Kalinina Alena

7171
"A bit of Signing and Dancing" by Susan Hill
Essay
Dame Susan Hill is an English author of fiction and non-fiction works. Her
novels include "The Woman in Black", "The Mist in the Mirror", and "I am the
King of the Castle", for which she received the Somerset Maugham Award in
1971. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the
2012 Birthday Honours and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
in the 2020 Birthday Honours, both for services to literature.
The topic of the story is fathers and children, the inner freedom, the human
relationships. The message of this work is every person dreams of their own
freedom. However, often, when he or she gets that freedom, he or she does not
know what to do with it.
The story under analysis present a woman (Esme Fanshow), who had been
left alone after her mother died. The author describes the feelings, emotions and
thoughts of the protagonist. She dreams of learning how to see, move to London
and travel a lot. However, without any waiting, Esme rents a room in her house to
a man. She was happy to live with him under one roof. After a while, Esme learned
that a man is a street musician.
The plot unfolds around three main characters:
1. Esme is 50 years old, spent her whole life with her mother, she has no
family or even friends. She dreams of a great life, but limits herself to
what her mother would say.
2. Esme's mother died two weeks ago. She always taught her daughter
how to live and did not take into account her opinions and desires.
3. Mr. Curry is the man who sells laundry detergent in winter and
summer dances on the street for money. He is a neat and tidy
gentleman. The man grew up without parents in a children's home. He
was, in many countries, and he had a good brain. The person has a
nice look and manners.
The plot can be divided into three logical parts:
I. The taste of freedom
The part is told about how Esme tries to feel the taste of the freedom
after the death of her mother ("She thought, I am free, I may go on or
go back, or else stand here for an hour, I am mistress of myself"). She
often thinks about her future life ("…she would buy a car and learn to
drive, buy washing machine and a television set, she would have a
holiday abroad and…").
 II. Acquaintance with the Mr Curry
The part is about the meeting between Esme and a new lodger (Mr.
Curry). The man is a polite, shy, kind person and he has an ordinary
face. In addition, the author uses one of the tropes is epithet for
description his manners ("…with a nervous finger, a gesture of his
because he was habitually shy").
III. Imprisonment again
The part is how Esme feels like an imprisonment again. It happens
because she thinks and does as her mother does. At the same time,
Esme cannot understand that she is a copy of her mother ("She saw
her mother purse her lips and fold her hands together, refusing to
argue further, only certain that she was in the right").
The protagonist of the story is a dynamic character because when a new
tenant appears, her life seems to be turned upside down and she has a person who
pays for living, food and works. An example, "Esme was cleaning house and
shopping. In the evening, they were reading and talking. She likes him and even
hopes for something more". In the end of the story, she decides to go for a walk
and discovers what kind of job Mr. Curry has. He is just singing and dancing on
the street. At first, Esme becomes angry, because she thinks he has taken her in,
but after some meditations, she understands that she likes truly a bit of singing and
dancing and calms down. Thus, Esme becomes alive and discovers the real
meaning of love a bit of singing and dancing.
The whole story is presented in the form of a partly dialogue between
mother and Esme, partly a monologue of the main character. Even after Esme’s
mother death, her spiritual presence still lingered, haunting Esme's conscious
thoughts. We can see a mother's voice appear in the story. With this author shows
all the power of influence on Esme. "Her mother had always approved of men who
wore gloves. ’So few do, nowadays. Cloves and hats. It is easy to pick out a
gentleman."
To sum up, the main symbol of this story is music and songs. The story
begins by mentioning that Missy Fanshow has always loved a little singing and
dancing. Esme has always been annoyed by it. However, when she found out about
Mr. Kari's work, she had accepted it and even got glad. In conclusion, we see how
the main character who wanted freedom - gave it to the first man she met.