LUCY BECK

health. Lucy managed to convince Miss Broome that the late Mr

Bannister needs her help in the afterlife.

A young seventeen year old lady who got a job as a

secretary at Ross and Banisters
She is a young, shy, a low achiever, not competent and
highly qualified and insecure graduate of secretarial studies.
Lucy Beck was young and small and mouse-coloured, easily
overlooked. She had a lonely O level and a typing speed that
would make a tortoise laugh.
She has a very low self esteem, inferior complex, no
confidence and pessimistic. She is wondering who will employ
her as she is aware of her inadequacies. Lucy assumes that there
are more qualified and brighter people than her who are qualified
for the job vacancy.
She became ambitious, determined and optimistic to
change her life style. Lucy is tired of being poor and she is fed
up with macaroni cheese and baked beans. She is also sick of
wearing second-hand clothes. She gathered her strength and
determined to get a job to get out of poverty.
Lucy becomes enthusiastic and a quick learner when
she got a job. She also became courageous when she has to face
the conflict with the spirit of Miss Broom. Lucy got a job at Ross and
Bannister, a small firm with a factory just outside the town.
She is so excited so came to her work place on Monday morning, at
ten to nine and waited as the door to the office is closed. She faces
problems when each time she types, the word QWERTYUIOP
appears on the paper. When she finds that it was the ghost of Miss
Broom, she became courageous and keeps typing and liquid the
unwanted words and reached the end of the letter by triumph.
Lucy became sympathetic, caring, insightful and
understanding after knowing Miss Broomes history. She took the
initiative to look for an amicable solution. Lucy is shocked when she
heard the news about Miss Broome from Harry Drake. She was
forced to stop working after she had been working for forty three
years. Lucy sympathizes Miss Broome and tells her that Mr
Bannister is only acting out of concern as he was worried of her

GHOST OF MS.BROOME :
The spirit of Ms Broome who haunts the office where she
once worked as she is so attached to her job.
Loyal, dedicated and took her job seriously at Ross and
Bannisters.Ms Broome had worked for forty three years :girl,
woman, old misery. She is unwilling to let go of her position and
continues to defend her post, even after her demise.
Lonely as she had no family and friends.The office was
her home; the job was all she lived for as she did not have any
family of her own. She had no place worth to go and she insists to
stay on.
She is persistence, vengeful and also possessive over
her secretarial job at Ross and Bannisters.Miss Broome dies
but she does not want to leave her job and insist to stay on. She
types nasty messages to new secretaries to instil fear. The
typewriter rocked as if with laughter, its keys clicking like badly
fitting false teeth. She creates havoc with intention to scare those
who will replace her place at the office.
Finally, she is understanding and realistic. Miss Broom was
convinced that she should leave as her help was needed.
Miss Broom left the office permanently after Lucy managed to
convince her that Mr Bannister needs her help in the afterlife. The
typewriter became silent; sunlight glittered on its keys making
them looked wet.

Forgiving
and
compassionate.
She
had
an
argument/quarrel with Uncle Bert and had turned him out once. Six
weeks later, she asked him to return as she sympathize him. She
said he looks so lonely, so lost, living all by himself in a horrid little
room with the worn lino and the curtains all shrunk.

HARRY DARKE:
Ross and Bannisters handyman. He is an old man who has
been working with the company for years.
Helpful and concern. He does all the odd jobs in the office
and helps out new employees. He is helpful in giving useful
information to Lucy regarding the spirit of Miss Broome and shows
concern to her. He even told Lucy not to be like a frightened mouse,
and not to worry. His guidance helped Lucy a lot in solving the
problem she faced with Mrs Broomes spirit that lingered around
the office.
A loyal worker at Ross and Bannisters.He has been
working for thirty years with Ross and Bannisters, retired with a
silver watch but still cant keep away from his job.
Encouraging and supportive to his colleague. He
praises Lucy for her braveness and determination to keep on her
job even after she has confronted the spirit of Miss Broome. He said
that Lucy is no longer the timid mouse and she is a right little lion.
Then he gives her chocolate biscuits with her tea as a credit and
encouragement.

LUCYS MOTHER/ MRS BECK

She is a patient and hardworking housewife who live a hard
life. She has to support her brother.
Content with her status in life. Mrs Beck is satisfied with
her status, she said to Lucy that We are jumble sailors on the
rough sea of life. Thus she accepts her fate and shows no actions
or thoughts of wanting more than what she has in life.

Patient.Lucy could not help wishing her mother would

sometimes lose her temper, shout, scream, throw saucepans at the
spinning, grinning head of Uncle Bert.
Low expectations.She does not expect Lucy to get a job
as she was not confident in Lucys ability.

UNCLE BERT :
A drunkard man who depends on his sister for support.
Dependable and irresponsible. He drinks heavily and
borrows money from Lucys mother.
Caring. He is concern of Lucy and thought to prepare her
supper since she is now a working girl.

MR. ROSS : Lucys boss

Accommodating and concern. He is easy to deal with, willing to
help and even offers to do something about the typewriter if any
problems continue.

Everyone is driven by his or her own determination to

succeed, such as the determination to be outstanding among
others. This determination is an innate quality hidden in our soul,
which can only come to surface when an event irks it. This quality
is not divinely imprinted on our souls; rather it is a reflection of our
values taught us by society and those who are an integral part in
forming our character.

This story is about a seventeen - year - old girl called Lucy

Beck, who had just received a diploma from a secretarial college.
With the diploma, she hoped to secure a job as a secretary. Her
principal, Mrs Price however did not have much confidence in her
because she was wet behind the ears. She had to overcome several
conundrums in life, especially in facing the spirit of Mrs Broome
who was nasty and kept scaring away young and secretaries.

THEMES
DETERMINATION:
Lucy has strong determination to keep her job as secretary of
Ross and Bannisters despite the supernatural forces that
tries to fail her. Miss Broomes spirit lingered in the room
where Lucy works and demands her to leave but she shows no
signs of giving up. Lucy is steadfast in defending her
position as the secretary and she battled fearlessly with
the spirit of Miss Broome who haunted the typewriter that Lucy
was working on.
Lucy has been labelled by her college principal as
somewhat 'low achiever'. She was constantly troubled by the
spirit of Mrs Broome, yet she managed to complete typing a
letter to her boss. This story shows that determination could
greatly boost out human potential!

shares her happiness with her mother when she was

successful of obtaining a job as a secretary.

COMMITMENT AND LOYALTY:

Lucy and Miss Broome are both committed and loyal to
their profession. Lucy takes her work seriously and does
the job of typing which was given to her successfully. She has to
face the battle with Miss Broome who is still attached to her
work even after her death. Lucy did not give up even when
Miss Broome demanded her to leave. Miss Broome was so
possessive towards her job and also extremely loyal towards Mr.
Bannister. Lucy managed to convince her that the late Mr
Bannister needs her so she left the office in order to continue
her service to Mr Bannister in the afterlife.

THE SUPERNATURAL:
Supernatural is being above or beyond what is
unexplainable and natural by natural law. The character of
Miss Broome in this story is presented as an ethereal entity.
Her spirit lingered in the office where she used to work and
haunts the new young secretaries who are supposed to
replace her. She writes nasty messages and tries to drive
away those who were chosen to replace her. She instils the
fear and eerie feelings in their hearts to frighten them.

FAMILY LOVE AND CARE

Lucys mother is a responsible lady who takes care of
Lucy and her brother despite of the hard life they have to go
through. She manages to keep the bond of family love by
forgiving Uncle Bert and accepting him back into the
family. Lucy also regretted for being rude to Uncle Bert when
she sees his shaking hands and miserable eyes, she apologizes
and maintain the family bond. Lucy loves her mother and

The theme of compassion is revealed in the final

confrontation between Lucy and Miss Broome. After
hearing about Miss Broomes life history from Harry Drake, Lucy
became sympathetic and understanding. She interacts
with the spirit of Miss Broome through typing on the
typewriter and finally she managed to convince her of
leaving the place. She told her that Mr Bannister needs her

in the afterlife and the spirit left in peace. Compassion is

also revealed by Mrs Beck to her brother who is lonely and
needed a place called home. Lucy also had compassion towards
her Uncle Bert and sympathize him as he is a lonely person
who has no place to go.

Understanding/ Empathy
It is shown that Lucy's character in this short story as to have
not much empathy or understanding by people around
her. Take her mother for example, even she doubts when
Lucy first tells her that she gets a job. Not just that, her
college principal also thinks that she is a low achiever and
wonders if she could get a job once she graduates. Ironically,
Lucy seems to show lack of empathy and understanding
to people around her, for example, Uncle Bert. Having Uncle
Bert living with Lucy, she feels disgusted as he does not have
a job and furthermore drinks. She judges him poorly as he
drinks heavily and worse, has no place to stay but her house.
She treats him badly until she realizes that her insensitivity
hurts her uncle. Then she realizes that some people need other
people to show a little concern and be understood .Towards
the end, it could be seen that Lucy starts to show some
understanding and empathy, especially towards the ghost of
Miss Broome which later leads her to come out with plan so that
the ghost of Miss Broome leaves unconditionally, and allows
her to keep her job in peace.

Moral Values
1. We should not give up in life
Lucy has strong determination to keep her job as secretary of
Ross and Bannisters despite the supernatural forces that
tries to fail her. Miss Broomes spirit lingered in the room
where Lucy works and demands her to leave but she shows no
signs of giving up. Lucy is steadfast in defending her
position as the secretary and she battled fearlessly with
the spirit of Miss Broome who haunted the typewriter that Lucy
was working on.
Lucy has been labelled by her college principal as
somewhat 'low achiever'. She was constantly troubled by the
spirit of Mrs Broome, yet she managed to complete typing a
letter to her boss. This story shows that determination could
greatly boost out human potential!

2. We should be understanding and empathy to others

, Lucy seems to show lack of empathy and understanding to
people around her, for example, Uncle Bert. Having Uncle Bert
living with Lucy, she feels disgusted as he does not have a job
and furthermore drinks. She treats him badly until she realizes
that her insensitivity hurts her uncle. Then she realizes that
some people need other people to show a little concern and be
understood. Towards the end, it could be seen that Lucy
starts to show some understanding and empathy,
especially towards the ghost of Miss Broome which later leads
her to come out with plan so that the ghost of Miss Broome
leaves unconditionally, and allows her to keep her job in
peace.

3. We should appreciate others sacrifice

During Miss Broome lifetime, she had been a very good

employee to Mr. Bannister even taught of the office and her job
as her only life until her boss found that she was too old for the
job and could not perform effectively anymore when he quit her.
Miss Broome was totally upset with this that set her to have
grunge on new secretaries even after her death. Her spirit
lingered in the office where she used to work and haunts the
new young secretaries who are supposed to replace her.
She writes nasty messages and tries to drive away those
who were chosen to replace her. She instils the fear and
eerie feelings in their hearts to frighten them.

4. We should be tolerable and diplomatic in handling

problems
While encountering the ghost of Miss Broome attacks, Lucy gets
scared. However, she learns about Miss Broome's late life from
Harry Drake. Then, she plans a strategy to convince the ghost of
Miss Broome to leave instead of forcing or fighting with her
attacks unmannerly. Lucy shows that she has quality of
determination when she determines to complete her letter
typing and fights her attack. She comes out with plan so that
the ghost of Miss Broome leaves unconditionally, and allows
her to keep her job in peace.