STARTING POINT. Edwina Stanton Babcock says that “Cruelties” was
written around the figure of the spinster, Frenzy, at whom she has had
peeps for nearly eighteen years. Her formal and carefully elaborate
English,--her garden, and her worries over it--all are drawn from what
Miss Babcock considers story material “for any one.” Mrs. Tyarck and
Mrs. Capron were painted in contrasts, and “little Johnny Tyarck and
what went on inside of his wispy head at prayer meeting was put in
because of my own ceaseless wonder as to what goes on inside the heads
of the Johnny Tyarcks of this world.”
“Cruelties” took a long time to crystallize and it seemed to me that
the dénouement never really consummated. I longed to have the wayward
girl more of a person, but the confines of the story would not allow
it. I wrote four drafts of it, cutting out quantities each time.”
PLOT. Compared with “The Excursion,” this story possesses a framework
more substantial and of better architecture. Though most readers will
be interested in the personality of the characters, rather than in
the action, nevertheless they will enjoy the steady and perceptible
progress to the solution of the slight complication. This complication
the author has effected through the entangling of two interests. The
first is the one-sided struggle which arises between the women, Mrs.
Tyarck _et al_, and Miss Giddings--one-sided, inasmuch as the former
are active, while the latter is passive. It is motivated by Frenzy’s
attempt to rid her roses of worms. (Is this motivation sufficient to
account for the animosity? What circumstance abets it? What value has
the fact that Mrs. Capron is a tract distributor?) The second line of
interest has to do with the young girl’s downfall and rehabilitation.
The fact that Miss Giddings becomes her champion increases the petty
animosity. The outcome of the complication shows Frenzy triumphant, in
the scene between her and Mrs. Tyarck.
Are you satisfied with this dénouement? Why?
What motivation has Miss Babcock employed to explain the girl’s taking
refuge with Miss Giddings? Is it adequate and convincing?
_Initial Incident_: Two phases, each suggesting an individual line of
interest. 1. Scene in Frenzy’s shop; the women see the girl pass. 2.
Scene in Frenzy’s garden, emphasizing the struggle between Frenzy and
insects. (What significance has the fact that the ladies enter into
relations with the fly-paper? What symbolic part has the cherry tree?)
_Steps toward the Dramatic Climax_: Mrs. Capron prays the Lord to
“keep us from needless cruelties.” The author summarily indicates
that Frenzy becomes the butt of petty spite.
_Dramatic Climax_: First phase, as narrated, lies in Miss Giddings’s
metaphorical burial. Her enemies are at the highest peak of their
mean triumph. The second phase, intensifying the first, indicates the
girl’s downfall. (Point out the forecast to this dramatic climax.)
_Steps toward the Climax of Action_: 1. The incident of the girl’s
return. 2. Miss Frenzy keeps her, as an assistant. 3. Mrs. Tyarck, in
disapproval, takes her patronage to the “other” store; Mrs. Capron
bestows tracts.
_Climax of Action_: Frenzy turns the tables in completely routing her
enemy. (Scene between Mrs. Tyarck and Frenzy.)
_Dénouement_: Frenzy’s conjecture about the cherry tree closes the
story.
(What does the author lose in summarizing, rather than in
dramatizing, her dramatic climax? What does she gain in relative
values by its subdual?)
CHARACTERIZATION. By emphasizing physical traits Miss Babcock has
differentiated her characters unmistakably, if a bit obviously.
Frenzy’s stiffly refined diction (in contrast to the slangy speech of
coarse Mrs. Tyarck), and Mrs. Capron’s hawking illustrate her method.
Tabulate the characteristics of the chief figures.
How has she individualized them by their acts? In connection with your
study of personal appearance, evaluate the use: 1. Of the “two large
pins of green ... like bulbous, misplaced eyes”.... 2. Of the wing on
Mrs. Tyarck’s hat. 3. Of the girl’s red sweater.
The only masculine figures who appear on the stage are little
Johnnie Tyarck and Mr. Bloomby. Is the fact that their male presence
contributes to background, or to realistic effect, a sufficient gain
for shifting to their respective points of view?
Which of the characters is most frequently found in every day life?
LOCAL COLOR. To what extent do the details of setting (including
customs, dialect, dress) typify any American rural community? Can you
justify the full paragraph on the buttons?
TIME ELEMENT. How has the author handled the flight of months without
seeming unduly to prolong the action or to break the unity of effect?
ATMOSPHERE. Realistic, it reflects the mood of the author who sees
life as it is, rather than of the author dominated by so-called
“temperament.” She sees characters and events, for the most part,
through the kindly glow of humor.
What double cause for smiling exists in the title of the tract
delivered in the first scene? Point out other examples of humor.
“Usually in beginning a story,” Miss Babcock says, “the first paragraph
sets a sort of mechanism going in me and controls the tone and
atmosphere of the story. Thus, you see, I almost _have_ to begin with a
paragraph a little long. My great difficulty is my love of description
and painting of pictures--I despair of characters because I know that
one really never gets the whole character into the story, any more than
one gets it in life. I think the writer must make the character act
like its description. A spit-curl character must have spit-curl ideas
and behavior. The more I write the more I am convinced that the writer
is a slave to two contradictory convictions; that is, that he must give
the truth of the story as he has visioned it, and that there _is no_
truth but that the story-telling art has its very beginning in creating
illusions.”