The Mahogany Table

 Author’s background

•       Born in 1893

•       An only child of Harrow School housemaster George Townsend Warner (remembered as a brilliant teacher) and his wife, Nora.

•       Sylvia Townsend Warner contributed short stories to the New Yorker for more than forty years.

•       At Theodore Powys's house, Sylvia first met the poet Valentine Ackland. When in 1930 she bought "the late Miss Green's cottage" opposite the village inn, she invited Valentine to live there. So began a love affair which lasted until Valentine's death from breast cancer in 1969. 

•       She died 9 years after Valentine’s death.

PLOT (exposition)

•       Mrs. Carrington is introduced, leaving Letitia Foley’s house.

•       She praised Letitia for being aeffecient and marvelous.

•       Letitia was humble.

•       Despite all the description of her tasky daily routine.

Rising action

•       Letitia was old and living alone in a large house.

•       The mahogany table she inherits from her late-great-grandmother reminded her the memories she had with her sister, Cecily.

•       Cecily and Letitia is twin.

•       Before, both ladies lived a slatternly life together

Conflict

•       1918, Cecily introduce Dexter, a limping missionary American.

•       She planned to marry Dexter.

•       Letitia asked Cecily whether she will be taking the mahogany table.

•       After Dexter’s departure, Letitia and Cecily fought.

•       Cecily left the house without reconciling with Letitia

Climax

•       Letitia was left alone since then, organised her own life.

•       Continuous post letters to Cecily despite Cecily intermittent reply.

•       One day, Letitia received news, Cecily died in a car accident.

•       Characters:

        Lettitia Folley- Discipline, Meticulous, Organise , Neat-freak, Adhere, Loner

        Cecily Folley-Controlling, Exuberant, Care-free, wishful, Imaginative

        Mrs Carrington-Caring*, Gossiper, Socially-active, Important/well-known

Point of view

•       The third point of view.

–      An outlook from the narrator.

–      Clear descriptive of the situation and events, narrate by the narrator, allow readers to imagine the story and plot clearly.

–      Reader can input their personal perception into analysing the characters.

Theme

•       A harmonious relationship with family members will secure a happy home.

Ups and downs in relationship among siblings

The summary of Jungle of hope

Summary: Jungle of Hope

This story is about a group of traditional farmer in Ketari and Benus who are solely dependent on traditional farming. They are forced to move to the jungle of Janda Baik by a potent combination of natural disasters - a severe drought followed by a particularly serious flood. At the same time, outsiders are buying up the lands in the village to plant rubber trees and to open a mining land as a result of the post WWI colonial policy which encouraging rubber planting and tin mining on large scale.The villagers have to make decision concerning their lands and their livelihood. Pak Kia and his family decided to take up the challenges to open a new piece of land in Janda Baik while Zaidi sees an opportunity to acquire wealth by planting rubber and move away from that traditional farming. Pak Kia quit Karim's study and bring him to the jungle so that he can be a young pioneer by culminating skills in him. In Janda Baik Pak Kia and family suffer hardships and circumstances. Their new planted paddy was attacked by elephants, Pak Kia's younger daughter suffered from sickness and died and Pak Kia himself was attacked by the wild boar. Karim helped to do his father's job while he is still unable to do heavy jobs. The price of the rubber fluctuated and influences Zaidi's shop. The number of his customers slowly decreases and it is due to the economic depression as well. Yet he took initiative to supply rattans and so forth to Tuan Pekok even though the price is pretty cheap. Zaidi did help the Janda Baik's villagers to sell their vegetations to Kuala Lumpur with the help of Karim and Salim.Meanwhile Pendekar Atan who always use deceitful way to gain something that he wants finally locked up in jail. Perhaps it is a punishment for a "finagler" just like him. In the end, everything that started something like defeat and escape has turned into physical and spiritual triumph especially for Pak Kia's family.

*adapted from Kent Teslian's presentation and the novel Jungle of Hope itself. Thanks

Tales Of The Unexpected S01 E09: The Way Up To Heaven Pt 2

Tales Of The Unexpected S01 E09: The Way Up To Heaven Pt 1