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"Christmas at Thompson Hall"
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Renee, Moderator
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Dec 01, 2015 06:00PM
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I've been mulling over the way he used foreshadowing to maximum effect, as well.
I've just finished the first story in the collection and thought it very entertaining. It was a light, funny, situation comedy and not at all sappy. I like holiday stories, but sometimes they can drip with either treacle or pathos.I also enjoyed the sisters' relationship--warm, real, and practical.
I kept on wondering what would happen is a mustard plaster was left on for hours--a rash, I assume, but I haven't bother to search the internet for the answer...yet.
Renee wrote: "The titular story is the only one I've read so far. But I found it to be delightfully hilarious. Mostly, I think, because of Trollope's use of language and description. I've been mulling over the ..."
I agree that it was very funny. Though not really very convincing.
At what point did people realize that the inhabitant of room 353 was also going to Thompson hall? I got an inkling when they left the hotel in the same omnibus, though it was just an inkling and not a real suspicion. How about others?
I also enjoyed the pretense that it was a real incident by his making a point of not giving the year and giving fake names to everybody.
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I think I started to suspect when Mrs. Brown kept thinking about how they just had to get home to meet her sister's new man. One mention = interesting detail. More than that = plot point. Still I delighted in the anticipation of when the characters would realize that the incident wasn't just going to go away.
And I'm never going to think of mustard the same way! I've heard the term "mustard plaster" before, but never really thought about what that was.
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I, too, enjoyed the story. While set at Christmas, it was t sappy at all. Yes, I figured out who Jones was, and where he was headed. It didn't take away the fun of it. I imagine the chagrin at consistently being thrown together might cloud the judgement of those involved. They'd be so busy being uncomfortable, their minds wouldn't be putting the pieces together. Loved the details of the story.
BTW, according to Wikipedia, if mustard plasters are left too long on the skin, they can result in first-degree burns.
Renee wrote: "I loved the little relationship details, too. How she wasn't quite sure that Mr. Brown's symptoms were entirely real. After all, he'd enjoyed that cigar... So realistic!"And how so much of her life was devoted to his comfort, but when she wanted one thing out of him ...
Jane wrote: "BTW, according to Wikipedia, if mustard plasters are left too long on the skin, they can result in first-degree burns."You've got to wonder, then, what mustard is doing to your innards when you eat it.
I also enjoyed this story-the dilemma of poor Mrs Brown trapped in a strange man's room and her desperation to flee the scene and the hotel was convincingly written. I also figured out he was probably the fiance as soon as I realized he was also leaving early in the morning, but it didn't detract from the enjoyment of the story.
The descriptions of the interactions between Mrs. Brown and Jones as they were forced to travel together were delicious.
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Everyman wrote: "The descriptions of the interactions between Mrs. Brown and Jones as they were forced to travel together were delicious."I agree! I also loved how the incident, which seemed unbearably, unforgivably shameful to the young, was seen in the light of rollicking good h
I or when shared with the older family members. “'And you mustard-plastered the wrong man!' said the old gentleman, almost rolling off his chair with delight."
Excerpt From: Trollope, Anthony. “Christmas at Thompson Hall.”
Trollope often declared that he hated a mystery. It is quite plain to the reader early on who Mrs. Brown has mistakenly "mustard-plastered" and that the whole story will come out. The suspense is created (and for me, the whole story was full of suspense) by wondering what the characters will do and say in their encounters with each other. The suspense of uncomfortable social situations."Christmas at Thompson Hall" is not about Christmas at Thompson Hall at all, but about trying to travel to Thompson Hall for Christmas, and they barely make it. Everyone has a story about getting (or failing to get) home for Christmas. Stressful travel, missed connections, break-downs on the road, etc. Anyone have a story to share?
2009-- our first Christmas back in the Midwest in nearly 15'years didn't happen, because everyone was snowed in. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_...
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I finally received the book this week -- a pretty little thing. Hoping at least one of the stories will work for family holiday. This first one is a little too long for young people who would rather a new game, even dominoes or stack-the-sticks or similar. I found the pace slow -- I jumped to the end, then read backwards in pieces to pick up the story -- yes, I do that sometimes, easier with a short story than novels to cement back together. I found it hilarious and could imagine something like this really happening; although a personal example doesn't immediately jump to mind, I feel as if I've been in some awkward situation like this along the way. Do something dumb and embarrassing and have to own up to it, rather than slink away. Like Tracy, I liked that the old gentleman sensed something fishy had been happening and then could laugh heartily when when he got the full story.
Aspects of Trollope's characterizations were fun. The stiff propriety of and sense of offense by young Mr. Jones reminded me of Aaron Dunn in Trollope's "The Courtship of Susan Bell." (Recently discussed on another board.) In both cases, a fairly sophisticated young lover has his feathers ruffled and attempts to smooth them, perhaps both for his own pride and for a concurrent bit of youthful self-doubt.
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Ginny wrote: "Everyone has a story about getting (or failing to get) home for Christmas. ..."One of mine is traveling back to the Midwest from Vermont one year. The trip across northern New York State was literally through a blizzard (I wasn't driving). My mind can still recreate looking out through the car windows into a hazy yellow light coloring the snow-filled sky and seeing tall towers and the power lines connecting them in the distance. That night we stayed at Niagara Falls and when we drove out to look at the Falls, before continuing our journey in bright, dazzling sunlight, they were covered, between streams of falling water, with heavy snow and were like a scene out of "Doctor Zhivago."
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Renee wrote: "Mine was many years ago and it was getting home that was the difficulty. Flights delayed. Passengers bumped. I contacted my ride to let them know I wouldn't be back til the following day... Then, s..."I love your travel story. I'm from that area also and one Christmas had my share of problems driving a rental car from the Philly airport to Jersey and, because of many years absence, accidently getting on the wrong bridge and then a wrong exit. I had to navigate a very changed landscaped at night. This was prior to GPS and it was several hours and with many stops for directions before I got home.
I thought this a delightful tale and laughed out loud When she discovered she had plastered the wrong fellow. I knew who Mr. Jones was after he mentioned needing to get to his fiancee on Christmas and the Brown's discussing the similarities between his name and her sister's fiancee. It was a fun story.
Just want to say that I enjoyed reading your comments!I was disappointed with Mr. Jones - he did not have a sense of humour!
And Mr. Brown: was he ill after all?
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"Not Priam wakened in the dead of night, not Dido when first she learned that Aeneas had fled, not Othello when he learned that Desdemona had been chaste, not Medea when she became conscious of her slaughtered children, could have been more struck with horror than was this British matron as she stood for a moment gazing with awe on that stranger’s bed."
Still cracks me up to read it. Probably because we've all likely experienced that moment of realization when we've done something completely stupid, embarrassing and likely irreparable. The one that feels like the end of the world, at least for a few moments.
Renee wrote: "But my favorite is the passage...."Yes, truly wonderful!
But there's a frisson of sadness also that a large number of students in US schools today will never get most or even any of the allusions.
Everyman wrote: "Renee wrote: "But my favorite is the passage...."Yes, truly wonderful!
But there's a frisson of sadness also that a large number of students in US schools today will never get most or even any of the allusions.
..."
But now we have google! And those searches do lead me to worlds I have not explored before. I would like to think that today students of all ages research and explore allusions as they go along.
And thanks to google, I came across these illustrations done for an edition published in Boston in 1894. http://www.amysacker.net/documents/ch...
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