Galsworthy – to Let Essay Example

art forms such as plastic art, music, painting, and even architecture. It was inevitable. People are weary - sentimentality has collapsed." "Well, I am fully capable of maintaining a slight fascination with beauty."

During the war, I experienced it firsthand. A handkerchief had been dropped, sir," said the young man, holding out the handkerchief to Soames. Suspiciously, Soames took it and brought it up to his nose. It had the familiar scent of Eau de Cologne, reminiscent of distant memories, and his initials were embroidered in one corner. Feeling slightly relieved, he glanced up at the young man's cheerful face. With ears resembling those of a fawn, a lively mouth sporting two half-grown toothbrush-like hairs on each side, and small animated eyes, he appeared to be dressed quite ordinarily.

“Thank you,” he said; and added with a hint of annoyance, “It's rare nowadays to find someone who appreciates beauty like you do.”

“I adore it,” said the young man. “But it seems like you and I are among the few who still do, sir.”

Soames smiled. “If you have a genuine interest in art,” he said, “here is my card. If you're ever by the river on a Sunday and feel like taking a look, I have some quite impressive pieces to show you.”

“My name is Mont – Michael,” the young man introduced himself.

“And he removed his hat. Soames, already regretting his decision, gently lifted his own hat in response, and glanced downward at the young man’s companion, who had a purple tie, unsightly small whiskers resembling slugs, and a disdainful expression – as if he were a poet! It was the first mistake he had made

in so long that he proceeded to find a seat in an alcove. What had driven him to give his card to a disreputable young man who associated with someone like that? And Fleur, always lingering in his thoughts, suddenly appeared like a delicate ornament emerging from a clock at the strike of an hour. On the screen directly opposite the alcove hung a large canvas adorned with numerous square tomato-colored shapes, and nothing more, as far as Soames could discern from his location. There had been those striped and streaked works by Monet that had turned out to be so successful; and later on came the stippled style and Gauguin.

Since the Post-Impressionists, there have always been a few painters worth noting. In his 38 years as a connoisseur, Soames had witnessed numerous artistic movements and observed the fluctuation of taste and technique. The only certainty was that these changes could be profitable. This situation required suppressing his primal instincts or risk losing the market. Soames approached the painting, attempting to view it from others' perspective. Above the tomato, there were blob shapes resembling a sunset, until someone remarked on the skillful depiction of airplanes. Below the tomato blobs, a white strip with vertical black stripes puzzled him until another passerby commented on the impressive foreground expression. What was this expression trying to convey? Soames returned to his seat.

Soames didn't care that the thing was "rich", according to his father. Expressiveness! They were all Expressionists now, he had heard, in Europe. So was it coming here as well? He remembered the first outbreak of influenza in 1887 or 8, which they said started in China.

He wondered where this Expressionism had originated. It was like a contagious disease! In this analysis of Soames's perceptions of a gallery filled with modern art pieces, Galsworthy's realism is skillfully portrayed.

Within a few pages, the reader gains insight into both the new school of painting and the man who despises it. The author's disdain and confusion shed light on the fabricated masterpieces and their false standards of beauty. These masterpieces also serve as a means to depict Soames, who possesses a sensible judgment compared to the flighty and restless younger generation who adore these artworks. Galsworthy's restrained art is evident through his abundant thoughts and emotions in a small passage where nothing significant occurs. His strong contempt for modern painting mannerisms is not expressed through withering sarcasm or grotesque exaggeration, but rather through a tone of matter-of-fact irony.

Soames regards the supposed status of Jupiter and Juno as simply "a lamp-post bent by collision with a motor omnibus and a pump with two handles" respectively. When viewed from a perspective of practicality and simplicity, these sculptures appear especially absurd. Similarly, the act of breaking down a complex artistic composition, such as the ambitious depiction of "The Future Town," into a series of basic, primitive strokes exposes the pointlessness of Expressionist art. No matter how hard Soames tries, all he sees are "a great many square tomato-coloured blobs" and "a band of white with vertical black stripes". The use of the derogatory term "blob," which mimics the sound of liquid dripping, implies that the paint was haphazardly applied to the canvas.

The text humorously contrasts the viewpoint of older spectators, who see only red blobs and

black and white stripes in a painting of airplanes, with the enthusiastic younger spectators who see a wonderful picture. The painting, titled "The Future Town," is shown to be pretentious as Soames tries to keep up with modern taste but fails. Soames's fear of misunderstanding the exhibits reflects his business instincts, as he does not want to miss out on a profitable opportunity.

The text emphasizes that Galsworthy effectively uses his protagonist as a mouthpiece, with the hero's words aligning closely with the author's opinions while remaining true to the character's personality. Galsworthy himself disdains Expressionism, a sentiment that is articulated uniquely by Soames in a Forsytean manner. Soames hesitates to trust his own excellent taste and sense of beauty because he recalls Monet's unconventional paintings. This mindset is conveyed through an extended inner monologue, a favored method of characterization for Galsworthy in later volumes of the Forsyte Saga and throughout the Modern Comedy. The hero's internal dialogue is inseparable from the author's commentary, to the extent that Galsworthy employs phrases specifically fitting for Soames when discussing him (“His second impulse was more cautious,” “He remembered the first wave of influenza in 1887 — or 8 — hatched in China, so they said”). Galsworthy's utilization of the inner monologue diverges from that found in Meredith's works.

The author of the Forsyte Saga uses more frequently than his predecessor. Additionally, the author interferes with his comments less often. Moreover, the language of the monologues, especially those of Soames, is concise and devoid of sentiment. It is also free of abstract terms and contains idiomatic phrases commonly used in everyday speech ("painters not to be sneezed at", "they

had turned out such trumps", etc.). Soames, the businessman, expresses himself when discussing practical considerations in art, such as the potential for making money from changes in fashion or losing the market.

Even Soames's metaphors, though rare, are deliberately "low" - for example, likening Expressionism to a contagious disease originating in China: "He wondered where this -- this Expressionism -- had been hatched. The thing was a regular disease!" These metaphors reflect Soames's disdain for what he perceives as an art form corruption, indicating his personal aesthetic criteria and capacity for unbiased appreciation. Alongside inner monologue and characterization through setting, Galsworthy employs dialogue as a means for his characters to independently express themselves without authorial interference. In the given passage, Soames unexpectedly engages in conversation with young strangers, one of whom advocates for extreme artistic innovation. Their speech combines colloquial vernacular ("duffer," "to lap up," "the bottom's tumbled out of sentiment") with intellectual jargon ("innovator," "plastic art," "to bring satire into sculpture"), English and French slang ("old bean," "to pull somebody's leg," "epatant"), and a humorous imitation of Biblical language ("Jove and Juno created he them").The use of exaggeration and understatement are closely related in the text when discussing beauty. The speaker sarcastically states that it is "awfully nice" of the other person to be interested in beauty, while also stating that they themselves are fully capable of taking some interest in it.

Galsworthy understood perfectly that the casual manner and coarse language of young people after the war was a result of their profound disillusionment. They were so let down by the empty rhetoric and public displays of emotion that they believed sentimentality had lost all

meaning. As a result, they turned to satire and slang to express themselves. This contrasted sharply with Soames's formal, straightforward speech, where he only said what was necessary and used proper names. This difference in speech highlighted the contrast between the irresponsibility of the younger generation and Soames's commitment to property and life. Galsworthy, a realist writer, emphasized even the smallest details, such as Soames checking his handkerchief to ensure it belonged to him. This suspiciousness was a characteristic trait of the Forsytes.

He lifts his hat ever so slightly when saying goodbye to young Mont and directs his gaze downwards at his friend. This is because he is inherently wary of people he doesn't know and tends to only show cold politeness (evidenced by the slight hat raise) and a supercilious attitude towards those whom he does not consider his equals, expecting potential trouble. These subtle behaviors reflect a fear of revealing too much about oneself, as Galsworthy described in another work as a defining trait of a Forsyte, along with their strong sense of ownership. Galsworthy's realism goes beyond simply integrating his protagonist with the environment and convincing the reader of their typicality; he is also skilled at portraying the inner thoughts and emotions of his characters. Soames, the owner of valuable property, is also a man who harbors deep and enduring emotions.

So devoted is Soames to his daughter Fleur that she is "always at the back of his thoughts” and "started out like a filigree figure from a clock when the hour strikes”. This delicate comparison, unlike Soames's typical matter-of-fact thinking, conveys the depth of his affection for Fleur. Unlike the classical realists,

Galsworthy breaks free from the refined descriptive style prevalent until the late 19th century. Like Shaw, Wells, and Bennett, Galsworthy establishes a new tradition of using language in literature that closely resembles everyday speech. He simplifies the complex syntax of 19th-century prose and favors short, somewhat abrupt sentences that reflect the rhythm and intonation of spoken language. These sentences are filled with informal colloquialisms and even slang.