry you’re stuck here, little guy. I can’t exactly let you go off spilling my secrets. That’s why Miss Viscous is still here. You’re not alone, little acorn. I promise I won’t hurt you… ever again.”
“…oakie,” said the little girl. She was still extremely sad looking and all shivery around Grace.
“Oakie. Got it. Oakie.”
That was all Oakie had said to Grace for a long time. She was overall silent and fidgety. Her nights were spent silently. Grace noticed that she endured many nightmares. She wished she could do something…
#g/t#giant/tiny#ocs#original story#g/t writing#sfw g/t#the world of mr plant#oakie was my first ever oc#shes such a baby#grace needles
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Tell us ten facts about yourself and pass this along to ten of your favorite followers xoxo :)
Owo 💕 How sweet. Okay lol 10 things is a looooot. Oofie. I will try.
1. I'm married
2. I have 2 dogs 3 cats
3. I played lead alto saxophone in a jazz band in college. Oh yes I did. Haven't played in years. Wonder if it's like riding a bike?
4. I have a 4 year BFA degree in digital arts
5. I'm godmother to my best friend's baby boy.
6. I love to kayak and hike and just be in nature.
7. I don't eat a lot of meat or dairy. I'm short bowel so my tummy is very sensitive, but my taste palette has adjusted to not wanting those things often. I could probably go vegetarian if I had to.
8. One of my favorite things to do at night to wind down is play Mario Cart with my husband. We get very competitive too. It gets ugly in the best way.
9. I can't sleep in socks. Idk why. I can wear them all day but before bed they have to come off or I won't be able to fall asleep. And it makes no sense because my feet are usually ice cubes.
10. I like sour candies more than chocolates. I know I'm a weirdo. What can I say.
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The Fae | 1. Fæ
POV: Simone
“Fae. They’re sprinkled within our myths throughout history all over the world. No one past the age of 7 believes they’re real, we, as a society, beat it out of them. We beat out creativity. Fun. The love of life. Joy. We beat all of this out and then wonder why the world has such high rates of teenage, and general, suicide and mental illness.
“The only place we accept the fae existing is in stories for children, if not maybe the rare work of fiction for those of us over the age of 11. But that’s all they’re ever deemed fiction. But what happens when fiction becomes fact. What then? Just like with dragons. For centuries people believed in dragons and then we found out they were real, with the discovery of dinosaurs. Maybe not in the sense that we all think of when we hear the word ‘Dragon’ but real none-the-less.
“So I ask you to think within yourself: When does fiction and fact meet? When does fiction become fact? At what point do we stop believing in the Multiverse theory? At what point do we say that people can’t dream? I ask you: Why? Why that point you are thinking of in your head and not after? Or before? So, I leave you with this. Why can’t fairies be real if aliens fell from above onto New York? Why can’t they be real if gods are?
“Thank you,” The blonde girl says with a sigh taking her seat next to her two debating teammates waiting for the final rebuttal from the other team.
“Thank you, Ms Chan you may take the mic now,” said one of the judges. They’d made it into the regional finals for debating and the topic was fairies and they had to debate that they could exist.
I could see her mind was alight with all the swirling anxiety-ridden thoughts that one could imagine a socially anxious teenager would feel while on a stage being stared at by over 500 people after she just insisted that Fairies were real for 3 minutes with a straight face.
It’s not that she didn’t believe in fairies, she not sure about there existence as a whole, but the fact was, they were obviously given the harder side of this debate so that the trophy could stay with the judges rich, private school favourites. They were the first team from a public school to make it to regionals in 16 years and they’d been at a disadvantage from the beginning. In the first round, they’d had to debate the previous winners for 5 years in a row in each of the divisions they were in. Then they’d been given 50 minutes warning of what our topic was for the second round, ‘Why the impeachment of Ronald Reagen should have happened earlier.’, not something you can find legitimate facts for in 50 minutes. Then in the quarterfinals, they had less time than the other team to speak and prove our point. Then in the semis, they had come face to face with one of the judges daughters. Then finally they had to convince the judges of the existence of fairies and convince 5 fully grown men that they had the better argument.
Which they did, obviously, they could evoke the childhood dreams of the judges of when they dreamed anything was possible, hell they could even use the Avengers as to why they were right. Kim, Stephanie and Tegan are the best debaters at the school, they’ve beaten every team at least twice, but nobody thought they could beat any of the teams they were up against. And thus far they’d proven them wrong. And I’m hoping they can keep that streak going.
“Thank you, girls, we’ll take a break and decide the winner. Until then please can you go backstage and relax,” our physics teacher, Mr Johnson who’d stood in for one of the judges, stated looking our team straight in the eye. I mean to anyone else having their teacher as a judge would be beneficial but not when your teacher hates the guts of children born after the new millennium, even his own daughter Scarlett.
POV: Tegan
With a resigned sigh, we stood from our seats on the stage and walked towards the curtain smiling at our friends who’d stayed backstage to comfort us after what they thought would be a swift victory from the other side. But instead turned out to be a fight to the death of wits, brainpower and speech ability, which was our team’s weakness. All three of us have stage fright and I have severe social anxiety, which does not help in debate unless you want to lose.
“So you did better than anyone expected. Which means celebratory lunch at Main Street,” Mali said ver happy, still with her nose in ‘Magic: It’s Real & I Know How To Find It’, the newest book in her collection of magic hunting books.
“However fun that sounds I have to work a shift at the comic book store after this,” I state not wanting to give up on my free time with friends especially when it offered Main Street fries and dairy-free milkshakes.
“Simple, bring Simone and meet us for dinner after your shift,” Stephanie said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which I guess for some people it would be.
“OK. But my aunt Nat’s picking me up at 9 so I have to be back by then or give her a good enough lie to get her to pick me up from Main Street.”
“Tell her you’re out with friends and she’ll be proud of you and do it in a heartbeat.”
“You very clearly don’t know my aunt Nat. But I’ll try.”
As soon as I uttered those words I felt the chill that so often crept up my spine before one of my visions and vomiting attacks. So, as per usual, I rushed to the nearest bathroom and pounded on the door, hoping to be let in by whatever unfortunate soul happened to be in there at this point in time. Thankfully they got out in time for me to make it to the loo before I puked.
This time the vision came after the vomit. A vision of 4 girls faces, all of which were beautiful and one was strangely familiar. They were facing off against another 4 girls who were equally as stunning but they seemed… I don’t know a little bit, evil perhaps. To tell you the truth that’s why I had to go with my aunt Nat for the rest of the holidays before school started again. She was getting one of her friends to look at my brain and asses what kept happening to me, and Simone. But I didn’t want my friends to know that. All they had to know was I was going to New York for a week with my aunt and a friend. That is until they give it a diagnosis and I had to have more and more tests run, that’s when they can find out about what’s wrong with me. When I know too.
But until that day comes I have to pretend that this is just nerves and not what it actually is, a mystery. I was hoping that my aunt Nat had actually got someone who’d know something this time and not just another person who knew nothing about what this could be. So, once I’d composed myself and was mentally prepared to go back out there I texted Nat that she should pick me up at Main Street rather than my house and told mum where I was going after the competition was over.
I hope that my life wouldn’t get worse and that the voices in my head would stop. Because they had for a bit and then they started again and that was not fun because those voices are telling me things that no one should ever hear especially not when that person has been trying. Trying to improve. Trying not to give in. Trying not to give up. Trying to live before it’s too late to do even that.
Without life. you can’t live and living is what life is all about and I want to live my life to the fullest before it ends. However, that may happen.
POV: Maya
“I don’t get why we have to come to this hell hole of a dimension,” Marketa, one of my new roommates at Alfea asked me as we stood on the bus that was going to take us to the seaside town my best friend lived in with her mother, sister and cats. I was hoping to see her before both of our lives got to insane with our individual school lives. And before I had to make my choice. The choice that would turn my world upside down no matter which option I chose.
“We came because I have to say goodbye to my best friend and Lachie needed an escape from Magix after his very messy breakup. And you guys get to see some of the hatred towards Emma’s dad. Also, you signed up for new experiences this year and that’s what you’re gonna get with me,” I say in response to Marketa and Estelle’s comments and complaints that we were all sick of hearing at this point in our journey.
“I didn’t need to be dragged to a different dimension to meet your friend who after Tuesday your never going to be able to see again unless she somehow turns out to be magic.”
“I don’t know if she’s magic or not but she does have 3 terrifying godmothers. And a cat she calls a demon, but otherwise, she’s totally normal.”
“She sounds like Lachie’s ex,” Estelle stated, causing all of us to burst out in laughter shocking the majority of other passengers on the bus.
“If given half a chance I think she to would attempt to murder Estelle and she would definitely break your heart too. She has a saying that goes ‘emotions can’t hurt you if you don’t have them,’ so maybe she is a bit like Kacey after all,” I say in realization that my friend may be destined to become a witch if she was magical, or at least her powers would be that of a dark fairy.
So instead of answering any more of their questions, I pushed the button on the bus letting the driver know that we wanted to get off at the next stop. Once the bus had stopped I walked off of it, my feet hitting the sidewalk with a thud but not as much as the others who weren’t accustomed to as much gravity as there was on earth, used to instead only the 8.9 newtons of gravity in Magix.
“Oww!” they all screamed pretty much in sync when their feet thudded on to the pavement while Emma and I laughed at them us ourselves forgetting about the difference in gravity between the two dimensions.
That was when the difficult bit began. I knew she’d been competing in a debating competition and then had to go to work but by now I also knew her shift had ended. So where would she go? Pulling out my phone I decided to check who won the competition, knowing she’d either go home to cry or go out for victory food depending on the outcome.
Victory food it was. So I told my travel companions, “I hope you’re hungry for some human food.”
After some groans from the group, I started leading them towards Main Street, a diner I knew my best friend loved after she took me there when I last visited her.
Upon arriving at the diner I could see Tegan sitting in a corner booth surrounded by people, whom I assumed were friends. So naturally, I, her best friend, walked into the diner and attempted to sneak up on her so that I could surprise her. Though I was called out by Emma.
“Maya, they're here.”
“Maya?”
Simultaneously my two worlds came crashing down, all with four words. On one hand, I had to go and help my friends stop the crazy witches that had followed us here from Magix for Marketa’s ring. On the other, my best friend in the entire universe had just noticed me and wanted answers as to why I was here and several other questions I imagine were swirling through her mind. I had to choose, yet again, between my worlds.
POV: Emma
I muttered the words none of us wanted to say or hear in that moment in the diner on that cold day, “Maya, they’re here.”
Those words shattered her world and mine because it wasn’t who she thought but it was worse. Much worse. It may not have been the four witches that we knew from Magix but it was someone I wasn’t happy to see. My uncle and his teammates.
As they walked into the diner I attempted to hide behind Marketa who was confused as to what I was doing and just kept moving saying we should see what they want. Hiding behind Estelle & Lachie wasn’t any easier as they kept turning to look at Maya’s friend who looked incredibly fed up.
“Emma?”
“Maya?”
“Tegan?”
Our three names pierced the silent diner like a bullet and a body, each one said by a different person. Mine, my uncle. Maya’s, Tony. Tegan’s, Natasha. But of course, my friends had no idea what was going on and became even more confused than before.
“Why do they know your names?” Lachie asked looking between the two of us before making eye contact with Tegan and quickly looking away.
“Aunt Nat,” The blonde Maya had approached, so I’m guessing is Tegan, said running up to her aunt(?) and giving her a hug. Before turning to Tony, slapping him and then giving him a hug, and then giving my uncle a hug.
“Emma?” Thor questioned yet again this time with more pain in his voice, “We thought you died, you and your mother. How-How are you here?”
Then Estelle piped up, “The better question is why are we here?”
“Home.”
That was all I had to say for the three of them to seem to get it. At this point, the rest of the diner had gotten back to what they’d been doing before the Avengers showed up.
“Well, we came to pick up Tegan and Simone. We do need to go girls, and you five are welcome to join us. Also Kim, Stephanie you were wrong that doesn’t work, I tried it,” Natasha said with a smirk before grabbing one of the suitcases next to the booth while Tony grabbed the other.
“Will my father be there?” With those words, I stopped the chatter from my friends, they know I don’t talk about my father unless I absolutely have to. It’s not a topic I bring up lightly, I almost never talk about my early childhood up until me and my mother went back to her home in Magix, where I first met Estelle and Marketa.
“No, he… he died,” I could see the pain in my uncle’s eyes while he said that. He always loved my father no matter how many bad things he did my uncle would always help him if he needed it and accepted it.
“OK,” I said in a quiet voice not quite believing my father was dead not before I could say goodbye. Not after all the times he’d ‘died’ before.
As Tegan and Simone said their goodbyes to their friends promising to text them, me and my friends walked out of the diner towards the fancy van that was parked outside, led by my uncle and Tony who were discussing something to do with a person called Steve and my uncle’s hammer. Though I didn’t hear much of their conversation over the sound of my own thoughts and the constant complaints and questions from my friends.
By the time we had reached wherever we were going Estelle had fallen asleep on my lap, Marketa was asleep on my shoulder and I was playing a game called ‘Cards Against Humanity’ with the other awake teenagers while Tony sat in the front laughing at us and our weird suggestions.
The game had been going on for a while as had the staring out the window my uncle was doing. He seemed truly heartbroken by the fact my uncle had died, which to me begged the questions: How long have I been gone? Along with: How long ago did he die?
My answer was recently, recently enough for him seeing me to bring all of it back up.
POV: Estelle
A few hours earlier…
“So how do we play this game?” Lachie asked as Tegan & Simone set out the cards for the ridiculous game that the man in the weird glasses had insisted we played, most likely for his entertainment only.
After explaining the basic rule & premise of the game we began playing the game coming up with some weird answers, with Maya’s friend not understanding our humour and us hers. Then everything went black.
I don’t know if I passed out of exhaustion or if it was something else but my head was full of visions of a world at war. A war that I was not winning, either me or the side of fairies. And the guy of my dreams was dead at my feet, his cold lifeless eyes staring back at me while my friends fight villains around me. The one person I didn’t recognize was a pale blonde haired with green eyes who was fighting alongside us and attempting to communicate with Tegan in a language I didn’t understand. The whole scene was a mess. In the middle of the battlefield lay the bodies of my family. Before I could make out much more of the scene I was riped out of my dream by Emma. All she did was quietly mumble something in her sleep.
It was at this point that I looked around the rest of the car I noticed that only Tegan and Simone were awake talking to Natasha who was driving at this point. At some point, they’re going to find out about fairies and Magix because Maya will slip up and out fairies to them. Maya always slips up and it’s great.
Looking out the window I decided I’d have a look at what made Maya think this place was so great, only to see that we were not on any road but the sky over an ocean. I thought this dimension was alluded of magic? How are we flying without magic and with there increased gravity? It makes no sense.
It was at that moment, of course, Marketa’s phone started to ring. Deciding against letting it annoy everyone I picked it out of her pocket and answered it. Not surprised at all when Harry appeared on the hologram, although it did startle Tegan and Simone who before had no clue that I had awoken from my slumber. But I continued the call just staring at him until he started speaking.
“Where are you two? Your father is having a fit and is threatening your uncle to threaten other nations at war. And all I can do is sit here and watch,” Harry, Marketa’s cousin, yelled at me which got a few odd looks from the three other beings that were awake.
I sighed before I responded knowing that Harry loved it when we did something wrong because he could be the golden boy for a few moments, “Earth, Maya wanted to say goodbye to her friend before the school year and you know the thing. But we have Lachie to protect us, and Emma’s uncle,” I attempted to defend our decision to come with Maya by making my uncle and father who were most likely eavesdropping feel as though we were safe.
“It’s OK, I’ll tell them you went out shopping.”
“Thank you, Harry,” I said knowing he wouldn’t tell them that but also knowing we now had to explain why I said Earth to the people in this car. And knowing I couldn’t do that by myself I elbowed Emma & Marketa in an attempt to get some help explaining what the hell I meant. Then kicking Maya because she knew the best how to explain things to humans, well at least better than the rest of us.
“Can you please elaborate on what you said on the phone because if your alien we have to turn you in, and if it was a joke we need to know that too,” Tegan said to me causing Lachie to also wake up.
“When we land?” I asked hoping I could buy more time for my friends to gather their wits and for me to not be thrown off a moving plane.
POV: Marketa
“So let me get this right. Fairies exist and live in a parallel dimension, they can travel between the two dimensions because they have advanced technology that allows them to do so. Only women and girls are fairies, while men are only carriers but some men go to a school to become a thing called ‘Specialists’ or they can go to a different school and become warlocks but they can’t do both. There is also a school for witches and witches are fairies who’ve disowned the good side and cut off their wings. And you think the reason my goddaughter is a fairy because of her visions. You also each have one area from which all of your magic comes from. Did I miss anything?” The redhead asked. I hadn’t bothered to remember their names as I didn’t see the point when I most likely would never see them again.
“No, actually you didn’t. How did you do that?” Estelle asked.
“But why do you think that I may be a fairy?” The blonde that Maya hung out with asked.
I responded slightly annoyed that she hadn’t picked it up. “Because you remember things that no one else does about the world, facts that have been erased from history, yet you can’t remember half your own childhood.”
“Yeah but you have to remember I also had epilepsy so the memory loss thing comes from that. As for remembering facts, I have a Nat as a godmother and she knows things. Things that she should not teach her goddaughter, especially at the age she did but she’s been teaching me these facts my whole life and most of them have been erased.”
“You don’t get it the ring your wearing also shows us your a fairy, because it’s the ring of the forgotten. It matches the ring of memory which someone gave to Lachie because of some prophecy before he gave it to his psychotic ex who now wants to get her paws on both of our rings so she can rule the universe with her girlfriends. So the best thing right now is for you to believe us and come with us so we can teach you how to control your powers before you go and do what you did to Estelle’s cousin Stella and her friends again,” I almost yelled annoyed with the simplicity of human minds already.
“No.” This time it was the brunette man that spoke on behalf of the two ‘human’ girls in front of me. “They’re not going anywhere with you without us, their parents left us in charge of them. So I’ll say it again. They’re not going anywhere without us.”
“Try me, old man,” Estelle said being held back by Lachie as she attempted to intimidate the man before us.
“It’s impossible,” The other brunette man spoke up walking to the front of the room. “We’ve studied their DNA extensively and theirs no evidence of any mutation of note. Sure they both have some mutations but that’s to be expected.”
“Wasn’t their one you two weren’t sure about?” This time it was the black-haired girl who was glued to Maya’s friend’s other side.
“Yes, but it only appeared once so it wasn’t enough to form a gene so we disregarded it. But you can’t disregard anything, not in this world.”
“Well, you can come but I don’t know if you’ll get into the school grounds, only people with magic in their blood can get through them,” Emma said as she returned from talking to her uncle with a mediator who apparently knew all about this because of his wife.
“We can try and that’s what we do,” The redhead spoke up again.
“It’s your funeral.”
“OK, Marketa, Estelle, you may not like this realm but the least you can do is respect the people in it, they do their best and sure that may not be great but it’s the best they can do in their own situations and these people are just trying to protect their own and do the job they’re meant to so these two don’t get hurt. So just stop being such bitches to them,” Maya snapped at us.
#fae#faries#faerie#the fae#winx club#natasha romanoff#tony#thor#winx bloom#winx stella#winx flora#winx tecna#winx aisha#winx musa#winx trix#winx valtor#jake gylenhall#sabrina carpenter#dove cameron
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all of them pls jodie comer janelle monae phoebe waller bridge, have fun
do you have a crush on anyone? yeee on my grilled friend! bitches be havin girled friends.
what’s your favorite candy? i am cadbury dairy milk bar’s bitch! i also really like kitkats especially the mini ones those are so good.
favorite love song? aaaaa it changes with the weather i like so many but can’t take my eyes off of you is always a classic both it and let’s get married (mitski cover) make me feel Warm and the past few months i cannot stop listening to mr mika tiny love. yes this question asked for one but this is me restraining myself i promise. OH it might be being alive from company actually.
what was your first kiss like? technically my first kiss lasted for .0001 of a second in a public high school hallway and it was by accident so i choose to disregard that one because the one after that was very nice imagine. you are on a BEACH it is MIDNIGHT she tastes like some type of wine and you are not sober and do not know what you’re doing so you’re taking MENTAL NOTES and trying to imitate what it feels like she’s doing but you want to live in this moment forever.
what was your last kiss like? it was sweet! well, more like salty because we were crying but it’s because we are simply full of love!
sexual/romantic orientation? i’m a (fleabag godmother voice) LESBIAN
do you prefer poems or love letters? love letters hands DOWN
favorite fanfic trope? i like it when they’re both friends and in love and afraid to say anything for fear of ruining their relationship. there is a name for this but i hate it so i will not say it it’s two words, first one with an m and second one with a p. Don’t know what it is about that second word but. hate it.
have you ever been in love? yes, highly recommend
favorite milkshake flavor? I don’t like milkshakes I think they’re ice cream soup which is disgusting but my favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip if that counts
dinner dates or brunch dates? I prefer the idea of brunch dates but I wake up hungry so in practice probably dinner dates but like. to diners so I can have breakfast food.
favorite flowers? Pink carnations! Honorable mentions to bleeding hearts and roses that are light orange or light blue or light pink.
favorite perfume/cologne? no clue
favorite candle scent? if it’s sold during fall i probably love it anything pumpkin-y or slightly-but-not-too-much cinnamon-y
what’s your ideal first date? we go on a funky lil adventure! we see some fancy house and get food together and then see something else maybe a beeg church i like the way they make me feel small and they make me feel Whole when i’m there with someone i care about. maybe go for a walk in my head this is some city we’ve never been to and we just walk and talk and hold hands and point out pretty architecture.
favorite love story? in real life i am still losing it every time i think about how ronan farrow proposed to jonathan lovett via his BOOK. in fiction i am unfortunately stuck at 11 still losing it over both the doctor and rose as well as mary and matthew crawley.
what’s the most attractive thing a person could wear? idk i think suits are hot but i also melt when my girlfriend wears her oversized hoodie she just looks so cute and cozy! i feel like most things are attractive when you’re into a person. also lingerie.
chocolate, vanilla, or red velvet? vanilla!
snow, rain, or sun? rain but not too hard just a nice light mist
sweetest romantic memory? she wrote me LOVE LETTERS!!!!
favorite dating sim (and favorite character)? I have played all of one dating sim, which makes it my favorite by default. Unfortunately, it is UmaPri/My Horse Prince. I did not finish it I got impatient and my apartment watched a playthrough on youtube you don’t even get to fuck horse boy I don’t think you even kiss but it’s still so funny horse boy is obviously the best character.
fictional crushes? leia organa, cheryl blossom or betty cooper (whichever one is more likely to commit a crime on that episode), joan holloway, betty draper, villanelle, all the big little lies milfs, among others.
what’s your dream wedding like? it takes place at the johns hopkins library if i can’t have that then like. some fancy house or library or museum somewhere thats super neat. i don’t know what i wear but i look very nice. all my friends are there and it’s Very Fancy. elegant and refined thats the general Vibe.
what makes you blush? i have no clue i think sometimes when i drink my face flushes so we’ll go with that
do you believe in love at first sight? only in romeo and juliet. i think theres like. a spark at first sight maybe but also not needed for love ya know?
do you believe in soulmates? i don’t know i feel like theres like. maybe a list of people who are your soulmate? like it couldve been this one yea but it also couldve been someone else had circumstances been different like the world is soooooooooooooo big and sometimes theres right place wrong timing i think? i don’t know.
denim jackets, leather jackets, or bomber jackets? on me? all of the above. on hot gals? leather jackets.
what’s your sign? taurus sun, leo moon and rising
are you single? nope i have a grilled friend! i love her!
do you prefer to charm, or be charmed? both!
guitar or piano? normally i’d say piano but rianne used to play guitar so mixed thots here also it’s so fun to try and teach her piano and hear her lil laugh when i fix her fingers on the keys. answer foggy try again later
favorite romcom (or any romantic movie)? when harry met sally!!!!!!
do you fall in love easily? i don’t think so but i’ve only done it once so i could be mistaken
valentine’s decorations: yay or nay? i think they’re cute!
would you prefer to propose or be proposed to? what’s your dream proposal? I wanna propose which throws a real Wrench in Rianne’s concurrent desire to propose. Gotta keep the proposal a surprise, soz gang.
cloud gazing or star gazing? Star gazing!
do you like to dance? I cannot dance to save my life but god if I don’t fantasize about it every second of the livelong day
what’s your OTP? please do not make me admit to being into harry potter on main, and worse yet being into dr*rry and w*lfstar it is rightfully embarrassing.
kittens or puppies? I am afraid of almost all living things which includes kittens and puppies but I prefer pictures of puppies
coffee, hot chocolate, or tea? Cofy!
favorite soda? i hate fizz > : ( why does everyone like it when it feels like theres ants crawling on your tongue?
do you prefer gazing wistfully out the window or lying dramatically over the sofa? is there someone to give me atten shun? if so, i’m lying dramatically on the sofa. if i’m on my own it’s window time babey
favorite ABBA song? this one also changes over the years right now i’m gonna say voulez-vous
fuck/marry/kill? (anons name 3 people of your choice) this is so MEAN okay so phoebe waller-bridge’s dad was named in the panama papers i know she has the most exorbitant amount of wealth and i trust her to treat me right. that leaves jodie and janelle cannot stress enough how much i haaaaate having to kill any of them okay at the oscars we saw what janelle’s tongue can do so unfortunately we will be sacrificing jodie comer : / jodie i’m sorry i love you.
favorite pajamas? I don’t own pajamas because I’m a weirdo who either sleeps in their clothes or an oversized long sleeve t shirt and leggings
favorite liquor? vodka for mixing, sourz for shots
do you think about love a lot? yeeeeeeeeeeee
a walk in the park or a walk on the beach? i don’t like sand. it’s rough and it’s coarse and it gets everywhere. Honestly I think I’d rather just walk indoors i am anti fresh air got that sweet sweet hay fever
hand kisses or nose kisses? nose kisses!
what’s your dreamhouse? i wanna live in the city in an apartment and due to the fact that i am american it is unfortunately so big in my head no apartment has ever been this beeg and if it did exist i could not afford it but. it’s so pretty i have fancy kitchen cabinets and my living room is filled with bookshelf upon bookshelf of used books and it has room for my piano and i have a beeeeeg sleigh bed and black cherry furniture and a dishwasher and a laundry room. i come home and am filled with calm.
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Story Time
My secondary school holds a leaving ball for Year 13 students every June after exams are finished. It is a lavish affair with free champagne and a private bar and is run jointly with the boy’s school. The tickets are expensive even if you choose to be sober (like me) or are underage (like a few of my friends), but it’s the last time you will see many of your peers and teachers. Unless of course you are the type to find endless excuses to come back to visit, and are also the type of student that the school wants to visit. It will not surprise you to know that I am both.
Anyway, though there is not technically a dress code (evidenced by the fact that one boy turned up in a long vest as some kind of joke that showed off an unseemly proportion of his chest hair and was skin tight in a very unflattering manner) most girls wear ball gowns and high heels. I myself chose to wear scarlet high heels – the kind that you only wear if you plan to be sitting down most of the evening – and a beautiful dress I’d bought in a sale from my favourite shop. It was black velvet (or velvet style, real velvet no doubt costs more than thirty pounds) with a wide skirt patterned with flowers and birds in gold and red and green thread. My sister was even convinced to wear makeup and do her hair for her ball, probably one of three times I have ever seen her wear eyeshadow.
For many years, it had been tradition for the leaving ball to be held on a river boat on the Thames. No doubt this was the decision of the boy’s school as they had control over all these things. (Just a little casual sexism, but that’s for another day). I had heard many stories about this notorious boat; people getting travel sick from the turbulence, people breaking ankles and other bones falling over getting into the boat (I.e. before they were even drunk! That’s high heels for you I suppose) and of it generally being a bit of a hazard. My sister was certainly fairly unimpressed by it.
As someone who could get motion sick on a bicycle, it is something of an understatement to say I was relieved when they decided to host it in the Museum of London for my year. Though I have to say I didn’t trust my peers to act sensibly around the exhibits once drunk.
I got my hair done that afternoon and my aunt arrived to look after me (I may have been eighteen but even at twenty I am still not entirely trusted on my own) as my parents and sister were attending her graduation ceremony in Cambridge. She received a double first, another in a long line of academic achievements that I will never fail to be proud of her for. I am sad that I couldn’t be there too, but with my energy levels it wouldn’t have been manageable.
I travelled to the ball in style in a black cab with my friend and neighbour who we shall call Corporal for their time spent in the Army cadets. They were wearing a tailored suit bought for them by their godmother that had a Praedae Causa embroidered under the collar – a Latin phrase that we translated to mean “For the sake of the booty”. A very private school joke.
For the first hour we gathered in an upstairs hall where the free champagne was delivered and tap water was surprisingly hard to come by. It was here that our teachers joined us (some for the free alcohol I suspect) and mingling was encouraged. My main concern was the lack of chairs, given my shoes and the weakness of my legs (though I had not yet been diagnosed with POTS at this point, I knew far too well how little I liked standing up for long periods of time). But I remember getting lots of praise for my outfit, something I bask in, and trying to get as many photos as possible with my friends.
A, one of my Kpop friends, was wearing a beautiful traditional sarong in red and gold and had huge false eyelashes on that greatly suited her. I believe this was before she shaved her head for charity so she would have had her long curly hair. N was wearing a lovely red dress – unusual for her – that she had some trouble ordering as the company got the measurements wrong and sent a damaged version. But she looked stunning regardless and she had the luck to be going with her girlfriend – they are still together, and are definitely what one might call couple goals.
Then we were carefully directed downstairs to another room with big, round tables and a section for dancing at the far end. The music they were playing wasn’t the best, as for licensing reasons they could only play covers of pop songs. Mostly I wish they wouldn’t play music at all during dinner as one can’t hear the conversation at all.
First course couldn’t come soon enough – by this point I was starving! – it was gravlax and grapefruit in not exactly generous portions. Luckily, my friends didn’t like raw fish, so I had several helpings! The main course was beef and potato dauphinoise, and again I had several helpings as N had just stopped eating dairy. Then came pudding, the best part of any meal, which was a chocolate brownie, ice cream and some coffee flavoured mousse that I immediately passed off to someone else. I ended up eating more than one brownie, so all in all I certainly got my money’s worth.
Then it was time to dance, and you can bet I was one of the first up on the dancefloor! I had decided that since this was a onetime occasion and I had nowhere to be for the next few days, I might as well go full out and enjoy myself. I naively assumed that I could ignore my energy limits.
After three years, you’d have thought I would have learnt by now…
But I was not to be stopped and I dropped it low on the dancefloor – much easier with high heels as the leg muscles have less work to do – to some classic 2012 hits and spun and jumped and shimmied my way into an asthma attack.
I should clarify at this point that I do not actually have asthma (though I shouldn’t tempt the devil by saying such things) but I had clearly pissed off my body sufficiently that it resorted to drastic measures. It had tried to warn me gently a few times that enough is enough – aching feet, stitch, out of breath, slight back pain, heartbeat out of control, dizziness… I could go on – but since I had ignored all the warning signs it had started banging pots and pans together to get my attention.
Now that I was quite short of breath and it had reached ten thirty, I decided that I had had my fun and that it would be a sensible time to catch a taxi home. Then my breath decided to get a little shorter despite drinking water and sitting down and I began to panic ever so slightly. I went upstairs to get a little cool air, having said my goodbyes to many and various, and was lucky enough to come across E – another Kpop friend and my spoonie buddy – who immediately proffered her inhaler.
This helped with the breathing situation, but it was becoming alarmingly clear that my body was not even halfway done with its little tantrum. For at that moment, I started to come out in hives. Now, this was not the first time I had experienced that dreadful, full body itch of despair and past mistakes – many a nut reaction had induced the same effect. However, I could not for the life of me figure out why I was being cursed with it today.
I had specifically requested a nut free meal, and double checked every course. Hell, I had even eaten two and a half brownies! (Not that that is much of an indication as I have been known to have terrible self-restraint at times). I had no other symptoms (which I suppose I must be thankful for) so it couldn’t have been a nut reaction.
I hastily took some piriteze (I carry them with me everywhere in anticipation of future stupidity) and geared myself up for going home. I was faced with a walk through the dark to the nearest busy road to find a taxi, or waiting long enough for my parents to come pick me up (by this time they had returned from Cambridge). Neither seemed appealing due to the heel situation and my desperation to crawl out of my own skin respectively. I did not feel I could wait any longer before getting in a hot shower and dousing myself in Aloe Vera, but I also suddenly had no energy.
Thankfully help arrived in the form of E’s father as she had also decided to call it a night, and in her naturally mother hen way had taken it upon herself to get me home safe. He drove us back to my house to drop me off and I was hastily bundled into the shower by a loving mother. Soon enough I was back in a cool bed and significantly less itchy.
It was only later, when I mentioned the whole debacle to my specialist, that she revealed the source of my suffering: mould and dust. That’s right ladies, gentlemen and non-binary babes, I had an allergic reaction to a museum.
Not my finest moment.
-Mod H
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How do you think Rory and Jess are celebrating New Year's? Because they're together, right?! I like to think they are by now!
I’d like to believe they’re together, too! In fact, I’d like to believe it so much that I wrote a thing about it…a oneshot, if you will. The damn thing just poured out of me yesterday. I don’t know what happened, but there was no stopping it lol. Sorry not sorry.
(A03) (FF.net)
Happy New Year, my lovely friend! Here’s some post-revival Literati for you to start off 2019 right. 💗
xx Ashlee Bree
Like A Calendar, The Heart Skips Forward
With drunken crowds, ugly tinsel streamers which hang in windows, and snow that’s beginning to stick to the city streets in inches as deterrents, they decide to spend the night in. At home.
The baby’s with her grandparents tonight, probably high on too much sugar and Dr. Seuss. Knowing Luke, he’s likely baby proofing everything again to be safe while Lorelai’s using scary voices so her granddaughter never goes near the stove (but hey, neither did Rory, and she’s turned out fine, hasn’t she?), so she and Jess have plenty of time to themselves. That’s a rarity these days, especially with a toddler in the picture. Alone time seems possible only at ungodly hours in the morning anymore, or during nap time, or in stolen minutes between hectic work schedules. So they’re grateful to Mom and Luke for the offer to babysit every now and again. And they love to do it, to spoil her little angel rotten with small town affection and attention. All the people of Stars Hollow love it, too.
As for Rory and Jess, they enjoy these adult-only nights. It’s a time to revel in intellect, in intimacy.
They love to tune into the timbre of the other’s conversation and fade into each new day talking, listening. It’s exhilarating to them to share new ideas. To uncover deeper feelings in their relationship, but also for them to reach further into the world to figure out what more they can do. Experience. Be.
Parties hold no charms for them this evening. Neither do bars or over-priced concert tickets. Invites from friends go unanswered because they forget to read their messages. They’re more than content to spend the night far away from the end-of-the-year bombast, anyway, with nothing but each other and the hum of this ratty old radiator for company.
They live in an old building so it’s no one’s fault when a malfunction occurs, as one often does.
Luckily, the heat works fine thanks to Jess and his patient tinkering. (Rory never says it out loud, but she swears he’s inherited this from Luke.) Countless hours he spends bent over tools with a concentrative crease in his forehead because their super, Mel, is a slovenly middle-aged coot who binges too much Netflix and refuses to answer knocks on his door from any of his tenants past 9 P.M. Mel likes to blame this incompetence on narcolepsy, but truthfully, it’s because the couch has molded to his prone body by that point, the television playing episode after episode of Frasier or The West Wing, so why trouble himself to move? Better yet, why not put his ringer on silent and ignore all the incoming calls he receives?
(Spoiler alert: he does.)
Encountering one of the Seven Deadly Sins in an actual person still seems a little ridiculous to Rory, borderline unlikely here; especially in a city teeming full of worker bees who supposedly never sleep, but they’ve managed well enough with the radiator on their own. And by well, she means she’s prone to kicking the darn thing any time it roars like it’s a beast straight out of Kevin McCallister’s nightmares in Home Alone.
It’s cozy and comfortable in the apartment tonight, however. Just the way they like it.
That means Rory’s in her favorite pair of slippers, big cumbersome things with floppy ears and shaggy puppy faces curiously similar to Paul Anka’s. Her hair’s loose, fallen past her shoulders, and her arms are stuffed into an oversized Cashmere sweater. Meanwhile, her boyfriend’s walking around barefoot, half-naked in a pair of boxer briefs and a green v-neck tee, his jeans in a ball near the door, seemingly impervious to the December weather.
Is he secretly a werewolf or something, she wonders? An alien? Or just some weirdo who sweats when it’s only sixteen degrees outside, a furnace for girls like her who huddle closer for warmth and never utter a word of complaint?
Music plays low in the background. It’s a playlist curated on one of their phones. Songs from Bjork, the Clash, the Distillers, so many other new and old bands - their favorites - add to the ambiance of this eclectic space they call home.
A half-edited manuscript perches on the edge of the coffee table. Its pages are blotted with black ink and arrowed notes that spill wide into the margins because Jess had spent the morning editing his latest draft, unsatisfied because his characters aren’t where he wants them to be yet. Books litter the kitchen counter. They sit scattered across the floor in organized piles near shelves that are already overflowing, some still stuffed in paper bags because they’d pilfered a thrift shop earlier and now can find nowhere to store the bulky bastards. (Typical for a pair of bookworms who will never have enough reading material between them.)
Appointment reminders and cute little post-it notes stick to the refrigerator in an array of colors. Most are in Rory’s hand, flourished in cursive or silliness, except for the few Jess added by famous authors or musicians because the words moved him; or because he thought they’d start her day with a pretty thought. A smile. A laugh that’d brighten the blue of her eyes.
The living area’s a messy snapshot of their family life with its stench of stale coffee, cologne, and baby lotion. There’s a jacket thrown over the arm of a plush designer sofa and way too many half-empty boxes of Pop Tarts fighting for space in the cupboard with jars of smooth peanut butter and pureed carrots. A laundry basket holds many of the little one’s toys: choo-choo trains, baby dolls, a Batmobile, three sets of ABC blocks, a Wonder Woman figurine, and a stuffed robot aptly named Bee-Doo.
The remote control is always lost somewhere unknown. They might as well attach a key finder around its middle. Or perhaps they should rip up the floorboards instead - a lá the Tell-Tale Heart - because it never takes less than twenty minutes to find the stupid gadget. Either it’s buried under cushions, kicked under miles of folded clothing or prose, or it’s stuffed beneath pillows with spare kernels of popcorn and pens attached to the buttons. Worse than all of that, though, is how the lost-and-found treasure hunt never seems to diminish their scrolling-for-something-to-watch minutes at all. Not in the slightest!
Later, they order takeout from five of their favorite places. It’s too much food for two people to consume in one meal, but who cares? It’s never stopped her or her mother before, so why start now?
There’s pizza, burgers, Thai, Chinese, and one heaping order from that Indian place she’d found around the corner about a month after they’d moved to Brooklyn. It has the most delicious, pungent food so naturally that leaves Jess scrunching his nose and Rory twinkling appreciatively because he’s caved to her doe-eyed pout for once, her belly and heart happy for getting their way.
“See here, mister: victory is mine! I knew you loved me too much to deny me. Admit it,” she says before pecking him sweetly on the cheek.
“Yeah, yeah,” he says after he pays for the delivery and dumps the bags on the table. “Whatever you say.” He remains noncommittal, but the truth shines in his eyes. “Just don’t complain about the cold when I open all the windows. It’ll take weeks to air out the stink in here—weeks. Probably three.”
“Two.”
“Three,” he fires back.
“Two.”
“Okay, two…maybe.” He brushes hair from her face and lets his fingers linger, then smiles her favorite crooked smile. “If we’re damn lucky, anyway.”
After dinner, they eat cheesecake with a bottle of wine. Ice cream with cones is Jess’s dessert preference usually, but they’re out, so they settle for booze and a tasty variation on dairy to help them compile their to-read lists for 2019. He’s on the left side of the sofa, her on the right. Call it a private, serious exercise. Extra points docked for peeking or flirting.
Such a silly idea it is, really, this hoarding then exchanging of lists. Yet it’s a fun way to pass the hours before midnight. Even more fun when they discover the selections that align, and those that don’t, sending them into a tizzy’d discussion about literature and writers the other still needs to know. Pretty soon, another list follows full of recommended titles Jess thinks she should read in the New Year, and vice versa.
Lane had called them a cute agoraphobic couple once, many years ago, if Rory remembers correctly. And by golly, what a label! If only she were here to see them right now, tangled in warmth and limbs and solitude.
She beams at the memory because that’s what she and Jess were back then. It’s what they still are. It’s who they want to be this New Year’s Eve, and the next…and the next…and for every one after for as long as they can live them like this: in love, happy, and together. They’d live this way forever, if only wishes like this could be granted.
“What I wouldn’t give for a Fairy Godmother right now,” she blurts out without thinking, all wrapped up in blankets and curled tight into his chest. “To have a dash of Disney magic or two in my possession would be supercalifragilistic.”
“Why? You don’t need saving.”
“That’s true.”
“So is it Prince Charming you’re after?” Jess asks with a quirk of the eyebrow.
Frowning, “What kind of girl do you take me for? I’m a feminist.”
“You want to freeze the world like Elsa then, huh? Is that it?”
“No.” Tracing his lips with her forefinger, Rory pauses. Reconsiders. “Well, I mean…only if I got to spend all of that time skating across it with you.”
“You mean falling,” Jess mutters.
“Rude! Read my lips: skating.”
He shrugs then. It’s followed by a smirk. “Impossible things are happening every day…or so it goes.”
Giggling, she shoves him, then covers her mouth with her hands.
“Wow, I can’t believe you’re quoting Whitney Houston from Roger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Who are you?”
“Like you haven’t seen it. Give me a break.”
“Many times,” she says, “but that’s not the point. The point is you’ve given a Gilmore ammunition to mock you for the rest of your life. Hasn’t Luke warned you about this? We’re unapologetic mockers, Mom and I.”
“Jeez, you’re mean,” Jess says with a shake of his head and an affectionate pinch to her side. “I should start calling you Grory.”
“Hey, no fair! I’m no Grinch. No Grendel, either.”
“Pre-coffee, that’s arguable.”
“I demand a re-write,” she says, crossing her arms, determined for her pout to win out for a second time.
“No way,” he replies. “That’s too much work, Green One.”
“Fine. As long as you realize you’re stuck with me regardless.”
“Am I?”
“Aren’t you?” Rory asks like a question that dangles then deflates. Her voice catches with uncertainty. The sound’s worse than the squeal a lobster makes in a boiling pot as she shifts onto her ankles on the sofa to pin him with a wide-eyed look, her heart pounding, mouth drier than Death Valley in the middle of a drought. Color rushes to her cheeks because Jess remains silent before her…because he reaches for the tattered copy of Persuasion that’s perched near his feet so he can underline one of Captain Wentworth’s most famous passages in black ink. I can listen no longer in silence, it reads. You pierce my soul. She knows the quote well. She knows it by heart.
However, it’s not until Jess scribbles down his own line onto the page with some rogue pen he’s found teetering on a shoe with no mate, his hand trembling, the apple in his throat bobbing like it’s been pinched by some invisible force he never saw coming; and it isn’t until he places the book in her lap so she can read what he wrote, that joyful disbelief betrays her. That her tears start flowing and flowing. They cover her face in red-eyed tenderness and devotion.
One look back at him, and she knows he feels the same. The love between them so real and so right, it fills the calendar with fulfillment they no longer wish to live without.
Marry me?
Two words, and the jerk’s a poet. Two words, and it’s only him she sees. Two words, one question, and Rory’s faced with an answer that takes no energy to give at all.
I’d be honored to be the Anne to your Wentworth, she writes back with shaky fingers and a grin so big she can barely see. So yes! Yes! A million times yes!
Wine switches to scotch sooner rather than later after that. Then talking turns to kissing, kissing moves to roving touches without either one of them noticing.
Both hands of the clock reach nearer and nearer to twelve as Rory pauses the movie they weren’t actually watching with a yawn, her sapphire diamond sparkling in the T.V’s muted light. Then she stands to refill their glasses one final time before 2018 ends, slippers scratching against the carpet. Jess wraps his arms around her waist while she pours. He smells of booze and sex and home.
Eyes closed and body rocking, he places a kiss against her arm, her shoulder, her neck, her mouth. He leaves a promise there that tastes of all that awaits them and more.
Together, they watch the snowflakes fall and drift to the fire escape outside their window, a moment of quiet before they pack the rest of the leftovers away so they can head to bed with this year lapsed behind them like another chapter closing. The page turns, and before they know it, December endings become January beginnings. The calendar’s blank and in wait for prose that has yet to be written, both of them looking forward to another 365 days full of learning, laughter, commitment, and so many more family firsts along the way.
#ksfd89#literati#literati drabbles#literati fanfiction#rory and jess#ashlee bree's writing endeavors#my writing brain has two modes#either 1) blocked; or 2) write 2k in one sitting#there is no in-between
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MEET ADELINE,
FULL NAME › Adeline Ziyi Mercier
AGE › twenty nine
GENDER › Cis woman (She/Her/Hers)
FROM › Guangzhou, China
RESIDENCE › Desert Willow Apartment Complex (Downtown)
OCCUPATION › Owner of the Olive Branch Bar
NOW PLAYING › The Show by Lenka
BIOGRAPHY,
trigger warnings: implied racism, internalized racism, bullying, death
i. the first thing anyone will tell you about ethan and therese mercier is that they are good christians. church every sunday, bible study, scriptures framed on their wall christians. they can’t conceive a child of their own, but their sorrow gives way to purpose: this is all part of god’s plan. they are meant to give an unfortunate child a better life. a few trips to china and some paperwork filed later, the merciers bring a beautiful baby girl out of the orphanage and christen her adeline. it’s the american dream!
on their search for the perfect place to raise a child, they settle on the picturesque town of boot hill, arizona. it’s safe, secluded, and the desert has some charm, and when adeline turns two, they move into a one-story house with a garden. adeline is given dresses and books and toys; she is showered in love; she wants for nothing, and should want for nothing. they raise her as an all-american girl without much thought to her chinese heritage—well, there’s a chinese restaurant just a short drive away—but they do not know that will cause her to lose pieces of herself.
it is in elementary school when someone first asks her why don’t you look like your mom? it’s easy to stick out in town when you’re one of the only asian kids, and her crueler classmates mock the shape of her eyes and call her names. they never let her forget she’s different, that she doesn’t belong, and when she comes home crying, her mother soothes her and tells her to ignore them. be stronger than them. be the bigger person. it’s easy to say that when you’re used to being the majority, but every time adeline looks in the mirror, she is reminded she is not. if she wishes hard enough, will her eyes turn blue and her hair turn blonde?
but there are no fairy godmothers in boot hill. there is only a lonely girl, the fractures of her identity, and the desire for acceptance.
ii. if she will fit in with no one, then she will fit in with everyone. in high school, she flits between groups with ease, earning trust with a guileless smile and a warm demeanor. she’s a cheerleader, a pianist, student council vice president, and everyone loves her—or if they don’t, they pretend to. elementary school taunts become snide remarks in the bathroom. she acts like she’s better than us, who does she think she is? teenagers ( and adults! ) are particularly venomous when fed with the prejudices of their small world. you’re so exotic. how much do you cost? go back home. you don’t belong here. but adeline holds her head high because that is she what she’s been taught, plays the role everyone from her parents to her friends to her teachers want her to. she is so honest, so compassionate, you can’t help but tell her everything. soon, she is carrying not only the secrets of heart but the secrets of her peers too, and it is more than she ever wanted to hold. ( this is what she has learned about people: they want to be listened to. they want to be heard. but who is listening to her? )
the dissonance of the two halves of her identity, american and chinese, never quite goes away, but she shoves it down in favor of hanging out with friends at cheri’s dairy and going on dates at the drive-in. still, try as she might, she can’t ignore her curiosity. the older she gets, the more questions she has, and the desire to reconnect with the country she only knows as her birthplace grows with each year. they’ve already been to the jade flower, which adeline chooses every year for her birthday, though surely there’s more to being chinese than chow mein and general tso’s chicken. but there are no chinese schools in boot hill, no chinese new year celebrations like in san francisco, and her parents are terribly vague about answering questions about where she came from. they think she shouldn’t wonder too much, that she should be happy with what she has in the united states, with them. you’re much better off here, adeline.
iii. boot hill girls don’t go to college and they certainly don’t go to ivy leagues, but adeline mercier has always something of an anomaly. being valedictorian of her high school class, on the student council, and an avid volunteer with a sympathetic story of searching for herself in a sea of faces that don’t look like her gets her a spot at columbia. her parents couldn’t be prouder; this is what they brought her to this country for.
college is the first time in her life she’s seen so many other asians, and it feels like a piece has finally clicked into place but just not quite. the edge slips with the truth: she can’t relate. she doesn’t have them same upbringing as those who grew up in asian families and communities, doesn’t share the same inside jokes or the same struggles. this disconnect leads her to seek out other adoptees in new york, and with them, she finally can name the isolation deep in her bones, that feeling of being in two worlds yet feeling at home in neither. she can finally admit that while her parents tried, they didn’t try hard enough. during her time at columbia, she tries to look for her biological mother the merciers gave her no clues for, but her search turns up next to nothing. she tries not to be too disappointed; it’s just another gaping hole in her heart she can’t fill, just another series of unanswered questions. what’s new?
unused to the academic rigor of her classes, she nearly fails her first year. though she’s always been an intelligent girl—all a’s, model student, overachiever—, high school in boot hill was nothing compared to columbia. with the help of tutors and too many late nights, she manages to bring her grades back up, but it’s a constant uphill battle. frankly, boot hill didn’t prepare her for anything in new york—not the traffic, the subway, not the people. it’s a cliche, a small town girl moving to a big city and feeling completely lost, but god, it’s true. in boot hill, she was a shining star. at columbia, she’s simply another glimmer in a galaxy.
it’s comforting to be lost in the crowd, though, to no longer stick out because she’s different. here, in new york, she can be anyone. in new york, she blends right in. new york is terrifying but exhilarating, and she never wants to leave.
iv. life has a way of forcing your hand to play the cards you don’t want to be dealt. she’d been planning to stay in new york after graduation, but a whirlwind of events sends her back to boot hill, beginning with a positive pregnancy test and ends with death knocking at her door. when her boyfriend of two years learns she’s pregnant, he says everything will be okay, we’ll make it work, we can do anything as long as we’re together.
it’s a touching sentiment, but wishes don’t come true no matter how many stars you wish on and lovers can’t come home when they’re left bleeding in an alley. she finds out later that there was nothing that could be done and she’s left with too many questions and too little answers. rather than stay alone in city that’s growing far too cold for a young woman who grew up under the arizona sun, she returns to that small town off route 66. there, she will be safe. there, she will not worry. there, the jaws of the world will not snap her or her baby in two.
( and for all her parents’ faults, they will always be there to welcome her home. )
v. there are rumors, as there always are, whispers flying around about who the father is, what she’s running from. pretty, polished, tarnished. her mother’s friends sigh about her wasted potential ( what a poor girl! ) like being a single mother has cracked her porcelain facade. not so perfect anymore, quip snide high school acquaintances, the ones who thought she acted as if she was too good for them. how satisfying is it to see not even adeline mercier can escape boot hill? she should’ve known those who try to leave never really can.
but a month passes, and another month, and the rumor mill moves on. with the influx of newcomers coming into boot hill, there’s enough to gossip enough to keep the town sustained that it becomes like she never left ( which is to say, she still feels slightly out of place, like a puzzle piece that doesn’t quite fit ). she easily falls into a routine: she gets a job as a waitress at the schoolhouse cafe, her parents take care of raphael while she’s at work, and she saves up all her money so she can, at least, make something out of herself here.
with the knowledge gained from university and an investment from her parents, she opens the olive branch bar as a homage to her favorite haunts in nyc the summer she turns 26. it pales in comparison to the low-lit lounges of the city she could have called home, but boot hill locals don’t know that. all they see is something new, a change of pace from the bucking horse or coyote’s howl. she’s not looking to replace them—everyone knows you can’t—but simply filling a niche that hasn’t been realized until now. business is slow at first, then suddenly, it skyrockets, both newcomers and locals looking for a taste of sophistication pulled in by the wine list, handcrafted cocktails, and jazzy ambiance.
yet it is a difficult thing to be a bird whose wings have soared only to have them clipped again. when once she might have thought she would’ve worked in skyscrapers and changed even a fraction of the world, her ambitions have been cut in half by circumstance. she’s as successful as one can be in this town with a thriving bar and a wonderful, growing boy, but oh, how she yearns for the world she had a glimpse of.
it’s a shame she’ll never see it again.
❝ if she spoke, she would tell him the truth: she was not okay at all, but horribly empty, now that she knew what it was like to be filled. ❞
CENSUS,
FACECLAIM › Gemma Chan
AUTHOR › Izzie
#gemma chan#rp#rpg#oc rp#town rp#{ all. }#{ local. }#{ over twenty. }#{ izzie. }#{ f. }#racism implied tw#internalized racism tw#death tw#bullying tw
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Imagine | Just a week [1/7]
a/n: Hi guys! I always read terribly soppy love stories in the summer. Books that are about nothing and everything at the same time. So I figured, why not wrote a crushmas series in the summer? A seven part story, in my birthday week (it’s the third. I’m not saying that so you’ll wish me a happy birthday. I’m just letting you know that every year I get yet another year too old to write this stuff...) So. Enjoy! xx
Summary: Your aunt asks you to look after her bookshop, as she’s out on holiday, only to be met with the most obnoxious guy. Will you survive the week?
Pacing back and forth, you switch the phone in your hands. “I don’t know auntie…” “You used to love working in the shop!” “I know. But that was before I had better things to do with my life.” “And now you do?” You laugh. “Jeez, thanks.” You hear laughter on the other side. “Only joking, [your name]. But I would like it if you came to check on my bookshop. I’m only on holiday for a week. And I know I can trust you. I’ll pay you obviously, and I’ll put some snacks in the fridge at home. Hmm? How about some Kinder chocolate?” “Unfair. You know how to bribe me.” “Well, of course I do. I’m your godmother. It’s my job to know what you want. And to give you what you need.” You smile. “Fine. I’ll do it for a surprise egg and a bar of dairy milk Oreo.” “Deal!”
“You must be [your name]”, you hear someone say as you search through your bag for the key. You are certain you put it in here somewhere… Looking up, but still fumbling with your hands, a guy is staring at you.
“Oh hello. Yes. I am. Do I know you?”
“No, but I was told some niece was going to come in and take care of the store. How old are you? You don’t look nearly old enough to run a store.”
“I’m twenty two. I’ve been in charge before, you know. It’s not that hard. Who are you exactly?”
“I’m [your celebrity crush]. I work in the shop. But apparently I’m not good enough to run this place. Even though I’m older”.
“Got it!”, you sigh happily. holding up a key. “Listen mate, I don’t know how old you are. My guess is you’re just a tiny bit older than me. You don’t look that old. And you’re acting like a little kid. So perhaps that’s why my aunt refused to leave the store to you. It is her baby. And babies don’t really take good care of other babies.”
You step over the threshold, pulling the suitcase behind you. “I’m going upstairs, to check my bedroom. If you want to be in charge so much, why don’t you start things up?”
“Yes, sir”, he salutes you, making you roll your eyes. Your aunt could have told you she had employed the most annoying kid ever. You knew she had someone. You didn’t know it was mister whiney pants.
You walk to the back and up the stairs, pulling your suitcase behind you. You never really understood why your aunt preferred living above her work, but you have always loved her apartment. It’s covered in natural wood and there are, obviously if you own a bookstore, books everywhere. Not only does she have massive bookshelves with all her favorite books, she also used the books as legs for her bed and used book covers for the coffee table. Smiling, you look around and take in all the memories you made here. When you were younger, you’d fled here whenever your parents were annoying, and read all summer long. And now you’re the adult working all summer. Great. You notice a piece of paper on the counter. Putting all your stuff down, you walk to your little welcome letter.
“I know you hate chocolate from the fridge, but a heatwave is coming, so I just don’t want your gift to melt. That’s all. Also, sorry I didn’t tell you about [your celebrity crush]. I know he can be quite a handful. But I promise you, once you get to know him, he’s a total sweetheart. Figured you had to find that one out on your own. Love you! x”
Having changed, you walk down to find [your celebrity crush] chilling on a chair behind the counter. He has put his legs up on the counter and is reading some magazine. “What are you doing?”, you ask. “Have you opened the store?”
“No. You’re in charge, you do that”, he answers, not looking up.
“I thought you wanted responsibility. The store opens at ten. I figured you would have taken it upon yourself to turn the sign around.” You walk to the door, to do it yourself.
“It’s 10.01. Stop worrying.”
“And the store opens at ten”
[Your celebrity crush] gets up from his seat to walk over to you. “Well, aren’t you punctual?”
“You ought to be when you own a store. god, maybe this is why you weren’t allowed to be in charge”. Normally, you would have noticed how close he is to your face. But you’re a little too aggravated this time.
“Because we’re a minute late? Look around, sugar, It’s a heatwave. No one wants to buy books in a store without airconditioning when there’s a heatwave. They want to go to the ocean”. [Your celebrity crush] points outside, where indeed people are playing on the beach. You have always loved the location.
“So, no. The minute doesn’t matter, lady. Good lord, I bet you are one of those women that wears days-of-the-week underwear.”
“I am not!”, you say, a little louder than you anticipated. “I don’t live such a chaotic life that I lose track of what day it is, so I need to stare at my ass to know it’s Monday.” You yell, coming even closer to his face. “I feel like those boxers would work better on you.”
[Your celebrity crush] dares to come even closer to your face. If you pouted, you’re sure you’d touch his lips with yours. Why are you thinking that?
“Maybe they would. So I can count down to the day you leave”, he scoffs.
“Just seven more days, baby. Seven more awful days”, you yell back.
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Super Detailed Questions: Xelbari: 5, 50 | Caius: 49 | Everyone: 5d100
Super Detailed Questions!
Xelbari:
5: Do they have any siblings? What’s their names? What is their relationship with them? Has their relationship changed since they were kids to adults?
Yes : P. Xelbari is Belxari’s (mostly) older brother, though Belxari doesn’t remember him. It’s hard to say if Xelbari really “remembers” Belxari- any truth of her existence is probably fogged over with just the vague idea of “Tiefling Baby.”
Xelbari’s primary motivation is to find his sister after being primarily responsible for her initial disappearance (contributing factors include neglectful parenting, and nefarious evil). Currently? they occupy a nebulously antagonistic relationship where neither one really knows what they think of the other, though he’s happy to have found another “cousin”.
Read More because of course this is eternally long.
11. Do they have any special diet requirements? Are they a vegetarian? Vegan? Have any allergies?
Xelbari is an experimental chef- the only food he shuns is the lazily prepared. He disdains the “merely good”, and delights in the unusual, even if the end result is of questionable moral or ethical substance. Like Elf Pudding. He has a minor dairy allergy, so he prefers non-cow cheeses (thanks, Yakitate!! Japan)
12. What is their favourite food?
It used to be apple pie.
28. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared?
When he was younger, it was that he’d lost his sister forever, and would never be able to find her. As he’s gotten older, he’s resigned himself that he probably never will, and enjoys meandering around and basically playing tiefling godmother to all the cousins he meets. At this point, he genuinely believes he can overcome whatever challenges face him, so he doesn’t fear for himself, and he doesn’t really form permanent attachments, so he doesn’t feel fear for others. He may have a fear of forming those attachments, but it hasn’t really come up in his journeys.
36. What are they good at? What hobbies do they like? Can they sing?
He’s an incredible chef, and a really decent arsonist. He likes reading and generally anything not physical labor-related. He’s probably a good singer for someone without any training, but his chosen and cultivated pitch and voice doesn’t lend itself to song.
46. Do they make a good first impression? Does their first impression reflect them accurately? How do they introduce themselves?
No, Absolutely not. Everyone hates Xelbari, and he does little overtly to move people from that opinion. He is, however, probably the most generous with his time and money of his typical party. He doesn’t care much for most people, but people who try endear themselves to him. He tends to not introduce himself, either you know who his is, or you learn very quickly.
50. If they could only take one bag of stuff somewhere with them: what would they pack? What do they consider their essentials?
He’s got a bag of holding, so he can take a fair bit with him. He’d developed over the years a sort of traveler’s gourmet chef kit that’s an always-have. He’s thrilled to have obtained an eternal spice pouch to really consolidate space. The only truly-essential thing of his kit is a set of wooden spoons carved from his sister’s crib.
Caius:
49. What is their most valued object? Are they sentimental? Is there something they have to take everywhere with them?
Caius’ Mask, a piece of his master’s body transformed into artifice, is probably the obvious answer, but he’s not very sentimental overall. Or he didn’t consider himself such- the shape of the mask is mutable, and it was fractured in the schoolhouse explosion. He could have willed it whole at any time, but always kept the cracked visage as a reminder- likely unwittingly, of his near-success and ultimate failure.
7. Did they have lots of friends as a child? Did they keep any of their childhood friends into adulthood?
No, his natural state is being forgotten by those around them, and wasn’t the kid picked last for stuff- he was the kid that was never picked at all. His constant neglect, even from his own family, formed a lot of his original spiteful attitude.
12. What is their favourite food?
He didn’t really have a favorite before the schoolhouse explosion, but since then he’s been a fan of a well-seared steak.
13. What is their least favourite food?
He doesn’t really like fresh fruit or raw vegetables.
30. Do they exercise? Regularly? Or only when forced? What do they act like pre-work out and post-work out?
Nope. Caius is pretty lazy, when it comes down to it. He is a person who plans and overplans and backs it up with raw power. He’s a brooder, otherwise.
35. What’s their guilty pleasure? What is their totally unguilty pleasure?
Caius secretly likes cats, but for all the wrong reasons. He sees in them the same clinical dispassion that he treats every aspect of life beyond his mission. His totally unguilty pleasure is psychologically tormenting his enemies. He thinks himself above worldly pursuits and ideals, but has occasionally been derailed because he decided to commit an unkindness.
Solomon James Walker:
5. Do they have any siblings? What’s their names? What is their relationship with them? Has their relationship changed since they were kids to adults?
None anymore, but Solomon had an older brother named Corben and a younger sister, Dot and an older sister named Erena, as well as a much younger brother, Tavis. Erena was the oldest, and generally looked after everyone while their parents worked their farm until the boys were old enough to start helping out. Their parents ultimately fell to illness, but by then Erena was married and moved out, and Corben took over the farm with his new wife, Amille. Solomon left shortly therafter to join the church to bring the sort of divine power that would have saved his parents to his backwater region. He returned when Corben died in an accident, and married Amille to keep the farmhouse in the family and allow her and her children to stay there to prevent anyone else from raising a fuss about it. People still did. Briefly.
8. Did they have pets as a child? Do they have pets as an adult? Do they like animals?
A cat that was kept as a mouser and dogs kept to guard the place from wild animals were pretty pet-adjacent. They’re good dogs, Brent.
14. Do they have any specific memories of food/a restaurant/meal?
He was never a man of worldly interests, he thinks, but he remembers the last meal he ate with his family before he was interred by his order. He has a sort of idle hope to find something that tastes like home, though being several hundred years removed, he’s not optimistic.
He doesn’t think it bothers him, though.
38. What do they admire in others? What talents do they wish they had?
He values honesty and charity- He shares with Xelbari a disdain for people who whine and languish and do nothing, but in stark contrast he’ll actually help them regardless, unless they’re like, evil or something. He gets a little taken aback by his own intensity sometimes, and wishes he had an easier time relaxing.
41. What’s their sexuality? What do they find attractive? Physically and mentally? What do they like/need in a relationship?
Solomon is aro/ace. He’s not really attracted to people in general, and kind of disdains people who spend a lot of their time on their appearance. He likes spending time with people who laugh readily and often, and don’t take him as seriously as he takes himself- though he doesn’t appreciate being mocked. He doesn’t really know it himself, but he does enjoy physical contact with people: He’s never enjoyed himself as much as being wedged into a crowded tavern table with friends and family. Guard down, unarmored contact, not trying to kill each other.
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Code name: Timely
Title: A Punk by any Other Name
Universe: MCU
Rating: Teen, for mildly suggestive dialogue?
Word Count: 1765
A/N: This is my first time writing something Steve centric and it was super fun! He’s a ball of stubbornness and drama and I love him. Set in a MCU where Steve and Tony got married and sadness doesn’t happen.
“No no no no!” Steve rubbed his palms against closed eyes until he saw lights and colors. His vision had been bad these past few days but he still couldn’t believe the reflection he was seeing.
There last mission had put them deep within a Hydra base. There was an explosion and a heavy blue cloud had filled the room they were searching. Thor’s alien biology had kept him unaffected, Iron Man’s suit had quickly switched to an emergency air tank. Thankfully the rest of the team had been on a different floor all together. Steve had assumed the serum had protected him. Thirty-six hours later and he woke up to an empty bed, a note from Tony that he had an emergency board meeting in Hong Kong, and all the health defects Steve had enjoyed back in the 1930s.
He’d gone immediately to Doctor Banner. Bruce hardly drew two vials of blood before Steve felt dizzy, but that had been enough samples to reach a conclusion from. The gas had elements of the super soldier serum, but had acted like a virus, latching itself onto the chemicals that made Steve who he liked being.
“Fortunately, you’ll heal.” Bruce took pity on Steve after a while of giving too many technical details. The solider was always smart, but biochemistry was about as complicated as rocket science, and Steve tended to tune out Tony whenever he excitedly babbled about an upgrade to the Iron Man armor. “Erskine’s genius will never be met. The serum just needs a few days to… I suppose the best word would be to reboot itself.”
“How many days is a few days?”
Bruce scribbled a few numbers, rough calculations that Steve couldn’t see clearly with how poor his eyes were. “Closest estimate I can give you is between two and four days.”
That had been all the estimate Steve had needed. Tony’s note said he’d be back in three days and Steve’s luck with the serum had always been favorable. Everyone had seen pictures of Steve before the serum, and he was certain Tony had read the laundry list of health problems he’d faced, but it would be different to see it in real time. Logically, he knew he shouldn’t worry. His husband didn’t have an ounce of the pettiness the media portrayed him with, he wouldn’t care what Steve looked like. At least, Steve hoped so. One thing the serum had never affected was his mind. Steve had always been stubborn, determined, battle-minded, but anxiety had been his constant companion as well. A small voice of doubt seemed bigger when Steve was, well, of equal size.
It was vain, but he didn’t want Tony to see him like this. He didn’t think he could handle Tony looking down on him.
He had woken up the next two mornings disappointed, but not surprised. The days had passed slowly as he relearned his old body. Doctor Banner had supplied him with thick glasses and cocktail of medications. He had tried going on a run, which had ended with Doctor Banner intruding him to the wonders of modern inhalers. After that, he spent the endless free time drawing or playing Mario Kart against Jarvis. The game was a bit less fun without all the colors.
The third morning had come and disappointment gave way to frustration. “Doctor Banner said three days!” He lamented to the empty room.
“Actually, Doctor Banner said two to four days, which does average three but does not guarantee it.”
“Not helping, Jarvis.”
“Sir has asked me to inform you he will arrive at the tower in one hour. He would like to take you to Aretsky’s for lunch.”
“That fancy rooftop place Colonel Rhodes told him about last month? I can’t go there like this.” He glanced at his reflection once more and winced.
“Certainly not in Sir’s pajamas, no.” Jarvis sounded a touch too amused. “I have taken the liberty of fabricating a blazer that will fit your temporary size and pair well with one of Sir’s dress shirts.”
Steve had spent the last few days raiding Tony’s closet almost exclusively for sweatpants and old band t-shirts. While the genius was the second slimmest in the tower, his clothes still barely hung on to Steve’s small frame. Natasha would have been the first choice to borrow from, but her shirts would have been far too loose. Besides, Steve didn’t exactly want the team to see him like this if they didn’t have to. And he generally made a point not to go into Natasha’s room – he tried bringing her surprise pancakes after a mission once and the resulting knives thrown were a very clear message about her boundaries. With his old body, he probably wouldn’t survive the knives or the terror that came with them.
The blazer was hanging at the front of the unbelievably deep walk-in on Tony’s side of the room. It was dusky gray and did in fact go with the soft blue crew neck placed next to it. A pair of slacks next to that fit surprisingly well if Steve cuffed the bottom of the legs.
“You make one hell of a fairy godmother, Jarvis.” Steve looked between the angled mirrors, almost pleased with what he saw.
“You should see what I can do with a pumpkin.”
Steve laughed, but kept it to a lighter chuckle to prevent any wheezing.
“Captain Grumpy laughing? That is my favorite sound! Now what was this about pumpkins, pumpkin?” Tony’s dress shoes clicked on the floor, a spring in his step as he entered the bedroom.
Steve must have lost track of time, how was Tony home so soon? He startled, completely at a loss for words as he turned. His husband looked dashing as always, hair windswept perfectly, silky black suit jacket framing his body with the red button up that made Steve think of brilliant sunsets and the armor. At least he thought it was red, it could have been green for all his color blind eyes knew.
Tony had roses. Steve couldn’t really remember everything he was allergic to, but he hoped flowers weren’t on the list. Even with the colors muted, they were beautiful.
“What,” Tony said.
“What?” Steve repeated dumbly. Surely he hadn’t been this stupid when he was small the first time.
“Are you okay?”
“I don’t know, you tell me.” Steve tilted his chin just a bit higher. The stupidity of being enamored met with the stupidity of his own stubbornness.
“No of course you’re okay I just – are these going to give you hives or something?” Tony jerked the roses back and Steve lunged for them.
“No! I mean, I don’t know actually, but I don’t care. They’re beautiful and you brought them for me and you’re my husband and just because I’m a punk again doesn’t mean I’m giving that up!” He clung to the roses, burying his face in them and – oh. Yeah, he felt hives forming.
“Steven,” Tony whispered, “You don’t have to give anything up. I’ll always be yours.” He leaned over the roses and their kiss was as soft as the petals.
“Though something tells me you don’t mean ‘punk’ in the 90s grunge kind of way.” Tony pulled back, frowning slightly. “How’d this happen?”
“Looks like Hydra’s attack last week affected me after all.”
“What!? And no one thought to tell me? Jarvis, what the hell?” Tony dropped the flowers in Steve’s arms, grabbing his husband’s chin and starting to look over him.
“Tony, I’m fine.”
“Fine my ass, you’ve got hives!”
“Sir, Captain Rogers was examined by Doctor Banner. He should regain the serum’s properties within twenty-four hours. He is in fact fine.”
“Huh.” Tony removed his hands from Steve’s body, letting his eyes roam over it instead. “You can say that again.”
Serum or not, Steve’s Irish skin always had him blush deep pink from his collarbone to the tip of his ears. Tony moved in close again, pressing their bodies together as Steve held the roses off to the side. It was strange, looking up at Tony, but thrilling in a way Steve had forgotten he’d enjoyed when he was small.
“Is that my shirt? You look very fine wearing my clothes.” His mouth was against Steve’s ear, breath hot as his hands ran their way up under the borrowed shirt. “But I think I’d like to see you out of them. You’re always the one sweeping me off my feet but it sure would be fun to have my wicked way with you like this.”
“He is, however, allergic to roses.” Jarvis interrupted with timing too precise to be coincidental.
“Fuck.” Tony snatched away the bouquet and stepped back, despite Steve’s protests.
“He is also allergic to shellfish, dairy, certain strains of gluten, twelve hormones found in modern beef products, thirty-seven local pollens, two blends of nylon, strawberries, and cats.”
“Not helping, Jarvis.” Steve grumbled.
“Cheer up, babe,” Tony said, “Aretsky’s got all that organic vegan stuff that’s trending right now and strawberries aren’t in season.” He glanced at his watch. “If we leave now, we’ll still make the reservation.”
Despite the casual tone, Tony’s eyes were wide. He was asking Steve about the plans, not telling him. The reservations for a place like that must have been made at least a few days ahead of time, even with the Stark name being put on the table. Tony would drop the lunch date in a second if Steve didn’t feel comfortable. Nothing had changed between them. The relief felt like a weight lift off that Steve didn’t realize he was carrying. That or his blood pressure dropped again and Bruce was going to lecture him on not taking his pills.
“Lunch sounds good.” Steve smiled before stepping close again. He pulled at Tony’s jacket lapels to bring him face to face without having to lean up. “Only if after you make good on that promise of wicked ways.”
“Tiny and bossy, just my type.” Tony kissed him with more heat than before, but Steve could tell he was holding back. They broke apart, Steve gasping despite the relatively tame kiss. Tony looped his arm around Steve’s waist, leading them to the elevator. “Besides, the press hasn’t seen me hit the town with a cute twink in years, it’ll be a field day.” He laughed and Steve was pretty sure that was his favorite sound, even if he knew it sounded muddier than it would have with the serum.
“Is that what they call it these days?”
#capimtrb2017#round 3#stony#skinny steve#i got a little too into describing clothes#sorry i have no idea about the rating#it's pretty tame but idk they get a little flirty with each other#also wow i'm posting before the deadline
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I have this really like odd theory about Beauty and the Beast 2017. So, I really love all the additions/changes they made. But one of the more puzzling ones was the Enchantress. Because she sticks around, pretends to be a beggar woman and lives a life out in the woods. Like why? So here's my theory: she's Beast's dairy godmother. So, the movie takes great pains to talk about Beast's horrible father and to show his mother dying and how being left alone changed him. And so, what if his mother tasked Agatha to look after her son? And then he just kinda gets freaking awful like his father, so she curses him (but keeps him surrounded by people who do/did love him). She gives him time away from the wealth and flash to sort his shit out. Remember, he needs to learn to love and earn someone's love. But he spends however many years wallowing and not doing anything to ear anyone's love. So it's getting near the end and Agatha takes matters into her own hands because she PROMISED Beast's mother. The first time we see Agatha is when Gaston is being an asshole and Belle turns his ass down flat. It's after that we see the tree go down so Maurice HAS to take the enchanted path he never would have gone down otherwise. So Agatha sees that Belle is a girl capable of dealing with an asshole, and sets it up for her to go to Beast. The next time we see Agatha she's saving Maurice becauae she's clearly fae and a little wild. But Maurice doesn't deserve it, and she's got Gaston lined up her in cross hairs. But she does give people a chance to not be the worst. So she saves Maurice and Gaston proves he is again, the worst. He's a deadman walking at this point, let's be fair. (I'd even argue that the bridge broke in part bc Agatha willed Gaston to die by his own actions.) Now, unlike in the animated, Belle doesn't say she loves Beast in time. Instead, Agatha decides to say screw her own rules and fixes everything. Agatha is really tough on Beast. But unlike in the animated film, this is practically personal. But she also chose to save Beast in the end even though he hasn't made her deadline. Generally with fairies/witches/magical entities, the time limit is as important as anything else. Generally time limits are strictly enforced. But Agatha actually saves Beast and turns everyone back to human after he's died and everyone has turned into props. So all I'm saying is that Agatha is Beast's fairy godmother who is really not up on men being assholes.
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NCERT Class 12 English Novel Silas Marner
NCERT Class 12 English Novel :: Silas Marner
(English Novels)
ABOUT THE NOVELIST
George Eliot was born as Mary Ann Evans in 1819 in England. She studied in a boarding school from a young age where she developed a strong religious faith. Her mother died when she was seventeen years old. She moved to London in 1849 following her father’s death. The move was to mark a new beginning for her.Eliot began contributing to the ‘Westminster Review’ in 1850 and later became its editor.She met George Henry Lewes and fell in love with him. They started living together even though he was already married. This caused a scandal and she was shunned by her friends and family. This did not deter her in the least and she remained with Lewis until his death, in 1878.
It was Lewes who encouraged Mary Ann Eliot to write. She published her first work, “Scenes of Clerical Life”, in 1858 under the pen-name of George Eliot. This was a collection of stories about the people of her native Warwickshire. She deliberately chose a male name as her pseudonym given the fact that, in the Victorian period, women authors were expected to write romantic novels and stories. A man’s name gave her the assurance that her writing would be taken seriously.Following Lewes’ death, she married her friend, John Cross, who was twenty years younger to her. She died in 1880 leaving behind a rich legacy of novels and poetry.Her works include ‘Scenes from Clerical Life’ (1857), ‘Adam Bede’ (1859), ‘The Mill on the Floss’ (1860), ‘Silas Marner’ (1861), ‘Romola’ (1863), ‘The Spanish Gypsy’ (1868) ‘Middlemarch’ (1872) and ‘Daniel Deronda’ (1876).
ABOUT THE NOVEL
Silas Marner was Eliot’s third novel and is among the best known of her works. Many of the novel’s themes and concerns stem from Eliot’s own life experiences. Silas’s loss of religious faith recalls Eliot’s own struggle with her faith, and the novel’s setting in the vanishing English countryside reflects Eliot’s concern that England was fast becoming industrialised and impersonal. The novel’s concern with class and family can likewise be linked back to Eliot’s own life. The voice of the novel’s narrator can thus, to some extent, be seen as Eliot’s own voice—one tinged with slight condescension, but fond of the setting and thoroughly empathetic with the characters. Though Silas Mamer is in a sense a very personal novel for Eliot, its treatment of the themes of faith, family, and class has nonetheless given it universal appeal, especially at the time of publication, when English society and institutions were undergoing rapid change.
MAJOR CHARACTERSSilas Marner: The protagonist of the novel by same name, Silas is a simple, honest, and kind- hearted weaver. He is described as a pallid, bent man with bulging eyes and poor eyesight.He is framed for the crime he did not commit by his closest friend, William Dane. This hurts Silas very deeply. As a result, he loses faith in both God and other men. Shunned from his hometown, Lantern Yard, he comes to live in Raveloe.He lives there as a solitary miser for fifteen years, dedicating his time and energy to his work and his hoard of gold. Catastrophe strikes and his money is stolen. He is devastated for the second time. But, a small fair-haired girl, Eppie, enters his life and restores his faith and trust. He raises her lovingly and she becomes more precious to him than his lost gold which is restored by his adopted daughter, Eppie.Eppie: She is Silas Marner’s adopted daughter who fills the void left in his heart after the betrayal of his closest friend and, later, the theft of his gold.She is the child of Godfrey Cass and his secret wife, Molly Farren. Eppie is beautiful and lively and loves Silas unconditionally. When, towards the end of the narrative, she discovers her real father, she chooses to stay with Silas for he is the only family she has known since she was two years old.Godfrey Cass: He is the eldest son of Squire Cass. He is good-natured but selfish and weak- willed. Godfrey is secretly married to Molly Farren and has a daughter with her. He is the biological father of Eppie.He loves Nancy Lammeter and wishes to marry her. However, his secret marriage is an obstacle; his younger brother, Dunstan (or Dunsey) Cass, uses this information to blackmail him. Godfrey lacks the moral courage to face the situation and allows himself to be used by Dunstan.Dunstan (Dunsey) Cass: He is the Squire’s younger son. He is a cruel, lazy, manipulative and greedy person, ready to do or say anything to get what he wants. He blackmails his brother, Godfrey, by threatening to spill the beans about the latter’s secret marriage. He convinces his brother to sell off his favourite horse, Wildfire. He strikes a good bargain for the animal with Bryce, but his foolish greed gets the animal killed.While returning home, he stops by at Silas’s cottage and steals his money. He disappears after the act and his dead body is found years later when Stone-pits is drained.Dolly Winthrop: She is the wife of the wheelwright, Ben Winthrop, and the mother of Aaron. Dolly Winthrop takes it upon herself to help Silas raise Eppie. She persuades Silas to trust in God always.Dolly later becomes Eppie’s godmother and mother-in-law. She is kind and patient, and is devoutly religious. She becomes Eppie’s godmother and later, her mother-in-law.Squire Cass: He is the richest man in Raveloe. The Squire is described as lazy, complacent, selfish and short-tempered. He is the father of Godfrey and Dunstan. However, he seems to care more for his money than his sons. He allows them to do whatever they please as long as they do not involve his tenants in any way.Molly Farren: She is Godfrey’s secret wife and Eppie’s mother. She was a pretty woman when Godfrey first met her; however, addiction to opium and alcohol destroys her completely. She becomes vengeful and is determined to reveal the secret of their marriage to the Squire. However, she dies before she can reach the latter and tell her tale.Nancy Lammeter: Nancy is Mr. Lammeter’s daughter and Godfrey’s sweetheart whom he eventually marries after the death of Molly. She is described a pretty and caring person with a remarkable strength of character and high principles.She refuses to adopt a child after the death of their only child. But, when she comes to know of the secret marriage of her husband and the child from that marriage, she willingly agrees to accept Eppie and take her home.Priscilla Lammeter: She is Nancy’s elder sister and is very homely and plainspoken. She is very good at everything she does. In fact, she is the one who manages Mr. Lammeter’s farm and dairy. A cheerful and wise spinster, Priscilla, has the ability to laugh at herself.Aaron Winthrop: He is the son of Dolly and Ben Winthrop. He promises to help Silas and Eppie , with their garden and other household chores. At the end of the narrative, he marries Eppie.William Dane: He is the friend Silas was closest to when he was in Lantern Yard. In spite of their ‘friendship, William frames Silas in a theft to disgrace him and to marry his (Silas’s) fiancée. He reveals himself as a scheming person who can go to any lengths to get what he wants.
MINOR CHARACTERSBen Winthrop: He is the wheelwright of Raveloe. He is Dolly’s husband and Aaron’s father. He is a happy, jovial man and enjoys company and drinks at the Rainbow.Bob Cass: Bob is one of the younger brothers of Godfrey Cass.Bob Lundy: He is the butcher. He is a good-natured, reserved person.Bryce: Bryce is friend to both Godfrey and Dunsey. He agrees to buy Godfrey’s horse at a good price. He is also the one who informs Godfrey about how Wildfire died.Dr. and Mrs. Kimble: Dr. Kimble is the village physician. Every one addresses him as ‘Doctor’ even though he does not have a degree. He inherits this position from his father.He is Godfrey’s uncle and godfather. He loves to talk but becomes irritable while playing cards. Mrs. Kimble is the sister of Squire Cass. She is a stout woman, has a good nature and is very proud of her husband.Fowler: Fowler is Squire Cass’s tenant. He paid his dues to Godfrey, who in turn gave it to Dunstan.Jem Rodney: He is a habituaj. poacher and has a very bad reputation. He once witnesses Silas in the midst of one of his cataleptic fits. Silas accuses him of stealing his gold.Miss Gunns: The Gunn Sisters come to the Squire’s New Year’s dance from a neighbouring town. They look down upon Raveloe’s rustic ways; despite that, they remain impressed by Nancy Lammeter’s beauty.Mr. Crackenthorp: He is the rector of the Raveloe church.Mrs. Crackenthorp: She is his wife who is “a small blinking woman who fidgeted incessantly.”Mr. Dowlas: He is the blacksmith of the town. His job is to shoe the horses and tend to livestock diseases. He is too full of himself and considers himself a strict rationalist.Mr. Lammeter: Mr. Lammeter is proud and uncompromising. He is Nancy’s and Priscilla’s father.Mr. Macey: A tailor by profession, he is the parish clerk of Raveloe. Mr. Macey is a well-meaning person but is biased and smug.He .visits Silas soon after the theft and assures him that he will find his money. At the end of the narrative, he witnesses the bridal party and is pleased to know that his assurance about the gold came true.Mr. and Mrs. Osgood: Mr. Osgood is the maternal uncle of Nancy and Priscilla. His sister had married Mr. Lammeter.Mrs. Osgood is very close to Nancy.Mr. Snell: He is the landlord of the local tavern, the Rainbow. He has a very conciliatory disposition and always tries to resolve conflicts and settle arguments.Mr. Tookey: He is the assistant tailor and deputy clerk. His job is to aid Mr. Macey. He is also the target of sarcasm from others.Sally Oates: Sally is the cobbler’s wife. She is suffering from a heart disease and dropsy. Silas sees her and is reminded of his mother’s suffering. He eases her pain with a concoction of foxglove.Sarah: Silas’s fiancée in Lantern Yard. Sarah gets put off by Silas’s cataleptic fits and breaks off her engagement after Silas is accused. She marries William Dane.Solomon Macey: Solomon is a famous fiddler and the brother of the tailor/parish clerk, Mr. Macey.The Pedlar: An anonymous person who comes through Raveloe shortly before the theft of Silas’s money. He becomes a suspect because of his tinderbox.
SUMMARY OF THE NOVEL
Silas is a weaver living in a manufacturing city in the north of England. He and his friends are Dissenters, Christians who don’t belong to the state-sponsored Anglican Church that was (and is) dominant in England. Things are good. He’s got a best friend named William Dane, a best girl named Sarah, and the only minor issue is that he occasionally spaces out—like, really spaces out, to the point that he doesn’t know what’s going on around him.And then he’s accused of theft. The group kicks him out, and Silas makes his way south to the Midlands, where he sets up his loom and settles down in the village of Raveloe. Business is good, but the villagers think he’s a weird loner. For fifteen whole years, he weaves and holds nightly sessions with his growing hoard of money.Meanwhile, things aren’t going well for Raveloe’s wealthy family up at the Red House. The head of the family, old Mr. Cass, is a jerk, and he’s got a jerky younger son, Dunstan. His older son, Godfrey is secretly married to the opium-addled Molly. This is depressing to Godfrey, because these are pre-regular divorce days, and he’s got his eye on another girl, Nancy Lammeter.When the main action of the story opens, Dunstan convinces Godfrey to sell his horse to pay a debt, and even offers to sell it for him. Big mistake, Godfrey. Before getting the money, Dunstan takes the horse off hunting, but he makes a stupid move and the horse ends up dead. As Dustan is walking home, he spies Silas’s cottage and has the bright idea to steal the money everyone suspects Silas has.Silas, who can’t catch a break and knows it, promptly sinks into depression. He’s depressed all through Christmas, and then New Year arrives. Up at the Red House, Mr. Cass is giving his big annual party. Godfrey recklessly flirts with Nancy. Dunstan is nowhere to be found, and hasn’t been for a while.Down near the Stone-Pits by Silas’s cottage, Molly trudges along the snow-covered road carrying a child. She takes some opium (dumb), sits down under a bush (dumb), and falls asleep (really, really dumb, but also sad). The child wakes up and toddles off, accidentally—or miraculously?— deciding to cuddle up in front of Silas’s hearth.Silas refuses to let anyone take the child: she’s his replacement for the gold. Cue the life-changing montage. Silas takes advice from his neighbours, has her baptised, and stops hoarding for the sake of hoarding. The next sixteen years pass in a haze of neighbourly good-feeling and childish hijinks.When Part two opens, we meet a grown-up Eppie. She’s eighteen, adorable, and everyone loves her, most especially Dolly Winthrop’s son Aaron. But all is not well up at the Red House: Godfrey and Nancy are childless. One day, Godfrey comes to give Nancy some news: first, they’ve found Dunstan. He was lying drowned at the bottom of the quarry, which has been drained as a nearby landowner improves his land. Second, Dunstan had stolen Silas’s money, and the money has now been returned to Silas. Third, Eppie is Godfrey’s child.Nancy and Godfrey offer to adopt Eppie, but she refuses. She loves Silas, she loves the villagers, and she’s going to marry Aaron. The novel ends with a wedding. As Aaron, Silas, and Eppie— who would be unbearably annoying, if she weren’t fictional—enter their little cottage, Eppie sighs with happiness.
CHAPTERWISE SUMMARY & QUESTIONSPART-IChapter-1
Once upon a time it was a common sight to see men bent under heavy bags in country areas. They were weavers who came from distant places. There was general distrust towards them because they were not “born and bred in a visible manner.” Silas Marner was one such weaver who lived near Raveloe. The village boys were scared of his pale face and protruding eyes. The adults did not like him either, thanks to the rumours that he had some strange powers. In fact, Jem Rodney once saw him standing as stiff as a dead man only to recover and walk away after sometime. Silas had also cured Sally Oates when she was sick. In other words, people considered it best to be on his good side.Silas came to Raveloe fifteen years earlier from a city to the north. He had been a faithful member of a religious sect in Lantern Yard. His initial fits of unconsciousness were seen as an indication of special grace. He had a very close friend, William Dane; they were so close that they were called David and Jonathon. This friendship did not cool down even after Silas’ engagement to a young serving woman. However, William did think that his fit was a visitation of Satan and Silas was pained by this.It was at this time that the senior deacon fell ill and members of the congregation took turns to look after him. The deacon died during Silas’ turn. The latter went to seek help, but not finding any, he went to work. The minister, along with William, came to him to take him to the vestry. It was disclosed that a bag of money had been taken from the deacon’s bureau and Silas’ knife had been found there. The empty bag was found in his room after a search. It was then that Silas remembered the time he had last used the knife – it was to cut a strap for William. He said nothing.The church members decided to draw lots to see whether Silas told the truth. He was declared guilty. He was so disappointed and disillusioned that he declared that there was no just God. He accused William of the theft, but to no avail. Sarah broke their engagement just as he had expected.She married William Dane a month later and Silas left Lantern Yard forever.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:How did the people of Raveloe regard Silas?Answer:The people of Raveloe distrusted and disliked Silas Marner because he was different from them and was not even a native of their town. He was a weaver who came to Raveloe from another place. His bulging brownish eyes accompanied with a squint gave him a frightful air about him. He was a loner and did not socialise with the people around him. He was good with herbal medicines and was able to cure Sally Oates from her medical condition. People attributed him with having supernatural powers and capacities which he himself was unaware of. They created myths about him and maintained their distance from him.
Question 2:Describe the life-changing incident in Lantern Yard that Silas experienced.Answer:Silas was an honest man and a faithful member of a religious sect in Lantern Yard. It was during a prayer meeting that he had his first cataleptic fit. While others considered that he was bestowed with special grace, William, his closest friend, thought Satan visited him. Silas was pained when he heard this but did not speak.When the deacon fell ill, the entire congregation took turns to look after him. Silas went for his turn and, after sometime, found him dead. He looked out for help but could find none. So, he went to work after his turn was over. He was brought back to the vestry shortly afterwards and was accused of a crime he had not committed since his knife was found in the deacon’s room. He recalled that he had used his knife to cut the straps for William and had left it there. He was disillusioned by the way he was treated and decided that there was no just God. Sarah, the woman he was engaged to, broke off with him and married William a month later. These events changed his life and he became a loner who did not socialise with the people around him.
Question 3:Did Silas know that William Dane framed him? Give reasons for your answer.Answer:Yes, Silas knew that William, his closest friend had framed him. This is very clear in the story.Silas was accused of a crime because his knife was found at the crime scene. He did not remember committing the murder or stealing the bag of money. The minister, other congregation members and William insisted that he should accept his sin and atone for it. However, he did remember using the knife to cut a strap for William. Upon facing the latter, he said “I don’t remember putting it in my pocket again. You stole the money, and you have woven a plot to lay the sin at my door.” This shows clearly that William had framed him for the crime.
Question 4:Why do you think William betrayed Silas? Give examples from the text to support your answer.Answer:In my opinion, William betrayed Silas because he wanted to marry Sarah. This is evident from the thought that Silas has after his first fit. He observes that “Sarah’s manner towards him began to exhibit a strange fluctuation between an effort at an increased manifestation of regard and involuntary signs of shrinking and dislike.”The fact that she broke off the engagement with him and married William a month later also points to the fact that the latter betrayed Silas in order to remove him from his way.After Silas’ first fit, William suspects that Satan rather than a special grace visited his friend. This goes to show that he was envious of Silas and wanted to create problems for him.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:Write a character sketch of Silas on the basis of the information you get in the Chapter 1.Answer:Silas Marner, a weaver, is the main character and protagonist of the novel by the same name. He leaves his town and church after being falsely accused of a crime he did not commit and migrates to another town, Raveloe. His physical appearance is odd: he is bent from his work at the loom, brownish bulging eyes. He looks much older than his years. He lives in this town as a loner and does not interact with anyone. Children are afraid of him and the people regard him with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity.However, he is a good and honest person. He has a discreet knowledge of medicinal herbs and is able to use it to cure people.
Question 2:What kind of a person is William Dane in your opinion?Answer:William Dane seems to be a scheming person who can go to any lengths to get what he wants. Silas considers him a good friend. They actually become friends because they share the same religious sect at Lantern Yard in a town in Northern England.While Silas is profoundly religious, William Dane’s religious feelings are not so deep. He seems to be with the brethren only so far as he is directly benefited. He wants to get rich quickly and ‘steal’ Silas’ fiance. With the deacon falling ill, he sees his opportunity and works out a plan to do both. He steals the money from the deacon, frames Silas for the robbery by leaving his knife at the crime scene and manages to marry Sarah, the girl Silas was engaged to.
Chapter-2
After he left Lantern Yard, Marner settled down in the village of Raveloe. This place was completely opposite to Lantern Yard. It was a land of plenty, without any of the austerities, seriousness of devout churchgoers on Lantern Yard.William Dane’s betrayal left Silas in a state of shock. He, therefore, sought solace in his loom where he worked day and night. He continued in the same fashion when he settled in Raveloe. The table-linen that he finished for Mrs. Osgood earned him five gold guineas; thus a new and powerful force entered his life.In his initial days at Raveloe he did get opportunities for to meet people and make friends with them. Once he saw the cobbler’s wife in a fit of dropsy. He recognised the symptoms since his mother had died in the same manner. Silas was able to heal her using his knowledge of herbs that he had got from his mother. The people came to a conclusion that Silas must be an occult healer and began to go to him for healing. Silas, however, refused their requests hence they thought he did not want to help them.In the midst of isolation Silas did retain a tiny amount of affection. He had a brown earthenware pot that he used to keep water. He was very affectionate towards it. But, one day, while returning from the well, he stumbled on a stile and dropped his pot. It broke into three pieces. He gathered the fragments, put them together and placed them thus restored pot in its usual place as a memorial. In any case, all the time that he spent in Raveloe, his existence revolved around weaving and hoarding his coins.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:How did Silas spend his time in Raveloe?Answer:Silas spent his time weaving all the years that he had been in Raveloe. It was his vocation and his occupation – something that kept his mind occupied and prevented him from brooding about his closest friend’s betrayal.The monotone of the loom and the time spent on it filled him with a feeling of a well- spent day to produce beautiful products. He would “throw” the shuttle across the loom and keep a keen eye on “the little squares in the cloth” that completed themselves under his expert supervision. A weaver’s profession is a one-man show and Silas was a very lonely man.
Question 2:What did Silas do for Sally Oates? Why do you think he did it?Answer:Silas found Sally Oates, the wife of the village cobbler, in a fit of dropsy. Since his mother had suffered in the same manner, Silas recognised the symptoms immediately. He also remembered that his mother had found relief from a simple preparation of foxglove. Moved out of pity, Silas gave the same preparation to Sally Oates. The preparation gave relief to her in a way that doctor’s medicine couldn’t.Silas helped Sally Oates because he remembered how his mother had suffered and died. That remembrance and Sally’s condition filled his heart with pity and compassion and he decided to help her.
Question 3:What did Silas come to love apart from his work? Give examples from the text to support your answer.Answer:Silas came to love the glitter of his gold coins. We knew this from the various examples given in the text. For instance, at one point the author says “for the first time in his life, he had five bright guineas put into his hand; no man expected a share of them, and he loved no man that he should offer him a share.” Once again we are introduced to Mamer who “wanted the heaps of ten to grow into a square, and then into a larger square; and every added guinea, while it was itself a satisfaction, bred a new desire.” Every night, after work, he sat down to “enjoy their companionship”.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:Compare Silas’ life in Lantern Yard with that in Raveloe.Answer:Silas was a happy person when he lived in Lantern Yard. He would fall into fits, or trances, during the prayer-meetings. Apart from that, things were going well with him. He had wonderful friends and he was preparing to marry his fiancé. His honesty, hard work and good nature endears him to everyone. However, there was a certain religious austerity in his life at Lantern Yard.He came to Raveloe as a cold and bitter man. His main objective was on saving and hoarding his money. He did not socialise even though he did help the-cobbler’s wife by curing her illness. He notices the religious ease with which the people of Raveloe live – in complete contrast to Lantern Yard. His helping Sally Oates creates opportunities to interact and meet more people, but he refuses to get back into his shell.
Question 2:Describe the incident of the brown pot. What can you infer about Silas’ nature from this incident?Answer:Silas had a brown earthen pot and he considered it “his most precious utensil among the very few conveniences he had granted himself. It had been his companion for twelve years, always standing on the same spot…” Every morning Silas would take the pot to the well and fill it with fresh water.One day, as he was returning from the well, he stumbled and the pot slipped to the ground. It broke in three pieces. Silas was overcome with grief as he carried the pieces home. His affection for the pot did not allow him to throw it away. He put the pieces together and placed the pot in its place as a remembrance.It can be inferred from this incident that, though a bitter man, Silas still had some spark of affection left in his heart and was capable of loving. The grief that he felt at the breaking of the pot indicates his sadness at being left all alone one more time.
Chapter-3
This chapter introduces and describes the Cass family headed by Squire Cass. They came from an important and a very wealthy noble lineage. Godfrey and Dunstan were two of the four sons of the Squire. While Dunstan was Considered the mischievous one, Godfrey was seen to be following in his brother’s footsteps of late. There was no love lost between the brothers. However, they realised that they need each other for their own selfish motives.Dunstan hinted at Godfrey’s dark secret – his marriage to “a drunken woman,” Molly Farren, without the knowledge of his father. Godfrey was now in love with Nancy Lammeter, but could not marry her, or even express his feelings to her. Moreover, he seemed to be in financial trouble, having borrowed money from his father’s tenant.Dunstan used this information as a leverage to blackmail Godfrey into doing him favours. He succeeded in convincing his brother to sell his prized horse, Wildfire, in order to settle the debt.Godfrey pondered upon his situation at the end of the chapter – “The yoke a man creates for himself by wrong-doing will breed hate in the kindliest nature…” It seemed that this “good- humoured, affectionate-hearted” young man “was fast becoming a bitter man.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:What was the effect of Mrs. Cass’ death on the Cass household?Answer:The death of Mrs. Cass had deprived the Cass household of the “presence of the wife and mother which is the fountain of wholesome love and fear” in a household. The family was left rudderless as a result and Squire Cass had not been able to provide any direction to his children.Also, this accounted not. only for “there being more profusion than finished excellence in the holiday provisions, but also for the frequency with which the proud Squire condescended to preside in the parlour of the Rainbow.”Perhaps due to this, the sons had “turned out rather ill.”
Question 2:What is your view of the conflict between Godfrey and Dunsey Cass?Answer:Godfrey and Dunsey were brothers, but they truly hated each other. They were very different from each other – while Godfrey was good-natured, Dunsey was “a spiteful jeering fellow.” The former, being the first-born, was destined to inherit his father’s land. I think this was the basis of the conflict between the two.Dunsey happened to know Godfrey’s secret and used this knowledge for his advantage and blackmailed his brother into doing him favours. The latter didn’t appreciate this, but felt in no position to oppose his younger brother. He knew that, should his secret be revealed, he could lose both his inheritance and the woman he was in love with.
Question 3:How do you know that Godfrey was married? What happened to his wife?Answer:We know about Godfrey’s marriage from Dunsey. The former talks to his brother about returning the loan that he had taken to help him. However, Dunsey asks him to find the money to pay off the loan since he was the one to take it in the first place. When the former protests, he threatens him that he could “get you turned out of house and home, and cut off with a shilling any day” by telling the Squire how “his handsome son was married to that nice young woman, Molly Farren.” He also reveals that Godfrey “was very unhappy because he couldn’t live with his drunken wife.”
Question 4:Do you agree with the statement “Dunstan was an evil person”? Cite examples from the text to support your answer.Answer:In my opinion, Dunstan, or Dunsey, is definitely an evil person. He is introduced as “a spiteful jeering fellow, who seemed to enjoy his drink the more when other people went dry.” He seems to take immense pleasure in Godfrey’s situation. When the latter reminds him that he borrowed money to help him, he merely says, “Since you were so kind as to hand it over to me, you’ll not refuse me the kindness to pay it back for me.” He knows about Godfrey’s dark secret and does not hesitate in using it as a means to gain his own end. He further suggests “If Molly should happen to take a drop too much laudanum some day, and make a widower of you,” then he (Godfrey) would be free to marry Nancy.
Question 5:Explain the following sentence in your own words – “The yoke a man creates for himself by wrong-doing will breed hate in the kindliest nature.”Answer:The sentence talks about how someone can enslave himself by his own wrongdoing. His guilt or regret, or both, becomes a heavy burden to carry – much like a yoke that is placed on the shoulders of draft animals, for instance, two oxen, to pull a cartload of people or things. The wrongdoing becomes a burden because one has to hide it, lie about it and be untrue to oneself. It is but natural that such a burden makes a person angry, spiteful and unkind. Guilt, or regret, makes a person negative, towards himself and others and a kind nature becomes despicable.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:Write about the character of Godfrey Cass on the basis of this chapter.Answer:Godfrey, the eldest son of Squire Cass and the heir to the Cass estate, is “fine open¬faced good-natured young man.” He is, however, revealed to be weak-willed. As a young man, he married Molly Farren who later took to drinks and drugs. The marriage was a secret. The only person who knew about it was his younger brother, Dunstan, or Dunsey. When he is being blackmailed by the latter, he thinks of revealing his secret to his father so that he can end his younger brother’s bullying tactics. But, after evaluating the consequences – of being disinherited and thrown out of the family – he decides against it. This shows that he cannot think much beyond his immediate comfort as “disinherited son of a small squire, equally disinclined to dig and to beg, was almost as helpless as an uprooted tree.” He finds that “he must irrevocably lose her[Nancy] as well as the inheritance” hence succumbs to his brother’s intimidation.
Question 2:What kind of a person is Squire Cass in your opinion?Answer:Squire Cass doesn’t seem to be a nice person according to me. He is “the greatest man in Raveloe” because of the land he possessed and the tenants he had. Long after the death of his wife the “proud Squire condescended to preside in the parlour of the Rainbow rather than under the shadow of his own dark wainscot.” This shows the arrogance in his nature. He is considered weak by the people of Raveloe because “he had kept all his sons at home in idleness.” This also points out to the fact that he neglected his sons and fell short in their upbringing. There is also an indication that the Squire did not have much money since his son borrows some from his friend. This shows that he is not good at managing money as well.
Chapter-4
Dunstan Cass set off early to sell Wildfire. On his way he contemplated the prospect of suggesting Godfrey to persuade Silas to lend of money from the gold he has been hoarding over the years. He was able to negotiate a good price for the horse; but, while on his way to delivering the animal at the appointed place, he decided to win some money by participating in a hunt with dogs. Unfortunately for him, tragedy struck during the hunt — while jumping a fence. Wildfire got pierced with a hedge-stake and died immediately. There was nothing left for Dunstan but to walk home. He passed by Silas’ house and thought of persuading the old, lonely weaver to loan him some of his gold. He knocked but soon realised that no one was at home. He entered to find himself greeted by a warm fire. He looked around for Marner’s gold since he knew that weavers hoard their money. He removed some sandy bricks only to discover bags of Silas’ gold. He picked them and walked out into the darkness.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:Can you predict in what way the stories of Silas Mamer and Godfrey Cass will merge?Answer:According to me, it will be known that Dunstan Cass .robbed Silas. Godfrey, being a kind-hearted person, will take the responsibility of caring for the weaver since it was his own brother who robbed him. There might develop an unusual friendship between the two.
Question 2:Do you think the weather was instrumental in Dunstan heading towards Silas’ house?Answer:Yes, the weather was definitely important in making Dunstan head towards Silas’ house. It was very cold and was getting increasingly dark. With the mist settling him, it was becoming difficult to see. “The lane was becoming unpleasantly slippery, for the mist was passing into rain.” As a result, he felt the ground before him with his whip- handle lest he should slip and fall.Dunstan thought he could borrow a lantern from Silas to head back home after persuading him to part with some of his gold. The brightly lit fire was a welcome contrast to the weather outside and he entered the cottage without further thought.
Question 3:What justification does he give for stealing the gold?Answer:Dunstan was returning from the hunt empty handed. Godfrey’s horse, Wildfire, died after being impaled during a jump. As he passed Silas’ cottage he decides to talk to, even intimidate the latter, into giving him some money. He approaches the cottage, he finds the fire lit but Silas nowhere to be seen. Dunstan looks around for possible hiding place for gold when this thought comes to him – “the weaver had perhaps gone outside his cottage to fetch in fuel, or for some such brief purpose, and had slipped into the Stone-pit. That was an interesting idea to Dunstan, carrying consequences of entire novelty. If the weaver was dead, who had a right to his money? Who would know where his money was hidden? Who would know that anybody had come to take it away?” And, ’ with this thought, he sets out to search for the gold and make off with it himself.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:Write a brief character sketch of Dunstan Cass.Answer:Dunstan Cass is Squire Cass’ son and Godfrey’s younger brother. He is described as a “a spiteful jeering fellow” at the very outset in the chapter 3. We know that he is not handsome as his brother. He is a selfish and dishonest person who is given to drinking. He knows his brother’s weak points and takes advantage of them to the full. Towards the end of the chapter 4, he comes out to be a little over-confident about his abilities and his luck. After striking a good bargain for Wildfire, he foolishly participates in the hunt to earn some extra money. However, the horse dies and he is left with nothing. On his way home, he stops at Silas’ cottage. Having a “mind of a possible felon” he quickly finds the bags of gold that Silas had hidden and makes off with them.
Chapter-5
Silas returned shortly afterwards after finishing an errand. He was looking forward to his tasty dinner. He entered the cottage that he had left unattended and unlocked and found everything in its place. The roast-meat wasn’t ready yet so he decided to take out his gold. He checked under the bricks but it was not there. He was horrified to find it gone. He looked for it again and again, all over the place, but to no avail. He considered the hand of some supernatural power that had come to torment him again.He began to work at his loom when the thought of a robbery came to him. Nothing had happened to his treasure in the past fifteen years. But, with this new idea, the name of Jem Rodney as the thief came to his mind.No sooner did he think about this, he set out for the Rainbow, hoping to meet the powerful people of Raveloe, Squire Cass being one of them, and try to get his money back. But, none of them were there that night since they were attending Mrs. Osgood’s birthday dance.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:Why didn’t Silas lock his cottage before going on his errand?Answer:There were two reasons for Silas not locking his cottage. The first one was that it did not occur to him that he would become a victim of robbery. After all, nothing had happened in the last fifteen years! And, in any case, “What thief would find his way to the stone- pits on such a night as this?”The second reason was that he had used the door key and a piece of string to tie the meat to its hanger. “He could not have locked his door without undoing his well- knotted string and retarding his supper.”
Question 2:Describe his actions when he entered the cottage after running his errand up to the time he discovered the theft.Answer:Silas returned home to a welcoming and warm fire. He was happy and satisfied at the way the day had gone and was looking forward to the roast-meat that he would have for supper. It was all the more delicious since he didn’t have to pay for it – Miss Priscilla Lammeter had given it to him for the excellent linen he wove for her.He warmed himself before the fire, adjusted the hanger of the meat a little lower and waited for the supper to be ready. But, since that was taking long, he decided to look over his gold as he waited. So, he got up to go and get it from its hiding place.
Question 3:Why did Silas think Jem Rodney to be the thief?Answer:Silas thought of Jem Rodney as the thief because the latter was known for poaching – he would trespass a private property whenever he wanted. Apart from that, he had a bad reputation. He had also met Silas many times “in his journeys across the fields, and had said something jestingly about the weaver’s money.” At one time, he had succeeded in irritating Silas “by lingering at the fire when he called to light his pipe, instead of going about his business.” All these things made Silas believe that his thief was Jem Rodney.
Question 4:Once convinced about the robbery, what did Silas do? Why?Answer:Silas just wanted his gold back. He didn’t want Jem Rodney, or anyone else, to be punished. He set out for the Rainbow to report the robbery. Somewhere in his heart he was convinced that by appealing to the powerful people of Raveloe he would succeed in finding his gold.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 4:How did Silas feel before and after the discovery of the robbery in his house? Describe in your own words.Answer:Silas was in good humour that day. He had delivered a fine piece of linen to Miss Priscilla Lammeter earlier in the day and was rewarded with a piece of good meat. He returned home, lit his fire and hung the meat on the hanger for cooking it. He recalled after some time that “a piece of very fine twine was indispensable to his ‘setting up’ a new piece of work in his loom early in the morning.” Since he didn’t wish to waste his time in the morning, he thought of running the errand right away. He returned home as a satisfied man, eagerly looking forward to his delicious supper. As he waited for it to be ready, he decided to look upon his gold. So, he went to get the bags out of their hiding place. But they were not there.The happy and satisfied man changed at this point. Panic-stricken and horrified, he began to look for his bags of gold all over the place. He could not believe that they were not there anymore. “He shook so violently that he let fall the candle, and lifted his hands to his head, trying to steady himself.” He uttered a “wild ringing scream” giving vent to his frustration and disbelief and turned to work at his loom as if to derive some solace.The happy man was devastated in such a cruel manner one more time in his life.
Chapter-6
The common people of Raveloe had gathered at the Rainbow; the rich and the powerful were enjoying themselves at Mrs. Osgood’s birthday party. Mr. Snell, the landlord, was good at starting conversations. Soon the men gathered at the Rainbow were having a lively discussion about a cow, which had been chopped up by the butcher the day before. This led to a talk about its owner, Mr. Lammeter, and the conversation was diverted to the Lammeter family.The chapter introduces a host of characters, namely Mr. Snell, Mr. Macey, the farrier, the butcher and many others.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:How do you see the public gathering at the Rainbow? Describe the scene.Answer:The people have gathered at the Rainbow on a cold, misty night. They are warming ; themselves in the warmth of the fire and drinks. They are talking about what has happened in the town in the recent times, as also what happened a long while ago. They are talking, joking, poking fun at each other. One gets the impression that people know each other’s temperament and the respective social positions and, to a certain extent, understand each other, too. This public gathering is a community in itself that gives a sense of identity to the people in it.
Question 2:Describe some of the major participants in the conversation at the Rainbow and their role in it.Answer:Mr. Snell is the landlord and the one to start conversations. He mentions the butcher chopping up a cow the other day. This leads to the butcher describing the cow; Mr. Dowlas, the farrier takes the cue and asks some relevant questions about the animal, then triumphantly tells that it belonged to Mr. Lammeter. Mr. Tookey, the deputy-clerk at the parish, is chided by Mr. Winthrop for his awful singing. Mr. Snell asks Mr. Macey to tell how and when Mr. Lammeter came to Raveloe and what happened after. Mr. Macey embarks on a long story and is suitably interrupted with customary questions. At the end of the chapter, all are participating in an animated discussion about ghosts.
Question 3:Mr. Macey was asked to tell the story of Mr. Lammeter. Write it in your own words.Answer:Mr. Snell, the landlord, asks Mr. Macey to talk about when did Mr. Lammeter come to Raveloe and what happened. The latter begins his tale thus – the elder Mr. Lammeter “came from a bit north’ard” and brought with him “a fine breed o’ sheep.” He had sold his land back home and rented land at Warrens. The land belonged to a “a Lunnon tailor” whose son died young and the tailor became mad, leaving his property to charity. Mr. Lammeter’s son “soon begun to court Miss Osgood, that’s the sister o’ the Mr. Osgood as now is…” Mr. Macey, as a parish clerk, helped to marry them. He was the only one to notice that the rector reversed the wedding vows – “Wilt thou have this man to thy wedded wife?” and, “Wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded husband?” He was worried about the invalidation of the ceremony, but later thought that “it isn’t the meanin’, it’s the glue.” Even the rector told him that “it’s neither the meaning nor the words – it’s the regester does it—that’s the glue.”
Question 4:Do you think the gathering at the Rainbow is like your neighbourhood community? How can you say?Answer:Yes, I think every neighbourhood community has something in common with this gathering at the Rainbow. The people know each other and the respective social positions. They are respectful or disrespectful according to the status in the society. They get together, eat, drink and be merry. Just like the discussions at the Rainbow, people talk about others, their lives and things. They joke and poke fun at some while some get offended, some laugh it off. To sum it up, the gathering at the Rainbow is a typical example of public gatherings in the modern times.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:Write the character sketch of Mr. Macey.Answer:Mr. Macey is a tailor by profession. But, he also works in the capacity of the parish clerk of Raveloe. He is introduced as an ageing person, with a white head, who is suffering from rheumatism. He has “an air of complacency, slightly seasoned with criticism”. He is biased and smug and does not miss a chance to be “satisfied with this attack on youthful presumption.” However, he is also a well-meaning person.He can be termed the historical memory of the town since he remembers everything. He can recall the smallest details of the life of the Lammeters ever since they shifted to Raveloe from “from a bit north’ard”; the story behind the Charity Land at Warrens and many more incidents.
Question 2:What kind of a person is Mr. Dowlas, the farrier? Describe.Answer:I think Mr. Dowlas is a person who is too full of himself. He cannot accept anyone’s words or ideas if they are contrary to his. He is the blacksmith of the town. He shoes the horses and generally tends to livestock diseases. When the butcher talks about the cow he killed, Mr. Dowlas feels his duty to give all the information about the animal and how he knew it. He does not believe in ghosts and is willing to “wager any man ten pound, if he’ll stand out wi’ me any dry night in the pasture before the Warren stables, as we shall neither see lights nor hear noises, if it isn’t the blowing of our own noses.”
Chapter-7
Silas entered the Rainbow and told the people gathered there about the robbery at his house. This was the first time some of those gathered had seen Silas in a public place and they remained sceptic about his story. Others, however, felt quite sorry for him and offered to help in any way they can.The author indicates at a positive change in Silas as he began to grow socially in this chapter. Thanks to his need to denounce the robbery and recover his gold he was forced to communicate with the people of Raveloe. They, in their turn, warmed up to the solitary weaver, comforted him and promised help in the matter.They reflected upon the situation as a group and decided to appoint someone as a deputy- constable in the place of the sick constable. After a heated argument as to who will become the deputy-clerk, it was decided that Mr. Snell and Mr. Dowlas would go with Silas to investigate the crime.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:What do you think the author means by the following phrase – “The slight suspicion with which his hearers at first listened to him, gradually melted away before the convincing simplicity of his distress”.Answer:I think the author wanted to highlight how the people used to suspect Silas in the past. This suspicion was mainly due to the fact that he never socialised with others; that he cured Sally Oates but refused to do so for others; that he used to shout angrily at the children. Keeping this in view, when he appeared before the others, the people felt an instinctive suspicion towards him. However, the earnestness and the simplicity with which he told about his misfortune soon dispelled that suspicion. People began to sympathise with him and thought of helping him.
Question 2:Why do you think Silas apologise to Jem for accusing him of the theft?Answer:According to me, Mr. Macey’s words “Let’s have no accusing o’ the innicent” were of great importance here. “Memory was not so utterly torpid in Silas that it could not be awakened by these words.” He must have remembered the time when he was falsely accused while in Lantern Yard. Having already experienced the trauma of an accusation, he probably realised his own folly. After all, he had no proof or witness that Jem had been to his house in his absence. Neither did he have any evidence of the latter having the gold bags in his possession. He admitted that he thought of Jem as the possible thief because only he had “been into my house oftener than anybody else.”
Question 3:Why did the farrier propose the appointment of a deputy-constable? What did he really want?Answer:The farrier proposed to appoint a deputy-constable because Mr. Kench, the constable, was indisposed and in bed. In his absence a deputy had to be appointed “for that’s the law.” He really wanted to be the deputy-constable in order to satisfy his own sense of importance. He says as much – “and then, if it’s me as is deppity, I’ll go back with you, Master Marner, and examine your premises.” He goes on to challenge others by saying, “and if anybody’s got any fault to find with that, I’ll thank him to stand up and say it out like a man.”
Question 4:Why did Mr. Macey object to the farrier becoming the deputy-constable? What effect did his objection have on the farrier?Answer:Mr. Macey claimed that he knew the law, hence no doctor could become a constable. The farrier starts a “hot debate” upon this. He didn’t wish to “renounce the quality of doctor”, so he contended that “a doctor could be a constable if he liked.” However, Mr. Macey disagreed with the farriers views “since the law was not likely to be fonder of doctors than of other folks.” He further wished to know that “if it was in the nature of doctors more than of other men not to like being constables, how came Mr. Dowlas to be so eager to act in that capacity?” The farrier got on the defensive and expressed his desire to withdraw his name “if there’s to be any jealousy and envying about going to Kench’s in the rain, let them go as like it — you won’t get me to go, I can tell you.”
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:Do you think the new experience of communicating with people had any effect on Silas? Explain.Answer:Yes, this new experience must have had a deep effect on Silas. In his desperation to recover his stolen gold, he opened up to the people of Raveloe for the first time. It was a “novel situation… sitting in the warmth of a hearth not his own.” Even the sympathetic listeners must have warmed his heart. This must have influenced Silas without him being aware of it. This desperate communication and his cry for help opened a new door for Silas in his life to come. It also gave an opportunity for the people to know him better. The author explains this effect very beautifully – “Our consciousness rarely registers the beginning of a growth within us any more than without us.”
Chapter-8
Godfrey returned from the party in high spirits. He did not see his brother, but that did not upset him. The next morning, the entire town of Raveloe was seen involved with the robbery at Silas’ house. Everyone was either talking about it or doing something to find the truth. Squire Cass, Mr. Crackenthorp, even Godfrey himself were equally busy with the robbery. Mr. Snell discovered a tinderbox not very far from Silas’ cottage and the needle of suspicion shifted to a pedlar who was seen in the neighbourhood some days ago.Godfrey began to lose his peace of mind at his brother’s continued absence. Unable to wait any more, he began riding towards Batherley. He feared that Dunstan had sold off his horse and fled with the money. He met Bryce on the way who updated him with the news of Wildfire’s death.Godfrey now found himself in a difficult situation and decided to confess everything to this father next morning. He convinced himself that that was the best thing to do. However, he couldn’t muster up enough courage to speak to his father and decided to let the situation remain the way it was.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:What does the author mean by the following sentence – “A small minority shook their heads, and intimated their opinion… that Master Mainer’s tale had a queer look with it, and that such things had been known as a man’s doing himself a mischief, and then setting the justice to look for the doer”? What does it tell you about the mentality of these people?Answer:The author wants to say that some people did not believe that this misfortune had happened with Silas. They didn’t find his story convincing. They were of the opinion that Silas had deliberately kept away the money and now was crying foul play. He had knowingly put the wheels of justice in motion.These people did not stop to think about a possible motive for doing this. Neither could they give any convincing arguments to sustain their opinion. They merely said “everybody had a right to their own opinions, grounds or no grounds.” This shows that they were people of a very narrow thinking and did not hesitate in doubting the veracity of another person.
Question 2:How did the suspicion fall upon the pedlar? What were people saying about him?Answer:Mr. Snell happened to discover a tinderbox in a ditch. This object belonged to a pedlar who had come to the town in the recent past. He had gone from house to house to sell his goods. In this way, he had an ample opportunity to assess the different households he went to.People had different ideas about the pedlar. Mr. Snell, who had discovered the tinderbox in the first place, said “He had a ‘look with his eye.’” Godfrey Cass said he thought the pedlar was “a merry grinning fellow enough; it was all nonsense… about the man’s evil looks.” When Mr. Crackenthorp inquired if he wore earrings, Mr. Snell denied remembering this. However, other people came up with their recollections – the glazier’s wife declared that she had seen him wear “big earrings, in the shape of the young moon”; the cobbler’s daughter, Jinny Oates, said that his earrings “made her blood creep.”
Question 3:Was Godfrey successful in confessing everything to his father? Why do you think he did this?Answer:As he went to sleep that night, Godfrey had resolved to come clean with his father and tell him everything. However, when he woke up the next morning, his resolve had weakened. His thoughts of the previous evening vanished and “he could now feel the presence of nothing but its evil consequences.” Once again he succumbed to the fear of being found out and with that came the “thought of raising a hopeless barrier between himself and Nancy.” Hence, he decided not to say anything and “keep things as nearly as possible in their old condition.”
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:On the basis of the information given in the chapter, describe the character of the pedlar.Answer:The pedlar is seen as a “merry grinning fellow” by some and as an unpleasant person by someone else. It is not what he says, but the way in which he says it seems to be the contention.He has “a swarthy foreignness of complexion which boded little honesty.” He goes from house to house selling his goods. When Mr. Crackenthorp inquires if he was wearing earrings everyone in the village “immediately had an image of him with earrings, larger or smaller, as the case might be.” The glazier’s wife swears that he wore “big earrings, in the shape of the young moon” and Jinny Oates “stated not only that she had seen them too, but that they had made her blood creep.”Apart from the above description, there is no information about the pedlar.
Question 2:Describe what went in Godfrey’s mind when Dunstan didn’t turn up by the evening.Answer:He is very perturbed at his brother’s absence and is afraid about the money. How can he tell his father that he had given the money to Dunstan in exchange for his silence? At first, he thinks that he will tell his father that he spent the money and keep Dunstan out of it.He repeated “that if he let slip this one opportunity of confession, he might never have another” to himself over and over again. He also reminded himself that “the revelation might be made even in a more odious way than by Dunstan’s malignity.” So, talking to his father was the best solution. And hence, as he went to sleep that night, Godfrey resolved to come clean with his father and tell him everything. He considered that the best way out of the situation. He imagined his father would get angry and irritated and might decide something against him. But, in time, he would come around and would hush all up for the sake of his pride.
Chapter-9
The chapter begins with a detailed description of Squire Cass. He was very proud of his family lineage and was deeply concerned about its integrity. Godfrey found him having his breakfast when he went to tell him about Wildfire. The Squire informed him that he was sending Winthrop to Fowler for the money. At this Godfrey admitted to having taken the money from the latter. He had however given it to Dunstan. The Squire became angry at this and demanded to see his younger son to find out what he needed the money for. On being told that he hadn’t returned, the Squire asks Godfrey to tell him not to come back.Godfrey assured him that he would pay off the debt but the Squire began enquiring about his intentions of marrying Nancy Lammeter. He wanted to know if his son had proposed to her still and offered to talk to her father. Godfrey requested him to let the things be and that he would do the required thing himself.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:What do you understand about the society of the time from the following statement – “Fleet, the deer-hound, had consumed enough bits of beef to make a poor man’s holiday dinner”?Answer:The Squire had a dog named Fleet. While the man waited for his ale, he fed beef to the dog. By the time the ale arrived, Fleet had already finished a meal.I think the author wishes to describe the social divide between the rich and the poor of the time. While the rich had more than their needs and afford to feed their pets with delicacies, the same delicacies were festive meal for the poor. It seems that every day the dog eats what a poor man may eat on a special occasion. The rich were really rich, and the poor, really poor.
Question 2:Why was the Squire “purple with anger”? What did he say?Answer:The Squire is furious because he feels his money has been squandered by his sons. He is angry at the knowledge that Godfrey has conspired with Dunstan to “embezzle” his money. He never had any doubts about Dunstan. But, he asks Godfrey, “Are you turning out a scamp?” He threatens to throw his sons out of the house, without any part in the property. He demands to know why Godfrey let Dunsey have ‘his’ money. He suspects that Godfrey has been “up to some trick, and you’ve been bribing him not to tell”. He expresses his wish to see Dunstan immediately in order to find out for what did he need the money, but he is told that the latter has not been seen around since the night before. He declares that he will no longer fund their “going-on” and “fooleries” and that he will “pull up”.
Question 3:Do you think Godfrey is thankful that the conversation shifted to Miss Nancy Lammeter?Answer:In a way, yes. Godfrey doesn’t lie. Therefore, “not being sufficiently aware that no sort of duplicity can long flourish without the help of vocal falsehoods,” he finds it difficult to lie. He is very uncomfortable when the Squire comes dangerously close to the truth -“You’ve been up to some trick”. Presently, the Squire changes the topic and begins enquiring about Godfrey’s thoughts about Nancy, taking the focus away from the matter on hand. However, this diversion is also not welcome since the Squire offers to talk to Mr. Lammeter about a possible alliance.
Question 4:What reason does Godfrey give for not having proposed to Nancy yet?Answer:Godfrey says he can’t talk to Nancy yet because he has no place to offer her as home. He tells his father, ‘You wouldn’t like to settle me on one of the farms, I suppose.” Further, that she has been used to living a different sort of life and it would be very difficult for her to adjust in the Red House with all the brothers around.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:Describe the character of Squire Cass.Answer:Squire Cass is “a tall, stout man of sixty, with a face in which the knit brow and rather hard glance.” There are signs of habitual neglect about him and he is untidily dressed. However, he has “self-possession and authoritativeness of voice and carriage” that distinguishes him from ordinary people. He speaks in a “ponderous coughing fashion” and lives an idle life, much like his sons. He has a very sharp tongue and he doesn’t mince his words. He is also bad-tempered and given to anger every now and then. He banishes Dunstan by saying “Let him turn ostler, and keep himself. He shan’t hang on me any more.”He is also seen as a bully when he pushes Godfrey in talking to Nancy Lammeter about the marriage. All in all, Squire Cass does not stand out as a sympathetic and compassionate person.
Question 2:Write about the author’s idea of chance in your own words.Answer:Favourable chance is of utmost importance to those who do not depend on their own abilities. Man, when in a difficult situation, relies upon it to find the best way out of that : situation.All he has to do is live beyond his means, or decline honest work, and he will begin hoping for a benefactor to end his woes. After neglecting his responsibilities he will hope that what he neglected to do was not important. Were he to betray a friend, he will hope that the betrayal never comes to light. Should he refuse a decent craft that would give him credibility, Chance would become his God and its worship his religion. Such a religion is against the adage “As you sow, so shall you reap”.
Chapter-10
No progress had been made regarding the robbery. The tinderbox, though seemingly important, ceased to be a topic of conversation. People didn’t seem overly worried about Dunstan.Silas had become a more confused man and felt even more desolate. He spent a good part of his day bent over in a chair, with his hands holding his head. The loom was there, the work was happening but there was no prospect in his life – so he felt. His neighbours began to be less suspicious of him but considered him crazier than ever.He ignored the idea of going to church in spite of Mr. Macey’s and Dolly Winthrop’s coaxing. He still didn’t believe in religion. And so, he found himself all alone on the Christmas day.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:What change can you see in the townspeople towards Silas? How can you say?Answer:Change is an important theme in Silas Marner. The reader is introduced to a changing Silas in the very first chapter itself. When he comes to Raveloe fifteen years back, people form an opinion about him. Since he lives a life of a recluse and doesn’t meet anybody, people do not get to know him. Hence, they come to distrust and look at him with suspicion.But, the robbery in his house changes people’s attitude towards him. They are no longer distrustful even though they begin to consider him crazy! However, they, especially the housewives, worry about his well-being.Mr. Crackenthorp takes a present for him when he goes to visit him at his cottage. Dolly Winthrop comes to meet with her son in tow. She offers to help him with the household work; she also urges him to begin going to church on Sundays. Mr. Macey also pays him a visit with much the same intentions.On the whole, Silas is no longer a person to be scared of or to be distrusted.
Question 2:What is the meaning of the following sentence – “but language is a stream that is almost sure to smack of a mingled soil”? How is it relevant to chapter-10?Answer:What the author means by this sentence is that while we can keep material gifts untouched by our prejudices and bias, we cannot do the same with the words we speak. No matter how good our intentions are, no matter how well-meaning we are, our thoughts always sneak into what we say to others.This is relevant to this chapter. In that people come to sympathise with Silas. They believe they are saying comforting things but it does not come out like that. For example, one evening Mr. Macey comes to Silas and says “Come, Master Marner, why, you’ve no call to sit a-moaning. You’re a deal better off to ha’ lost your money.” His real intention is to get Silas out of his miserable thoughts. However, he comes out as a singularly insensitive person who tells a man that he’s better off without his money than with it.
Question 3:Describe the church-going habits of the people of Raveloe.Answer:The people of Raveloe are not very regular in going to the church. They believe that going to church “every Sunday in the calendar would have shown a greedy desire to stand well with Heaven.” This will get them “an undue advantage over their neighbours.” Hence, they would go there only occasionally.All the people who were not household servants, or young men, are required to take the sacrament on the day of an important festival. The people were “good livers” went to the church more frequently stop.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:What kind of a woman is Dolly Winthrop in your opinion? Describe briefly.Answer:Dolly Winthrop is the wheelwright’s wife. She is “a woman of scrupulous conscience” and is eager to fulfil her duties. She has a mellow and patient character and is not at all quarrelsome. She is the right person to contact in case of illness or death in a family, “when leeches were to be applied, or there was a sudden disappointment in a monthly nurse.” She is a good-looking woman with a fresh-complexion. Her “lips always slightly screwed, as if she felt herself in a sick-room with the doctor or the clergyman present.” She does not whine or cry. She is just “grave and inclined to shake her head and sigh, almost imperceptibly, like a funereal mourner who is not a relation.”
Question 2:Why is Dolly Winthrop worried about Silas?Answer:Dolly Winthrop is worried about Silas because she sees him “in the light of a sufferer.” , Therefore it becomes her duty to comfort him, help him in his hour of need and to steer “him towards the faith. She takes lard-cakes, with I.H.S written on them, for Silas in the hope that “they’ll bring good to you, Master Marner, for it’s wi’ that will I brought you the cakes.” Silas is able to understand the “desire to give comfort that made itself heard in her quiet tones.” She takes it upon herself to get Silas to the church and to guide him i towards the faith. In this sense, she becomes his guide and mentor… and what mentorwould not be worried about the person he is mentoring!
Chapter-11
The chapter began with a description of Nancy Lammeter. She was beautiful and had a very prim character. She was unhappy that Godfrey was leading her on. Not knowing about his secret marriage, his behaviour confused her.The chapter is dedicated to the merrymaking at the New Year’s party at the Red House. There are descriptions of ladies dressing up for the party, the gossips they exchange with each other. Dance follows the dinner and Godfrey dances with Nancy.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:What was Nancy thinking as she rode to the Red House?Answer:She thought about how she had made it clear to Godfrey that she would not marry him because of his “bad life”. But he was still paying her marked attention. However, he didn’t pay her attention always hence was not sincere. At times he behaved “as if he didn’t want to speak to her” and took no notice of her for weeks together. Above all, she thought he didn’t really love her because he allowed people “to say of him which they did say.” He ought to know that “she had been used to see in her own father, who was the soberest and best man in that countryside.”
Question 2:Why did Nancy wish that she and Priscilla dress alike?Answer:Nancy wished that she and Priscilla should dress alike because they were sisters for “who shouldn’t dress alike if it isn’t sisters?” She thought that it was not right to go about dressed differently “looking as if we were no kin to one another.” She felt this necessity because they didn’t have a mother and had only each other. And for that, she was willing to dress as Priscilla pleased to wear. Strangely enough, Priscilla preferred to dress the same as Nancy.
Question 3:What did Ben Winthrop think about Godfrey and Nancy?Answer:Ben Winthrop was happy to see Nancy partner with the young Squire. He had high regard for Nancy and thought nobody could be as pretty as her. He thought she looked very good with Godfrey and wouldn’t be surprised if she became Madam Cass one day. He was of the opinion that no one else could be a better Madam Cass. Apart from that, the two made a fine couple. He was sure there was nothing wrong with Godfrey.
Question 4:What were Nancy and Godfrey talking about after the dance?Answer:Godfrey was feeling at the top of the world after a dance with Nancy. “He got rather bold on the strength of her confusion” and led her straight to the card-tables. She apologised for bringing him out of the dance, but he replied in an indifferent tone. She apologised once again to which he replied that she was being ill-natured to be sorry for dancing with him. Nancy defended herself by saying “one dance can matter but very little.” Godfrey assured her that that is not true and that a dance with her mattered a lot. She was taken aback and expressed her desire not to hear about it. At this Godfrey demanded to know if she would ever forgive him, would she never think well of him. He suggested that he could turn a good fellow and give up everything she didn’t like. Nancy conceded that she “should be glad to see a good change in anybody”; however it was more desirable “if no change was wanted.” He accused her of not having any feelings and she countered with “I think those have the least feeling that act wrong to begin with.”
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:Describe the persona of Nancy Lammeter.Answer:Nancy is a good country girl with a good and sound upbringing. She is very pretty and delicate. However, she does the household chores of “butter-making” and “cheese¬crushing” and is not ashamed about it. She does not have a refined speech like the city girls, but it does not bother her. She has an “unalterable little code” by which she lives and which governs her very approach to life. However, she doesn’t seem honest with herself. This is evident when she thinks about Godfrey and admits hurt when he doesn’t pay her attention. She is‘not willing to marry him because he lives a “bad life” which is not up to her expectations and her expectations, from herself and from others, are very high.
Question 2:Write a character sketch of Priscilla Lammeter.Answer:Priscilla is Nancy’s older sister. She is described as a hard working, “cheerful-looking” and “blowsy” woman. But her ways are considered rough by some. She “bustles” her way about everywhere and is ready with solutions to problems. She knows that she is not pretty like her sister, but is very upbeat about it doesn’t care a bit. She has three goals in her life – to spread happiness and make the people around her happy, to see Nancy married and to make a home for her father. She is not ashamed of being a spinster – “I shall do credit to a single life, for God A’mighty meant me for it.”
Chapter-12
It was the New Year’s Eve. Godfrey was happy in Nancy’s company. Unknown to him, his wife, Molly, was on her way to Raveloe with her child. She had planned to fling a surprise at the Cass family. This was a “premeditated act of vengeance which she had kept in her heart ever since Godfrey, in a fit of passion, had told her he would sooner die than acknowledge her as his wife.”She walked all the way to Raveloe in the bitter cold. Overcome with exhaustion, she took a sip of alcohol and lay down to rest on the snow bank. The sleeping child woke up and crawled out of her arms and entered Silas’ house through the open door. Once there, the child settled in front of the warm fire and slept.Silas had had one of his fits and was unaware of the child entering his house. When he came around he found her sleeping in front of the fire. Presently, the child opened her eyes and began to cry. Silas warmed up some porridge and fed her tenderly. Then, he went out to see where the child had come from and stumbles upon the frozen body of the mother.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:What was the gold that lay in front of the fire? How did Silas behave after seeing it?Answer:When Silas recovered from the fit, he turned towards his hearth. The light from the fire grown dim. He sat on his fireside chair and was about to push the logs in the fire when his blurred vision saw something golden on the floor. He thought his gold had been returned to him. He stretched his hand to touch it, but “his fingers encountered soft warm curls.” Astonished, Silas bent over to inspect the golden object and discovered a sleeping child. Thinking he was dreaming, he pushed the logs together and threw some dried leaves and sticks to raise a flame. He saw the child in shabby clothes more clearly now.
Question 2:Describe Silas’ thoughts after finding the child.Answer:Silas thought his little sister had come back to him. This child was quite like her. He was so shaken with this thought that he sank into his chair as memories from the past came rushing forward. He began to feel “old quiverings of tenderness” at the sleeping child. He was amazed at her mysterious appearance. He could not find a normal, natural explanation for this sudden presence. He just had “old impressions of awe at the presentiment of some Power presiding over his fife.”When the child woke up and began crying for the mother, Silas held her close to him and “unconsciously uttered sounds of hushing tenderness”. He thought the child would be hungry so he heated.jap his porridge and fed her.
Question 3:What made Silas go out of his cottage to look for something? What did he discover?Answer:The incessant crying of the child made Silas realise that her “wet boots were the grievance, pressing on her warm ankles.” As he took them off, it occurred to him that the child had been walking on the snow and that, perhaps, the mother was nearby. Without hesitating further, he got up and went out with the child in his arms. Soon as he opened it, the child uttered “Mammy!” and tried to extricate herself from his arms. Silas looked carefully and realised that “there was something more than the bush before him.” It was a human body, “head sunk low in the furze,” covered with snow.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:Describe Molly and her last hours.Answer:Molly is Godfrey’s wife and has a child with him. Once a pretty woman, she is now ; wasted, thanks to opium and alcohol. She is seen heading towards Raveloe with her baby in her arms. Her sole intent is to revenge herself by telling the Squire that she is the wife of his first-born. However, she is also under the influence of her ‘demon’, namely opium. It is a cold day so she takes a sip of the ‘familiar demon’ (alcohol, I think) to warm herself. But, the demon begins “working his will” and she longs to lie down and sleep. She does not feel the coldness below her, neither is she bothered that the child might wake up and cry for her. Soon she is overtaken with complete lethargy and her arms loosen their hold on the child.
Question 2:Describe the actions of the child when she woke up in her mother’s arms.Answer:From the moment Molly’s hold relaxes, the child wakes up and calls for her mother. She rolls down to the mother’s knees. She catches a glimpse of a bright light. Like any child, she walks on all-fours to catch it. She looks up to see where it is coming from and she stands up and toddles towards its source. She enters Silas’ cottage, settles down on the old sack and falls asleep. She wakes up shortly afterwards and begins to cry, perhaps because she is hungry. After being fed, she is quiet for a while then begins to cry again. As Silas removes her shoes, he realises that she has been out walking in the snow. He picks her up and goes out. As soon as he opened it, the child cried “Mammy!” again and again “stretching itself forward so as almost to escape from Silas’ arms.”
Chapter-13
Silas took the child in his arms and marched to the Red House in search of a doctor. He feared that the mother of the child is dead. He told everyone how he found the baby on his hearth and how he discovered the mother’s frozen body outside the cottage. Godfrey saw him first and was astonished to see his child with the weaver. Upon listening to his words, he realised that this woman was Molly, his wife. There was some suggestion that Silas should leave the child with the women who did not go down well with him. He realised that he had become attached to the baby in such a short time. He said “I can’t part with it, I can’t let it go.”The search party accompanied Silas and the child back to his cottage. The doctor pronounced the woman dead after examining her. Godfrey, who had accompanied the search party, went to see the woman to ensure that she was his wife. He returned happily in the knowledge that now he could propose to Nancy. What is more? He wouldn’t have to father his daughter as Silas had made it absolutely clear that he would keep her with him. Godfrey promised to himself that he would ensure she was taken care of.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:Is Silas’ arrival at a public gathering a recurring event? How can you say?Answer:There is a party on at the Red House. The rich are-making merry, and the poor are enjoying by watching the rich. There is a lot of activity on the floor. In the midst of this, Silas enters the room. He is carrying with himself the little child of the frozen woman. This is the second time that something happens in Silas’ house and he comes running to a public gathering and asks for help. And, once again people organise a search party and get out to help him, much like the way they had done when he had come to report the theft of his money.In this sense, the arrival of Silas at a public gathering is a recurring event.
Question 2:When Godfrey recognised the dead woman, why didn’t he say so?Answer:The sight of a dead Molly gives Godfrey a sense of relief. He now feels free of the bondage; at liberty to do his heart’s desire – marry Nancy. If he had publicly recognised Molly he would have had to give a justification of how he knew her. The secret of his marriage, and the fact that he had a child with her, would have come out and his chances with Nancy would have been ruined forever. Keeping all these considerations in mind, he does not say a word. He goes on to say “I see it’s not the same woman I saw.”
Question 3:Why does Godfrey think that he “would be much happier without owning the child”?Answer:Godfrey, at this point, is free to marry anyone he chooses, and he has chosen Nancy. If he owns the child as his, his lies will come out in the open. People will get to know about his secret marriage and how terribly he behaved with his lawfully wedded wife. He does feel a sense of responsibility towards the child. He also feels a “a strange mixture of feelings, a conflict of regret and joy, that the pulse of that little heart had no response for the half-jealous yearning in his own, when the blue eyes turned away from him slowly, and fixed themselves on the weaver’s queer face.”Notwithstanding all this, he thinks that, at this point in his life, he doesn’t need a child.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:Write about Godfrey’s thoughts when he saw Silas with his child at the Red House.Answer:The appearance of Silas with the child in his arms startles Godfrey. Perhaps he was the first person who spots the weaver. He thinks if it “was an apparition from that hidden life which lies, like a dark by-street.” He immediately recognises the child as his own but is ready to doubt himself for “he had not seen the child for months past.” He hopes that he has made a mistake and that Silas and the child are but apparitions. He goes near him just as Mr. Crackenthorp and Mr. Lammeter come closer. He wants to hear everything that is being said. He is trying to take a hold on himself because he knows that, should people watch him intensely, “they must see that he was white-lipped and trembling.”
Question 2:Describe the change that you see in Silas in this chapter.Answer:Before entering the Red House, Silas is unaware of any emotions for the child. But, when Ms. Kimble suggests that he leave her with them, Silas reacts abruptly – “I can’t part with it, I can’t let it go… It’s come to me — I’ve a right to keep it.” It is at this point that he actually contemplates taking the child back home with him. His words come to him as a revelation. When Godfrey suggests that he will take the child to the parish next day, he says “Till anybody shows they’ve a right to take her away from me. The mother’s dead, and I reckon it’s got no father: it’s a lone thing — and I’m a lone thing.” This chapter marks the beginning of a new phase in Silas’ life when he is seen getting out from his reclusion and reaching out to others.
Chapter-14
Silas began a new life with the child. Some found it odd to see a tramp raise a little child but nobody prevented him from doing so. Dolly Winthrop became a willing assistant to Silas for the upbringing of the child and eventually became her godmother. She convinced Silas for the christening of the child. It was done and the child got a name – Eppie.Silas had found another obsession after his gold – Eppie and her welfare. She, in turn, just adored him and warmed ” him into joy because she had joy.” He also began to attend the church in Raveloe, a thing that he hadn’t done since Lantern Yard.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:What is a “pauper’s burial”?Answer:“Pauper’s burial” is a funeral that is paid for by public funds since the dead person has left no money behind for the same intent. In that case, such a funeral must consist of basic prayers and funereal ceremonies. The casket must be of plain wood as would everything else that goes with funerals.
Question 2:What does Dolly have to say about christening the child? Why is it important?Answer:We know that Dolly is a very devout churchgoer. For her simple mind, christening of a child is very important because it is a very important religious ritual. It allows entry into the church and all that it stands for. Moreover, christening the baby is “the right thing by the orphan child.” Dolly believes that the baby hadn’t been christened before so it becomes that much more important to do so now. Because only christening could save a person from harm should he “went anyways wrong.” Parents must do their duty by completing this ceremony.
Question 3:Why does Silas agree for the christening when he himself had lost his faith?Answer:To begin with, Silas doesn’t know what christening is. He recalls that baptism used to be done in Lantern Yard but has no clue about this term. He wants to know from Dolly that without being christened “Won’t folks be good to her without it?”He accepts that his faith is different from that of the people in Rpveloe. However, he is willing to do “everything as can be done for the child. And whatever’s right for it i’ this country, and you think ‘ull do it good.” He loves the child so much that only the best is good enough for it.
Question 4:Explain the sentence “As the child’s mind was growing into knowledge, his mind was growing into memory” in the light of chapter-14.Answer:We see Eppie growing every day in this chapter. She is learning new things and experimenting with new things. But, another person is growing with her, and that is her father, Silas – who is beginning to remember long forgotten things. While walking in the fields and along the bank, they hear bird notes, they see the nature, the plants and the trees. Instinctively Silas begins to look for “the once familiar herbs”. He turns away from these recollections to take refuge in Eppie’s little world.As her life unfolds itself, Silas’ soul seems to be coming out from “a cold narrow prison” where it lay “long stupefied”. It was waking up slowly to become completely awake.A good part of this chapter is dedicated to growing up, both physically and internally.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:How does Eppie’s existence shape Silas’ life?Answer:From the first day itself, Silas begins to reorganise his daily life according to the child’s demands and necessities. He does everything for her because he wants her to be attached to him and him alone. The growing Eppie begins to speak more distinctly, and Silas’ “heart grew articulate, and called for more distinct answers.” She becomes mischievous, and Silas learnt to be patient and being watchful. His life and reason for living resides in her and she knows that “with her short toddling steps, must lead father Silas a pretty dance on any fine morning when circumstances favoured mischief.”She gives many a tough moments to Silas but he would not exchange them for anything in the world. Eppie is his purpose in life.
Question 2:Hpw does Silas rear Eppie?Answer:Dolly suggests a punishment that Silas could give to Eppie so that she stays away from trouble. So, when the day she uses the scissors to cut off the string that is tied to, she wanders all by herself. Silas realises after sometime that she is not there. He calls her out, but she is nowhere to be found. He becomes frantic and rushes out to look for her… which he does after sometime. However, she is safe and sound and Silas thinks it is time to punish her; so, he sends her into the coal room. But, the girl likes this game and goes back again. Dolly’s suggestion doesn’t work.Since Silas is incapable of beating her, he raises her without punishments.
Chapter-15
Godfrey kept an eye on how Eppie was being brought up by the weaver. He would gift them small things without arousing suspicion. Dunstan was given up as gone forever; even the townspeople. didn’t seem to miss him. Godfrey could now breathe a sigh of relief and anticipate a life of bliss with Nancy and their future children. But, he resolves not to ignore Eppie and her well-being simply because “That was a father’s duty.”
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:Describe chapter-15 in your own words. Do you think it has any importance in the book? Give reasons for your answer.Answer:This is a brief and uneventful chapter. No action actually takes place. The author just states the situations the way they are.Godfrey is interested in the well-being of his daughter; Dunstan does not return and is not to be found anywhere. The former is relieved because now he can réalisé his dream of marrying Nancy and having a family with her.On the other hand, Eppie is growing happily with Silas. Godfrey is relieved that “The child was being taken care of, and would very likely be happy, as people in humble stations often were — happier, perhaps, than those brought up in luxury.” While he imagines himself playing with his (and Nancy’s) children, he resolves not to forget about Eppie and ensures that she is well-provided for.This chapter seems to be marking an end to a phase or a passage of time.
PART-IIChapter-16
The chapter commences with a sixteen year leap – the exact time that Eppie first came in Silas’ life. Life had changed for everyone. Godfrey did get to marry Nancy and they now lived in the Red House.Silas and Eppie walked out of the church and Aaron Winthrop approached them. He expressed his willingness to help them build their garden. Silas’ cottage had also changed considerably. There was more furniture, thanks to the Godfrey’s generosity. There were many pets, too. Silas had finally been able to come to terms with his past. He shared the story of life in Lantern Yard with Dolly.Later in the day, Eppie talked to him about the possibility of her marriage with Aaron. The old weaver realised that if she had fallen in love and it was time for her to marry. They agree to talk,to Dolly that afternoon.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:Describe how the various characters of the story have changed in the past sixteen years.Answer:Eppie is now a glowing young woman of 18. Silas is not more than 55 years old. Godfrey Cass is all but 40 and Nancy a bit younger than him. Needless to say, their countenance have also changed. Godfrey is “only fuller in flesh, and has only lost the indefinable look of youth… Nancy’s beauty has a heightened interest.” Silas’ large brown eyes seem to have a better vision. However, he still has a lean body and his “shoulders and white hair” make him look much older than his age. Eppie is the “freshest blossom of youth” – a pretty blond girl with curly hair that frame her dimpled face. Aaron has grown up to be a good looking young man, ever willing to help Silas in whatever he does for Eppie.
Question 2:Write about how Silas and Eppie plan their garden.Answer:Eppie wishes for a garden outside the cottage and she wants to put double daisies in it. Aaron volunteers to do the digging and Eppie and Silas “mark out the beds, and make holes and plant the roots.” She plans to grow rosemary, bergamot and thyme because of their perfume. She would like to grow some lavender, too. Aaron promises her to get it from the garden at the Red House.Then she decides to take the furze bush into the garden because her mother had died next to that bush. She plans to put it in a corner and snowdrops and crocuses would be put just against it. Silas suggests that they will have to think about the fencing otherwise donkeys will eat her plants. Eppie says “There’s lots o’ loose stones about, some of ’em not big, and we might lay ’em atop of one another, and make a wall.”
Question 3:Was the cottage in which Silas lived with his daughter still the same? Cite from the text in support of your answer.Answer:Silas’ cottage had undergone many changes. They had pet animals (dog, cat, kitten) in the house. The bed in the living room had been removed. Now there is decent furniture there, thanks to Godfrey Cass. “The oaken table and three-cornered oaken chair were hardly what was likely to be seen in so poor a cottage: they had come, with the beds and other things, from the Red House.” The place and the furniture were “all bright and clean enough to satisfy Dolly Winthrop’s eye.”The cottage has become a home and a hearth. And now, it will be even more beautiful with the addition of Eppie’s garden.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:Do you think confiding in Dolly Winthrop would have helped Silas come to terms with his past? How can you say?Answer:Dolly Winthrop is a nice person who is always willing to help. When Silas confines about his life in Lantern Yard and how he was disgraced, she lend a sympathetic ear. This revelation by Silas would have lightened his hear considerably. Dolly returns after a few days and talks about what she thought about “the drawing of the lots.” She tells him that he should have continued to trusting his fellows and not run away. That way he wouldn’t have to live alone for such a long time. Silas accepts this but also says “it ‘ud ha’ been hard to trusten then.”I feel that by talking to Dolly and discussing a matter that he shut away for such a long time gave Silas the release he was yearning for. It was really a coming to terms with his past, accepting for what it was and moving on.
Question 2:What does the author mean by “with reawakening sensibilities, memory also reawakened, he had begun to ponder over the elements of his old faith, and blend them with his new impressions, till he recovered a consciousness of unity between his past and present”? Give reasons for your answer.Answer:The author is describing the mental state of Silas. Talking to Dolly about the past reawakens many memories. Silas begins to reflect upon the faith he had and followed in Lantern Yard. Then he ponders about the faith here. Without knowing it, he has blended the two into one – his faith. And in doing so, he is able to align his past and his present. I imagine that after this there wouldn’t be any space left for bitterness, loneliness and distrust in Silas. He would ultimately find peace that had evaded him up to the time Eppie came in his life.
Chapter-17
The chapter describes the point of view of Nancy Cass. Even though everything was spic and span in the Red House, the Sundays were meant for filial pursuits. Nancy didn’t seem at peace with herself. She was happy and grateful to be Godfrey’s wife. However, the lack of a child ate up Godfrey from within. He had suggested adoption, but Nancy had refused it completely. It was Eppie that Godfrey had wanted to adopt, but Nancy did not agree on bringing up a child that wasn’t theirs.While Godfrey went for his Sunday afternoon pursuits, Nancy would sit down to read the Bible, but soon would give and slip into reflecting over her life.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:Why was starting a dairy a good idea according to Priscilla? What does Nancy have to say about it?Answer:Priscilla considers starting a dairy a good idea because it keeps the body and mind busy. He passes quickly and there is so much to do. There is so much happiness to be got from a dairy. Even when it is deep winter, some produce can be had from a dairy. Nancy agrees with this point of view but emphasises that “a dairy’s not so much to a man.” It could never fill the void in Godfrey and she can be happy only when he is happy.
Question 2:What does the author mean by saying “She had been forced to vex him by that one denial”? Explain.Answer:The author talks about the denial to adopt in this sentence. After having lost their only child, Godfrey and Nancy are desolate. They both feel the lack of a child, but Godfrey suffers more than his wife. He suggests adoption. He even tells the name of the child he has in mind – Eppie. But, Nancy is adamant and is completely against adoption. She believes that one cannot bring up someone else’s child; something goes wrong in the upbringing and the child turns out wrong. Godfrey tries to reason with her, but to no avail. She is also aware that her denial has caused him a lot of pain, but she feels that she has done the right thing..
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:What is Nancy’s mood in this chapter? How do you know?Answer:Nancy seems to be in despondent mood. Her father and sister have returned to the Warrens. Godfrey has gone on his Sunday afternoon pursuit. She is alone at home with ! the Bible. She begins to read it but soon her mind wanders off. She lives “the vacant moments by living inwardly, again and again, through all her remembered experience, especially through the fifteen years of her married time.” She always asks herself if she has done enough. She is deeply hurt with the fact that their childlessness weighs so heavily on her husband’s mind. She also questions herself on her denial of adoption. She loves her husband dearly but his yearning for children is something she cannot cope with. She is happy because she has a wonderful husband who loves her so much, but she is immensely sad deep within.
Question 2:Why is Godfrey convinced of being in the right?Answer:Godfrey is convinced of being in the right because he is her lawful father. He knows that were he to lay a claim on her, the law would be on his side and he would get Eppie’s custody. He has followed Eppie’s progress all along. The fact that she is happy where she is, and more importantly, is attached to Silas (as he is to her) is of no consequence to Godfrey. He is also convinced that Silas would agree to give up Eppie to him and “be glad that such good fortune should happen to her”. Godfrey is simply not capable of looking at things from any other point of view that is different from his.
Chapter-18
A shocked Godfrey told about Dunstans’ death to his wife. The Stone-pit had run dry and his skeleton was found wedged between two great stones. Along with him were his watch, seals, Godfrey’s gold whip and Silas’ money. Nancy sympathised with her husband in the light the fact that his kin had robbed the weaver. Godfrey also confessed about his first wife and the daughter – Eppie. Nancy was overwhelmed by the revelation and yet didn’t seem bitter about it. She chided her husband for not having told her earlier – for they could have gone and got the child home. She admitted that she would have willingly adopted Eppie as her own. She urges him to do his duty and acknowledge her as his daughter.They decide to go to visit Silas that night and take up the matter with him.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:Do you think Godfrey felt at peace with himself after confessing to his wife? How can you say?Answer:Yes, Godfrey must have felt a sense of peace and calm about him. He had been living with a dark secret in his Impart from a very long time. Dunstan had used his weakness to the full and had succeeded in blackmailing him. He had contemplated revealing it to his father, but had decided against it at the last moment because he was filled with the fear that Nancy would reject after knowing the truth.But, with Dunstan dead, there was no one to instil any fear in Godfrey. It must have been this feeling that made him come clean with his wife.
Question 2:Why didn’t he confide in his wife before? What did he fear?Answer:His first and foremost fear was not being able to marry Nancy. For he was sure that if she came to know about his marriage before, she wouldn’t have married him. He says as much – “You may think you would now, but you wouldn’t then. With your pride and your father’s, you’d have hated having anything to do with me after the talk there’d have been.”The second reason, in my opinion, would have been the fact that she could have been less charitable with Eppie because they had lost their child in infancy.
Question 3:What do you think the author wants to say with the following sentence – “He had not measured this wife with whom he had lived so long”?Answer:The author describes Godfrey’s understanding of Nancy’s character in this sentence. They had been married for a long time and had loved each other. They had been through a tragedy (the loss of their child) together and had stood by each other in the most difficult of circumstances. However, he never ever thought that she would willingly adopt his child and make it her own. In this sense, he hadn’t understood the woman who lived with him and who was his wife.He realised that he should have come clean about his error much before because it “was not simply futile, but had defeated its own end.”
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:What is Nancy’s reaction to her husband’s revelation? What do you understand about her character from this behaviour?Answer:Nancy deals with her husband’s revelation with utter dignity. While she is looking Godfrey in the eye when they talk, but after the confession she “quite still, only that her eyes dropped and ceased to meet his.” She is “pale and quiet as a meditative statue, clasping her hands on her lap” which indicates that she hasn’t liked what she has heard. However, when she speaks up, it is with deep regret at her husband’s action. She says that had she known this years ago, she would have adopted Eppie as her own. She feels that if they “had her from the first… she’d have loved me for her mother and… I could better have bore my little baby dying.”This reaction reveals a fine and sensitive woman who can empathise with others. She is also a loving mother and a suffering woman who has not got over her child’s death.
Question 2:Do you feel that Godfrey and Nancy really had Eppie’s welfare in mind when they decided to meet Silas that night? Give reasons for your answer.Answer:Yes, I think that they were sincere in their hearts and really thought about Eppie’s welfare. According to me, the news of Dunstan’s death ‘released’ Godfrey in a way. He must have felt free for the first time in his life; he must have felt gratitude for not having to hide his secret. This must have encouraged him to talk to his wife and tell her everything.Nancy, on the other hand, was perhaps hurt. Yet she was able to rise above her own sorrow and see the wrong that had been done to a little child. Somewhere there was the emptiness in her caused by her child’s death. She seemed in earnest when she said “I’ll do my part by her, and pray to God Almighty to make her love me.”
Chapter-19
Silas and Eppie talked about the discovery of Dunstan’s body and the money he had stolen from the former. Just then Godfrey and Nancy Cass came to meet them. Godfrey apologised for the later hour and the theft committed by his own brother so many years ago. But, Silas didn’t consider it important saying that it wasn’t Godfrey’s fault. He emphasised that the gold had no meaning for him and that he would much rather have Eppie than the gold.Godfrey revealed his intention of taking Eppie home. Silas protested and Eppie declined. He revealed the truth to both – that he was Eppie’s father, and hence had a claim on her. He chided Silas for standing in the way of his beloved daughter’s future prospects. Silas understood the reasoning and left the decision to the girl. Eppie’s mind was made up. Under no circumstances would she leave Silas because he is the only father she’s ever known. Godfrey left the cottage without as much as polite goodbye. Nancy tried her best to make amends for her husband’s behaviour and wishes both of them well.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:Comment on Godfrey’s presumption in taking Eppie home with him.Answer:Even though Godfrey has gathered courage to confess his first marriage to his wife, his vanity has not diminished. He presumes that he has a right over Eppie because he is her biological father. He wants to do his duty as a father. He wants to clear his conscience. He wants to make amends. He never stops to consider that Eppie may have her points of view on these matters. He doesn’t allow for the possibility that she may not wish to be a lady. ““But I’ve a claim on you, Eppie — the strongest of all claims,” says he. Again, when Eppie takes her final decision, he is hurt because his purpose has been denied. At any stage, it is about himself he is thinking about. The fact that his words may hurt Silas and Eppie is of no importance to him.
Question 2:Do you think he was being unsympathetic towards Silas? Give reasons for your answer.Answer:Godfrey is definitely oblivious to how other people would react to his proposal. Sixteen years ago, he declined to own the child because he didn’t want to be a father. At that time, he never spared a thought for the child and her need for a family and her home. Even now, he has the same stance. He feels indebted to Silas for having cared for his daughter but expects that the latter let the girl go because the rightful father has finally decided to acknowledge her as his own. He is willing to help Silas in his old age. He is not able to understand the pain he has caused them, neither does he understand the meaning behind Silas’ statement “When a man turns a blessing from his door, it falls to them as take it in.”
Question 3:Was Eppie right in refusing the Cass’ offer? How can you say?Answer:I think Eppie was absolutely right in refusing the Cass’ offer. She brings to their notice the fact that Silas cared for her when she needed it the most. She is the only father she knows and “should have no delight i’ life any more if I was forced to go away from my father, and knew he was sitting at home, a-thinking of me and feeling lone.” She says very firmly “nobody shall ever come between him and me.” When Nancy reminds of her duty towards her lawful father, she replies “I can’t feel as I’ve got any father but one.” She doesn’t know and trust her “lawful father” and in any case she has “always thought of a little home where he’d sit i’ the comer, and I should fend and do everything for him: I can’t think o’ no other hojne”.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:If you were in Nancy’s place, how would you feel after Eppie’s rejection of her proposal?Answer:I would feel very low after Eppie’s rejection of my proposal if I were in Nancy’s place. The proposal had been thought with the view of giving me and my husband a child to care for. I could see a possibility of becoming a mother one more time and I would look forward to it. Hence, Eppie’s refusal would break my heart. However, I would try to understand the shock my words would give to both Silas and Eppie. And I would wish them well with a promise in my heart that I would look after this child in any way I could.
Chapter-20
Godfrey and Nancy returned home empty handed. Eppie’s decision was final – in no way would she leave Silas. Godfrey resigned himself to helping Eppie from a distance and decided it best to maintain the secret. “Where would be the good to anybody?” he asked.They guessed that Eppie would marry Aaron. Nancy approved of the young man, and Godfrey wistfully commented on how beautiful had Eppie grown to be. He mentioned that Eppie began to dislike him when he confessed that he was her father; he accepted this as his punishment for having lacked in his duty as a father. He told Nancy, however, that he was grateful for having had an opportunity to marry her and promised to be satisfied with what they had.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:What do you think was the intention behind Godfrey’s decision to talk to Silas and Eppie?Answer:Godfrey realised his mistake and tried to make amends. That was his real intention behind meeting Silas and Eppie. He wanted to atone for his errors by offering to own up his fatherhood and take Eppie to his house as his daughter. The act was that of liberation for him and he did not feel the weight of his conscience any more.Therefore it can be said that, for a change, his intentions were not bad and he had only Eppie’s good in his heart.
Question 2:Describe the punishment that Godfrey thought he got. Do you think he is right? ,Answer:Sixteen years ago, when Eppie appeared at Silas’ door and the body of her mother was discovered, Godfrey didn’t wish to appear anything but childless. Now, fate had dealt a blow and he had to appear childless for the rest of his life in spite of having a daughter. This was the punishment he thought he got for running away from his duties.Nothing in the contrary has been written by the author, so I assume, that he was right in thinking so and accepting his fate for what it was.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:Is this a sad ending for Godfrey? Give reasons for your answer.Answer:This is not a sad ending for Godfrey. They continued to remain childless, but Godfrey found peace in his heart – something that was evading him from a long time. He also found strength in him as he confessed to Nancy about his previous marriage in complete honesty. His efforts to provide for Eppie, to make amends for his behaviour, cleaned his conscience. Moreover, tliere seemed to be a new understanding between the trusting husband and wife. Nancy mentioned in all sincerity that he ought to “resigned yourself to the lot that’s been given us”, which he does promptly – “perhaps it isn’t too late to mend a bit there.”
Chapter-21
Now that he got his money back, Silas decided to visit Lantern Yard along with Eppie. He wished to know if Mr. Paston, the minister, was able to find the real thief. He was also keen to know more about the drawing of the lots.The father and daughter set out one day on a long journey. Eppie encouraged him to ask the people the whereabouts. When finally they arrived at the destination, Silas was shocked beyond words to find it completely erased. There was nothing left of the old Lantern Yard as he knew it.He returned home for that was the only home he had now. He told Dolly that he would never know if his name was cleared. And yet, he still believed in that power that was looking over him. He was finally able to let his past go and settle down in a happy life in his home with his daughter.
I. PLOT/THEME-BASED
Question 1:Do you think this chapter is important for the novel? Give reasons for your answer.Answer:I think that this chapter is of great importance. In that it brings the story of Silas to a full circle. The narrative began in Lantern Yard and ends at the same place. Silas Marner starts off as a young man who was wronged by people close to him; he relocates to Raveloe and lives as a recluse. His money gets stolen, but he is blessed with an orphan child that appears at his door. He changes from a recluse to a loving person who would do anything for that child. With return of his money he gains more confidence and decides to return to Lantern Yard. He is decidedly not the same person who left it so many years ago. He has questions, but he has grown into a loving human being.
II. CHARACTER-BASED
Question 1:Describe the change in Silas’ character.Answer:In the first chapter Silas Marner is a simple and truthful man. He is falsely accused of a crime and is forced to shift to a far-off town – Raveloe. He lives a life of a recluse and dedicates himself to his work and hoarding his money. Fifteen years later the Squire’s son steals his money. This forces him to confront others. He communicates with others for the first time and finds sympathetic people. Then a little girl appears at his door. He brings her up like his own child. This changes him into a loving man.Upon his return to Lantern Yard, he finds his home-chapel-graveyard replaced by a factory. He realises that he must give up his past and look forward to the future. He should trust that someone above knows that he was innocent. This visit fills him with a sense of peace and reignites his faith.
from Blogger http://www.margdarsan.com/2020/09/ncert-class-12-english-novel-silas.html
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The 15 Best Afternoon Teas In London added to Google Docs
The 15 Best Afternoon Teas In London
From an outsider’s point of view, the tradition of afternoon tea must seem downright peculiar. Why would you eat a stack of sandwiches, followed by a cream tea, followed by an ungodly amount of cake at 4pm? Because we’re British and that’s what Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, inventor of the afternoon tea, would want us to do.
These days, afternoon tea is an activity we sort of engage in by default, whether it be to show off our Britishness to a friend visiting England for the first time, or for the annual and inevitable catch-up with your godmother. But this guide is here to remind you that we really should be partaking in this activity more frequently - it turns out that afternoon tea is actually quite lovely. So next time you feel like sacking off an afternoon to drink tea and eat a tonne of cake, here’s where to go.
The All time Classics Claridge's ££££ Brook Street
From £70 per person
We’re pretty sure that the Queen was born in Claridges. That, or, someone comes from the palace to spray the place with royal air once a week. That’s one of the reasons why you’re going to be paying £70 for tea here. Another is the Mayfair location, the live pianist and cellist, and the fact that everything here - from the sandwiches to the scones - tastes just a bit better than it does almost everywhere else. You’re also going to definitely want to spend some time with the pastries. The vanilla bourbon religieuse alone blows the sweet section of every other afternoon tea out of the water.
The Goring ££££ 15 Beeston Place
From £50 per person
If you dream of being fanned and fed grapes in a room that looks like the set of the Princess Diaries, then you should book the afternoon tea at The Goring, a five-star hotel in Belgravia. You’ll get the typical fluffy scones and mini cakes, but you’re not really here for the food. You’re here to have your tea poured for you and your plate changed whenever a crumb gets too close to it. And mostly, you’re here for your temporary guardian angel-cum-server who appears out of nowhere if your smile so much as wavers. Typically, the idea of someone hovering over you, and swooping in to check if everything’s okay every millisecond might be invasive, but at the Goring, you won’t even notice. And it’s that effortlessly excellent service that makes The Goring so popular, meaning you should book well in advance, especially for weekends.
The Ritz ££££ 150 Piccadilly
From £60 per person
The Ritz is everything you expect it to be. Assuming that you expect gold detailing, excellent service, and a human tie generator. The afternoon tea is excellent, the pastries and cakes are particularly good, and if you’ve got an extreme sweet tooth, you’ll be happy to know that there’s a cake trolley that’s driven to your table offering whichever cakes they have that day. It’s easy to get carried away and spend a good couple of hours here, and you definitely should. It’s great for a birthday treat, or if you just want to dress up and try one of the best afternoon teas London has to offer. Just some things to keep in mind: it’s usually booked out weeks in advance, and they have a serious dress code.
The Langham ££££ 1c Portland Pl.
From £62 per person
If you’ve been around the afternoon tea block, The Langham is the best place to have a chilled out one in London. This isn’t to say that the surroundings are casual - the mirrored, pillared Palm Court room is very fancy, as is the Wedgwood crockery your tea’s served on. That said, this is a place you can feel comfortable hanging for a while with your pals without worrying about disturbing others around you. It’s even a good place to bring kids, which helps if your sister absolutely insists on bringing your constantly-in-motion nephews.
Fortnum & Mason ££££ 181 Piccadilly
From £60 per person
Fortnum & Mason is a department store that’s famous for supplying the royals with their tea, and at times can feel like a very posh human zoo - until you sit down for the extremely pleasant tea service. While most tea services are held in whatever old drawing room a hotel could come up with, the entire fifth floor at Fortnum & Mason was clearly designed for the sole purpose of afternoon tea. Come for a classy experience, or if you’re with someone who refuses to eat clotted cream, they’ll accommodate pretty much any dietary requirement here. Don’t turn up expecting a table (remember, this place is a human zoo), but you can usually book online the day before and get a table, so do that.
The Wolseley £ £ £ £ Modern European in Mayfair ££££ 160 Piccadilly 7.9 /10
From £29.75 per person
The Wolseley is excellent at anything you throw at it - a fancy breakfast, a business lunch, a late night dinner, and yes, an afternoon tea. It’s always lively here, and the space, a converted 1920s car showroom with high ceilings and marble columns, would make even a paperclip convention seem like an exciting event. It does get extremely busy and a tad touristy at times, but that’s only because everyone knows The Wolseley is always a good idea.
The Connaught Hotel ££££ Carlos Pl
From £58 per person
The Connaught is the ultimate chic afternoon tea spot. But despite all the five-star formalities, you don’t feel like you’re expected to be serious. It’s lively, there are people having lunch next to you, there are groups enjoying a glass of champagne at half one in the afternoon. And if you ask to be seated by the windows - which you should - there will be people walking down the street with designer shopping bags, while all you’re expected to do is sit back, eat their delicious sandwiches and scones, and have a good time.
Ham Yard Hotel ££££ 1 Ham Yard
From £24 per person
We mentioned that you should never do afternoon tea on the cheap, but if you’re tight on the pennies and still want a decent one, The Ham Yard is where you should book. They have a sliding price range, starting at £22 and going up depending on the amount of additional savouries, bubbles, or cocktails you add to your set-up. This is also one of the most flexible afternoon teas in London. Haven’t booked? They can squeeze you in the bar lounge. Need an alternative date idea? Here’s your spot. Allergic to gluten, dairy, sugar, meat, pollen, or politics? They’ve got you.
Four Seasons Hotel London At Ten Trinity Square ££££ 10 Trinity Square
From £38 per person
Most traditions are pretty rigid and afternoon tea is no exception. But afternoon tea at Four Seasons at Ten Trinity Square is more like that fun aunt that accepts that traditions exist but lets you do what you want anyway. Here, rather than offering a single price that gets you everything, you can just pick the parts you want. You want some scones and tea but you’re not interested in little sandwiches? Easy, order the cream tea for a tenner. And it doesn’t hurt that the hotel has majestic pillars, a live singer, and is a five minute walk from the Tower of London.
Epic Spaces Café Royal Hotel ££££ 68 Regent St
From £55 per person
We like to think the design brief for the Oscar Wilde room at Hotel Café Royal went a little like this: ‘Dearest Designer, We have way too much money - please design a room that looks like our wealth threw up in it’. With its gold, velvet, and mirrors, this is by far the most opulent room hosting afternoon tea in London. When you sit down, the high society person inside you just can’t help but click into action - look at you nibbling at excellent savouries and sweets all fancy. You’ll want to keep the champagne flowing. To do otherwise would be sacrilege.
Savoy Hotel ££££ Strand
From £75 per person
The Savoy is the best representation of old London glamour in the city, and as you may suspect, having afternoon tea here makes you feel like a real life aristocrat. The Thames Foyer, where you’ll have your tea, is a beautiful space, and it’s easy to get carried away with the whole experience because they look after you so well. There’s no extra charge for refills here, so go ahead and ask for another round of sandwiches and cake.
The Corinthia Hotel ££££ 10 Whitehall Place
From £55 per person
Despite sounding like a hippy yoga tent at Glasto, The Crystal Moon Lounge, where they serve tea in The Corinthia Hotel, is actually a very elegant spot. The humongous globe-like chandelier that makes the centre of the room would distract you totally from the task at hand if it weren’t for the cakes, which are more ‘diabetes-inducing creative confectionary’ than actual cake. The Corinthia’s also a great place for people watching, and there’s always a high chance of spotting the mum of that celebrity you stalk religiously on Instagram.
THEMED AFTERNOON TEAS Madhatter's Tea Party ££££ 50 Berners St.
From £48 per person
Yes, we were initially skeptical of the Alice In Wonderland-themed Mad Hatter’s Afternoon Tea at the Sanderson Hotel - it sounds like an activity you would be emotionally manipulated into by your five-year-old goddaughter. But this is actually one of our favourites in London. Tea is served in the courtyard of the hotel, making it one of the few afternoon teas you can have outside, and they also objectively serve the best scones in town.
Rosewood London ££££ 252 High Holborn
From £65 per person
The afternoon tea at The Rosewood is art-themed and comes in the form of cakes inspired by Yayoi Kusama, Damien Hirst, Alexander Calder, Banksy, and Mark Rothko. The whole thing goes down in a beautiful mirror-filled room, so consider bringing the narcissistic, art-loving person in your life. Everyone has one of those.
The Athenaeum Hotel ££££ 116 Piccadilly
From £39 per person
The Athenaeum Hotel does a couple of tea menus, most notably a savoury ‘Gentleman’s Tea’ that includes a serving of whiskey on the side. We don’t really believe afternoon tea should be gendered, but there’s a lot to like here regardless: the elegant and laid-back setting, the bonus glass of champagne, and the value for money (£39 all in). They do a ‘normal’ afternoon tea as well, but it’s definitely one to keep in mind if you’re with someone who claims they don’t get down with sugar.
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How to Tell if That Peach Is Ripe? Ask Southern California’s ‘Produce Hunter’
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Shopping at the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market, Karen Beverlin reached into a five-pound box of tart Belle Magnifique cherries, grabbed a couple and ate them.
Tart cherries are tricky to size up at a glance: Flavors can range from gently tangy to very sour, and just looking at them offers no reliable clues. All Ms. Beverlin had to go on was her palate. She ate a few more, and smiled.
She motioned to Tristan Aitchison, the chef de cuisine at Providence restaurant in Los Angeles. He hadn’t intended to buy cherries, but after seeing the look on her face — and tasting the cherry she held out to him — he decided he had to have five pounds. The stand, Andy’s Orchard, was already sold out, but Ms. Beverlin let him buy one of the boxes she had ordered.
“She’s the godmother of the market,” said Mr. Aitchison, who relies on her advice about what to buy as he plans his menus. Within a week, the roast duck entree at Providence sported a grilled cherry sauce.
Ms. Beverlin, who calls herself the Produce Hunter, tests, tastes and talks fruit and vegetables for a living: As the vice president of specialty sales for FreshPoint Produce, one of the nation’s largest produce distributors, she supplies schools, hospitals, restaurant chains and cruise lines.
Her job also includes forging relationships between small farmers and demanding chefs like Mr. Aitchison — “the ones,” she said, “who are known for their commitment to quality local produce.” They rely on her deep knowledge of the rhythms and quirks of Southern California’s bounty: what will be ready in days or weeks, and who will have the most flavorful crop.
On her Instagram, @fpproducehunter, she alerts followers to whatever is best in a given week — mixed summer squash, baby corn — as well as the dishes her client chefs make with them, like a salad of Little Gem lettuce and Cara Cara oranges at Tartine Bianco in Los Angeles.
Three times a week, Ms. Beverlin prowls farmers’ markets in Santa Monica and Hollywood, collecting intelligence and working with a handful of growers she has come to favor over time, while FreshPoint drivers load large orders onto two trucks parked at the market’s edge.
The Wednesday market in Santa Monica, the city’s biggest, runs one block by two blocks. Ms. Beverlin needs six hours to walk it.
At 59, after more than 30 years in the business, she is a market celebrity, interrupted every 50 feet by a young cook seeking advice or a veteran farmer eager to ply her with a sample. A tall, commanding presence with a rollicking laugh, she is easy to find: If a knot of people has gathered around a tomato or a plum, she is likely at the center of it, expounding.
Her first bit of advice, no matter where you shop: Don’t fall for a pretty face, because most produce has a different sort of “tell,” a visual giveaway that it’s ready to eat.
Tart cherries keep their secrets, but the best sweet cherries advertise with “tiny little pittings, in a cluster,” she said, and a matte finish rather than a patent-leather sheen. A great nectarine has “sugar spots, a bunch of little white freckles,” not a consistent hue.
As for peaches, she dismisses the red blush that may draw customers. The only color that matters, she said, is at the stem end, which should be yellow without a hint of green.
“Red exterior color was bred into peaches and nectarines,” she said, “because unripe fruit that’s red looks more attractive than unripe fruit that’s pale.”
Many people pinch fruit to gauge its ripeness, much to the horror of farmers. The standard five-fingertip squeeze bruises peaches, nectarines, apricots and avocados. Instead, Ms. Beverlin places a peach in her open palm, wraps her hand around it and barely flexes. If it gives just a bit, “firm, but not hard,” it’s ready.
On a recent Wednesday, she spent almost an hour at Andy’s Orchard — too much time, by her own admission — tasting and testing stone fruit with a portable Brix refractometer, which measures sugar levels in a few drops of juice. It’s the only objective measurement she relies on.
“It helps to communicate what I’m tasting,” she said. “All the chefs understand the Brix numbers, so it provides a baseline.”
She wasn’t looking for what most people think of as peak ripeness. She wanted fruit just shy of that point, when sugar levels are higher and it has the most flavor.
“It took me years before I realized what I was seeing: Tree-ripe fruit that’s firm tastes better than what is traditionally identified as ripe, when fruit is soft,” she said. “I think some consumers give up flavor to get juice running down their arms. But they don’t know what they are missing.” (She buys fruit that’s fairly firm, then lets it sit on the counter at home until it starts to yield. At that point it goes into the refrigerator so it won’t get soft.)
Ms. Beverlin headed down the street to visit her preferred group of stands — one for the best Burgundy plum, another for green beans, though none so far this season for “machos,” which is what farmers called male zucchini blossoms.
All the while, she kept up a running commentary: If the green cap at the stem end of an eggplant was starting to turn brown, it was getting dehydrated. If an artichoke wears a red heirloom sticker, which happens only in the spring and fall, “grab it,” she said, because it will outshine other varieties.
The farmers and chefs Ms. Beverlin works with consider her essential to their success, not only for her recommendations but also for logistical help.
Robin Koda, a farmer in South Dos Palos, northwest of Fresno, brings her rice to the market, but her truck is too small to handle 2,000-pound pallets for larger sales. So Ms. Beverlin arranged to send a FreshPoint truck once a month to pick up one or two pallets of rice and rice flour, increasing and stabilizing Ms. Koda’s business.
Mr. Aitchison said Ms. Beverlin is the main reason he and his boss, the Providence co-owner and chef Michael Cimarusti, order from FreshPoint. The restaurant buys all its organic dairy products from the company, as well as staples like garlic, fresh ginger, chives and shallots.
While Mr. Aitchison likes to shop the farmers’ markets himself, Ms. Beverlin occasionally adds special produce to his order — “an incredible advantage,” he said, for a chef who might not otherwise know that there were only two boxes of a particularly delicious nectarine.
When told of all the praise, Ms. Beverlin shrugged.
“These people,” she said, “are my family.”
She did not plan to end up here. At 18, she enrolled at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, intending to become a large-animal veterinarian, only to find, she said, that “I didn’t like the science and wasn’t good at it.”
During her senior year, she landed an internship at the nonprofit Fresh Produce Council (now the Fresh Produce & Floral Council), which led to 20 years on the shipping side of the business and 10 years at her current job. At first, it worked well for a single mother: Buying produce is an early-morning business, so Ms. Beverlin was able to be home when her young daughter returned from school.
That daughter, Amy Beverlin, grew up to be a lawyer. Last year, she gave her mother a birthday present: a two-tiered wheeled market cart, complete with cup holder and bell.
As Ms. Beverlin worked the market, she got an urgent text from Hector Salas, a FreshPoint driver, saying that someone had dropped a zero from an order for 100 pounds of lemon cucumbers. The farmer had set aside only 10 pounds. What should he do?
She dispatched Mr. Salas in one direction and lit off in the other, rattled. When he reported that he had found 80 pounds from another farmer, she asked him what color they were.
“A good lemon cucumber should be a lemon-chiffon color, a light yellow,” she said. “Then the yellow turns darker, like the highlighter on my computer. The skin gets thicker. They’re overmature.”
If the cucumbers were a dark yellow, she told him, “I’d rather not fill an order.”
The cucumbers were light in color, Mr. Salas said. They had saved the day.
Ms. Beverlin’s last stop of the afternoon was the Munak Ranch stand, which in her opinion grows the best tomatoes at the market. Tomatoes, like tart cherries, can be inscrutable, but Ms. Beverlin knows what to ask farmers and is happy to tutor anyone — a young chef or the overwhelmed customer standing next to her.
The first thing to figure out about tomatoes, she said, is your personal preference.
“You have to learn what you like. If you like a low-acid Japanese tomato, you’re not going to like a high-acid Sungold or Pineapple,” she said, because the flavors are so different. She prefers the assertive flavor combination of high-acid, high-sugar tomatoes and fruit, “the holy grail, the ones that make your jaw tingle,” but allows that others might prefer a more subtle taste.
“The point is to try different varieties,” she said, “so you can walk up to a farmer and say, ‘What do you have that’s low- or high-acid?’”
Geography and farm practices matter, too. The ideal climate for tomatoes is hot days and cool nights, which describes Paso Robles, where Munak Ranch is located. To enrich the soil, Munak plants cover crops for three months every year, a formula the farm foreman, Hugo Gomez, keeps secret even from Ms. Beverlin, though she believes it involves peas and vetch. The process loosens the soil, provides better drainage, yields stronger plants and produces more flavorful tomatoes.
She checked in with Mr. Gomez about the Celebrity tomato crop, which was supposed to arrive in two weeks. When he told her they might be ready sooner, she flipped into acquisition mode on behalf of her chefs: Could she have them in a week? Could he bring some to the weekend markets?
She could; he would.
“Bye, Pumpkin,” said Ms. Beverlin, who reserves that nickname for a select few.
“Mamacita,” said Mr. Gomez, who has been farming longer than Ms. Beverlin has been placing orders.
Only one thing gnawed at her as she headed for the parking lot. Two farmers had asked, incredulous, if she was about to retire. They had heard a rumor she might, though neither remembered the source. Maybe it came from a competing distributor, she said — who else would have floated such a ludicrous idea?
“I’m going to die at this market,” said Ms. Beverlin, with a defiant smile and that laugh. “They’re going to call my daughter and say: ‘Hey, Amy, your mom just went down. Can you come by to pick her up?’”
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When Yoga, Meditation, and Diet Aren’t Enough to Cure Depression
I thought I had it all figured out.
I even had a book title picked out: Whole-ish — On Healing Myself Naturally from Depression and My Messy Path to Well. And I had outlined some of the chapters:
Why restoring your gut health and generating good intestinal bacteria will improve mood
The science behind optimal nutrition and how certain foods reduce inflammation of the brain, while others (sugar) send a message of distress to your immune system, affecting your entire nervous system
How green smoothies help eliminate disease states
The therapeutic faculties of yoga and how it primes our parasympathetic system
Mindfulness meditation and neuroplasticity
And then the floor beneath me dropped out and I fell into a dark, ominous abyss — a life-threatening place that was more frightening than any depressive episode of my past, where the suicidal thoughts were so intense and so constant that I was absolutely sure I wouldn’t be around to celebrate my daughter’s 13th birthday. In the last five months, I have never been so scared for my life, positive that I was going insane and that I was destined to follow the path of my aunt (who was also my godmother), who took her own life.
What started out as a good and right endeavor became a dangerous dance in which I made a few critical mistakes that almost cost me my life.
Doing Everything Right
Two-and-a-half years ago, I was frustrated that I couldn’t get rid of my death thoughts after being on so much medication for so many years. So I dove into the world of integrative and holistic medicine.
I took every saliva, blood, and stool test that exists to measure my cortisol, hormones, gut status, nutrients, and food intolerances.
I transformed my diet and eliminated gluten, sugar, caffeine, and dairy (I’d already cut out alcohol). I did extensive research on which supplements to take and added vitamins B-12, C, D, and E; probiotics; turmeric; omega-3 fatty acids; alpha lipoic acid; amino acids; magnesium; coconut oil; and iron. I drank two green smoothies every day.
I took the eight-week intensive Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program based on Jon Kabat-Zinn‘s work at the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, and started to meditate each day.
I immersed myself in hot yoga, practicing five or six times a week .
I committed myself to helping others, trying to transcend my pain that way, creating two online forums dedicated to people struggling with treatment-resistant depression.
I attached myself to the new science called epigenetics, the study of genetic changes that aren’t caused by a change in DNA sequence. Pamela Peeke, MD, best-selling author of The Hunger Fix, explained it to me this way: “If you can change certain key choices — your diet, how you handle stress, your physical activity — it’s like writing notes in the margin of your genome, and you can flip the switch to support and protect your health.”
Epigenetics is closely related to the concept of neuroplasticity that says we aren’t stuck with the brain that we were born with: We have more room than we think we do to direct our health toward healing and wholeness.
Thinking in Black and White
I wanted to believe more than anything that I could cure myself of my bipolar disorder and my treatment-resistant depression with the right diet, exercise, stress reduction tools, and meditation.
All of my actions over the course of nine months were able to deliver me to a place where the death thoughts ceased.
So I assumed that the medications I had been taking really didn’t do anything but cause or contribute to a host of chronic illnesses I had developed over the course of 10 years: connective tissue issues (Raynaud’s phenomenon), thyroid disease (nodules), a pituitary tumor, inflammatory bowel disease (small intestine bacteria overgrowth, or SIBO), and heart disease.
That’s where I went wrong.
Black-and-white thinking.
Raised in an alcoholic home, I have always struggled to achieve a nuanced perspective.
I stopped working with my psychiatrist because I believed I could naturally heal from my mood disorder with the help of a holistic doctor. An excellent integrative physician, he has successfully guided my general health (all of the conditions mentioned above). But a mood disorder as complex and severe as mine requires psychiatric expertise, which he is without. I began to taper off of my psychotropic medications too aggressively. The tapering coincided with some other stressors.
And I fell into the abyss.
I fell harder than I ever have.
A New Perspective from My Daughter
Resolved to find a non-drug solution, I tried transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a non-invasive procedure that stimulates nerve cells in the brain with short magnetic pulses. Approved by the FDA in 2008, TMS involves a large electromagnetic coil that’s placed against your scalp. The coil generates focused pulses that pass through your skull and stimulate the cerebral cortex of your brain, a region that regulates mood.
While I did feel an initial lift from my depression following TMS treatment, my anxiety worsened, creating suicidal thoughts that were even more intense and compulsive — as if there was a very thin veil between life and death, and I didn’t know how long I could muster the self-control to stay on the right side. The series (45 sessions in all) sent me into a dangerous, mixed state of mania and depression — something that can happen if a bipolar person does the treatment without enough of a mood stabilizer.
At one point halfway through the series, I was crying when I picked my daughter up from school. I couldn’t quiet my painful ruminations even when I was with her.
“I feel like you are never going to get better,” she said, starting to cry herself.
She paused and then said, her breathing broken, “I just feel like someone is going to die.”
She began to wail.
As much as I didn’t want her to be right, I knew she was.
My little girl has always been extremely intuitive, and she could feel it in her soul that I was not far away from the grave. Two weeks after she said that, we lost a family member to suicide.
His death forced a new perspective.
Living With a Life-Threatening Illness
I realized I had to do absolutely everything I could to protect my life. In a pursuit to heal myself naturally, I had been flirting too closely with death, and I couldn’t say how long I could survive doing this dance. I was finally ready to accept chronic illnesses and tumors and nasty side effects in order to stay alive.
For the first time since my aunt and godmother took her life 30 years ago, I saw the life-threatening angle of my illness and knew that, while I can certainly improve my symptoms with natural remedies and possibly reduce the amount of medication I need, there is no escaping entirely from my mood disorder.
In the harrowing months since Thanksgiving, I’ve learned three key things that I hope I never forget as long as I’m battling bipolar disorder:
It is absolutely critical to be under the right care.
Medication can be lifesaving and is sometimes necessary.
While we can all hope to heal ourselves in the wider sense of the word, some of us simply can’t cure ourselves entirely of our conditions; at best, we can manage them with a variety of treatments, both natural and traditional.
I returned recently to my former psychiatrist who had managed to keep me stable for 10 years, as well as to my therapist, whom I’ve worked with for nine years. Feeling a little bit like the prodigal son, I thanked her for her excellent care in years past and asked for her help in getting well once more.
We’ll get there, she said.
We’ll get there.
Join Project Hope & Beyond, a new depression community.
Originally posted on Sanity Break at Everyday Health.
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