All 11 entries tagged Maud Plunkett

white sea white noise

She could feel the white sea//losing its white noise (2.XI.ii).

Dennis is losing his colonizer culture to turn into a real inhabitant of St Lucia. It also represents the Empire losing its voice, as Dennis becomes integrated in the local culture.

Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 07:07 |  Tags: Characters Colonialism Context Dennis Plunkett Maud Plunkett White Sea White Noise |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

tea untouched

the tea was untouched (1.XI.ii).

The tea, a symbol of the British, is drunk only by Maud, who is not as implicated in the culture of the island as her husband.

Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 07:03 |  Tags: Characters Colonialism Context Dennis Plunkett Maud Plunkett Tea Untouched |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

aisle crossed swords

we slow-marched down the aisle/under crossed swords (1.XI.iii).

Maud thinks of their wedding and remembers the military side more than love.

Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 06:59 |  Tags: Aisle Crossed Swords Characters Dennis Plunkett Maud Plunkett |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Dennis's honour

Dennis’s honour (1.XI.iii).

Although Maud is different from Denis, there is no criticism, but rather respect.

Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 06:54 |  Tags: Characters Dennis Honour Dennis Plunkett Maud Plunkett |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Plunkett place history

So Plunkett decided that what the place needed/was its true place in history (1.XI.i).

Plunkett here is quite ambivalent because he wants to give Helen (the island) a real place in History, without giving her his wife’s role and place (the colonizers’ role),  where the maid turns into the mistress and destroys her own possibilities. The following section continues to reflect Plunkett's ambivalence: he is building a fleet and he is proud of the midshipman who had his name in the Eighteenth Century, but he also criticises the Empire as being dirty (cf. Empires were swinish, 1.XI.i). Where does he stand? No clear answer.

Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 06:38 |  Tags: Characters Colonialism Context Dennis Plunkett Helen History Maud Plunkett Plunkett Place History |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

pale lemon frock

pale lemon frock (1.XI.i).

The yellow dress, which belonged to the colonizer (Maud), is being transmitted to the colonized (Helen). The dress may symbolize the influence of the colonizers on the place they now live, but, as Maud is jealous that Helen now has it, it may also represent the jealousy of the colonizer regarding the colonized, who manage to make everything theirs, and always feel at home, whereas the colonizers, like Maud, will always know they are strangers.

Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 06:32 |  Tags: Colonialism Context Helen Maud Plunkett Pale Lemon Frock |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

History was Circe

History was Circe (1.XI.i).

Circe is for Penelope what is History for Maud: they detain their husbands from them, either in reality or in the mind.

Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 06:16 |  Tags: Characters Context Dennis Plunkett History History Was Circe Maud Plunkett Odyssey Penelope |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

She had never felt more alone

She had never felt more alone (1.XI.i–iii).

Here Maud is very similar to Penelope: she is sewing, and above all she passes her time waiting for her husband to get back to her, to the real world in current history. Her husband is leaving the Great Wanderings in his imagination (cf 'wandering heart', 1.XI.iii, last line).

Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 06:06 |  Tags: Characters Dennis Plunkett History Maud Plunkett Odyssey Penelope She Had Never Felt More Alone |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Plunketts towel

Plunkett's towel (2.XXII.i).

Helen unashamedly steals personal objects from her employers, the Plunketts. Dennis Plunkett recalls how he caught her trying on Maud's jewellery (2.XVIII.i), and Maud claims that the yellow dress Helen frequently wears was stolen ('She looks better in it […] she stole', 1.V.iii), although Helen insists it was a gift from Maud. Here, there is erotic suggestion in the use of the towel around 'her nakedness', particularly as Plunkett is attracted to Helen and often fantasises about her (e.g., 'the V of a velvet back in a yellow dress', 2.XIX.iii).

Amanda Hopkins : 28 Jun 2007 15:37 |  Tags: Characters Colours Dennis Plunkett Helen Maud Plunkett Plunketts Towel |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Maud Plunkett

Amanda Hopkins : 23 Jun 2007 11:46 |  Tags: Characters Maud Plunkett |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem