CR #3 , Danbee Jeong

In the loneliness, she turned to her husband for reassurance, entertainment, for things to fill the vacant places. Housework was not enough; there were only two rooms, and no yard to keep or move about in. The women in the town wore high-heeled shoes, and when Pauline tried to wear them, they aggravated her shuffle into a pronounced limp. (117-8)

In this paragraph, metaphorically it seems that two rooms mean the world from Pauline’s view and Housework means what she can do in the rooms, in her world. Pauline hates that her world is just as small as only two rooms and that her capability is just as insignificant as housework. What and why Pauline hates are exposed metaphorically.

Power, praise, and luxury were hers in this household. They even gave her what she had never had – a nickname – Polly. It was her pleasure to stand in her kitchen at the end of a day and survey her handiwork. Knowing there were soap bars by the dozen, bacon by the rasher, and reveling in her shiny pots and pans and polished floors. Hearing, “We’ll never let her go. We could never find anybody like Polly. She will not leave the kitchen until everything is in order. Really, she is the ideal servant.” (128)

Based on devices used above paragraph, on the other hand, it seems that Pauline is pleasure because her world is extended and because her capability is not insignificant any more. Whether her world is extended and her capability becomes more significant than before is proved by one man’s saying who possesses power, praise, and luxury in his home.

Now, based on these two passages let me move back to the moment Claudia and Frieda arrive at Fishers’ house to find Pecola. When a pan falls to the floor, above paragraphs help me understand why Pauline behaves like that she does not care her daughter but cares just Fisher’s little daughter and the house floor that she calls “my floor”.