Pictures (short story) - Misplaced Pages

1917 short story by Katherine Mansfield

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"Pictures" is a 1917 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published under the title of The Common Round in the New Age on 31 May 1917 and later as The Pictures in Art and Letters in Autumn 1919. It was then reprinted as Pictures in Bliss and Other Stories.

Plot summary

Miss Moss wakes up in the morning and she is hungry because she didn't have dinner the night before, nor is she going to have breakfast : she cannot afford it. Then her landlady turns up and gives her a letter hoping that it would be the rent, but it is note from an employment agency, saying they will get back to her. The landlady walks out with the letter. Then Miss Moss goes for a walk in the streets of London; she sees a milkboy; she walks into a café where a waitress is saying to the cashier that she was given a brooch the day before. Miss Moss cannot have tea because the café is closed however. Then she goes to Mr Kadgit's but his charwoman tells her he is not there because it is Saturday. Next she goes to Mr Bithem's, an employment agency, and he tells her there is no work for her. She then decides to go into a café and there a stout man sits beside her and then they leave together.

Characters

Miss Ada Moss, a contralto singer. She is unemployed and penniless.
Minnie, the landlady. Miss Moss describes her as 'cockroach'.
the milkboy
the waitress
the cashier
Mr Kadgit
the charwoman
Mr Clayton, a jester.
the chorus
Mr Bithem
the stout gentleman
the wise man

Major themes

Unemployment

Literary significance

The text is written in the modernist mode, without a set structure, and with many shifts in the narrative.

References to other works

The song Waiting for the Robert E. Lee is mentioned; it is perhaps best known as sung by Al Jolson.
The song Heart of Oak is also mentioned, denoting bravery.

Footnotes

Katherine Mansfield, Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics, explanatory notes
Katherine Mansfield, Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics, explanatory notes

External links

Full Text

v t e Short stories by Katherine Mansfield
"Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding" "The Woman at the Store" "How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped" "Millie" "Something Childish But Very Natural" "The Little Governess" "Revelations" "The Escape" "An Indiscreet Journey" "The Wind Blows" "Prelude" "Mr Reginald Peacock's Day" "Feuille d'Album" "A Dill Pickle" "Je ne parle pas français" "Sun and Moon" "Bliss" "Psychology" "Pictures" "The Man Without a Temperament" "The Stranger" "Miss Brill" "The Daughters of the Late Colonel" "Life of Ma Parker" "The Young Girl" "Mr and Mrs Dove" "Her First Ball" "The Singing Lesson" "Bank Holiday" "An Ideal Family" "The Lady's Maid" "Marriage à la Mode" "At The Bay" "The Voyage" "A Married Man's Story" "The Garden Party" "The Doll's House" "The Fly" "A Cup of Tea" "The Canary" "The Sister of the Baroness"

Short stories by Katherine Mansfield

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