THE MAN OF PROPERTY

by John Galsworthy

John Galsworthy was an English novelist and playwright. As a novelist Galsworthy is chiefly
known for his “roman fleuve”, “The Forsyte Saga”. The first novel of his vast work appeared in 1906. The
Man of Property was a harsh criticism of the upper middle classes, Galsworthy’s own background.
Galsworthy was a dramatist of considerable technical skill. His plays often took up specific social
grievances such as the double standard of justice as applied to the upper and lower classes in “The Silver
Box” (1906) and the confrontation of capital and labour in “Strife” (1909).

The author provides us with a description of the Forsyte family gathered for the wedding. He
begins by describing how family members choose a gift for the newly married couple, taking into account
their appearance and social status. The groom talks to young June, George talks to his brother Eustace,
and the author mentions the distinctive features of their appearance.

The main problem raised by the author is the problem of the significance of money and property
and their exposure on the society. The idea conveyed by the author can be defined as the desolation of the
human soul while the significance of material items is getting exaggerated.

The text is narrated in the third person. The narrative is interlaced with descriptions of people's
appearance. To be more precise, the descriptions, occupying the main positions of the text, are connected
by short narrative lines, as if the author went from character to character, describing what he saw. Several
times the descriptions merge into digressions concerning what the characters look like.

The prevailing mood of the passage is cheerful, as we see the pre-wedding bustle, but at the same
time-the mood is felt as unemotional, because we do not see the gestures and behavior of the characters,
we only see their appearance, often plain facial expressions or colorless body parts.

The text does not have a distinct plot structure, we can not distinguish between the climax and
the denouement. Only fragmentary descriptions can be found. There is also no special connection in the
sequence of actions; there are no references to what has been said earlier.

In order to convey the message fully, the author uses various expressive means and stylistic
devices. He starts by comparing a family to a herd of cattle that is staying jointly against a dog when they
are choosing a wedding gift. This image can be deciphered in a way they remind us of sheep, mindlessly
following the herd instinct, and the repetition of the words head to head, shoulder to shoulder indicates
that they do not have any individuality; they are identical to each other.

The author uses various epithets. For instance, prosperous-looking, rumpled appearance, and
many adjectives and phrases describing the appearance of characters: a pale, brown face, very prominent
cheek-bones, sherry-colored eyes, with fearless blue eyes, red-gold hair. etc. According to the description,
this family looks like speechless gems. They are not endowed with speech, although their appearance is
clearly represented. So the woman at the end of the story is compared to a wordless flower.

The repetition of the word "crown" is noteworthy. This reiteration brings an image of relation to
the Royal dynasties, which are usually known for strength and power at least because of the property they
possess.

The metaphorical epithet “shadowy smile” indicates once again that such manifestations of
feelings as a smile are unnatural, imaginary phenomenon when applying them to these people.

Describing the groom, the author uses The periphrasis “The author of the uneasiness”, which
says that the celebration has acquired an air of awkwardness and tension, because even the groom is a
cause for concern, because the guests have to painfully think about how the gift matches his social status.

In conclusion, we can comment on the meaning of the story's title. It is quite simple. The word
Man serves as a generalizing concept for all people of that society. And this generalized person has only
one essential characteristic – property, which has become the sense of his existence.