“Quality”

 
 John Galsworthy

Presenter: Group 9
Instructor: Tran Thi Nguyet Thanh
Biography
English novelist and playwright, winner of the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.

Educated at Harrow and New College, Oxford,

Galsworthy was called to the Bar in 1890. 

The Four Winds (1897), the novel Jocelyn (1898)

under the pseudonym of John Sinjohn. The Island
Pharisees (1904) 
THE STORY
“Quality” by John Galsworthy was first
published in “The Inn of Tranquility: Studies
and Essays” in 1912.

The story, written in first person

narrative from an unknown narrator’s
perspective, is a beautiful depiction of today’s
cruel reality.
SUMMARY
 Plot

- Exposition
- Rising action
- Climax
- Falling action
- Resolution
 Plot
Exposition
Showing the character of Mr.
Gessler
Where they lived, their shop locations,
what their job is, their phisical
features, ...what boots look like
 Plot
Rising action
Mr. Gessler compete
with a Big Firm
- The competition from Big Firms
- The declining demand for quality
craftsmanship
- Gessler’s struggle to advertise his
business
 Plot
Climax
Mr.Gessler lose one of his shop

Mr.Gessler had to sale one of their

shop because it was enxpensive

The conflict  Strengthened

 Plot
Falling action
Mr.Gessler elder brother was dead
- The older Gessler Brother was died
because of age
- The event marks a shift in the story’s
focus away from the competition

The death as a remider of the financial

struggles of Mr.Gesslers
 Plot
Resolution
Mr.Gessler was dead
- Mr. Gessler was died because of starvation.
- The death represents the end of an era
- Mr.Gessler’s shoes are still sought after years
after his death.
The death as a poignant reminder of the
importance of craftmanship and dedication to
one’s work.
 setting

ATMOSPHER
E
PLACE TIME
 setting
SETTING OF PLACE
• “ …in a small by street…now no more….”

• “…then most fashionably placed in the West

End”
 setting
SETTING OF atmosphere
• Having a certain quiet distinction

• Not so full of paced moves yet quite intriguing

 setting
SETTING OF time
• The background in the 1700s

• “ Never gave himself time to eat; never had a

penny in the house”
 CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Mr. Gessler
Main Minor
Elder Mr.
characters Gessler
characters
The narrator Englishman
 1. MAIN characters
a) Mr. Gessler

- Is the youngest of the Gessler Brothers;

- Worked as a boot maker who was
originally from Germany;
- Lived with an elder brother in two little
shops let into one in a small by the street
in a famous part of London.
 1. MAIN characters
a) Mr. Gessler
• Appearance
- Skinny body as if made from leather;
- Yellow crinkly face, crinkly reddish hair and
beard;
- “Neat folds slanting down his checks to the
corners of his mount, and his guttural and one-
toned voice”;
- Gray-blue eyes.
 1. MAIN characters
a) Mr. Gessler
• Characteristics
- “What he had never failed to fit”;
- Used authentic and best materials.
- Spent a large number of time making
perfect boots; The boots were not only
durable but also comfortable
 He was concerned more about quality than
quantity
 1. MAIN characters
a) Mr. Gessler
• Characteristics
- Made boots since youth and dedicated his life
to producing boots
PASSION & - Did everything by himself
- “As if awakened from some dream of boots, or
DEVOTIO like an owl surprised in daylight

N - Put in an effort to retain the shop despite all the

hardships.
 1. MAIN characters
a) Mr. Gessler
• Characteristics

“Id is an Ardt!”.
ARTIST  The bootmaker regards boot
design as an art rather than a
job.
 1. MAIN characters
a) Mr. Gessler
• Characteristics
“Mr. Gessler, that last pair of
RESPONSIBILIT town walking-boots, creaked,
you know.”
Y -> “If I can do noding wid dem,
I dake dem off your bill”.
 1. MAIN characters
a) Mr. Gessler
• Characteristics
- Entirely believed in quality
Consistence - Struggled with the use of advertisement

& - Kept quality criteria in every boot, and without

increasing the price despite near bankruptcy
Commitment - Did all the work by himself from day to night
-> die of starvation.
 1. MAIN characters
b) The narrator (the customer)

- Curious: The boots that Mr. Gessler made seemed

“mysterious and wonderful.”
- Loyal customer: “Once (once only) I went absent-
mindedly into his shop in a pair of boots in an
emergency at some large firm’s.
- Sympathy and affection.
 2. MINOR characters
a) Elder Mr. Gessler

- The Elder Gessler is a boot maker from

German;
- He is the eldest of the Gessler brothers;
- He owns a great industry with his younger
brother.
- They would know that it was him once the
narrator said “I will ask my brudder!”
 2. MINOR characters
a) Elder Mr. Gessler
• Appearance
- Being exactly like his younger brother but watery and
paler in every way.
• Characteristics
- “He was good, he made a good bood; but he is
dead”
-> Old Mr. Gessler had the same characteristics of
Mr. Gessler.
 2. MINOR characters
b) Englishman

- He was a young man with a friendly look.

- Told the cause of the death of Mr. Gessler

to the narrator.
 POINT OF VIEW
FIRST PERSON POINT OF
VIEW
FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW
• Narrator as the center of the story knows all the
things.
- 1st paragraph: "I knew him from the days of my
extreme youth, because he made my father's
boots; inhabiting with his elder brother two little
shops let into one”.
- 9th paragraph: “ one wen in, not as into most
shops”
 POINT OF VIEW
FIRST PERSON POINT
FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW OF
VIEW
• Realistic description of characters

"himself, he was a little as if made from

leather, with his yellow crinkly face, and
crinkly reddish hair”.
 POINT OF VIEW
FIRST PERSON POINT
FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW OF
VIEW
• Knows well about the excellent
craftsmanship of the Gessler brothers and
their gradual diminishing into oblivion due
to their failure to adapt to the consumerist
culture.
 POINT OF VIEW
FIRST PERSON POINT
FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW OF
VIEW
• Comprises descriptions and the commentary
of the narrator, interspersed with dialogues
that reveal Mr. Gessler’s state of affairs and
his views on his trade and the boot-making
market.
Symbolism and tone in “Quality”

Tone
Tone

Symbols
Symbols Voice and
style
 The gessler’s boots

 Made of the best leathers.

 Stand for: Artistic talents

and supreme quality of
human nature .
 Example:

"...they were better

thanever. One simply
could not wear them
out..." "...but your boots
arereally too good…"
 The gessler’s shop

 Stands for small

businesses with owners
working hard tocreate
high quality products.
The gessler’s shop

The closure of the

shop is a symbol of
the collapse of small
businesses at that
time.
 The gessler’s shop

"...Dey get it all…" " ...outside

one of the two little windows of
his shop another name was
painted..." "...when I came to
where his shop been, his
namewas gone…"
 The gessler’s brother
• Their professional ethics show the richness of human value

• Their tragedy signifies a moral decay in search

of material civilization

• Human values are threatened by material gain.

 Example in essay
"...Isn't it awfully hard to do, Mr. Gessler?…""...Id is an
Ardt!…""...Would ‘ave the best leather, too, and do it
all“imself…" "...If I can do noding widdem, I dake dem
off yourbill "
 The gessler’s death

Their death symbolizes

the decline of smaller
businesses because of
larger corporations and
lacking customers.
 Tone and voice

The narrator dared once to enter the Mr.

Gessler's shop wearing the shoes which he
Dreadful and
had bought elsewhere, Mr. Gessler told that
Thoughtful
those shoes were not his with the "tone not
one of anger, nor of sorrow, not even of
contempt, but there was in it something
quiet that froze the blood".
 Theme
Theme of commitment,
determination
 Mr. Gessler spends all his time in his
shoe shop and devotes all his energies to
his work just as an artist would.

 The setting of the story highlights the

commitment when it comes to making
boots.
 Theme
Theme of loyalty, honesty,
dedication
 Mr Gessler’s boots are the best and the
narrator is a loyal customer.

 He not only looks after his customers

but he is honest.

 He committed and dedicated to his

work.
 Theme
Theme of loyalty, honesty,
dedication
 Mr Gessler despite the loss of his
brother continues to work

 Despite the fact that the bigger shops

are talking his business away. Mr
Gessler does not give up.
 Theme
Theme of loss
 The narrator discovers that Mr Gessler
has died.

 Which would further highlight to the

reader is just how committed Mr Gessler
was.

Each boot was his way of contributing to

society
Thank you!