Nancy Mitford's From The Water Beetle

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Lesson Seven: Tourists
Nancy Mitford
From The Water Beetle, 1962
Warming-Up
ν Do you like travelling (making tour)? Why or why not? ν What is the purpose of a tourist? for knowledge or culture; for sightseeing pleasure; for relaxation; for seeking novelties; for showing-off of their having physically been to places; for no purpose. ν What are the advantages and disadvantages for a tourist attraction? Economy (hotel, restaurant, shop, entertainment, transportation); new idea; new life-style… pollution (air, sound, litter, spit); being materialistic (greedy for possession, cunning and dishonesty, turning tourist attractions into a stage setting for the mounting of cheap shows
)…
Nancy Mitford (1904–1973) ν Born: November 28,1904, London, England. ν Died: January 30,1973 (aged 68), Versailles, France.
ν Occupation: novelist, biographer. ν Life Experience ν Born and brough up in London. ν Moved to Paris at the end of the Second World War and later to Versailles in1967. ν A well-known public personality, invariably elegantly dressed,lived a busy social and literary life, had a huge number of friends and acquaintances in the English, French and Italian aristocracies, travelled frequently and established a pattern of visits to country houses in England, Ireland and France as well as annual visits to Venice. ν Mitford Sisters ν She was one of the noted Mitford Sisters and the first to publicise the extraordinary family life of her very English and very eccentric family, giving rise to a 'Mitford industry' which continues. ν Politically a moderate socialist, she somehow kept on good terms most of the time with her sisters, despite the extreme political views of Diana, Jessica and Unity, mainly by deploying her acerbic wit. Some of their letters are republished in The Mitfords: Letters between six sisters. ν
Style ν She had a particular "Mitford" brand of humour which became very well known through her novels and newspaper articles and attracted a cult following. ν Her novels,letters, articles and essays are notable for their humour, irony, "teases" and cultural and social breadth. ν Genre ν She is best remembered for her series of novels about upper-class life in England and France, particularly the four published after 1945; ν She also wrote four well-received, well-researched popular biographies (of Louis XIV, Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire, and Frederick the Great).
Major Works ν Highland Fling (1931) ν Christmas Pudding (1932) ν Wigs on the Green (1935) ν Pigeon Pie (1940) ν The Pursuit of Love (1945) ν Love in a Cold Climate (1949) ν The Blessing (1951) ν Madame de Pompadour (1954) ν Voltaire in Love (1957) ν Don't Tell Alfred (1960) ν The Water Beetle (1962) ν The Sun King (1966) ν Frederick the Great (1970)
Paragraph I 1. What is the topic sentence of this paragraph? ν Torcello which used to be lonely as a cloud has recently become an outing from Venice.
2.What is the first part of this paragraph (lines 1-10) about? ν A brief description of the islet Torcello. ν How much do you know about Torcello? ν The name “Torcello” means “Tower and Sky”. ν Torcello is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, 10 km to the north-east of Venice. ν Torcello was officially part of the Byzantine Empire and was ruled by the Bishop of Altino who made the island his official See in the seventh century. ν Torcello became inaccessible in the twelfth century after the lagoon silted up. The increased volume of swampland led to malaria epidemics and the island's inhabitants migrated to the neighbouring settlements of Venice, Murano and Burano, so that Torcello became a ghost town virtually overnight. ν Torcello now has a population of around 20-100 people. ν Torcello's main attractions ν The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, founded in the 7th century and rebuilt in the 11th century, with much Byzantine work including mosaics (e.g. a vivid version of the Last Judgement) surviving. The Gothic bell tower was added to the cathedral in the 11th century. ν Church of Santa Fosca, built in the 11th and 12th century, surrounded by a porticus in form of a Greek cross. ν Attila's Throne, a large stone roughly hewn into the shape of an over-sized armchair, located in the vicinity of the Santa Fosca. It is reputed to be Attila's throne. ν Torcello has attracted many visitors including Ernest Hemingway who spent six months there in 1948, writing parts of Across the River and Into the Trees.
3.How does the author describe Torcello? ν minute island; Venetian lagoon; vineyards and wild flowers; cottages; cathedral; canals; sails; campanile (bell-tower); William the Conqueror (1027-1087; 1066-1087).
4.What impression do you get from the author’s description about Torcello? ν Torcello used to be a peaceful and beautiful island. But now its beauty is being ruined by the pouring tourists.
5. What is the second part of this paragraph (lines 11-35) about? ν A description of the tourists.
6. What is the author’s attitude toward the tourists? Please find out some evidence. ν Dislikes, criticizes, complains. Many more visitors than it can comfortably hold pour into it; All day they amble up the tow-path, looking for what; Probably not one in ten of the visitors has an acquired taste; They wander into the church and look round aimlessly; They come out on to the village green and photograph each other in the throne of Attila; They relentlessly tear at the wild roses and throw them into the canal; They leave the devil of a mess behind them; The tourists are almost incredibly mean, they hardly leave anything on the island except empty cigarette boxes and flapping “Daily Mails”.
7.What is the modern tourists in the author’s eyes? Give an analysis of the tourists as depicted by the author. The modern tourists are the travelers who ν 1) often intrude upon people’s privacy; ν 2) seek novelties and takes pride in the fact of having physically been to places; ν 3) lack tastes and purpose; ν 4) are ignorant and rude; ν 5) ruin the environment; ν 6) look for culture or education.
8.What is the author’s attitude towards the American, British and German tourists? ν Generally, he dislikes the American, British and German tourists. ν From the tone, we can see a little bit difference of his attitude. He shows a little bit neutral attitude to American tourists, negative to British and positive to German.
9.Why is Leader capitalized? Which adjectives would you like to use for the German tourists? ν Germans are used to having a leader in doing anything as was established by Hitler who was called “Fuhrer”, meaning “leader”. ν Tidy, disciplined, boring.
10.Translate the following sentence into Chinese. ν Many more visitors than it comfortably hold pour into it [Torcello], off the regular steamers, off chartered motor-boats, and off yachts (lines 13-15). ν 大批游客涌进托塞罗岛，人数远远超过它能应付裕如地接纳的限度。有的搭乘定时汽船，有的乘租赁的摩托艇，有的乘帆船。
11.Paraphrase the underlined part of the following
sentence. ν Byzantine art is an acquired taste and probably not one in ten of the visitors has acquired it. ν very few visitors.
Look at pictures: Mosaics, Byzantine art (Byzantium Constantinople Istanbul), Madonna (a statue or picture of the Virgin Mary); Attila’s throne (King of the Huns, Scourge of God).
Paragraph II 1.What is the topic sentence of this paragraph? What is this paragraph about? ν More interesting, however, than the behavior of the tourists is that of the islanders. ν A description of the islanders.
2.What is the behavior of islanders ? ν The islanders live in public and behave like actors to extract financial benefit. Young men from Burano dress up as gondoliers and ferry the tourists from the steamer to the village in sandolos (43-44); Eric pesters everyone to buy the dead bodies of sea-horse painted gold (46-47); Sweet-faced old women sit at the cottage doors selling postcards and trinkets and lace (48-50); Babies toddle about offering four-leafed clovers and hoping for a tip (55-56); [How special is a four-leafed clover?] The priest organizes holy processions to coincide with the arrival of the steamer (57-58).
Look at the pictures: Gondolie, Gondola (sandolo), Sea-horse, Four-leafed clover (1st leaf: hope; 2nd leaf: faith; 3rd leaf: love; 4th leaf: luck).
3.What is the islander in the author’s eyes? Give an analysis of the islanders as depicted by the author. ν The islander is a person who is: ν greedy for possession; ν cunning and dishonesty; ν seeing tourism the opportunity of making easy money out of the pollution of their native place; ν turning tourist attractions into a stage setting for the mounting of cheap shows.
Paragraph III 1.What is the topic sentence of this paragraph? ν Torcello is itself again. 2. How does Torcello become itself again? ν The gondoliers shed their white linen jackets and silly straw hats and go back to Burano, taking Eric; ν The sweet old women let the smiles fade from their faces, put away their lace-making pillows, and turn to ordinary activities of village life such as drowning kittens; ν The father of the clover babies creeps about on his knees finding four-leafed clover for the next day. ν The last boat has gone; ν The evening reproaches ring out; ν The moon comes up; ν The flapping Daily Mails blow into the lagoon.
3.Why is drowning kittens (line 70) the ordinary activities of village life? Use your imagination and search for possible reasons. ν Too many to tolerate the mess they made; ν Too many to afford them food; ν Raising for eating; ν To be the symbol of demon. (In Estonian Folklore, a cat is viewed as a demonic and dangerous creature, the (black) cat is interpreted as a witch’s animal or a tool used in witchcraft. Drowning kittens was inevitable in old days. Interestingly, this unpleasant duty was delegated to women, who were compensated with having good luck in growing flax, as a result.)
4.Translate the following sentence into Chinese. ν The evening reproaches ring out, the moon comes up, the flapping Daily Mails blow into the lagoon. Torcello is itself again. ν 晚钟响起了。明月升空，飘荡的《每日邮报》吹到环礁湖里了。托塞罗又恢复了原样。
5.Paraphrase the underlined part of the following sentence and find out what the pun is contained in the sentence. ν As soon as the last boat has gone, down comes the curtain. ν the night is coming. ν With the last boat and tourist gone, both the curtains of evening and play come down. In other words, both the day and play are over.
Reader and Purpose 1.Is the author a willing researcher of the modern tourists? Why or why not? ν No, “it is impossible to avoid them” implies her unwillingness to do that. ν Actually, her original purpose was to seek peace and solitude on the islet for writing her book. Later, she changed her interest to the study of modern tourists and the depraved natives of the island who prostitute their land and themselves for financial benefit.
2.What is the author’s purpose of writing this essay? ν To express the author’s dislike of the tourists for their behavior on the small island and also the way the islanders receive them. ν To criticize, ridicule modern tourism, to expose the irony of modern tourism. ν To warn the modern tourists.
Organization
ν Make an outline of the selection, indicating its major parts and at least the primary subdivisions under each of those.
1) Torcello which used to be lonely has recently become an outing from Venice. a) Tocello's location. b) A general view of Tocello. c) Too many visitors pour into it. d) Most of them are ignorant and rude. e) Concrete description of the visitors: (1) Americans. (2) Englishmen. (3) Germans.
2) The Islanders' activities during the daytime: a) Italians are born actors. b) The island is a stage. c) Everyone plays a part. (1) the young men. (2) Eric. (3) the old woman. (4) the babies. (5) the priest. 3) Torcello becomes itself at night: (a) the gondoliers. (b) the old women. (c) the father of the clover babies.
Writing Techniques 1. Allowing the facts to speak for themselves. ν Facts speak louder than opinions. The author is obviously critical of modern tourists, but she leaves her complaints implicit, contenting with herself with simply describing what the visitors to Torcello do and allowing the facts to speak for themselves. If she had complained openly it would have been more offensive and less effective, and as a scholar, such a style is less suitable to her writing. In leaving her complaints implicit, the effect of sublimity is achieved in her writing. Otherwise, her ideas will seem superficial to the reader.
2. Metaphor ν A metaphor can effectively organize and unify a paragraph or even a group of paragraphs. Paragraphs 2 and 3 are unified in part by the running metaphor which compares the island to a stage set and its inhabitants to actors. What sentences sets up this comparison? Indicate all subsequent words or constructions that continue the metaphor. ν The third sentence of paragraph 2 "The Italian is a born actor..." sets up this comparison. "young man...", "Eric....", "Sweet old women....", "The priest ...", "And so the play goes on", and "...down comes the curtain" — all these continue the metaphor.
3. A varied sentence style 1) Short sentence: ν I got very fond of Eric. ν Torcello is itself again. 2) Long sentence (with several subordinate constructions): ν As they are obliged, whether they like it or not, to live in public during the whole summer, they very naturally try to extract some financial benefit from this state of affairs. 3) Interrupted movement: The flow of speech being broken by something else said. ν Bells from the campanile ring out reproaches three times a day ("cloches, cloches, divins reproches") joined by a chorus from the surrounding islands. 4) Balanced sentence: ν While they eat the Leader lectures them through a megaphone. 5) Parallelism: ν Many more visitors than it can comfortably hold pour into it, off the regular steamers, off chartered motor-boats, and off yachts. 6) Fragment: An utterance that lacks subject or verb or both. ν More cries of bouna fortuna.
4. Allusion: An indirect reference to anything the writer feels should be well known in literature, history and the arts. ν The phrase “lonely as a cloud” (12) is from a poem by William Wordsworth “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”. The following is the first stanza of Wordsworth's poem: “I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils, Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.” This kind of allusion can more vividly express the writer's ideas. For example, the allusion “lonely as a cloud” vividly depicts what Torcello used to be so as to give us a remarkable contrast between its past and present. ν Another quotation “the island is turned into a stage with all the natives playing a part” (42-43) is also an echo from one of Shakespeare's famous plays “As You Like It”. “All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players, They have their exists and their entrances.” This allusion appropriately and naturally offers a running metaphor effectively expressing the born actor playing a part on the stage, trying their best to extract some financial benefit from this state of affairs.
5. Closing by return ν The last sentence "Torcello is itself again" echoes with the first part of Paragraph 1, that is, it is a peaceful and quiet island even a little bit mysterious. It closes by return or returns to beginning.
Sentences
1.How does Miss Mitford use sentence structure to help unify the portion of her first paragraph form line 20,to line 35? ν Miss Mitford uses the S + V sentence structure (they do…) to help unify the portion of her first paragraph from lines 19-20 to line 35.
2.Each of the following sentences is less effective than the original sentences the Author wrote. Why? ν 1) They wander into the church and aimlessly look around (19-20). ν In the original, “aimless” is put at the end of the sentence to arouse our surprise and to emphasize the ignorance of the tourists. So it is effective. ν 2) They know what they are seeing at least (34). ν In the original, “at least” is put for emphasis after the subject, thus a remarkable contrast is seen between the Germans and the other ignorant tourists. ν 3) The curtain comes down as soon as the last boat has gone (64). ν The original is an inverted sentence, which is more vivid with its suspension and end focus.
Diction
1.Is there possibly a double meaning in the phrase “much restored” in line 17? ν Yes, in the phrase “much restored”, there is a double meaning: On one hand, the cathedral is decorated with early mosaics which form the scenes from the hell and these mosaics-hell scenes have just been reconstructed. On the other hand, the cathedral is filled with ignorant tourists whose aimless wandering (indicating the destructiveness and the crowdedness) makes the beautiful scene look like a hell.
2. Comment upon these proposed changes in Miss Mitford’s diction: 1) listen to for undergo (33) ν “undergo” means experience, endure, here it suggests whether they are willing or not, they must go; “listen to” suggests willingness and attention. 2) go for march (35) ν “march” suggests that they go as troops or armies do; “go” is too flat and can not characterize the movement of the soldiers. 3) wander for toddle (55) ν “toddle” means walking unsteadily, referring to a small child’s walking; “wander” is only a general term. 4) discarded for flapping (73) ν “flapping” is a present participle and means moving up and down, so it is more vivid and more appropriate to what the author was describing; “discarded” is a past participle implying being passive and finished.