THE FOX

PART 2 - OFFENCE

 

EX 1

 

·                               Henry and March are working together bringing in logs.

·                               Banford has gone to the trouble to make scones.

·                               March's face is pale, strained and vague.

·                               Banford speaks spitefully.

EX 2

 

Before Tea
Banford	Henry	March
Begins the conversation in a challenging, exaggerated manner
-Whatever have you been doing all this time) I thought you were never coming in. And it's ages since you stopped sawing. What were you doing out there?
	Lies
Challenges the truth of Henry's lie: - Why, I could see you
	Lies again
During tea
Attacks his disrespectful way of dressing - but indirectly:
- Aren't you cold? (said spitefully)
	Looks her straight in the eyes and says no with his usualk soft courtesy
Is insincere (seemigly polite but really nettled by him)
	Provocatively apologetic about his discourteous way of dressing
Is untruthful about her real feelings
		Intervenes with a crudeauthority, irritated by Banford's nerves
	Sides with March and provokes Banford again
Provoked, she appeals to what is "rude", but again in untruthful about her real feelings
		Laughs at Banford: ejaculetes"considered rude"
Is defensive, bridles and is extremely uncomfortable (feeling her food stick in her throat)

 

EX 3

 

a)What does Banford find offensive about Henry's manners here?

The way he dresses.

 

b)I wouldn't find Henry's behaviour offensive because it is only his way of dressing.

c)I don't sympathize with Banford's reaction to him this teatime. She is exaggerated.

d)Banford might have found offensive March's manners during the conversation because she doesn't say anything. She isn't agree with March about Henry's dresses. For her it is all right. And Banford doesn't accept this.

 

EX 4

 

Banford doesn't like:

·                               To meet Henry's clear eyes,

·                               The strange glow in his face,

·                               His cheecks with their delicate fine hair,

·                               His ruddy skin,

·                               The quality of his physical presence generally (too hot).

 

PART 2 - NEUROSIS

 

EX 1

 

The tension between Banford and Henry is not relieved during the evening. As the matter of fact they try to read something because they don't want to talk together. But while Henry is reading his book, completely immersed in his story, Banford looks at him. She thinks about her cosy, refined and nice sitting-room and she resents the presence of Henry ("the big, raw, long-legged youth") in that room. Banford feels also fidgety between Henry and March. In this situation no one speaks but the reader can feel a strong tension.

 

EX 2

 

a)

Whose book is reading? One of Banford

What's it about? Probably a captain

How does he look when he's reading? Absorbed in the rather strenuous business of reading; immersed himself in the story

How does he sit? With his knees wide apart

Is his hair tidy? Yes, combed sideways

How does he dress? He's still in his shirt-sleeves and bending forward

What's the general effect? He makes Banford's sitting-room look like a lumber-camp

What does Banford feel? Resentment

How does Henry look?

·                               Size: big, long-legged

·                               General appearance: raw; intense, isolated

·                               Knees: sticking

·                               Wrists: red

 

b)I think that Banford really resents Henry's dresses. But she resents also his unrefined presence in what she considers a very cosy and refined room.

 

EX 3

 

Floor covering	A Turkey rug
Colours	Red sorrounded by a dark stain
Fire-place	Green tiles
Narrator's comment	They're fashionable
The most prominent piece of furniture	An open piano
Narrator's comment	It has the latest dance music Banford plays quite well
Decoration on the walls	Hand-painted swans, done by March
fire	Logs nicely (because tremulously) burning
Curtains	Thick; drawn to keep out the wind and dark
Doors	All shut
Outside	There's a strong wind so the pine-trees are hissing and shuddering
General impression of the room	Cosy; refined and nice

 

The decoration of the sitting-room tells us something about Banford's personality. We can understand that there is a warm person and that the details are important for her. She wants to create a cosy room because she is a warm person. She wants also to have all trim. The colours in the room are red and dark. For example red symbolises passion and Banford is a passionale woman. We can understand that she is a calm person and that she doesn't want to hear the noises from outside.

 

EX 4

 

Activity: crocheting very slowly, but awkwardly

Mouth: is pursed in an odd way

Hair: beautiful, crisp black, straying in wisps

Bearing: absorbed, as if away - in a semi-dream

Hands: red but well-shaped

Hears: the fox singing wildly and sweetly round the house, so a madness

Reaction to Banford: is absent, and goes pale as if with terror; she doesn't want to play the pastime of "penny for them"

Looks at: Henry - involuntarily, thinking she is seeing the fox

Feeling: she reacts crossly and testily when Banford wants an answer

 

EX 5

 

a)Banford's tension:

she's trying to read

Sitting between the other two she feels fidgety

She keeps moving; glancing secretly at the other two, her companions (but not good companions)

Irritated by March's dresses as well as Henry's; and by her crocheting

Her eyes are bad - and the others are not very sympathetic

She has a queer, almost malignant little smile

She wants to know what March is thinking and wants to pay for her thoughts - two penny usual amount as they seem so deep

She speaks to March sarcastically

She tells Henry about how she gets so often on the farm in winter, speaking lamentably; and then mockingly refers to his "hoping to have a lively time here"

She bites her fingers

She gets frightened when she thinks that March is getting as jumpy and nervy as she is herself and cries "I feel I can't stan another thing! Did you mean Henry?"

She wails, "Oh dear, my nerves"

She goes to bed early, and fretfully asks March to come to be early too

 

b)I think that Banford is very tense this evening.

c)"sitting between the other two she feels fidgety", "glancing secretly at the other two", "she asks March to come to bed early too"

 

EX 6

 

Banford's tone of voice at this point (lines 127-152) is sarcastic.

 

EX 7

 

How does the narrator describe Henry at this point?

·                               He laughs quickly

·                               He wrinkles his nose sharply

·                               His eyes shining

·                               He speaks gravely

·                               He looks with admiration, his eyes turn, at March's warm, pale, fine skin and delicate nose; and the curious lifted arch of her brows and wideness of her eyes.

EX 8

 

In my opinion Banford is neurotic in the sense that she is more sensitive but she is also unreasonably frightened.

 

EX 9

 

1)"My nerves are bad to-night", "What are you thinking of?", "Speak with me"

2)"Stay with me", "What is that noise now? What is the wind doing?", "Do you know nothing?", "Do you see nothing?", "Do you remember nothing?", "What shall I do now?", "What shall we do tomorrow?", "What shall we ever do?"

 

EX 10

 

The dialogue scenes that in my opinion are very striking are: the dialogue between Banford and Henry at teatime and the dialogue between the three characters in the evening because the reader can imagine all the situation and he is very involved.

The narrative scenes that are particularly striking are: when March thinks about the fox and when Henry is outside alone absorbed in his thoughts. I think that because the reader is involved in the situation and can put himself in character's shoes.

The descriptive scenes that are very striking are: the description of the place (the farm and the place outside) and the description of the sitting-room. I think that because the author tell us a lot of things about the setting so the reader can imagine very well the place in which the story takes place.

 

PART 2 - I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE FOX

 

EX 1

 

a)March confesses to Henry that she thought he was the fox.

b)She feels self-consciously about what she was saying

c)He is surprised and laughs more times.

d)Henry is foxy because of his behaviour and his manners. From some parts of the story you can understand that he is a very intelligent, brilliant and cunning person. When he speaks with March he is particularly foxy because of his way of speech and his movements.

 

 

EX 2

 

a)What does March say? No, because Jill will be waiting.

b)What does she do? She stays, standing with "one foot loose and her face turned aside, just outside the circle of light".

 

 

EX 3

 

What he says	How he speaks	March	What he does
Won't you marry me?	Lowering his voicelingering more
		She flatly refuses to answer
Is it because I'm like the fox?	Laughing - a queer,young laugh
Let me turn the lamp, and come and sit down a minute			He makes the light dim
		She stays unmoving
You'll stay a moment	Extraordinary soft and suggestive		He stands up
			He puts his hand on her shoulder
		She turns away
			He kisses her neck
		She winces trembles and hangs away
			He kisses her neck
		She drawing erect
			He kisses her quick on the mouth
		She burns through every fibre (feels fire)
You will, won't you?	Murmuring softly and insistently
		She promises to marry him, but at the same moment she goes up to Banford

 

 

PART 2 - HENRY TELLS BANFORD ABOUT THE PROPOSAL

 

EX 1

 

The following morning Henry looks round the place and attends to the stock.

He thinks that one can live easily enough in that place.

His assessment is personal.

 

 

EX 2

 

The narrator uses two adjectives at this point to sum up Banford's personality. On one hand he says that she is good-natured to make us understand that she is a warm person. On the other hand he says that she is nervy to make us understand that she can be irritable easily.

 

 

EX 3

 

No, the tone of the Henry's first question is not very respectful.

 

 

EX 4

 

We're going to get married. Aren't we, Nellie?

 

 

EX 5

 

Eyes: wide, tired, reddened

Generally: thin, frail

Hair: delicate, thin, bobbed

Face: worn

Fingers: thin, delicate

 

EX 6

 

A deep pink colour flushes over her face. = embarrassment

"I hope you won't go talking all over the village, that's all" = embarrassment

she swallowed her dry bread with difficulty. = fear, embarrassment

"You say so, anyway", said March laconically. = sadness

But again she flushed with an agonized flush. = embarrassment

She, too, could swallow no more. = sadness, fear, disappointment

 

EX 7

 

a)

1.when she puts down her knife = it seems that she would never take the knife up to eat any more.

2.when she stares = her eyes are blank and reddened.

3.when she looks at March = she seems a bird that has been shot: a poor little sick bird.

4.when she exclaims "Never!" = she is unable to do anything (helpless).

5.when she turns aside her face = it seems that the sight of the food on the table made her sick.

6.when she says she'll never believe it = she cries and her plainitive, fretful voice has a mix of anger and despair.

7.when she looks back at Henry = she looks at Henry from her wide vague eyes, as if he were some creature in a museum.

 

b)

·                               It seems that she would never take the knife up to eat any more.

·                               She seems a bird that has been shot.

·                               It seems that the sight of the food on the table made her sick.

 

EX 8

 

a)When he says "It's quite right": the youth seems to show pleasure at his success and Banford's failure.

b)When he asks why Banford shouldn't believe his good news: the youth is very impertinent.

 

EX 9

 

I sympathize with Banford because of her comprehensible reaction. The narrator's comment that helps me arrive at my response is: "she seems a bird that has been shot".

 

EX 10

 

a)

I think that the most insulting parts are: "Oh because she can never be such a fool. She can't lose her self-respect to such an extant", "If she hasn't lost it already", "More than it has to do with you, probably". In this parts Banford is particularly rude with Frank.

 

b)

I think that Henry should understand Banford's reaction because he has broken a perfect balance between the two women. He is a foreign and she doesn't accept what he would like to do with March.

But I think that Henry will react in a very negative way because he wants to realize his plan (to marry March) and he wants to remove the obstacle, that is Banford.

 

EX 11

 

The narrator says that Banford's voice is cold, plaintive, drifting, insulting and venomous. She looks at Henry with vague fixity from behind her spectacles.

Henry is also very anger and he answers in a temper. He becomes red and vermilion. He sits stiff in his chair staring with hot blue eyes from his scarlet face and un ugly look has come on his brow.

 

EX 13

 

HENRY:

Outwardly:

·                               the devil still in his face

·                               manners quite polite

Actions:

·                               goes out with the gun and comes back in the evening with a rabbit and a pigeon

Inwardly:

·                               in the devil of a temper feeling he had benn insulted

Outwardly:

·                               [in the evening] his eyes go almost black with rage

·                               His face looks sulkier

·                               He never forgets his polite intonation

 

BANFORD:

Outwardly:

·                               has been crying

·                               Manner more remote and supercilious

·                               When Henry speaks, she turns her head

 

PART 2 - HENRY LISTENS TO WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM IN PRIVATE

 

EX 1

 

Henry was in bed but he could hear the two women talking and arguing in their room. He wanted to listen what the two women were saying. So he went outside his room and stealthily and carefully tried to go near their room. The old oak planks creaked preposterously. He crept very gently up to the one step till he stood outside their room.

 

EX 2

 

No, in my opinion what Henry is doing is not gentlemantly because he eavesdrops on the two women and this is not a good thing to do.

 

EX 3

March has made a proposal: to stay at Bailey Farm together after the marriage. But Banford is not agree because she doesn't want to live in the same house with Henry.

 

EX 4

 

Yes, this makes me feel sympathy for her hostility towards him.

 

EX 5

 

a)

·                               he is aiming at her death within a month. It's his game to see her in the churchyard.

·                               He's only counting on what he can get out of March.

·                               He think he'll live on both. And get Bailey Farm out of them.

·                               He'll make a fool of March and leave her stranded.

·                               He wants to be master of both, as he thinks he's master of March already.

·                               If he can't have the place, he'll run off to Canada, as if he had never known March.

 

b)I think that she is not very correct at this point because she says what Henry will do for her. But she doesn't know really Henry. She is only angry with him because he has broken a balance between she and March. She is exaggereted at this point.

 

EX 6

 

Words reveal: the depth of her self-reproach.

 

EX 7

 

a)Banford picked up some village gossip about Henry: someone says that he doesn't want to work and that he is off with the gun on every occasion.

b)The narrator has already told us about this thing: when Henry (more times) goes out in the fields with the gun and he stays out a lot of time.

 

EX 8

 

a)Banford has decided that she couldn't stop at Bailey Farm if March marries Henry.

b)March says in reply that he is only got two more days.

c)In reply to Banford's attack on Henry's character first of all March says that it wasn't truth. After that she says that they would tell him he can't come at Bailey Farm.

 

EX 9

 

March try to comfort Banford saying that for her he is not as bad as all that and that their relationship won't hurt her.  

 

PART 2 - HENRY SHOOTS THE FOX

 

EX 1

 

Eyes: round and wide

Ears: jumping off his head

Body: frozen stiff

Head: coming off

Mind: he could not sleep

Actions: he went downstairs and out to the kitchen

 

EX 2

 

Henry went out in the evening because he wanted to kill the fox. He hid himself and waited for the animal. He caught the fox in a trap. He shot the fox and the animal died.

 

EX 3

 

The narrator compares him with a cat because he went through the darkness with dilated eyes  that seemed to be able to see in the dark, like a cat.

 

EX 4

 

a)Suddenly he felt the landscape was constricted.

b)Why not watch for him anyhow!

c)He'll be coming.

d)It'll be the last of the foxes in this loudly-barking, thick-voiced England, tight with innumerable little houses.

 

EX 5

 

At this point the narrator uses the word "lad" to refer to Henry. This word is special because it means "a male child, a young boy".

 

EX 6

 

·                               I think that Henry kills the fox because he wants to kill the obsessive image of March's mind. He wants to be her one thought.

·                               The narrator doesn't tell clear the reason/s why Henry kills the fox. He makes only us understand that this animal is a dangerous image in March's mind and that the young man wants to kill off.

·                               March doesn't know what to say when she sees the dead animal.

EX 7

 

In the night we can imagine very well the situation. For example through the text we can hear some sounds: the wind, the cackle of the poultry, the shot and a sound of a window opening.

 

EX 8

 

At first:

·                               A shadow - a sliding shadow

Movements:

·                               Creeping on his belly through the gate, like a snake

·                               He will go up to the fowl door and sniff, then lie for a minute, then prowling, waiting

·                               Soft as a shadow sliding up, crouching with his nose

·                               Beating his paws in death

 

PART 2 - MARCH'S SECOND DREAM

 

EX 1

 

a)

Banford is:

·                               dead

March is:

·                               sobbing her heart out

·                               feeling she had to put into her coffin (the wood-box in the kitchen), she's in agony

·                               full of agony and despair while looking for something to line the box with and the poor dead darling

·                               feeling agony of dream-frustration

·                               covering Jill with a fox-skin

·                               crying and crying till the tears streaming down her face

 

b)In my opinion March's dream is significant. I interpret it like a premonition, that is an early warning about a future event.

 

PART 2 - THE DEAD FOX

 

EX 1

 

The dead fox:
Gender	Male
Age	Maturity
Fur	Handsome, thick
Colour	Golden-red, grey, white
Tail	Wonderful sharp thick
Banford's reaction	She feels sorry for it
March's reaction: ·                               Speech ·                               Foot ·                               Hip ·                               Face ·                               Eyes ·                               Thoughts ·                               Actions	Said nothing Trailing aside Out Pale Big and black White and soft as snow his belly She passed her hand softly down it and quivered
Banford's reaction to Henry:
	Walks pointedly away
Henry's reaction to March:
As always	Henry "He's a beauty, isn't he?"
She seems partly	Shy and virgin
And partly	Grim, matter-of-fact, shrewish
Her words so different from	The look of her big, queer dark eyes
Henry Inside: Outside:	Angry Polite and affable He leaves March alone without say anything

 

 

PART 2 - I'M NOT USED TO THAT WAY

 

EX 1

 

a)Banford tries to re-establish her territorial rights making some relevant questions to Henry about the future.

b)After dinner in the dining-room Banford is writing some letters, March is sewing a dress and Henry is mending some little contrivance.

c)Banford is rude to Henry during the dialogue because she makes him a lot of questions but she wants some answers. Besides she doesn't try to help him because she doesn't want they (a couple married) to stay in the Bailey Farm. She is not courteous with Henry.

 

EX 2

 

Banford is right to be petulant because the presence of the young boy, who has broken the perfect balance between she and March and who has upset her life, is not endurable for her.

 

EX 3

 

a)She says that it is the first time she has heard it and she is not very sure about what to do. As the matter of fact she says that "it depends on how I'm going" because she doesn't want to go jammed up in the steerage, as a soldier's wife.

b)Henry's main concern is the marriage: he would like to marry March before leaving and going towardsCanada.

c)She doesn't reassure really him because she says that she shall have to thinkl about the marriage. And she adds nothing.