Aspects Of Narrative (litb1) - Summary Of Victor, James Honeyman And Miss Gee By W.h Auden 3y5h66

Victor Summary The poem starts with Victor as a baby with his father saying, “Don’t dishonour the family name” and “Don’t you ever ever tell lies”. Victor then grows up and goes horse riding with his father before his father dies of heart disease on a frosty December, and buried him in the same month. Following the funeral, Victor’s uncle finds Victor a job at the Midlands Counties bank at the age of 18, which he was good at. Victor stayed at the Peverel, a boarding house when the clerks questioned him whether he has ever had a girlfriend. On the first April, Anna came to the Peverel and makes an impression on everyone, including Victor as he falls in love with her when he met her on the 2nd. It took three proposals before Anna agreed to marry Victor, when on the 3rd time they walked by the Reservoir. Anna doesn’t truly love Victor as she views him “as dull as a wet afternoon”. They married in early august but in mid September, Victor at work heard one of the clerks saying, “what fun I had with her in that Baby Austin car” which made Victor cry at the allotments. Victor looked up at the sunset and spoke to his father up in the clouds, who its he isn’t pleased with him. Victor’s father states that his wife will never be true to him and orders him to kill her. When victor came home, Anna was sitting at the table playing cards and started to speak to Victor, who behaved as he didn’t hear. To carry out his father’s instruction, Victor picked up a carving knife and said, “Anna, it would have been better for you if you had not been born”. Anna became scared and started to run up the stairs, with Victor following her and catching her up at the top. Victor killed Anna and stood there above the body. They tapped him on the shoulder and took him away in a van with him sitting in the corner saying, “I shall come to judge the earth someday!”

James Honeyman Summary James Honeyman was a quiet and shy baby who at nursery liked to strike matches. He went to children’s parties but felt awkward and sat there dissolving sugar. On his eighth birthday he got a chemistry set and his teacher said “he is the cleverest boy we’ve had” but “doesn’t play with the others”. James worked in a laboratory and a scholarship to college leading to a first-class degree. James took an interest in toxic gases and got a job in research with Imperial Alkali, with an ambition of being famous before he dies. At Imperial Alkali there was a girl called Doreen who cut her finger and asked him for iodine. They took a villa on the Great West Road where he built a little shed; causing the neighbours to think that he is going to blow us all up. James was determined to finish his experiment and look for a gas, with a whiff to kill a man. Doreen believed in James when he said that he is going to find it. At midnight, James showed Doreen a glass test-tube that he believed made him worthy of her. Mrs Flower showed interest in the gas who was the agent of a Foreign Power. A gentleman came to see Mr Honeyman who said that “Honeyman’s N.P.C will be heard some day”. Suddenly from the east, aeroplanes appeared dropping the first bomb which hit his diary, the second the cinema and the third, in the garden. James’ son said “Daddy’s invention is going to choke me dead!” Doreen says, “You invented the vapour that is killing those you love.” James feels regret by pleading, “Lock me in the dungeon and throw away the key” with Doreen replying, “You must die, and you know why, by Honeyman’s N.PC!”

Miss Gee Summary Miss Edith Gee is introduced by revealing her address which is, Clevedon Terrace at Number 83. Her appearance is described as a “slight squint in her left eye” and “narrow sloping shoulders”. Her clothes consisted of a “velvet hat with trimmings” and a “dark grey serge costume”. When it is raining, she had a “purple mac” and a “green umbrella to take” on her “bicycle with a shopping basket” with a “harsh backpedal brake”. She was a regular at the Church of Saint Aloysius where she did a lot of knitting for the Church Bazaar. One evening she dreamed that she was the “Queen of ” and the “Vicar of Saint Aloysius” who “asked her majesty to dance.” A storm blew down the palace and a bull chased her with the face of the Vicar. Whilst cycling to evening service she ed loving couples that she felt uncomfortable around. Eventually Miss gee arrived and sat down in the side-aisle and prayed, “Lead me not into temptation, but make me a good girl, please.” Days later, she cycled to the doctor who diagnosed her with cancer due to the pain inside her. Doctor Thomas felt affected by the diagnosis and spoke about it with his wife in a morbid tone. Miss Gee was taken to the hospital where she laid on a table, for the students to laugh at her. Mr Rose cut her in half and turned to his students and said “we seldom see a sarcoma, as far advanced as this”. They wheeled her away to another department who study Anatomy, where they hung her from the ceiling, dissecting her knee.