Essay Questions

Deconstruct the attributes which make Hartley an ideal maid for Mrs. Railton’s niece. - “The Lady’s Maid’s Bell”

Mrs. Railton states, ”And you're the very woman I want for my niece: quiet, well-mannered, and educated above your station. You read aloud well, I think? That is a good thing; my niece likes to be read to. She wants a maid that can be something of a companion: her last was, and I can't say how she misses her. It's a lonely life…" Obviously, the niece is weathering a lonely life; hence, would want a maid who would fill the gap which has been left by her ever-absent husband and departed children. She yearns for company which is an instrumental need for all human beings.

What is the Marxist interpretation of the narrator’s plan to marry Alice in “The Eyes”? - “The Eyes”

The narrator states, “I’ll marry her, and when my aunt dies she’ll lave us this house, and I’ ll sit here at the desk and go on with my book; and Alice will sit over there with her embroidery and look at me as she’s looking now. And life will go on like that for any number of years.” Seemingly, the marriage is absolutely commodified because it is motivated the inheritance which will be in the form of the house. The narrator is infatuated with the house than Alice. The inheritance would be a guarantee for a home which the narrator is currently lacking.