The Teddy –bears’ Picnic

BY WILLIAM TREVOR
WILLIAM TREVOR

• William Trevor is an Irish writer of short

stories, novels and plays.
• He was born in 1928 in Ireland and died
in 2016 in England.
 WILLIAM TREVOR

• His work has won great acclaim including three

Whitbread Awards and being shortlisted for the
Booker Prize on four separate occasions.
• In 2002 he was awarded a knighthood for his
services to literature.
• In 2008 he was awarded the Bob Hughes
Lifetime Achievement Award in Irish Literature.
• He died at the age of 88.
WILLIAM TREVOR
• Trevor’s stories are particularly known for outstanding
stylistic features such as the narrative skill reflected in
his stories.
• He is first and foremost a storyteller and readers
become immediately and continuously engaged in his
stories due to his sharp eye and economical use of
compelling realistic details in his descriptions of
character, atmosphere and place.
• His sense of pace and artful use o f point of view also
ensure involved reading.
THE TEDDY -BEARS’ PICNIC

• In The Teddy-bears’ Picnic his focus is on psychological

aberration/deviant behaviour.
• Incremental (slowly increasing) revelations prepare the reader
for a shocking climax.
• The reader is startled by the secret act of violence that
disturbs the charming tranquil setting but a little reflection
makes it clear that the enormously self-centred young
stockbroker on whom the story centres has been presented as
a pathological personality.
The Teddy-bears’ Picnic
Background information

• The song The Teddy-bears’ Picnic is a

fantasy about a group of teddy bears having
a picnic in the woods.
• It begins with a happy story of a group
of teddy bears but ends with a dark
warning – that although the picnic will be
lovely, it would be better – and safer - to
stay at home.
THE TEDDY-BEARS’ PICNIC :
the children’s song
 THE TEDDY –BEARS’ PICNIC
Background information
• The beginning of the story ‘The Teddy-bears’
Picnic’ is set in the affluent London suburb o f
Wimbledon in south-west London.
• After World War II many of the large 19th century
Victorian houses in Wimbledon Park were
demolished and replaced with blocks of flats.
• Home prices in this area are among the highest in
the outer London suburbs.
THE TEDDY–BEARS’ PICNIC
Background information

• The young, newly-married couple in the story live in

one of these blocks.
• It is important for Edwin and Deborah to live in a
flat that has a distant view of Wimbledon Common.
• Wimbledon Common is a large open space of
beautiful parkland.
• Having such a view makes their property more
valuable.
THE TEDDY –BEARS’ PICNIC
Background information
The upper-middle class
• All the families in the story belong to
the upper-middle class.
• They have professional jobs, send
their children to expensive private
schools and are proud of their wealth
and status.
 The Teddy-bears’ Picnic
Background information
• Edwin, for example, is a stockbroker – someone who works in
the financial sector, buying and selling shares in companies for other
people. He drives a Saab but plans to upgrade to a Rover some
day, which has a higher status symbol.
• Deborah buys their food at Marks and Spencer which is expensive
but fashionable.
• Edwin drinks whisky with a particular brand name soda.
• At Deborah’s parents, they drink claret, an expensive French wine.
• The teddy bears’ picnic is being held at the Ainley-Foxleton (note
the double-barrelled surname) whose extensive garden is a sure sign
of great wealth.
MAIN THEMES
Married life:
The two main characters, Edwin and Deborah, have only just married and
have not yet gotten used to married life yet.
Think about these questions (remember your answer for Edwin and your
answer for Deborah may be different):
• Do you think they were right to get married?
• Do you think they will be happy together?
• Do they manage their relationship well as newlyweds?
MAIN THEMES
Appropriate/Proper behaviour
The story is set in an upper-middle class setting where behaviour
and appropriacy of behaviour are seen as being very important.
Consider:
• Why does Edwin think the teddy-bears’ picnic is inappropriate?
• What do you think about the teddy-bears’ picnic?
• In what way is Edwin’s behaviour at the picnic inappropriate?
 MAIN THEMES
Childhood and growing up
The theme of growing up and the influence that our pasts have on us is a common
one throughout literature, particularly in the 20 th century.
The story centres on a childhood tradition that has been carried on into
adulthood, the teddy bears’ picnic, and it also contrasts two garden parties: one
during the characters’ childhood and another when they have grown up.
Consider:
What are the two main characters’ attitudes to childhood and childhood traditions?
What memories do they both have of their childhoods?
Which of the main characters do you think is the most
mature and grown-up?
PLOT
The story could be divided into 5 sections, each one with
dialogue and flashbacks:
1. The first section (the longest) initiates the confrontation
2. The second section provides backfill on the couple’s
relationship and a short dialogue confrontation
3. The third section (the shortest), escalates the conflict between the
couple (Edwin obsesses about the childish party)
4. The fourth consists of an extended memory (Edwin’s) and the climactic
action
5. The fifth section provides aftermath by detailing the consequences of
the desire-resistance pattern
PLOT
The story moves in a non-linear
manner with several instances of flashbacks.
There are 5 flashbacks:
1. The couple’s first meeting
2. The garden party where Edwin climbed onto the roof
3. A series of naughty tricks Edwin played as a child
4. Stories about the teddy bears
5. The time Edwin first visited the Ainley-Foxletons
PLOT

• Think about how the flashbacks of the past

events help us to understand the relationship
between Edwin and Deborah and what
eventually happened at the teddy-bears’ picnic.
• What effect do the flashbacks have on the
story?
CHARACTER

• The story opens with the argument between the

two main characters, Edwin and Deborah.
• What do we learn about them from the way they
talk to each other?
• Who do you sympathise with most, Edwin or
Deborah? Why?
 CHARACTER
• Both Edwin and Deborah can be described as naïve
and possibly immature.
• Edwin decides to passively resist having to attend
the teddy-bears’ picnic by not interacting with the
others (a sort of adult pout!). He is drinking heavily
and privately rejoices smelling ‘like a distillery’. He
internally mocks the ridiculousness and ugliness of all
of Deborah’s friends.
• Which of the two do you think is the most immature?
Why?
CHARACTER
• What does Deborah think of Edwin?
• What does Edwin think of Deborah?
• Do you think this is a good basis for a
marriage?
Deborah thinks the world of
Edwin. She thinks he’s strong
and intelligent and can do very
little wrong.
Edwin thinks that Deborah
is beautiful but silly and not
as clever as he is.
 a) Edwin thinks that he will be able to control the marriage and make all the

CHARACTER decisions once they have ‘settled down’. Deborah is in love and all that matters
to her is being with Edwin, even if this means that they quarrel at times.

The two main characters have very

different interpretations of the main
events and aspects of the story.
Compare their thoughts and feelings
about
a) their marriage
b) their argument
b) Edwin is angry and confused about the quarrel. He feels
he should have been able to control the situation better.
Deborah thinks it is just a natural part of the relationship –
she is saddened by it, but not worried.
c) Edwin thinks it is silly and immature and
embarrassing. Deborah enjoys the romance
of the tradition and meeting old friends.

c) the teddy bear’s picnic.

• What does this tell you about them?
CHARACTERS
• By switching point of view in his story
Trevor shows how one side does not
see the conflict as a big deal while the
other views sitting down with teddy-
bears as an insult.
• Whose reaction do you think is the
most appropriate attitude to the
difference in opinion over the teddy-
bears’ picnic?
CHARACTERS
• When Deborah whispers ‘thank you’ to Edwin as he excuses
himself to go inside, Deborah sees Edwin’s attendance as a
nice gesture, a moment of loving appreciation and give-and-take
between understanding spouses.
• Edwin, on the other hand, takes her words as a
subtle reminder of his earlier humiliation.
• In the next scene, Edwin leaves the teddy-bears’ picnic in a
literal sense but his movement also constitutes a definitive and
provocative action: another instance of Edwin’s resistance
which leads to the climactic confrontation at the end.
CHARACTERS

• By the end of the story Edwin’s grown-up

persona has ironically reverted to childhood
frustration and anger. He has reluctantly gone along to
the teddy-bears’ picnic but gotten horribly drunk and,
in a moment of viciousness, he kills/murders the
harmless Mr Ainley-Foxleton.
• Whatever the consequences of what happens next, one
thing is certain: there will never be another teddy-bears’
picnic for any of Deborah’s circle of friends.
 Edwin’s mother comments on the
relationship between Edwin and

CHARACTER Deborah

Deborah’s father entices Edwin

What role do the following characters play in the to drink and comments negatively
story? on the picnic

• Edwin’s mother
Mr Ainley-Foxleton is the victim
• Deborah’s father of Edwin’s anger
• Mr Ainley-Foxleton
• Angela Angela’s phone call sparks the
argument between the couple
• The other friends at the picnic
Which of these secondary characters do you think The other friends at the picnic are
is the most important? all happy and relaxed in contrast
to Edwin
 CHARACTER

• Why do you think Edwin nudged Mr Ainley-

Foxleton?
• Do you think he intended to hurt, or even kill him?
• What was his immediate reaction to the ‘accident’?
• Why do you think he reacted as he did?
• How do you think he will feel when he sobers up and realises
what he has done?
A quick reminder…
 The story is told by a third
person narrator

NARRATION
Deborah would not have been able to tell us what was
going on in Edwin’s mind. She would not have been
able to tell the story about the garden party
• Who is telling the story?
• How do you think the story would have been told differently if the
narrator had been a) Deborah b) Edwin?
• What information would not have been given?
Edwin would not have been able to tell us what was going on in
Deborah’s mind but maybe he would have been able to tell us
why he acted the way he did in the garden
POINT OF VIEW
• The Teddy-bears' Picnic is narrated in the
third person, limited point of view, switching
between Edwin to Deborah and then back
to Edwin again.
• Some episodes, however, are narrated from
the third person omniscient point of view
enabling the author to give an objective,
outside view.
 1. Edwin: being in the
Ainley-Foxleton’s garden
for the first time

NARRATION 2. Deborah: past

quarrels

• There are various points in the story when one of the

characters remembers an event from the past (flashbacks).
• How many flashbacks are there in the story? Whose memories
are being described in each one? 3. Deborah: when she first
met Edwin

5. The guests at the picnic:

various childhood stories that 4. Edwin: the garden party
involved their teddy bears
 STYLE: free indirect speech
• The narrator often reports the thoughts
and feelings of the characters using
free indirect speech (also
referred to as ‘interior monologue’).
• Indirect speech is a method of reporting
what someone else has said without
repeating their actual words. This is
called ‘free indirect speech’.
In the extract below Edwin is drinking heavily and
thinking about the teddy-bears’ picnic. In which sentence
do his thoughts begin? Pick out the sentences which are
not free indirect speech. What effect does this type of
interior monologue create?
• Edwin discovered that it wasn’t easy to drink from a decanter, but he
managed it none the less. Anger spurted in him all over again. It seemed
incredible that he had married a girl who hadn’t properly grown up. None
of them had grown up, none of them desired to belong in the adult world,
not even the husbands and wives who hadn’t been involved in the first
place. If Deborah had told him about any of it on that Sunday afternoon
when they’d visited this house he wondered, even, if he would have married
her.
What do you think? Time to air your
thoughts but remember – you have to defend
your opinion by referring to the story!
• Who is your favourite character? Edwin or
Deborah? Why?
• Do you consider Edwin or Deborah the more
mature character? Why?
• What do you think of Edwin and Deborah’s
marriage? Do you think it will last? Why/Why not?
 DO YOU REMEMBER…

Compare and contrast the

characters of Ivan in Mother’s Help and
Edwin in The Teddy-bears’ Picnic. Who do
you think has the darkest character? (Give
reasons/proof for your answer by giving
examples from the short stories.)
WRITING A LITERATURE ESSAY

Introduction: say what your essay is going to be about

• mention the short stories that you will be discussing
• Say how you will be discussing them (comparing the different negative
characteristics of the two men)
• The last sentence of your introduction is the sentence that tells the
reader what the rest of the essay will be about. (thesis statement)
 WRITING A LITERATURE ESSAY
Body: choose the different characteristics that the two characters have and compare or contrast
them:
Compared to animals (topic sentence which introduces what the rest of the paragraph is going to be
about)
Ivan: wolf: a very dangerous, wild animal; it hunts its prey until it captures it; it is know to be very savage
and therefore very frightening. (explain how this is true of Ivan by referring to the actual story)
Edwin: alligator or greyhound (both are predators)
Alligator: very dangerous, cold-blooded reptile; lies in wait patiently for its victim to be within reach and
once it latches onto it, it does not let go until the victim is dead. The greyhound will continue hunting its
victim until it captures it (explain why this is a good description of Edwin by referring to the actual story)
Concluding sentence of the paragraph: how the two are similar in this way and the description of being
animals is very apt. the two men both resort to murder when the opportunity arises to get what they want.
Compare and contrast the characters of Ivan in Mother’s Help and Edwin in The Teddy-
bears’ Picnic. Who do you think has the darkest character ?

• The two men are both clever opportunists:

• They both like to be the centre of attention:
• They both chose weak, submissive wives who adored them and thought
they were wonderful and who would do whatever they wanted
Compare and contrast the characters of Ivan in Mother’s Help and Edwin in The
Teddy-bears’ Picnic. Who do you think has the darkest character?

Contrast:
Ivan is not as subtle as Edwin is. Nell actually sees Ivan killing his wife and knows of
Ivan’s ruthless streak. Ivan starts to neglect Nell and he does not speak to her very
nicely. Nell realises that Ivan is going to try to kill her like he killed Charlotte.
With Deborah, she and all her friends have no idea how manipulative in an
underhand way. They think that Mr Ainley-Foxleton had an accident and Edwin
was kind enough to take control of the horrible situation and handle everything
himself.
Conclusion: you can give your opinion on who is the worst character and which one
o f the women you sympathise most with
ESSAY TITLE:

• Deborah in The Teddy-bears' Picnic and Nell

in Mother's Help are both grown-up women.
Compare and contrast their characters and
relationships to the male characters in their
respective stories.