Flowers for Mrs Harris

1. What was Mrs Harris wearing when she went to Paris? She was wearing a twill brown
coat, she had clean cotton brown gloves and an imitation leather brown handbag.
*An imitation is a cheaper copy of an original object, such as shoes or bags.

2. What did her clothing say about Mrs Harris? The clothing exposed Mrs Harris’s
profession, that she was a charwoman.

3. What colour was Mrs Harris’s hat? She was wearing a straw green hat which in front
has a flexible stem of a huge rose. It cost 21 shillings.

4. Who was Mrs Harris? She was a London widower in her sixties, a charwoman who
cleans houses of rich people. She works from 8 am to 6pm.

5. Why did Mrs Harris want a Dior’s dress? Because She saw two hanged inside Lady
Dant’s wardrobe and she instantly fell in love with them. They were Dior’s dresses,
one was called ‘Ivoire’ and the other one was called ‘ravishing’.

6. What did Mrs Harris do to save enough money for Dior's dress? She started to reduce
expenses. She stopped buying cigarettes, gin, flowers, magazines. She walked
instead of taking the bus or the underground. She padded her shoes if it had a
hole.She scrimped on food and clothing, also in tea, cinema, pubs. But only one thing
she did not give up, and it was the threepence a week for the football pool.

7. What did Mrs Harris feel before flying to Paris? She felt nervous, but not frightened at
all. There was not anything that could happen to her, she was very happy following
her dream.

8. Where did she come from? She came from Battersea, a city inside England.

9. What did Mrs Harris have in her handbag? She had ten one pound notes, which was
the legal limit of the currency that could be exported, one thousand and four hundred
American dollars and a return ticket to her country.

10. What was the bourden that Mme Colbert had? Mme Colbert’s husband was never
taken into account in his job because of his look of political connections and no
ability to push himself, instead of other people with lesser intellect but greater
connections.

11. Why were the flowers very important for Mrs Harris? The flowers were very important
because Mrs Harris has a reason to come back to her house every evening and a
reason to wake up in the morning. The flowers were her escape from the empty life
she lived, and they also didn’t allow her to think very much about the serious
complaints about the life that she led. The geraniums were her favourite flower.
12. What did Mrs Harris do to change the currency from pounds to American dollars?
She invented a nephew /ˈnɛfjuː/ called Albert who lived in Chattanooga
/ ˌtʃætəˈnuːɡə /, and she was compelled to send him money because he was no
able to support himself.

13. How much money did she win from the reward of the diamond clip? She won 25
pounds as a reward for the diamond clip.

14. Who was Mrs Butterfield? She was the best and intimate Mrs Harris’s friend. She
lived in the same neighborhood as Mrs Harris. They spend a lot of time together. For
instance, they drank tea, meanwhile they talked about sort of things, they went to the
cinema, and once per week they went to the football pool, the national lottery.

15. How did Mrs Harris help Natasha and André Fouvel? Natasha and André Fouvel were
in love with each other, but they didn’t want to show their feelings because of the fear
of rejection. One night they and Mrs Harris were in a restaurant in France, and Mrs
Harris told them that they saw each other with loved eyes and they had to be
together, and that they might intend to stay. So, that night after they danced, all their
doubts were cleared and they realized that they wanted to be together.

16. How did Mrs Harris help Mme Colbert? Mrs Harris told about Mme Colbert’s husband
with the aristocrat Marquis de Chassagne and she told him that Jules has no job
because of his political connections, so the marquis gave Mrs Harris a card for Mme
Colbert, which read he might help Jules. Finally, Jules was named First Secretary of
the Department for Anglo-Saxon Relations at the Quai d’Orsay.

17. How was the relationship between Pamela Penrose and Mrs Harris? Mrs Harris was
her employee and she cleaned her house which every time Mrs Harris went, it was a
real disaster. But Mrs Harris wanted Mrs Penrose and she wanted Pamela could
succeed in her career as an actress, despite being very bad.

18. What have Mrs Harris’s French friends given her as gifts? Mme Colbert gave her a
genuine crocodile leather handbag, M Fauvel gave her a wrist watch, and from
Natasha, Mrs Harris received gloves and a perfume.

19. What about the flowers that Mrs Harris received from France once she was returned?
Mme Colbert, M Fauvel, Natasha, the Marquis de Chassagne, and all the Christian
Dior’s staff sent Mrs Harris a box with a lot of kinds of flowers, they gave her the
welcome home and hoped that she had a good return.

20. How much time did the savings cost Mrs Harris? It will cost two or three years, she
thinks.
21. How did they resolve the problem with the custom and the tax which Mrs Harris had
to pay? Mme Colbert threw the Dior’s box and gave Mrs Harris a plastic suitcase
where she put in the dress, and when Mrs Harris got through the customs officers
she had to tell them the truth, and as she was a char-poor woman they would not
believe her, but it would not be her problem. So, Mrs Harris walked peacefully to the
plane.

22. Why did Mme Colbert allow Mrs Harris to enter the fashion show? Mme Colbert
empathized with Mrs Harris when she told her about her strong dream, she
expressed to Mme. Colbert that she had wanted the dress since she saw one, and
also she told her what happened, nights without sleep because thinking that maybe
her dream is a little imposible. Mme Colbert empathized with Mrs Harris because she
thought in Jule's situation, and she also dreamed that he could get a good job.

23. What activities did they do in Paris? (They: André Fauvel, Natasha (Suzanne
Petitpierre) and Ada Harris) Mrs Harris could explore the city on her own, she went to
visit the Tour Eiffel, went to a market called Les Halles. But they three together went
to a cabaret where Mrs Harris didn’t look surprised.
Mrs Harris loved the beautiful parks, the river and the manner in which they lived. She
explored the Left Bank and the Right, also a Flower Market

24. How did her friends feel about Mrs Harris’s last-night? André prepared a special
dinner for Mrs Harris and Natasha, they went to a famous restaurant. André and
Natasha felt sad because of Mrs Harris’s departure.

25. What were Mrs Harris’s thoughts after the career? After she bet 50 pounds on Haute
Couture and lost it, she felt upset and she thought that maybe God didn’t want her to
follow her dream, and that’s why she lost.

26. How did Mrs Harris feel before she entered the Dior’s house? She felt lonely,
frightened and forlorn /fɔːrˈlɔːrn/ and for a moment she wished not come, really, she
needed a company.

27. How was Mrs Harris’s reaction when she received the envelope from the football
pool? She was disappointed because there wasn't enough money to buy a Dior’s
dress.

28. What was the first thing that she did when she arrived in Paris? She took a taxi and
went to Dior's house.

29. What was the first thing that she did when she arrived in London? She went to
Pamela Penrose’s house and there Mrs Harris found Pamela who was crying because
she didn’t have clothing to wear in an important diner with her productor, so that Mrs
Harris leant the dress to Pamela.

30. What happened to the dress when Mrs Harris lent it to Pamela Penrose? There was
an electric fire and Pamela was almost burnt and also the dress.
31. What was the judgment/opinion of the people who were in the private collection?
They said that Mrs Harris was a vulgar creature and she had not to be seated there
because she was only a poor charwoman.

32. What did Mrs Harris see when she went inside her clients’s houses? When she went
to clients' houses, they were always a disaster and she had to clean these messes
because it was her profession.

33. What was the first difficulty that she had when she bought the ‘temptation’ dress? She
had to wait until it was ready. The Christian Dior’s staff had to make a dress for Mrs
Harris, the same which she bought but with her measurements. It would take 10 or
15 days.

34. Why did they not give the dress to Mrs Harris in the moment when she bought it?
Because they had to make a dress with Mrs Harris’s measurements, and it would take
10 or 15 days.

35. Who hosted Mrs Harris when she had to stay for 7 days in Paris until her dress was
ready? M André Fouvel offered his house and he said to Mrs Harris that she could
stand here until the dress was ready.

36. What difficulty did Mrs Harris have when she had to return to London? She had to
declare the dress and paid a tax to the customs officers. It would cost her one
hundred and fifty pounds.

37. Why did the Marquis de Chassagne defend Mrs Harris when the girl wanted to throw
Mrs Harris out? He defended Mrs Harris because she reminded him of Mrs
Maddox/Mrs Mops, who was a cleaning woman that he met in college.