Mrs Midas Flashcards
(7 cards)
Emotional Trauma
“I put a chair against my door, near petrified.”
The word choice of ‘petrified’ conveys her immense fear of her husband, but also the literal meaning of the word - that she may be frozen into gold.
Isolation
“He was below, turning the spare room into the tomb of Tutankhamun.”
Their physical separation and isolation from one another - the fact that he now sleeps in the spare room.
Loss
“I think of him in certain lights, dawn, later afternoon, and once a bowl of apples stopped me dead.”
Despite the fact that their relationship was lost long ago, thoughts of him still linger, refusing to be lost.
Change
“He picked up the glass, glass, goblet, golden chalice, drank.”
The series of alliterative nouns takes you through the step-by-step process of the transformation.
Love
“Unwrapping each other, rapidly, like presents, fast food.”
The ephemeral nature of gifts and fast food represents how their love was enjoyable for a time, but unsatisfying in the long term.
“I think of him in certain lights”
Despite all that he has done, and how their distance has grown, some small reminiscent love still remains, pulling her mind back to him.
Contrast
“Separate beds.”
“He sat in the back.”
The use of short sentences emphasises the contrast between their previous relationship and intimacy and now - when she is scared to even go near him.
Childhood Experiences
“Miss Macready”
This refers to the housekeeper in ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’, who shows off the house rather than thinking of the children. This memory is likely from her childhood, and also demonstrates how Mr. Midas was thinking of the riches which he could possess rather than any future children he may have.
