The Shri Ram School Aravali

Subject: Literature (Prose)

Topic: The Singing Lesson (Study Material)
Class: XII

About the author –

 Katherine Mansfield is one of the most talented writers of the modern short story in
English.
 Known for her realism, her ability to realistically capture a moment in time, her
psychological analysis in her stories which explore the inner recesses of the mind
and unearth dramatic situations in the life of her characters.
 This story is an excellent example of Katherine's ability to understand human
psychology.

Context –
 First published in 1922- in the collection The Garden Party, and other Stories.
 Uses a working woman’s point of view at a time when there were very few
professions open to women. The author has chosen one of the acceptable professional
settings for women at the turn of the twentieth century.
 Uses simple language and style to highlight complex issues.
 Using her internal monologue, Mansfield shifts in and out of the protagonist’s mind
and successfully reveals her psychological state.
 She uses simple language to highlight complex issues – attempting to realistically
capture a moment in time – presents a working woman’s psyche and the effects
of a traumatic incident on her public and private selves.

Title –
 Apt and suggestive.
 Has a dual meaning—one is the act of teaching music to students and the other being
the cathartic effect of music in both expressing and reliving various moods and
emotions.
 It is through a short singing lesson that the readers come to know of the protagonist’s
inner turmoil and anguish.
 Music is central to the story- it reflects Miss Meadows’ troubled self.
 Lament is the first piece – sung altogether without emotion first, in a lifeless voice.
 With the receipt of an apology from Basil, the switch to a congratulatory and joyous
song reflects her changed mood.

Setting –
 Autumn morning.
 Story set majorly in the music hall of an all-girls school where the singing lesson
takes place, while a small part takes place in the headmistress Miss Wyatt’s room
where Miss Meadows reads the telegram from Basil, her fiancé. The music hall

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 becomes the space for revealing her innermost troubles and worries. It is here that the
choice of a sad and happy song reflects her mood and feelings.

Timeline of the story –

 Mansfield’s “The Singing Lesson” – deals with a music teacher, Miss Meadows, who
directs her class based on her changing moods.
 Story begins with Miss Meadows’ “despair—cold, sharp despair” – the schoolgirls’
“gleeful excitement” stands in stark opposition to her heart bleeding with pain and
filled with despair.
 Encounter with the science mistress – she looks “frozen” - fears what is paining her
has been exposed (“Had she noticed anything?”)
 Behaviour in classroom – complete contrast to usual behaviour – her mannerism
reveals she is upset – remembers the letter – defies what students think about her
(““Meady is in a wax." Well, let them think it!”)
 Indifference towards Mary – to the “horror” of her favourite student/totally ignored
the chrysanthemum” – coldly asks girls to turn to page 14 – A Lament
 Mary blushes “until tears stood in her eyes” – Meadows moves to the music stand.
 Asks children to sing the song altogether and without expression.
 – down comes her baton – girls chime in with “mournful voices”.
 Song affects children deeply – “Every note was a sigh, a sob, a groan of awful
mournfulness”.
 The Lament reflects her mood – lyrics of song paint a gloomy picture – is
constantly thinking of what could have made Basil write a letter suggesting breaking
their engagement.
 Remembers the last time he has come to see her – “How handsome he had looked in
that bright blue suit, with that dark red rose! And he knew it, too” – his narcissistic
character revealed.
 Meadows talks to children in such a “strange, stony tone that the younger girls began
to feel positively frightened”.
 Asks them to sing with expressions – “As much expression as you can put into it” –
asks them so to sing “Drearr” as if the “cold wind were blowing though it” – her
instructions are so awful that Mary “wriggled her spine” – tells them that when they
sing “Away, you must begin to die”.
 Her instructions to the children to capture the song’s tone and mood with their voices
– to match her pain and desolation.
 Her inner turmoil is further revealed – preoccupation with his letter – engagement was
a surprise for everyone, even her – “it had been a miracle, simply a miracle”.
 Her personal self seeps into her public persona – conflict and inner turmoil
revealed in the way she handles the class and interacts with students.
 Asks the children to “repeat” the song and sing with “More expression!” – The
older girls “were crimson; some of the younger ones began to cry”.
 Her desperate need for acceptance and dependence on the relationship with Basil
revealed – begs him to love her – “Love me as little as you like.”
 In desperation she decides to leave school to avoid embarrassment of facing others
once they came to know of it – “She would have to disappear somewhere.”

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  Headmistress calls for her – asks the girls to remain quiet while she is away – the
girls, however, “were too subdued to do anything else. Most of them were blowing
their noses.”
 has received a telegram from Basil – says “Pay no attention to letter, must have been
mad”.
 She returns to class on “wings of hope, of love, of joy, Miss Meadows sped back to
the music hall, up the aisle, up the steps, over to the piano”.
 She returns to class – sings a song of celebration – accepts chrysanthemum “held it to
her lips to hide her smile” – cheerful – her voice loudest amongst all – cheers the girls
up – “Don’t look so doleful girls. It ought to sound warm, cheerful, eager”.
 Ending reveals how preoccupied she was with Basil’s letter.
 Her life – public and personal – is intertwined with Basil and his acceptance of her as
his wife.

Analysis –
 The story is a commentary on how social pressure can affect the perception of and
the confidence of women - denounces the society of that age which limited and
defined a woman’s worth, existence and importance only by her marital identity.
 The story highlights the insecurities of women of those times and how subtle and
almost invisible patriarchy continued to force itself on and oppress women through
the societal norms of defining a woman's identity through her marital status.
 Mrs. Meadows’ identity oscillates between who she is at school and who she is in a
man-woman relationship.
 A recurring theme in the text, marriage feels more like an arrangement between
Miss Meadows and Basil, than a love affair.
 Mansfield concentrates on Miss Meadow’s internal struggle in this story whose
personal life becomes interconnected with her professional duties as a teacher.
 The story revolves around a singing lesson that the protagonist undertakes in her
professional space, which involves two moving moments of her life which are
seamlessly merged into that singing lesson she undertakes with her young pupils.
 Her personal crisis becomes interconnected with her work life and taints it. As
her situation changes, so does her behaviour and attitude with her students and
colleagues.
 The main theme of how mood can affect behaviour – throughout the story her
mood/emotions dictate her actions and the way she conducts her singing lesson.
 Her personal conflict/trauma impacts her professional interactions and is soon
reflected and apparent in her teaching methods.
 Music is an important vehicle and theme. It serves as an emotional outlet without
having to divulge her private thoughts – it becomes the medium of the
communication of her feelings, the emotional outlet of both sad and euphoric
feelings and cathartic in nature.

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  Lyrics of the lament convey the declining prospects of her marriage and
consequently her lack of happiness. The song she sings when she receives Basil’s
telegram too reflects her changed state of mind – return to the previous euphoric state
and anticipation of a blessed married life ahead of her.
 The writer further makes use of Pathetic Fallacy to reveal her inner turmoil – “The
willow trees, outside the high, narrow windows, waved in the wind. They had lost half
their leaves. The tiny ones that clung wriggled like fishes caught on a line.”
 She is unable to contain her despair and separate her private world and its feelings
from her work, an argument by sceptics of the Victorian society/period who
expressed reservations and opposed women from working as they did not believe
that women could maintain professionalism in times of stress and Mansfield’s
brief characterization of Miss Meadows on the surface threatens to validate this
point.
 The character of Miss Meadows is an essential tool used by the author in depicting the
theme of reliance and dependence. She does not question Basil’s fickleness and is
willing to compromise. Her wellbeing is dependent on him even if she has hidden
doubts about his sincerity and feelings for her.
 Mansfield also explores the theme of desperation whereof the protagonist lets her
entire demeanour be predicated or based on her attachment to this man who does
not care about her as a husband should care about a wife.
 Meadows is willing to sacrifice self-respect and even happiness in the pursuit of
social clout and position - a scathing commentary on what social pressure can do to a
woman. Theme of appearance and importance given to/ conformity to societal
norms and conventions.
 The ending reveals that appearances and how she is perceived by others may be more
important to Miss Meadows than whether Basil loves her.
 The theme of despair and dejection is explored in the story with the line ‘With
despair – cold, sharp despair – buried deep in her heart like a knife.’ This line is
important as it not only sets the tone for the story but through the evocative language
usage (cold, sharp, knife) the reader also gets a sense of how deeply affected Miss
Meadows is after she has read Basil’s letter. It may also be important that the author
tells the reader that Miss Meadows ‘trod the cold corridors.’ It is possible that the
setting of the school (the cold corridor) is used to reflect how Miss Meadows is
feeling. This sense of coldness is further explored when Miss Meadows is talking to
the Science Mistress and she tells her ‘it is rather sharp.’--describing the weather but
also how Miss Meadows is feeling.
 The theme of Appearance V/s Reality – Nothing is the way it seems.
1. All girl’s music school- everything seems good- but rivalries among faculty.
“Sweet, affected drawl”; looks frozen with “blue eyes”; “quick grimace”.
2. Relationship with Basil- Miss Meadows 30-year-old spinster, proposed to by a
25-year-old- everyone is surprised including her.

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Form/ Style –
 Story combines the use of both – third person from a female perspective. A third
person narrator that peeps into the protagonist’s mind.
 Internal Monologue. Her emotional conflict, her psychological state of mind, her
fears, and insecurities at the breakdown of prospects of her marriage are best revealed
through the internal monologue.
 The narrative shifts between what Miss Meadows is thinking versus what she is
doing and how quickly the two come into conflict.
 Symbolism and imagery are central to the development of the story - used
effectively to communicate the protagonist’s emotional dependence on her fiancé and
underlines the main theme of reliance, appearance, desperation, and dependence
on societal norms.
1. Cold corridor – symbolic of her coldness and despair
2. Imagery of cold knife cold and sharp- suggestive of death/ immense pain.
3. Baton- symbol of authority and control.
4. Songs- song and lyrics symbolic of her mood and feelings.
5. Chrysanthemum- symbolising optimism and joy. Symbol of the sun--The refusal
of the symbolic chrysanthemum flower initially indicates that Miss Meadows no
longer wishes to appreciate or accept joy and happiness in her life. By finally
deciding to take the flower, Miss Meadows is symbolically choosing hope and
delight in her life once again, because of her seemingly repaired relationship with
her fiancé. 

 Simile- buried deep in her heart like a wicked knife.

Make that drear sound as if a cold wind were blowing through it.
 Metaphor- the older girls were crimson.
On the wings of hope, love, of joy, Miss……
 Personification- Corridors were silent and cold; the echoed to Miss Meadows’ steps.
 Alliteration- dropped her dumbbells.
 Onomatopoeia- knock-knock-knocking.
 Sarcasm- Miss Meadows……. the knife, stared in hatred at the science Mistress.
“Everything about her was sweet, pale, like honey. You would not have been
surprised to see a bee caught in the tangle of yellow hair.”
Pathetic Fallacy--attributing human emotion and conduct to all aspects within nature)
like personification that is found in poetic writing.) Big spots of rain blew against the
windows, and one could hear the willows whispering. The rain and the coldness of the
day even in autumn is symbolic of Miss Meadows’ cold and tormented self. the rain
and the whispering willows work to create a tense atmosphere.
a bee caught in the tangle of yellow hair.

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Cross Reference
The Singing Lesson--- Theme of marriage and plight of women in patriarchal society
1) The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

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