The Cocktail Party Chapter Summary And Analysis

1. Gary is a widow in upper class. Before she met Ron, she just acted as what the usual wealth women looked like. Staying in the society made up of all the high society people like her. It supposed that it should not happen to her to be friends with the people outside the “society” and let alone marry to him. After meeting Ron, Gary was attracted by his enthusiasm and persistence. However, her society she belonged to does not accept that even her children could not accept their love. She gave up their love under pressure but after talking with the doctor, she finally knew that she could not give up their love. 2. Kay was the daughter of Gary. She was not that disagree with her mother’s marriage with Ron until she could not burden the pressure from the upper class around them. Alida was the woman representing the lower class and she was nice and happy. They lived with their own characters and feelings. However, Sara and Mona represented the upper class where Gary used to belong to. They were living with a mask. Surficially, they accepted Ron; however, they looked down upon him in the next minute.
3.
When they went to the cocktail party, the high society looked down upon Ron because of he was a gardener. However, when they went to the party held in Mick’s house, they were warmly accepted and they were happy without the pressure about their age difference and class difference. These two different scene showed apparently the flaws of the upper class and their distains for lower class. 4. Gary was representing the aristocratic women in the high society. She had the setting way to go with her life. However, after meeting with Ron, she changed step by step, from caring about what other says to fight for their love and finally “came home”. She went through the restriction of the class difference and age
difference. 5. In my opinion, the moral message is directly stated in the film, which is courage and persistence is essential to confront with oppositions and we should live for ourselves. The society should be heaven and everyone should be equal. 6. The music is typically 1950s. It gives me the feel of that year and helps me to get to the emotion of the people in the film and the director. 7. I think maybe there is one motif. The broken teapot. It represents the stage of Gary and Ron’s relationship. Ron showed his admiration by fixing the teapot and Gary broke the teapot when she decided to give up their relationship. 8. In the hunting scene, it seems to suggest that not only the women have the setted way to live but also the men.