A STORY Dylan
Thomas
Author: Dylan Thomas
First Published: 1953
Type of Plot: Social realism
Time of Work: The early twentieth century
Characters:
The narrator:
Mr. Thomas:
Sarah Thomas:
Benjamin Franklyn:
Mr. Weazley:
Noah Bowen:
Enoch Davies:
Will Sentry:
O. Jones:
Subjects: Family or family life, Adolescence, Twentieth century, Drinking or drunkenness, Men, Boys, Great Britain, Wales or Welsh people, Buses
"A Story" is a funny story in which the writer presents the adult's world from a boy's point of view. The narrator of the story is a young boy, who is living with his uncle and aunt. He describes them using a lot of comparisons. The uncle is a very big man, but his house is small. He drops a lot of food on his clothes while eating. He speaks very loudly and has red hair. On the other hand, the aunt is small and quiet. She is compared to a cat because she walks as quietly as a cat. The aunt spends a lot of time cleaning the small house. In this story she gets angry at her husband because he is going on an outing with his friends and will drink a lot of alcohol.
The narrator also describes some of his
uncle's friends who are going on the outing.
For example, there is Bob the Fiddle
who stole the money to pay for the past outing so that he could buy alcohol.
There is Mr. Franklin who is keeping the money for this year's outing. Will
Sentry is following Mr. Franklin everywhere to make sure that this year's money
is not stolen. Finally the boy describes the outing. He has to go on the outing
because his aunt has gone to her mother's house and there is no one at home to
take care of him. The men take a bus and stop at every public house and drink
alcohol. The boy has to wait outside because children are not allowed to enter
the bars. The men go swimming in a river near Porthcawl, but they don't
actually reach their destination. In the evening they cook dinner with a
kerosene stove in the open field.
To sum up, the story criticizes
careless people who lead their life without any aim.
This story is not written
chronological in order. To have better understanding it can be divided into
five episodes.
Episode 1:
The narrator describes his uncle, Mr. Thomas and aunt,
Mrs. Sarah. The couple looked unmatched to the boy, as the former is abnormally
huge and noisy in comparison to the latter, who very small, gauzy and
quiet.
Episode 2:
In this part the boy heard about the outing for the first
time. Mr. Benjamin Franklyn, a friend of the boy’s uncle, came with the news
that everything was going right according to the plan. He said he had collected
enough money for the charabanc and twenty cases of pale ale. In addition to
this, he also declared to give a pound to every member on the first stoppage.
But Will Sentry was skeptical of him as Bob the Fiddle, their ex-treasurer, had
defrauded money on their last outing. After that it was decided that the new
treasurer must show the account clearly.
Episode 3:
On the next Sunday Mr. Franklyn came with the list of the
members going on the outing. Everybody got satisfied and the plan was approved.
It was decided that they would go on the outing on coming Saturday.
Episode 4:
When Sarah heard that Mr. Thomas is going on an outing,
she didn’t like it. She gave him option to choose one between wife and outing.
Quite surprisingly uncle chose the latter. But it does not mean that their
relation is broken after that, Mr. Thomas raised her onto a chair and got punishment
from her, which was always several blows from a china dog. Sarah went to her
mother’s house on Saturday leaving the required instructions in a note like
every year.
Episode 5:
The final part of the story describes the outing and the
peculiar habits of its members from a boy’s perspective. Mr. Thomas took his
nephew with him on the outing. The other members did not like that but they
soon forgot it as they wanted to start at right time for the Porthcawl. But
when they left the village and reached a bit further they found O. Jones missing.
They had to return to village to take him which Mr. Weazley didn’t like. But
when they set off again, Mr. Weazley remembered that he had forgotten his teeth
at home. He requested them to go back to the village but this time on one
listened to him.
In the way they stopped at every pub, assigned the boy to
look after the old bus and drank a lot. The whole afternoon passed in drinking
and at dusk they reached to a stream. They swam in it and forgot that they had
to reach Porthcawl. Actually, they could not reach the place they had aimed for
and returned home from the mid-way. While returning home they didn’t find any
pub open. Thus, the thirty drunkards decided to assemble into a field and drank
more. By this time the boy was so tired that he fell asleep. This humorous
story ends by showing how in our day to day life we run after glamour,
immediate gains, and amusement. The thirty men never reached the destination
they had aimed for as they didn’t realize the value of time. It also makes us
realize that how the grown-ups always dictate the children about the right and
wrong things but they hardly bother what example they themselves set for them.
Q. 1.
Describe the narrator’s uncle and his Aunt.
Ans: The description of Uncle Thomas and Aunt
Sarah is quite humorous. The narrator, who is a small boy, has used child
imagery to describe them. He has used different similes and metaphors and hints
that the couple is unmatched. The Uncle is so huge that the whole room becomes
smaller when he comes in side it. He looks like a buffalo squeezed into an airy
cupboard. He is very noisy and his voice is compared with the trumpet of an
elephant. He doesn’t seem well mannered and when he eats, litters his waistcoat
which is as big as a meadow for the boy.
But
quite opposite to the husband Mrs. Sarah, the boy’s aunt, is quite small. She
hardly makes her presence felt wherever she goes. Unlike her husband, she is
soft spoken, which the boy tells is like the squeaking of a mouse. She is also
a perfectionist and most of her time goes in arranging and dusting the things
in her house. Above all she is a caring wife too. We see when she leaves for
her mother’s house in anger she doesn’t forget to remind Mr. Thomas about food.
The
description of Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Sarah might appear unmatched from a small
boy’s perspective, but the caring attitude of wife towards the husband and
willingness of the husband to get the punishment from the wife also suggest
that there is a good understanding between them.
ONLY ANSWERS ARE HERE
1. The boy, the narrator, feels that he is very happy and boring.
He smells tobacco, cheese, sweet biscuits and snuff. His friends too are of the
same type. They are all care free, good for nothing fellows.
2. The relation
between Thomas and his wife seems good. She lets him drink a little and on
Sunday she doesn’t let him play checkers. When she gets angry, Thomas lifts her
up on the chair or on his arm and she hits him with a China dog on his head. He
doesn’t react this beating. She doesn’t like his outings so she goes to her
mother’s house, although, she prepares some eggs for him. She orders him to
take the shoes off before going to bead. So, instead of some dissatisfaction
the relation seems good.
3. My wife gave me a choice
either to sit with her or to go outing but I chose to go outing and she went to
her mother’s house. On Sunday, I went to Porthcawl with my friends. I took my
nephew with me to the trip but my friends opposed and soon they forgot it. On
the way Mr. Weazley made me laugh because he wanted to bring his teeth from the
house as he forget thinking of eating anything but I suggested to him that
there’s no need. We reached a pub and had a lot of alcohol with friends. We
discussed a lot about different subjects for a long time. We finished all the
things up and went to another pub. The pub was closed but we used to go in
through the back door. I sang songs. On the moonlight we got off the bus and
went to a stream. We were wet. There was no house on the way so we climbed down
the bus and went to the field with some rest cases of beer. We drank all beer
and came to our house at midnight.
4. Really
the plan was to go to Porthcawl for the outings but they never reached there.
When they were going there, they found a pub house on the way. They stopped and
went to the house for drinking. After 45 minutes they finished all the drinks,
so they went to another pub house by bus. They used the back door to drink and
the time was up so they returned home. On the way, they sat on the field and
finished off the rest of the beers. They reached home at midnight the field and
finished off the rest of the beers. They reached home at midnight but they
didn’t reach Porthcawl. They sang and talked about Porthcawl. Because of
drinking, they didn’t reach the planned place Porthcawl.
5. Metaphor and simile are used to make the expression impressive.
Simile is with “like” and “as” but metaphor is without them. It is very useful
in literature.
The narrator has used a lot of simile
and metaphor and he uses different metaphors and simile for the description of
his uncle and aunt, for example, to explain his uncle’s appearance. “like an
old buffalo”, “like hawsers”, “loud check meadow” etc. and for his aunt he uses
‘padded paws’, ‘a quick as a flash’ etc.
