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READ THIS
This story is about the conflict between two young women in a small South African town.
The older one has defined her territory as centre of attention of the young men. And then a rival appears
and invades her territory.
READ THIS PASSAGE:
She was about seventeen, fair, and rather fully-fleshed; she had large dreamy blue eyes, and wavy light
hair, full, rather heavy lips, until she smiled; then her face broke into dimples, and all her white teeth
shone. The hotel-keeper may have had a daughter, and the farmer in the outskirts had two, but we never
saw them. She reigned alone. All the men worshipped her. She was the only woman they had to think
of. They talked of her on the "stoep", at the market, at the hotel; they watched for her at street
corners; they hated the man she bowed to or walked with down the street. They brought flowers to the
front door; they offered her their horses; they begged her to marry them when they dared. Partly, there
was something noble and heroic in this devotion of men to the best woman they knew; partly because
there was something natural in it, that these men, shut off from the world. should pour at the feet of one
woman the worship that otherwise would have been given to twenty; and partly there was something
mean in their envy of one another. If she had raised her little finger, I suppose, she might have married
any one of twenty of them.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
Explain the following expressions taken from the story:
- "broke into dimples"; (2)
[Need help?]
"Dimples", says the Oxford English Dictionary, are small hollows or dents in the flesh, especially
in the cheeks or chin.
Although all girls may have dimples, they are more common in plumper girls.
The girl described is a fleshy person so that, when she smiles, these dimples appeared in several places
on her face.
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[Need help?]
To be "vital" means to be full of life.
In this case, the younger girl was still a teenager -- and full of life and energy.
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[Need help?]
To "despise" someone means to look down on them, to hold them in contempt.
The speaker hated the way the men worshipped the girl just because she was the only one in the village.
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Where did the dimpled girl go after she had married? (1)
[Need help?]
The dimpled woman went to America.
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"She reigned alone. All the men worshipped her. She was the only woman they had to think of. They
talked of her on the "stoep", at the market, at the hotel; they watched for her at street corners; they
hated the man she bowed to or walked with down the street."
- Explain the meaning of "she reigned alone". (4)
[Need help?]
It is a queen who reigns.
The dimpled girl, being the only young girl in the village, becomes the centre of attraction to all the men.
She becomes their queen and, like a queen, reigns alone because there is no other queen, i.e. there is
no other young and pretty girl in the village.
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- What is the English word for "stoep"? (1)
[Need help?]
"Stoep" means "verandah" or "porch".
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- How did the men act towards any man who showed the "other" woman any
attention? (2)
[Need help?]
The men became highly jealous of each other, and intensely disliked any other man who gained the girl's
attention or affections.
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"They brought flowers to the front door; they offered her their horses; they begged her to marry them
when they dared."
- How did the speaker compare in beauty with the other girl? (4)
[Need help?]
The speaker did not think she was as pretty as the other girl. She was more attractive simply because she
was new in the village.
She was also younger and therefore more full of life.
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- How did she react to so much attention from the men? (2)
[Need help?]
She liked the men's attention because it made her feel important. At the same time, however, she hated
it.
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