Deconstructive critique of the story "A Cup of Tea" by Katherine Mansfield

 Deconstructive critique of the story "A Cup of Tea" by Katherine Mansfield

     A Cup of Tea is a short story which is written by a famous short story writer 

and poet from New Zealand Katherine Mansfield.In the story,Rosemary is a wealthy woman.Miss Smith is a poor ,lean and confused young woman and Rosemary takes her to her home.Miss Smith was beautiful and the husband of Rosemary praises her beauty.Rosemary doesn't like this and at the end she wants to get rid of Miss Smith.Rosemary showed kindness but actually this was not kindness,this was hypocrisy to gain fame.Class distinction between upper class and lower class and materialistic approach are described here .New Zealand was under British control and the story describes appearance vs reality.On the surface people look different but there intentions are not what they show.Rosemary helped the poor girl who wanted to have a cup of tea but she was too poor to buy it. Rosemary helped her and took her to her home.Rosemary was basically wanting to raise her status by showing kindness.Actually Mansfield portrays her society where upper classes were showing kindness in order to gain Rosemary also feel jealousy and insecurities when her husband praises Miss Smith's beauty.Materialism is also found in Rosemary when she demands an enamel Mansfield depicts how true feelings are fading and people are running after materials.New Zealand back in the nineteenth century was the Rosemary can get what she wants and on the other hand Miss Smith can't have even a cup of tea.This describes the gap between the poor and the rich .Upper class turn a blind eye to the lower class .

     We know that Western philosophy is based on logocentrism.According to the father of deconstruction theory, western thought is Logocentric which is related to the centre which have always designated an invariable presence.Derrida doesn't resist the idea of centralization but he claims that there is always an opposite to the centre.He lays stress on the multiplicity of meanings.He says that the organizing principles of structure and centre limit the structure.He destabilizes the idea of centre.Hence he suggests deconstruction of logocentrism by reversing the oppositions.Throughout the story A Cup of Tea ,we find many binary oppositions i.e upper class --lower class,dream--reality, innocence--experience and appearance--reality .Derrida wrote an essay titled Difference in which he says that an effect which no longer tolerates the opposition of  activity plays a vital role in deconstruction.

    The words such as box and cup of tea show extravagant idea and materialistic thinking.In the patriarchal societies men are dominant and authority lies in the hands of men(husbands) but we see in the story that Rosemary is Mansfield deconstructs Rosemary through the husband of Rosemary Mr Philip by questioning the value of Rosemary's life . Rosemary is feeling insecurities because she doesn't want her husband appreciate Miss Smith.Rosemary has doubled standard and she is living in two worlds.She was brought up in such an environment where the poor were looked down upon but on the other hand she also help the poor girl Miss Smith.As I discussed earlier ,her intention is to raise her value and status by showing kindness towards Miss Smith.The title is very important.A Cup of Tea.This tile shows that the poor and the rich both have same needs .This suggests to readers how even the act of philanthropy is fake and used for its own beneficial purpose.She helped Miss Smith without true care and intimacy.Hat in the story also symbolizes the prejudice of rich people against the poor .She helps Miss Smith to doff her hat and coat.But she doesn't keep them in an appropriate place .She keeps them on the floor .This shows that she was not sympathetic toward Miss Smith.She was just pretending to be kind in order to gain praise .The price of box and it's ornamentation also describes the materialistic approach.When she saw it,she was attracted to it and wanted to buy it.This expressed her lust for materials.

    By giving the idea of two classes, Mansfield tries to describe the Western social norms .She deconstructs this dichotomy by reversing by giving privilege to innocence and dream over experience and reality.(Binary oppositions). Rosemary moves from one world to another i.e from alienated world of dream .She achieves a comprehensive conception of life by questioning all binary oppositions I.e light -dark , dream--reality etc . Mansfield use narrative techniques.She doesn't describe the role of male but she is  subverting gender role by focalization of Mansfield also used extradiegetic-heterodiegetic narrative where there is a first degree narrator.Internal focalization is used consciously by her where she describes events through the character point of view .Her husband praises the beauty of Miss Smith and Rosemary feels insecurities when she asks her husband "Am I pretty?"

Conclusion

    To criticize the bourgeois values which underestimate the poor people of that time , Mansfield used the theory of deconstruction of Derrida by reversing the binary oppositions.The writer tells the whole story by focalization of the character Rosemary to subvert the role of genders in relation to Genette's Narrative methodology.So she changes the old ways of writing based on logocentrism by extending and by new interpreting techniques.