Understanding the story

1. Where is this story set, and what kind of people are introduced right at beginning?

2. What picture of lan French are we given at the beginning of the story?

3. What sort of women showed such a great interest in him at the beginning of the story and why are they attracted to him? Do they sound like the right kind of friends?

4. Why does the author use the phrase "his trick of blushing"?

5. What is the implication of the word "fishy" used to describe the young artist?

6. What difference is there between the women's picture of Ian French's life and the life he actually leads?

7. What impression does the first description of the inside of Ian French's apartment give you of his true character?

8. What is the purpose of the complicated lists of expenses which he keeps on working out?

9. What is the significance of the season of year when lan first sees the girl on the balcony?

10. What difference does seeing the girl make to fan's life?

11. "She was the only person he really wanted to know." So what great difficulties are there about getting to know her?

12. What similarities are there between the two young people? Do you think they are really well-matched?

13. Do the girl's shopping habits tell you anything about her situation in life?

14. Why does Ian go into the dairy?

15. Why do you think he looks at her "severely" and speaks to her "almost angrily" at the end of the story?

Summarize the story briefly (orally or in writing) in your own words.

Style and language

1. Discuss the author's use of internal dialogue - but find the passages first!

2. Pick out any examples you can find of the use of irony in the author's descriptions of the attitudes of the female artists towards their male colleague.

3. "As neat as a pin" is a fixed phrase in English. How many others can \think of which follow the pattern "as... as..."?

4. What is the effect of Miss Mansfield's use of the impersonal pronoun `one` in the story? Find as many examples as you can and discuss them.

Points for discussion

1. "The spirit of kindness dies very hard in women." Do you think the author means this seriously?

2. What is your opinion of the young man's reactions to the "kindnesses" which the lady artists try to force on him?

3."Idealism" plays an important part in this story in the sense that people invent their own "ideal" images of others. Discuss any examples of this very human reaction which you can find in the text.

4. Likewise, the traditional view of "bohemian" life in Paris contrasts starkly with the reality of lan French's life as an artist. Discuss the difference between ideal and reality as described in this story.

5. Would you say that lan French's daydream of the girl's character is an idealized one?

6. What use is made of descriptions involving colour in this story?

7. What was your reaction to the last line of the story? How would you have ended it?

8. What would you do if you were the girl and were offered the egg you had "dropped"?

9. Who do you think the other person inside the flat is? How do you think the story might go on?

10. Is lan French really a "hopeless case"?

11. Give a full stylistic analysis of the text.