Chapter 1.5: The New Dress
EXTRACT 1
(Textbook pages 44 and 45)
“Mabel had her first serious… Mrs. Dalloway’s drawing-room.”
This extract introduces Mabel and her feelings of inadequacy as she attends a party.
A1. Complete the following:
(1) What depressed Mabel was… (2) The feeling that grew stronger as she went upstairs was… (3) The eyelids of the guests…
Answer:
(1) What depressed Mabel was her appalling inadequacy, her cowardice, and her mean, water-sprinkled blood. (2) The feeling that grew stronger as she went upstairs was that something was not quite right. (3) The eyelids of the guests flickered and then shut rather tight.
A2. Pick out the sentences from the extract which describe the ambience of the party at Mrs. Dalloway’s place.
Answer:
At Mrs. Dalloway’s place, Mrs. Barnet was attending to the guests to help them with all the appliances for tidying and improving hair, complexion, clothes, kept on the dressing table. Besides this, there was a looking-glass hung in a shady corner.
A3. There is another character mentioned in this extract. Discuss the way his/her reactions help us to understand the inferiority complex of Mabel.
Answer:
Mrs. Barnet, the maid, touched the brushes and drew Mabel’s attention, rather markedly, to the appliances kept on the dressing table for improving one’s looks. She indirectly indicated to Mabel that something about Mabel’s looks was not quite right. Mabel immediately lost whatever confidence she had. This shows us that Mabel’s inferiority complex was so deep and strong that even a housekeeper’s hint rattled her and made her lose confidence.
A4. Describe the criteria you use to choose a dress/outfit.
Answer:
(This is a personal response question, so there are no citations from the text.)
A5. Language Study (Do as directed):
(1) Mabel had her first serious suspicion that something was wrong as she took her cloak off. (Choose the correct Wh-question to get the underlined part as the answer.)
(a) What was Mabel’s first serious suspicion as she took her cloak off? (b) When did Mabel have her first serious suspicion that something was wrong? (c) How was Mabel’s first serious suspicion that something was wrong? (d) When did Mabel take her cloak off?
(2) What a hideous new dress! (Choose the correct assertive sentence.)
(a) The new dress hideous. (b) Isn’t the new dress hideous? (c) What hideous new dress. (d) The new dress is very hideous.
Answer:
(1) (b) When did Mabel have her first serious suspicion that something was wrong? (2) (d) The new dress is very hideous.
A6.
(1) Pick out two words from the extract formed by using prefixes. (2) Write the noun forms of: (a) improve (b) suspect
Answer:
(1) inadequacy, dissatisfaction (2) (a) improvement (b) suspicion
EXTRACT 2
(Textbook pages 48 and 49)
“Then Mrs. Holman… pretended to feel it.”
This extract highlights Mabel’s encounter with Mrs. Holman and their differing perspectives on sympathy.
A1. Match the sentences from Box A and Box B and rewrite the completed sentences:
Box A
(1) Mrs. Holman did not notice Mabel’s dress because… (2) Mabel was angry because… (3) Mrs. Holman leaned forward and told Mabel… (4) Mabel compared the clamour and greed of human beings for sympathy…
Box B
(a) Mrs. Holman treated her like a house agent or messenger boy. (b) how her eldest boy had strained his heart running. (c) to a row of cormorants, barking and flapping their wings. (d) she was worried about her family.
Answer:
(1) Mrs. Holman did not notice Mabel’s dress because she was worried about her family. (2) Mabel was angry because Mrs. Holman treated her like a house agent or messenger boy. (3) Mrs. Holman leaned forward and told Mabel how her eldest boy had strained his heart running. (4) Mabel compared the clamour and greed of human beings for sympathy to a row of cormorants, barking and flapping their wings.
A2. Complete the following:
(1) Mrs. Holman’s eldest boy had… (2) Mabel compared human beings to…
Answer:
(1) Mrs. Holman’s eldest boy had strained his heart running. (2) Mabel compared human beings to a row of cormorants, barking and flapping their wings for sympathy.
A3. Describe Mrs. Holman’s approach toward ‘sympathy’, from the extract.
Answer:
According to Mrs. Holman, she could never get enough sympathy. When Mabel responded to her in support, she snatched it greedily. She felt as if it was her right to gain people’s sympathy and that she deserved more sympathy than what was shown by Mabel. She felt that Mabel was being miserly with such little sympathy for her.
A4. Share your experience with example, if your attention often wanders when people are talking to you.
Answer:
(This is a personal response question, so there are no citations from the text.)
A5. Language Study (Do as directed):
(1) Mrs. Holman looked at it suspiciously. (Choose the correct alternative by using the adjective form of the underlined word.)
(a) Mrs. Holman had a suspicion on it. (b) Mrs. Holman gave it a suspicious look. (c) Mrs. Holman suspected it. (d) Mrs. Holman was suspecting it.
(2) It made her furious to be treated like a house agent. (Choose the correct alternative to identify the tense of the sentence.)
(a) Simple Present Tense (b) Simple Past Tense (c) Present Perfect Tense (d) Simple Future Tense
Answer:
(1) (b) Mrs. Holman gave it a suspicious look. (2) (b) Simple Past Tense
A6. Write the meanings of:
(1) scarlet fever (2) self-loathing
Answer:
(1) scarlet fever – a bacterial illness; symptoms are a bright red rash that covers most of the body, a sore throat and a high fever. (2) self-loathing – self-hatred.