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Question 1
"We are all like flies trying to crawl over the edge of the saucer, Mabel thought, and repeated the phrase as if she were crossing herself, as if she were trying to find some spell to annul this pain, and to make this agony endurable."
Paraphrase, analyze and evaluate the quote.
Analyze and Evaluate: She is using a simile that compares her (and people who feel her pain) to flies stuck on a saucer and trying to will away the pain of her feelings of inadequacy and misery that she feels as she tries to endure the party. A fly is not an attractive insect for comparison. It furthers the reader's understanding of the negative way she views herself as she almost forces herself to stay on the saucer and remain the center of negative comments and unkind words. If she thinks of herself as a fly, she lets the reader know the degree of her unhappiness with herself.
Go to question 2.
Question 2
"I feel like some dowdy, decrepit, horribly dingy fly," she said, making Robert Haydon stop just to hear her say that, just to reassure herself by furbishing up a poor weak-kneed phrase and showing how detached she was, how witty, that she did not feel in the least out of anything."
Paraphrase, analyze and evaluate the quote.
Analyze and Evaluate: Once again, the image of the fly and the diction of the adjectives that describe her as a fly, "dowdy, decrepit, horribly dingy fly," all reveal the sad picture she has of herself. She says this aloud and is overheard and tries to retain respect by pretending her words were in jest and to show by her wittiness that she fits in and deserves to be at the party.
Mabel has a desperate need to belong and feel wanted, but her constant negative thoughts and words about herself let the reader know just how ardently she wants to fit in. She has the wherewithal to pretend she is joking when she is overheard by Haydon, but we know this is how she really perceives herself. She reveals just how crushing this negative self-image is to her ability to connect with others and feel secure.
Go to question 3.
Question 3
"Now the fly's in the saucer…right in the middle, and can't get out, and the milk…is sticking its wings together."
"It's so old-fashioned," she said to Charles Burt, making him stop (which by itself he hated) on his way to talk to someone else.
Paraphrase, analyze and evaluate the quote.
Analyze and Evaluate: She has gone back to this fly simile again to show how she is trapped at the party, like the fly on the saucer and desperate to escape. When she speaks aloud she if referring to her new dress and how wrong it is for the party. Charles overhears her and she imagines he has to stop to be polite even though he planned to talk to someone else. She thinks that a kind word from Charles about her appearance will make all the difference to her and how she perceives herself.
Mabel hates herself and how she looks—comparing herself again to the fly. She mostly thinks the negative thoughts, but occasionally voices them and then winds up trying to cover or explain her comment. She says a word of praise or affection about her appearance from Charles would "change her life" but the reader, who is perceptive about her negative self-image and comments, would probably doubt this would have changed her outlook at all.