A Cup of Tea - Katherine Mansfield

                                 

           Kathleen Mansfield Murry (14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a prominent New Zealand modernist short story writer who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. She is best artist in portraying common human behaviors and emotions of humans. In her short story ‘A Cup of Tea’, she has presented a jealousy of woman. "A Cup of Tea" published in 1922. Katherine Mansfield has presented the sophisticated mask of society. In this story Mansfield has presented the concept of social work and artificial emotions of a wealthy woman.

Characters 

1. Rosemary Fell, the most character, is a very wealthy woman and not simply well wealthy. The author brings out now by writing that Rosemary went searching to Paris from London. She bought countless flowers from one amongst the foremost modern streets in London. At the look too she would throw her weight around by telling them her likes and dislikes. She was a clannish quite an individual. She had the antique look, from that she shopped, to herself and therefore continuously most well-liked to travel there. and also the merchandiser too unbroken initiatory her by that she was anxious.

1. Miss Smith, the poor girl picked up and fed by Rosemary

1. Jeanne, a housemaid

1. Philip, Rosemary's husband

Rosemary fell is the protagonist character. She is the rich woman with highly artificiality in her. She likes when people admire her and make her feel great. She saw a poor girl in winter night and offers her a cup of tea. As per her she was doing a good work and being a generous woman. In this artificiality she move ahead and brought a poor girl in her house. Mr. Phillip Fell (husband of Rosemary) was upset with this but he was not able to tell her anything directly. He was aware with her wife’s nature. He thought and applied a trick by admiring a beauty of Ms. Smith (A poor girl) and it was like an acid attack on Rosemary’s pride. Story ends interestingly. Read the original story for end part.           This is a simple story with deep meaning. It is like a satire on artificiality in feelings of rich towards poor. Social work was a medium for some rich men and women for being generous and great among others.

Theme:
Class consciousnessClass consciousness is a term used in social sciences and political theory, particularly Marxism, to refer to the beliefs that a person holds regarding their social class or economic rank in society, the structure of their class, and their class interests.

FeminismFeminism is a collection of movements and ideologies that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve equal political, economic, cultural, personal, and social rights for women.This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. A feminist advocates or supports the rights and equality of women.

MaterialismMaterialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all phenomena, including mental phenomena and consciousness, are the result of material interactions.

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