A Cup of Tea by Katherine Mansfield Creates a Contrast...

1 2 A CUP OF TEA BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD 3 4 5 Comment [LS1]: The title is linked to the central incident in the story and also acts as a linking device between Rosemary and Miss Smith. As Rosemary emerges from the antique shop in the cold, winter weather, she feels she ‘ought to go home and have an extraspecial cup of tea’. Immediately after that Miss Smith appears, begging desperately for something Rosemary has plenty of but which Miss Smith needs to sustain her existence. Miss Smith’s need for a cup of tea offers Rosemary a chance for the ‘extra-special’ tea she longed for and provides her with the means of creating an adventure for herself. Comment [LS2]: The title also creates a contrast between the bland†¦show more content†¦She stared at a plump tea-kettle like a plump hen above the shopmans head, and her voice was dreamy as she answered: Well, keep it for me - will you? Ill... Comment [LS7]: The apparel tells us that the story is set in the 1920s. Page 3 of 10 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 But the shopman had already bowed as though keeping it for her was all any human being could ask. He would be willing, of course, to keep it for her for ever. The discreet door shut with a click. She was outside on the step, gazing at the winter afternoon. Rain was falling, and with the rain it seemed the dark came too, spinning down like ashes. There was a cold bitter taste in the air, and the new-lighted lamps looked sad. Sad were the lights in the houses opposite. Dimly they burned as if regretting something. And people hurried by, hidden under their hateful umbrellas. Rosemary felt a strange pang. She pressed her muff against her breast; she wished she had the little box, too, to cling to. Of course the car was there. Shed only to cross the pavement. But still she waited. There are moments, horrible moments in life, when one emerges from shelter and looks out, and its awful. One oughtnt to give way to them. One ought to go home and have an extra-special tea. But at the very insta nt of thinking that, a young girl, thin, dark, shadowy - where had she come from? - was standing at Rosemarys elbow and a voice like a