Essay Questions

To whom does the title refer?

The most obvious choice would, of course, be Tom Smedley who is quite explicitly situated as the beau Frances has to settle for when things with Jimmy Barrass goes south. But consider something the narrator points out in just the second paragraph of the story. Frances, the reader is informed, “was the beauty and the clever child of the family.” Brains as well beauty for Frances so where, exactly, does that leave Anne? Of course, the combination of common sense and being “very buxom” is nothing to sneeze at, but generally speaking, it is safe to assume that as far as the family is concerned, Anne is second best. Worth pondering over for a bit before making a rash decision on the matter, at any rate.

What significance might there be in Jimmy’s name?

Jimmy Barrass. The Jimmy part is meaningless. It is the second part which potentially holds some meaning not immediately apparent. Consider for a moment if the feelings Frances holds for Tom blossom into genuine love, Jimmy’s engagement falls apart and he comes back looking to reconnect with his first love only to wind up falling for a now grown Anne. Let’s say they eventually marry. Such a circumstance is hardly unknown in situations such as this; discarded suitors often wind up marrying a sister. Such an eventuality would result in Frances Smedley having a sister named Anne Barrass. When the mole arrives on the scene, Anne refers to her older sister as Fran. So if things had turned out as planned, technically she might have become Fran Barrass. Perhaps the best thing that could have happened to the entire family is that Jimmy marry someone unrelated; maybe settling for “second best” turns out to be the best way for everyone to avoid a future embarrassment. Perhaps this is stretching the limits of interpretation, but ask yourself how often you have come across a character named Barrass? Even Chuck spelled it using just one “S” and an “I” instead of an “a.”

What is significant about the mole?

The mole is arguably the most important character in the story. The rodent is a metaphorical stand-in for all the characters in one way or another. Its movement is described as “shuffling hither and thither, flat, and dark as a shadow, shifting about” and if that isn’t an apt description of how both sets of males and females in the story are going about trying to live their lives, nothing is. Further parallels between lowly creature and lofty creatures are drawn with additional information about how the vision-impaired mole goes about “touching things to discover them, running in blindness, delighted to ecstasy by the sunlight and the hot, strange things that caressed its belly and its nose.” Also take note of the mole’s quite active response to being obstructed from its pursuit and its violent reaction to having its freedom curtailed.