The author
The passage “Next Term, We’ll Mash You” was written by
Pamela Lively. She is a British writer of fiction for both
children and adults . She was born in Cairo, Egypt, at the
age of twelve, in 1945 went to boarding school in Sussex.
Lively was grievously unhappy for four years, so there is a
reason to believe the story based on her own past events.
It makes readers feel her attitude, the atmosphere and
mood of that time. With this story, she expresses her
negative attitude towards these institutions, revealing
their essence. The title is emotionally colored with
negative connotation. The time in the boarding school
was a turning point for her; it influenced and tempered
her for life.
Theme
The major theme is a rigorous school is the
building ground for a strong character or
creating a victim. We can distinguish the
following by-themes: the influence of social
status and values on the underprivileged; bad
relationships in a family, and the lack of
parents’ attention to their children’s needs .
Plot and structure
This is a short story about a child, Charles, and his
first visit to the private school. When Charles’s
parents and the boy enter the territory, they get
acquainted with the headmaster and his wife,
pupils, orders and charters of the school. Seeing
everything, the family returns home.
The structure can be divided into four parts: time
spent on the road, acquaintance with the
boarding house, Charlie’s acquaintance with
pupils, and his parents' decision (you can speak
about exposition, rising action, climax,
denouement).
System of Images (macro- and microimages)
The first paragraph introduces the atmosphere of
loneliness and estrangement. The dashes and
fragments allow the author to infuse many specific
details, such as attitude to one’s appearance, goals
and
desires,
needs,
people.
Hyperbole,
personification, synecdoche - an “inaccessible
world” of “shivering trees” and “shoulders
humped” – develop the images, imbued with
human fear.
The Description of the appearance of the boarding
house and its managers is used to express the
contrast between the external gloss and the inner
world, to show children’s anger and cruelty.
Charlie is the main character. Selected epithets and
detachment (…a box of chocolates, unopened, beside him,
and a comic, folded) indicate obedience and fear of being
punished, because children are very fond of sweets and
magazines. He is not watched, his parents do not look into
the eyes, showing his small importance in the eyes of his
parents. He is closed in himself. The author uses repetition
(They help themselves to his name, his age, his school) to
show interaction with cruel children only aggravates
everything, because he is not used to expressing his
opinion. The simile "a noise in his ears like rushing water"
shows he cannot even hear the words. The metaphor
“kaleidoscopic patterns” and the epithets describing the
floor under his feet: unsteady, lifting and falling represent
his timidity. He can't even protect and defend himself
against them. It is a flat and static character not a selfassured child but a weak one.
His parents are only using him to climb the social ladder.
The characteristic of Charles' parents is an upper
middle class image. Without even asking him if he
likes the school or not, they decide to send their child
there: “His face is haggard with anticipation.” The
author uses EMs (the lexical meaning of the words) to
show they are not concerned with Charles’ happiness,
they think about their own reputation and business
interest. The last dialog develops the idea: Charles
never has his own opinion. (“Very pleasant, yes.” Four
hundred a term, near enough).
Epithets describing the appearance of the headmaster
and the women only prove this: old but expensive,
Super Victorian ring, mature rather than old, wellscrubbed, geniality untainted.
Mrs. Spokes is the headmaster's wife. She is
pretentious, uses elevated speech. She hardly even
notices Charles during their meeting. She forces
respect from the children. Various epithets
(examples) show courtesy, constant speech
perseverance and a high level of manners and
education to divert suspicions from her inner world.
Bringing Charles back to the boys, the headmaster’s
wife warns Charles everyone will lie, and asks him not
to believe anyone. The description of groans
(examples) proves that the guys will say everything, if
only they will not be punished.
James Spokes is a headmaster dresses fine, shows up
late to the meeting to express his power and
importance.
Composition (Narration technique)
The narrator in the short story “Next term We’ll
Mash You” is a part of the plot. The story is
written in the voice of a third person
omniscient narrator. With this narrating style
readers receive information from an almost
objective source. This allows the reader to
make their own inferences about the
characters through what they say and also
through what we see of their thoughts.
Idea
Penelope Lively introduces us to the world of private
education, with its snob image and hidden fears when
Charlie’s parents are going to choose a prep school for their
child. The short story is a good example of Modern and
Postmodern British literature, which conveys the importance
of class distinctions and their influence on society (add some
words about SDs and Ems the author used to create the
images and develop the idea).
The main idea of the story is the opinion of a person should be
taken into account. It’s unwise to think that we are doing
better without asking the opinion of a person. Sometimes
we only make it worse by making decisions for others, and
believing that it will be better. But that person’s life can
depend on it. It's better to listen to what others have to say,
before we make our decisions. Also the message is do not be
tempted of the thing; it is not always as good as it looks.