Garmaeva Ayana 02163b

"The Apple-tree, the singing and the gold."

The story which is going to be analyzed is entitled "The Apple-tree, the singing and the gold". It belongs to the pen of a well-known English novelist and essayist John Galsworthy, who was one of the most prominent English critical realistic writer. John Galsworthy, one of the winners of Nobel Prize for Literature, is one of the most prominent criticized realistic writer and playwright. He takes the English background from the end of the 19th century to the 20th century as his setting, using naturalism as his writing method analyzing the moral and social problem of the English. His works have strongly attached the unequal society. In his realistic novels, he not only describes the everyday life of the upper class, but also reveals their mental outlook. He has shown great pity to the poor. He has written lots of works, such as The Forsyte Saga, A Modern comedy and The End of the Chapter. The Apple Tree is also written by him. He says that it is one of his best five stories. It is written in beautiful words and is worth reading. In this novel, Galswothy tells us the love tragedy between Ashurst and Megan. Ashurst first loves Megan for the reason of pity, and then left her also because of pity. In the novel, the author uses narration which portrays the dual personality of a main character. Through the portrayal, he uncovers the essence of bourgeoisie. Through the narration of the story, he makes us believe that the equal relationship in personality and spirit between the lovers is a basic condition that leads to a happy marriage. He seems to tell us that the unequality between Ashurst and Megan is the main reason that causes the tragedy. He dares not touch the foundation of the capitalist society. John Galsworthy narrates the story in this way. At the beginning of the story, there are only two characters appearing. It is Ashurst and Stella. They were motoring to the place where Ashurst and Megan first met to celebrate their silver-wedding day. When Ashurst suddenly recognized the place, his memory of the love story that he used to have with Megan began. When the story ended, he came back to the reality. The death of Megan is only told at the end of the story. Such kind of plot-making makes the readers to be kept in suspense until the very end of the story. Once young handsome guy Ashurst unconsciously falls in love with the simple country girl Megan just because he finds her pray for him and kiss his pillow secretly. Although he knows that Megan is lack of intellectual personality, and is not in the same class with him, he promises her that he would marry on her. He makes this decision just because of his impulse and the drive of the beautiful spring. When he leaves Megan and arrives at Torquay, he meets with Stella who is also very beautiful and is well-matched with him in social and economic status, he quickly falls in love with

Garmaeva Ayana 02163b her. He regrets what he has promised to Megan. After repeating mental struggle, he chooses Stella and cruelly abandons Megan. There are two main characters, Ashurst and Megan. They are not from the same social class. They are not in the equal relationship. First, they are unequal in economic status. Ashurst is from the upper class and Megan is from the lower class. Ashurst is the only son of a late professor of chemistry and has four hundred pounds a year. He has been educated in the university. Megan lives in her uncles farm and has never went to school. She is lack of intellectual ability. Second, they are not equal in personality and spirit. Ashurst has dual personality. Megan is simple and kind-hearted. Her love to Ashurst is obedience. She is a kind of slave. She loves Ashurst at the first sight of him, but she dares not tell him. Her only hope is just to stay with him and take care of him. When he asks her to marry him, she says Oh, no! I could not. I only want to be with you! she thinks that he would not love her. She never thinks that they are equal. She will always treat him as her master. We can see that Ashurst has dual personality: one is selfish, willful, irresponsible, eager to defend for himself and deceives himself as well as others; the other is that he indulges himself in pity and chivalrous spirit. Ashursts dual personality is vividly and incisively displayed, especially in the last paragraph of the story. At that time, Ashurst was going to have a picnic with the Hallidays, on the way he saw Megan who came a long way to Torquay searching for him. Whether to see her or not, he had to make a decision. In this paragraph, Ashursts complicated feelings reached to the highest point. His dual personality was also shown in the best way. So we can say that he is dynamic character. As for Megan she is static character, just the fact that she died from her love prove it. She was naive, simple, love and hearted girl. Author use a huge number of metaphors: their appetites for money, she was a wild flower, she was a jewel, spring was within him, she was all simple nature and beauty, a regular Diana and attendant nymphs; of epithets: flower-like, cool slim purity of face, apple blossom, grey in the wings, dewy eyes, poetry, lingering, bird-befriended brightness, turbulent joy, unlawful lowing; simile: flowerlike, like a mother wild-ducks, moon like a bright, powerful, watching spiritAll of its show that John Galsworthy was an outstanding linguist. Also the words: checked, dropped into, nearer to, further from, and more and more slowly vividly reflect Ashursts complicated feelings. He didnt know what to do. To ask Megan to go back or to go back with her, he had no ideas. He had to follow her and keep thinking. When he became nearer to her and further to the Hallidays, he still had not cleared his mind. But he was afraid to be away from the Hallidays, so he walked more and more slowly. How did it alter anythingthis sight of her? How make the going to her, and that which must come of it, less ugly? For there was no hiding it since he had met the Hallidays he had become gradually sure that he would not marry Megan. It would only be a wild love - time, a troubled,

Garmaeva Ayana 02163b remorseful, difficult time and then - well, then he would get tired, just because she gave him everything, was so simple, and so trustful, so dewy. And dew wears off! In these sentences, Ashursts irresponsible attitude is clearly shown. He thought that the love with Megan was ugly, that their love time was a wild love time. He had decided to desert her and to stay with the Hallidays, but he had not proper excuses. At last he chose Megans simplicity and trusty as his excuse to abandon her. The stylistic devices, used in the story, make the narration more interesting and attracting readers attention. They reveal the object of depiction in a deep manner and make the narration more emotional. With its help he conveys the main idea of the text. The main idea of this novella contain in confrontation between nature and society, between real love and artificial one, which is based on pragmatic things, such as status, money, your own benefit, while real love can be found in just simple and natural things. The title The Apple Tree makes us think about the tragedy between Eve and Adam. He seems to tell the readers that the tragedy between Ashurst and Megan is just like the tragedy between Eve and Adam. The sentence The Apple-tree, the singing and the gold. appearing at the beginning and the end of the story is taken from the tragedy Hippolytus. Here John Galsworthy hints that Ashursts love to Megan is just like the joke that Aphrodite plays on Hippolytus. Their love will turn out to be a tragedy. Such kind of writing method not only presents a beautiful sad story to the readers, but also give them space to imagine the illusion. We have analyzed this novel and we can make a conclusion. Realism means the showing of things as they really are. Realism is to show the reality of the society. Realistic writers express their ideas through the portrayal of the characters in their works. John Galsworthy was a realist. The Apple Tree was written in 1916. In this story Galsworthy tells us the beautiful sad story between Ashurst and Megan. Through the portrayal of Ashursts dual personality, he is under the press of the unequality of the capitalist society. He shows great pity to the poor. Ashursts dual personality reflects Galsworthys outlook of the world. Moreover, plans and purposes of main characters are differed from each other very much. Megan wanted just be near with him, but he was striving to success, to rich life. That is to say they moved in absolutely different directions He is a bourgeois. She is simple country-girl. The Apple Tree presents us a very sad story.