“THE PUPIL” BY: HENRY JAMES “If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.” ― Dorothy Parker.

“THE PUPIL” B Y: H E N R Y J A M E S

“If you want to know what God thinks

of money, just look at the people he

gave it to.”

― Dorothy Parker

THEME STATEMENT

The attention paid to classes by Pemberton and

Mrs. Moreen creates a relationship based on greed

that isolates Morgan and encourages his

disrespectful behavior.

LITERARY ELEMENTS

Tone

Euphemisms

Syntax

Point of View

T H E A U T H O R U S E S T H E T O N E O F R E S T R A I N E D - O B S E RVAT I O N A L

Line 9: “…a pair of soiled gants de Suéde…”

Line 12-13: “…he would have liked to hear the

figure of his salary…”

Line 18: refers to Morgan as “cynical”

P E M B E R T O N U S E S “ L I G H T E R” W O R D S A N D P H R A S E S T O D E S C R I B E T H E M O R E E N

FA M I LY A S A R E S U LT O F C L A S S D I F F E R E N C E S

Line 8: Mrs. Moreen referred to as “affable”• (Affable = attempting to be likable)

Line 20: “the honour of taking his education in

hand”

P E M B E R T O N ’ S T H O U G H T S A R E O F T E N O R G A N I Z E D I N T O L O N G - W I N D E D C O M P O U N D -

C O M P L E X S E N T E N C E S W H I C H H I G H L I G H T S H I S A T T E N T I O N T O T H E G A P B E T W E E N C L A S S E S

Lines 20-25: “This personage reflected, somewhat grimly, that the

first thing he should have to teach his little charge would be to

appear to address himself to his mother when he spoke to her-

especially not to make her such an improper answer as that.”

Lines 37-43: “He had known the poor child was not robust: this was

the bias on which he had been invited to treat, through an English

lady, an Oxford acquaintance, then at Nice, who happened to know

both his needs and those of the amiable American family looking out

for something really superior in the way of a resident tutor.”

J A M E S U S E S T H E 3 R D P E R S O N L I M I T E D P O I N T O F V I E W I N O R D E R T O A L L O W U S T O S E E H O W

P E M B E R T O N F E E L S A N D R E A C T S T O T H E M O R E E N S W I T H O U T G I V I N G U S A N I N S I D E P E R S P E C T I V E O F

M R S . M O R E E N A N D M O R G A N ’ S P O I N T O F V I E W.

Lines 47-48: “…was not quite the soft solicitation the visitor had

taken for granted…”

Line 54-57: “…and the chance that his small scholar might prove

cleverer than himself had quite figured, to his nervousness, among

the dangers of an untried experiment.”

Lines 57-61: “He reflected, however, that these were the risks

one had to run when one accepted a position, as it was called, in a

private family; when as yet one’s University honours had,

pecuniarily speaking, remained barren.”

T H E U S E O F E X T E N S I V E S E N T E N C E S A N D C O M P O U N D - C O M P L E X S E N T E N C E S P L A Y I N T O T H E H E S I T A T I O N E X H I B I T E D B Y P E M B E R T O N

C O N C E R N I N G T H E S U B J E C T O F PA Y M E N T.

Lines 61-66: “At any rate, when Mrs. Moreen got up as if to

intimate that, since it was understood he would enter upon his

duties within the week she would let him off now, he succeeded,

in spite of the presence of the child, in squeezing out a phrase

about the rate of payment.”

Lines 53-57: “Pemberton was modest- he was even timid; and

the chance that his small scholar might prove cleverer than

himself had quite figured, to his nervousness, among the dangers

of an untried experiment.”

HOW KEVIN CAN RELATE

1st Job= Babysitter

Parent offers LESS money than you asked for

Asking for money is the most awkward thing to

ever exist

HOW JAYME CAN RELATE

Had the opposite situation occur.

Tutored a kid=> got paid MORE than she

wanted=> kid was “mediocre” at school