Tales of the Unexpected 1

<Tales of the Unexpected>

Journal 1

 

*I'm not sure if I'll be able to access internet while I'm away, so I'm posting a bit early. There's just too much you can read into this stuff, and a 700 words limit is tough... I hope I at least made some points clear. These stories are packed, once you try to read into them.

 

 

 In all of the short stories we have encountered so far, there is a common theme. The dark elements of human nature are illuminated repeatedly in every story. But not only do the main characters show this aspect, but I condemn every single character for having and displaying such dark elements. In <Taste> it is easy to see Richard Pratt as a repulsive pratt, but isn’t Mr. Schofield guilty as well for betting his daughter? And his daughter as secular for eventually accepting? The man overseeing the bet and the girl that follows in <Man from the South> may show their dark nature as obviously as the actual betters. But the fact that curiosity and entertainment kept them from stopping the utter nonsense, even helping and watching, reveals them. There are many more, but I would like to focus on one character specifically for this journal.

It is quite obvious in <My Lady Love, My Dove> that the wife Pamela is dominant over her husband Arthur as they plot mischief. The submissive, weak, inferior dark side of Arthur is shown in this aspect. Pamela comes from a richer family, is literally bigger than him, and is less discreet about her idea of ‘fun’. Pamela’s big, white face represents superiority and up-class, and also reminds me of the Queen of Hearts from the 2010 <Alice in Wonderland> movie. The first person to speak in the story is Pamela, not Arthur. On page 50 Pamela says “You know you disliked them as much as I did,” forcing her emotions on Arthur as if he were a mere component of herself. On page 51 is a lengthy description of the house and garden which shows their wealth, but Arthur readily calls it “My wife’s house. Her garden,” and makes no attempt to call it his, or even theirs. Then when objecting to Pamela’s plan and her pointing out that he had played tricks before, he says “That was different. It wasn’t our house. And they weren’t our guests.” This stroke me as odd coming from a man—it seems almost domestic, and perhaps implies a gender role change between the two. And Arthur eventually does as Pamela wishes.

Arthur has a knack of making excuses to and for himself. As mentioned, Arthur is more submissive to his wife. Arthur is intimidated by her, but tries to deny it. On page 51 the lines “Mind you ~ the way she carries on.” show an example of Arthur trying to give excuses. On page 56 “It was nothing much, mind you ~ lager stockholdings.” we find Arthur playing down his sneaky actions and justifying himself. This makes one wonder if his initial reluctance to Pamela’s plan is just a façade to get her to urge him, thus putting the responsibility and blame on her.

Despite all this, Arthur is no less mischievous than his wife. When Pamela first proposes her plan to eavesdrop on the Snapes on page 52, Arthur responds that “That’s about the nastiest trick I ever heard of. It’s like—why, it’s like listening at keyholes, or reading letters (…)” But on page 54 Pamela reminds him that Arthur did exactly that—reading letters of other people. So he has proved that he is really no better than his wife, only more discreet and passive. Pamela even goes to pin-point it for him on page 53, “(…) I’m a nasty person. And so are you—in a secret sort of way. That’s why we get along together.” Another thing to consider is on page 55 as Arthur goes to ready the mike, “I hesitated. It was something I made a point of doing whenever she tried to order me about, instead of asking nicely.” Of course, Arthur ended up doing just as Pamela wanted, but the point is that Arthur was not hesitating because he was opposed to the idea of eavesdropping, but just to set Pamela off.

There is much more that can be read into, and perhaps I am reaching too far. But Roald Dahl has clearly portrayed many dark sides of human nature in just one character.