With eyes open we look to the class structure so present in London and English society, specifically the upper classes reliance on the lower. The daily activities of the upper class would not be possible if were not for a maid or a driver or someone else. They act like the poor are so much different from them; systematically separating the two groups, yet need them for the simplest of tasks. Their success is dependent on someone else being there to pick up the slack. Success here meaning economic gain, but also holding a certain image to the rest of the public. This social tension is cleverly expressed in Katherine Mansfield’s “Life of Ma Parker.” Ma Parker cleans up the literary Gentleman’s messes, silently moving through the background of
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He can pay someone to clean up after him and mother him past childhood, he can afford to get mad at his workers, he has to money to be compared and have many things in common with Lennie. If the gentleman wanted to cry, he could anywhere or in his flat, he has choices. If he did not have money or was not born into the middle class he would not be able to tramp around like he does, he would need to do something to make money and act like an adult. Ma will never have enough money not to be a working mother. She will always have to take care of someone to survive. In the last scene of the story, she is running through London trying to find a space where she can just be her without all these attachments, a place she can mourn for all the terrible things that have happened in her life, but she cannot find one. Ma Parker exclaims, “Wasn’t there anywhere she could hide and keep herself to herself and stay as long as she liked not disturbing anybody, and nobody worrying her?” (266). She recognizes her role and that, because she is lower class, she can never escape it. She cannot sit and cry because she is supposed to be the one that is always calm – she takes care of things, she does not need …show more content…
There is no space in London for a woman who wants to transverse social norms, especially if they are low class and especially if the higher classes depend so much on her to be a feeling-less working robot. Mansfield’s is not a positive take on London, but it is an important one. The class divide is force still felt in London, less today than in previous years, but it is still there. Rich and poor still live in different areas and there is an everlasting undercurrent that service workers should hide their humanity (should not act like they have other issues and just pour the coffee). Mansfield points out all the problems with this desire. Ma Parker was a mother figure her whole life, when people stop needing her she cannot function and she cannot escape being needed. As exemplified with her relationship to the Literary Gentleman, he will always need her to cleanup his house and to remind him that he is “better.” The upper classes unending need for the lower classes to service them, by cleaning or cooking but also by being used as a comparison to themselves, is proven to be a central power working in London. Mansfield does not offer solution, just a reality. Class struggle has been a apart of this society for hundreds of years and modern awareness will not eradicate it in a
He can pay someone to clean up after him and mother him past childhood, he can afford to get mad at his workers, he has to money to be compared and have many things in common with Lennie. If the gentleman wanted to cry, he could anywhere or in his flat, he has choices. If he did not have money or was not born into the middle class he would not be able to tramp around like he does, he would need to do something to make money and act like an adult. Ma will never have enough money not to be a working mother. She will always have to take care of someone to survive. In the last scene of the story, she is running through London trying to find a space where she can just be her without all these attachments, a place she can mourn for all the terrible things that have happened in her life, but she cannot find one. Ma Parker exclaims, “Wasn’t there anywhere she could hide and keep herself to herself and stay as long as she liked not disturbing anybody, and nobody worrying her?” (266). She recognizes her role and that, because she is lower class, she can never escape it. She cannot sit and cry because she is supposed to be the one that is always calm – she takes care of things, she does not need …show more content…
There is no space in London for a woman who wants to transverse social norms, especially if they are low class and especially if the higher classes depend so much on her to be a feeling-less working robot. Mansfield’s is not a positive take on London, but it is an important one. The class divide is force still felt in London, less today than in previous years, but it is still there. Rich and poor still live in different areas and there is an everlasting undercurrent that service workers should hide their humanity (should not act like they have other issues and just pour the coffee). Mansfield points out all the problems with this desire. Ma Parker was a mother figure her whole life, when people stop needing her she cannot function and she cannot escape being needed. As exemplified with her relationship to the Literary Gentleman, he will always need her to cleanup his house and to remind him that he is “better.” The upper classes unending need for the lower classes to service them, by cleaning or cooking but also by being used as a comparison to themselves, is proven to be a central power working in London. Mansfield does not offer solution, just a reality. Class struggle has been a apart of this society for hundreds of years and modern awareness will not eradicate it in a