the visit of charity summary

A Visit of Charity Questions and Answers & Summary by Eudora Welty

Table of Contents

OU Degree 1st Sem English – A Visit of Charity Questions and Answers & Summary

Question 1. Why does Manan hide the apple? Why does she eat It immediately after leaping onto the bus? Explain the symbolic significance of the apple. Answer: Manan hid the apple, because she did not want to share it with the old women in the home. There is also a religious meaning in the symbol of the apple. The apple, the representation of man’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden, when Eve bit the apple and then offered it to Adam, is used to allude to Marian’s sin at not bringing anything into the home with her. She is indifferent to the suffering that goes on in the home and goes because she needs to earn credit as a Campfire Girl, but her intentions are not pure.

She does not like the environment, she keeps herself at an emotional distance from the residents and deprives them, not only of the apple that she hides, but of her full attention. She offers no comfort, no love to those women, she does not view them as people.

“The old woman who desperately needs love, is constantly referred to as a sheep or a little lamb, the implication of Manan’s bite into the apple is clear.” “She has refused to feed the sheep – literally by refusing to give the apple to addie and symbolically by refusing to give her love.” At the end of the story, Manan retrieves a red apple she hidden in the bushes. She then jumps on the bus and takes a big bite out of the apple. This is an interesting moment in the story.

The apple is red and the girls coat Is also red, so this is a significant color. As she spends time in the nursing home with the objectified animal-like old women, Manan just wants to escape and to thrive. By running out of the nursing home and taking a big bite out of the apple, Manan shows that she rejects old age and death, and chooses youth and life. She will not think of the old women anymore and will go on living a vibrant life.

Question 2. Marlan’s motive for visiting the Old Ladies Home are for from compassionate. Explain. Answer: In ‘A Visit of Charity’ illustrates the story of a fourteen year old girl Marian, who is a Campfire Girl paying a visit to the old Ladies Home in order to earn points as a compfire Girl Manan thought that this would be an easy task that would take just a little of her time and an insignificant effort on her part. She even brought a potted plant for extra points. Manan thought she was going to visit a sweet and kind little old lady, but she encountered not that type of ladies, but two old ladies who were bad tempered, argumentative and uncooperative.

When manan first approaches the nursing home it is described as a very cold place. The author describes that the nursing home is cold, it may not be physically cold, but mentally and emotionally cold. This makes the home feel unwelcoming, dead and unloving, The room that Manan visits is dark, with a drawn shade and too much furniture. As there are no colours, decorations, or beauty brightens this a room, which is packed with beds, a chair a ward robe, washstand, a rocker, and a bed table.

The wet smell of everything and the wet appearance of the bare floor suggest that this cramped room is move like stall in a barn, a place for animals, than for use by human unsanitary. The elders in the room were wild, with pet-like mouths and red eyes like a sheep. Manan perceived the old women she meets sometimes as things and sometimes as animals. During her brief stay at the Home, Manan thinks of the first old woman as a bird and the second as a sheep.

Marian came to give a thing, a potted plant, not herself. She even gave less time than another Campfire Girl who read the Bible to the old women. As she yells for the bus to wait, leaps on she shows her untouched feelings and undisturbed ignorance. Marian left the women more lonely and distraught than she found them. The kind of charity is uncharitable indeed.

Question 3. Use examples from the text to examine how the old ladies behave with Marian. Why do you think they act the way they do? Answer: Marian must spend time visiting an old ladies home as an act of charity, and is sent to visit the room of two old ladies. Among the two old ladies, one is a babbler, who is incapable of letting a moment pass in silence. She is silly and annoying to her roommate – Old Addie. Addie is cranky and bedridden, and seemingly at the mercy of her roommates continual chatter. She is suspicious and resentful of the girl’s visit. While her roommate is playful, snatching the girl’s hat off her head.

When Marian goes to visit the Old Ladies’ Home as an act of charity for her Campfire Girl requirement, she expects that it will be a quick and painful visit. During her visit, Marian sees women who remind her of sheep and who bicker constantly. As she watches the two old women, they become increasingly mean to each other, and Marian becomes increasingly disoriented. At one point, Marian can’t even remember her own name.

When the old woman makes Addie cry, saying the reason she’s upset is because it’s her birthday, the spell over Marian is broken. Once Addie cries, Marian recognizes the cruelty of the women and is able to break free. Therefore Addie’s crying and the shabby room causes Marian to abruptly leave the women’s room, but the recognition of the ugliness and cruelty in that place and between women ultimately impels her to escape. She sees how mean the women are to each other and has a glimpse of what her future might be like when she gets older.

In the nursing home the patients are herded around by the staff and treated as if they are not real people. Welty’s message is that nursing homes are not nice places for the elderly to be and only by going and witnessing it, like the girl does, will anyone know how mistreated and demeaned the people who live there are.

Pronunciation

Vowel sounds are used in almost all languages, this is a kind of sound that does not need the mouth to be closed, when you are pronouncing It. Vowel contrasts with consonant sounds on this aspect. One needs to close his or her mouth when pronouncing a consonant sound.

Plosives are the kind of sounds usually associated with the letters p, t, k, b, d, g in which airflow from the lungs is interrupted by a complete closure being made in the mouth. There are six plosives in English /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/ and /g/.

A consonant sound can occur at the beginning of a word. (i.e., in the initial position) at the end of the word (i.e., in the final position), or any where between the first and the last sound of a word (i.e., in a medial position).

/P/ and /b/ are produced with the constriction at the constriction at the lips (bilabial). In the case of /P/, the vocal folds (cords) produce no voicing, and is consequently known as a voiceless plosive.

/t/ and /d/ are produced with the constriction of the blade of the tongue against the ridge behind the upper teeth (alveolar), /t/ is voiceless.

/k/ and are produced with the constriction of the back of the tongue against the back of the roof of the mouth, the soft palate (velar); /k/ is voiceless.

Minimal Pairs:

A minimal pair consists of two words which are identical except for a single phoneme at a particular position. This phoneme can be either a vowel or a consonant sound.

Examples of minimal pairs :

• pin and bin
• alive and arrive
• pen and pet

Look at the table below. It contains two examples each of minimal pairs in which different sounds are,

• /p/ and /b/
• /t/ and /d/
• /k/ and /g/

Write three more examples for each set.

Noun Finite Verbs

A verb is a word used to describe on action, e.g., jog. Verbs can be finite or non-finite.

1. A Finite Verb

A finite verb is a verb that has a subject. He jogs home, the pronoun he is subject and jogs describes what the subject is doing. A finite verb is affected by tense (jogs, jogging, jogged) and number (He jog/ They jogs).

2. A non-finite verb

A non-finite verb is not affected by tense, person or number. There are three types of non-finite verbs. Infinitives, gerunds and participles.

a. Infinitives Infinitives are the most basic of a verb, often preceded by the word ‘to’. They may function as adverbs, nouns or adjectives.

• I struggle to understand . (functions as adverb)
• To exercise is good for the body. (functions as noun)
• I do not have time to enjoy dinner. (functions as adjective).

b. Gerund A gerund is a verb ending with ‘-ing’ which functions as a noun. Gerund can take different forms. It can be the subject of a sentence like Swimming is fun. It can be the direct object like. I love swimming or the indirect object like I have not given much thought to swimming .

e.g : Travelling is my favourite hobby. Are you interested in singing ? Walking keeps us active. She does some volunteering in her free time.

c. Participle

A participle is a word formed from a verb and act as an adjective. Participle can be of two types; Past participle and Present participle. e.g. : The movie was interesting . (present participle) Eating freshly picked fruits is good for health (past participle) Ladakh is fascinating . We are all excited to be going there. (present and past participle).

Underline the non-finite verbs, if any, in each of the sentences below.

1. He gave me a pen to write with. 2. It was a sight to see . 3. I want to buy some vegetables. 4. Barking dogs do not bite. 5. I had my car polished . 6. She was wearing a designer outfit. (No Non finite verb). 7. Finding the door open, my mother went inside. 8. Nitya is doing her homework at the moment. (No Non finite verb). 9. The proposal has been examined today. (No Non-finite verb). 10. Vardhan has finished his exams. (No Non-finite verb)

Simile and Metaphor

a. Simile A simile Is a figure of speech or literaxy device that makes a direct comparison between two things of different kinds, using the words like’ or ‘as’

Example: 1. His hair is as black as coal. hair compared with coal

2. She is as brave as a lion a person compared with a lion

3. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds eyes compared with diamonds.

4. The water was as black as night. 5. She was as busy as a bee and had no time to relax, 6. The room was so warm it was like a sauna. 7. She moves with such grace, like a gazelle. 8. My love is like a red rose.

b. Metaphor

A metaphor describes a person or thing as someone quite unrelated that it considered to have a similar characteristics. It equates two different things without using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’

Example: 1. This city is a concrete jungle equating the city with a jungle. 2. Her words were poison equating the horrid nature of someone’s words with poison. 3. All the world’s a stage equating the world we live in with the idea of it being a stage on which we all perform. 4. You are the light of my life 5. How old are these computers? They are practically dinosaurs. 6. They were covered in a blanket of flowers. 7. London is a melting pot. 8. The wheels of justice grind slow.

Use of ‘ie’ and ‘ei’

A common error made by many English language learners is to misspell words which include the combination of letters i.e., or e.i. Fortunately, there is simple rule in the form of a rhyme which can help overcome this problem:

I before E, except after C, or when sounding. like ‘ay’

Note: The words are spelt ‘ei’ because the words have an ‘ay’ sound. But there are exceptions to this rule, they can only be remembered by memorising their spelling.

Fill in the blanks to correctly spell the words

1. h ei r 2. p ie r 3. s ei zure 4. financ i er 5. misch ie vous 6. ach ie ve 7. shr ie k 8. surv ei llance 9. counterf ei t 10. f ei nt 11. prot ei n 12. th ei r 13. d ie d 14. spec ie s 15. gla ci er 16. l ei sure

Punctuation

Semicolon (;) It is a punctuation mark that indicates a pause between two independent clauses. It is a longer pause than comma.

Example 1. We wanted to read thirty pages; we only read twelve (The two complete sentences, ‘We wanted to read thirty pages’, and ‘We only read twelve’, are linked by the common idea of reading.) 2. He needed to see a doctor; he hurt himself while playing football. 3. These trousers are ruined; hopefully your tailor can mend them. 4. Chiru is a good actor, dancer, fighter and humanitarian; and we all honour him. 5. Reading makes a full man; speaking a ready man; writing on exact man. Semicolons can also be used In lists, when the items in the list contain commas

• I have four sisters: two in Hyderabad, India; one in London, England, and one in paris, France.
• Ram’s favourite types of food are: chicken biryani; not mutton; masala dosa and butter chicken.
• There were three people I knew at the art exhibition: Miss John, our class teacher; Tara, my neighbour’s daughter; and Mr. Gopal from the bank.

1. The weather was terrible it wouldn’t stop raining. The weather was terrible; it wouldn’t stop raining.

2. Her fitness is poor she will probably not do well in the physical education exam. Her fitness is poor she will probably not do well in the physical education exam.

3. Some universities offer scholarships others do not. Some universities offer scholarships others do not.

4. Oh, it’s such a lovely day; I might go meet my friends at the park! Oh, It’s such a lovely day; I might go meet my friends at the park!

5. We have to stop at the petrol bunk the car is low on fuel. We have to stop at the petrol bunk; the car is low on fuel.

Determine whether the sentences below require or do not require a semicolon. If they do. mark the semicolons correct position. if you think a comma has been used Incorrectly, change It to a semicolon.

1. She went swimming every day while on holiday in Coorg. No error

2. He is not from Hyderabad he is from Bangalore. He is not from Hyderabad; he is from Bangalore.

3. I want to go to the library, but I think it might be closed today. I want to go to the library, but I think it might be closed today.

4. Are you okay travelling by bus, or do you want to travel by train. Are you okay travelling by bus, or do you want to travel by train?

5. All of the art supplies are in that cabinet, we only take then out during ant class. All of the art supplies are in that cabinet we only take them out during art class.

Conversation

Asking for Information

Asking for information in English can be as simple as asking for the time, or as complicated as asking for details about a complicated process. In an academic or work environment, you may find yourself struggling to understand how to complete a task. In such situations the best thing to do is to ask someone for help or information. When asking for information form a friend, use a more informal form. When asking a colleague, use a slightly more formal form.

Sample sentence with questions used to ask when seeking assistance:

1. Excuse me. I’m sorry to bother you, but can you help me with this? It just won’t open! 2. Pardon me. I was wondering if you could tell me the way to Meeting Room 4. 3. Hello. Do you know how to use this programme? I’m afraid I’ve never used it before and on finding it quite difficult to operate. 4. Hi. Have you any idea what the time is? Thanks 5. Please excuse me. I don’t suppose you know how to turn this machine off? I’d really appreciate your help . 6. Thank you for coming, every one! n, sorry to interrupt, but can anyone tell me where Amrit is? 7. Sir? Do you know who has the keys to this room? 8. Madam? Are you busy? I just wanted to ask you a few questions about the report and its deadline. 9. I should be grateful if you would send me the details. 10. Could you please give me the details?

Question 1. You have a job interview with an organisation you admire, but when you arrive at their office you cannot remember in which room the interview is taking place. You ask the receptionist for help. Write down what you would say. Answer: Good morning ma’am. I’m sorry I forget in which room the interview is taking place. Could you please guide me to the interview room? Excuse me could you tell me in which room the interview is taking place.

Question 2. You are working on your presentation but do not know how to insert a table into one of the slides. You call a colleague and ask for help. Write down what you would say. Answer: Hello. Do you know how to insert a table in the slides? I’m afraid Ive never did it before and am finding it quite difficult to insert it.

Question 3. While on vacation in Goa you get lost and separated from your friends. You do not have your phone with you and cannot remember your phone with you and cannot remember your friends phone numbers. You approach a shopkeeper to ask for directions back to your hotel. Write down what you would say. Answer: Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you but can you help me to know the direction to the hotel Taj Krisha as I lost my way and missed my friends too.

Question 4. You are unwell and miss your English class. The next day you meet your English teacher to discuss what you missed and what you need to study. Write down what you would say. Answer: Good morning madam. Are you busy? I just wanted to ask you regarding yesterday’s class as I wouldn’t attend it due to ill health. Kindly tell me what am I supposed to study.

Reading Passage

Hyderabad : The Heart of Telangana

The city of hyderabad is located in the heart of Telangana. It contains major tourist attractions such as Golconda Fort, Charminar, the Qutb Shahi Tombs, Chowmahalla Palace, Salar Jung Museum and the Nehru Zoological Park. It has a population of 6.7 million, Hyderabad the ‘City of Farls’ has a rich history. It was founded in 1591 by Muhammad Quali Qutb Shah, of the Qutb Shahi dynasty. In 1724, Mir Qamar-ud-Din Siddiqui of AsafJah dynasty was granted the title of Nizam – ul – Mulk of the Hyderabad region.

The city flourished under their reign growing economically and culturally as the Nazism were great supporters of literature, art, architecture and food. In 1947, after independence, the Nizam of Hyderabad declared of making Hyderabad a separate independent territory.

The newly established Indian government initiated an operation – code named operation polo-in which the Indian army moved into the state of Hyderabad on 16 September 1948 to combat the Nizam’s army. Five days later, the Nizam’s army surrendered and the Nizam signed the instrument of Accession where in the state of Hyderabad merged into the India Union. On June 2, 2014, following a movement of separation, Telangana was awarded its own state and Hyderabad was declared the state capital.

Note – Making

Making notes while listening to a lecture or while reading an article or a book is not only a very useful study skill but is aJos one that will help you at work. Besides helping you remember what you read or heard some time ago, making notes will enable you to organise your own thoughts better. This is because while making notes you will also be considereing the importance of the different points in the matter you are reading or distening to and drawing your own conclusions about them.

Necessary skills for effecitve note-making

• Ability to read attentively
• Ability to comprehend what is read
• Ability to distinguish between important and unimportant ideas.

Characteristic features of effective note-making

• Usually written in the form of points
• May also be written in the form of tables, charts and diagrams.
• Lists all that is essential.

Guidelines on Making Notes:

1. When making notes, take down the main or important points. You can do this by looking for special words that introduce new information or by picking up signals received from the speaker’s tone.

2. Use a clear layout with inter-lines spaces, subheads, bullets, etc., so that you will understand the notes later.

3. Organise your notes so that they reflect how the ideas were connected in the original text.

4. Write down important points that you identi, in short form, using words, phrases and abbreviations. Underline important words. You can either use common symbols and standard abbreviations (such as ‘e.g’, ‘&‘ ‘etc.’ and ‘yr’) or create your own (such as ‘engg.’ and ‘tech,’). A list of common abbreviations is given at the end of this section.

5. Drop all articles, prepositions, conjunctions and pronouns unless they are necessary in order to understand the notes. Use dashes to link ideas.

6. Use diagrams and tables in your notes to summarise information and present it in a condensed form. One can take notes quickly by using abbreviations. Some common abbreviations are listed below.

& or + — and = — equals, is the same as, results in ? — does not equal, is not the same as, does not result in ~ — is approximately equal to, is similar to > > — leads to, produces, causes ? — uncertain, possibly, unproven approx — approximately argu — argument btwn or b/w –between conc — conclusion content — continued dey — development duff — difference e.g. — for example esp — especially etc — and soon i.e. — that is imp — important Info — information vs — against w/ — with w/o — without

Sample note-making Formates

Read the short passage below.

There are different forms of environmental pollution. Air pollution is caused by the burning of coal and oil. It can damage the earth’s vegetation and cause respiratory problems in humans. A second type of pollution is noise pollution. It is the result of the noise of aircraft and heavy traffic.

Further, loud music is also a cause of noise pollution, which has been seen to affect people’s hearing and give them severe headaches and high blood pressure.

Another source of pollution is radioactivity, which occurs when there is a leak from a nuclear power station. Radioactivity is a deadly pollutant, which kills and causes irreparable harm to those exposed to it. Land and water pollution is caused by the careless disposal of huge quantities of rubbish, sewage and chemical wastes.

Pollution of rivers and seas kills fishes and other marine life and also becomes the cause of water-borne diseases. Land pollution, on the other hand, poisons the soil, making the food grown in it unfit for consumption. Let us now make notes on the above passage. Different formates can be used when making notes. You can design a format of your own that suits you best. Here are some common ones.

Environmental Pollution

A. Air 1. cause : burning of coal and oil 2. effect:

• damage to vegetation
• respiratory problems in humans

B. Noise 1. cause:

• noise of sircraft and traffic
• causes bad headache

C. Radioactivity 1. cause : beak from nuclear power station 2. effect:

• causes injury

D. Land & Water

1. cause : careless disposal of rubbish/sewage/chemical wastes 2. effect:

• water pollution – kills manine life causes water – boxne diseases
• land pollution – poisons the soil makes food grown inedible

The functions of universities have steadily increased over the centuries and today they have to play a variety of roles. They are first, to foster the spirit of free inquiry and promote independent and critical thinking, second to be a repository of knowledge, responsible for its transmission through teaching and extra moral activities, Thirdly to be the place for the pursuit, generation and application of new knowledge.

Fourthly to be the training ground through professionals including doctors, engineers, business managers and administrators fifthly to render service to society, anticipating its needs and assisting in the fulfillment of social and economic objectives. Sixthly to promote values and assist in the promotion of culture and traditions.

Title : The functions of universities

1. To faster the spirit of ……………. a. Free inquiry b. Promote independent critical thinking

2. To be a repository of …………….. a. Knowledge

b. Know transmission through

• Extra mutual activities

3. To be the place of …………….. a. the pursuit b. generation c. application of new knowledge

4. To be training ground for competent professionals a. doctors b. engineers c. business managers d. administrators

5. To render services to society in ……………. a. anticipating its needs b. assisting in its fulfillment of 1. social 2. economic objectives

6. To promote and assist in the presentation of ……………. a. culture b. traditions

Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar (1891 – 1956) also known as Baba Saheb was born in Ambavade in the Ratnagiri District of modern day Maharashtra. An indian nationalist, Dalit leader and a Buddhist revivalist. Dr. Ambekar was among the first untouchables to obtain a college education in India.

He even travelled abroad from where he obtained his Doctorate degree (Ph.d). He was a prolific writer, commentator and scholar. He was one of the architects of the India constitution. In fact, the was the chaitman of the constitution drafting committee. He was also independent India’s first law minister.

Title : Life History of Dr. Br. Ambedkar 1. Birth a. Born in 1891

2. Place a. Ambavade in Ratnagiri District b. Maharashtra

3. Known as a. Baba saheb b. Bhim Rao Ambedkar

4. Educational qualification a. First untouchable to obtain college education in India b. Doctorate degree from abroad.

5. Talents a. Prolific writer b. Commentator c. Scholar

6. Titles a. Indian nationalist b. Dalit leader c. Buddhist revivalist

7. Position a. Architect of the Indian constitution b. Chairman of drafting committee c. First law minister.

8. Kept in menageries since roman times a. For exhibition in zoos and circuses b. Zoo’s world wide cooperation in breeding the enangered Asiatic subspecies.

Soft Skills

Time Management

Time management is planning and making the best use of the time effectively. We have to know what task we are doing and plan according to that We have to be very organized in using our time then we have to prioritize our tasks with goal setting and scheduling our work. A time management system Is designed combination of processes, tools, techniques and methods. It is usually a necessity in any project development. Here are few tips for time management

• List out your tasks that is to be done according to their importance and urgency.
• You have to be very organized.
• Use to do lists, mobile phone reminders.
• Do not let others to disturb you, when you are doing some work really important.
• Be punctual.
• Be patient and supportive
• Have a positive attitude, when there are delays.

The following are a list of suggestions on how to manage your time better:

• Set Goals : This can be either private (pursuing a hobby or taking a family vacation) or professional (completing a project or preparing a presentation for a meeting), but having goals encourages you to manage your time well so that on the day of an event you are prepared and not over helmed.
• Keep a to-do-list : This will allow you to keep track of your goals and ensure you do not miss any deadlines.
• Manage your distractions : Nowadays it is remarkably easy to lose track of time by browsing the Internet, watching television, or messaging your friends. You must be responsible and make sure that while working you do not get distracted. Do not procrastinate.
• Remember to relax : Working long hours at a stretch can sometimes be unproductive. Set aside some time to relax, as a break can be refreshing, and might allow you to develop a new perspective on an old problem.

Value Orientation

Time and Tide Wait For No One

The expression ‘time and tide wait for no one’ emphasises the idea that since people are incapable of stopping or slowing the passage of time, it makes sense they should use their time wisely to prioritise those tasks which are most important to them. Time is very precious and demanding thing by everyone. It costs us a lot as once it goes never comes back It runs regularly for every moment and never stays even for a second. Time destroys those who destroy the time.

Lost time never returns to us. So we should use it properly in tight direction. We should be conscious always to make the best use of time we have. Opportunities come to our way with time however do not knock the door ail time. In the same way we cannot stop the tide to occur in the sea; it occurs whenever it has to come. In the same way, we cannot stop or stop the time for further use, it runs continuously without any stoppage. It runs on its own axis without waiting for the orders of anyone.

In a lesson that discusses the concept of time management, this is a particularly relevant expression. Opportunities do not always come by, and missing one might mean never getting the saine chance again. Dr. A.PJ. Abdul Kalam, former president of India, is credited with saying, if you want to leave your footprints on the sands of time, do not drag your feet.

The famous roman catholic nun and missionary, Mother Teresa, said, ‘Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin. Both emphasise the idea that time is valuable and should not be wasted. Perhaps the best approach is to think of time as a resource.

You can choose to take advantage of that resource and use it constructively to meet personal or professional goals, or you can waste it by procrastinating and doing something unproductive. In the world of business, pioneering entrepreneurs understand the importance of this statement. Steve Jobs, the co-founder and former CEO of Apple used to say, Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. No matter what, time will proceed.

A Visit of Charity Summary in English

Eudora Welty (1909 – 2001) was an American short story writer. Her literary career take off with the publication of her first story. She was a prolific author and wrote stories in multiple genres. The action of ‘A Visit of Charity’ is deceptively simple. Marian, a young Campfire Girl, reluctantly visits an “Old Ladies’ Home” to gain points for her charity work.

While there she meets two old women, one who chatters on in an obsequious way and another, old Addie, who confined to bed, resents the little girl’s visit as well as her own babbling roommate. When Marian leaves the home, she retrieves an apple that she hid before entering and takes a big bite out of it.

It tells the story of fourteen your old Marian and her visit to an Old Ladies ‘Home’ Marian is in a youth – development organisation in America called Campfire, and one of her duties, which will earn her extra points is to visit a home the elderly. During her visit, she reluctantly spends time with two elderly, ailing women, and they discovers they live in cold, uncomfortable rooms and suffer from extreme lonliness.

Marian panicks at the sight of their grief and instead of consoling them, flees. The story portrays how the meaning of ‘charity’ has changed from caring for and trying to help others, to trying to earn points or keeping up appearances. It makes readers contemplate the motives people have for performing acts of charily, as even the nurse – who is expected to be compassionate is different to the elderly women’s sufferings.

The basic theme of the story is suggested by the obvious irony of the title, for Marian’s visit is not one of true charity, but rather a formal, institutionalized gesture. From the beginning of the story, Marian does not think of the two old women as people. I like herself. She not only is aware of the strangeness of the old ladies, but she also has become a stranger to herself. Thrown out of her familiar world, where she intensely feels her difference from the old ladies and thus her own separation and isolation.

As Marian enters the home, the bulging linoleum on the floor makes her feel as if she is walking on the waves, and the smell in the building is like the interior of a clock. When the mannish nurse tells Marian that there are “two” in each room, Marian asks, “Two What?” The garrulous old woman is described as a birdlike creature who plucks Marian’s hat off with a hand like a claw, while old Addie has a “bunchy white forehead and red eyes like a sheep”; she even “bleats” when she says, “who-are you?” Marian feels as if she has been caught in a robber’s cave? The author conveys through the story the inhumane treatment in nursing homes. The nursing home lacks amenities for elderly people.

The condition of the room is comparable to a jail-small, wet, dark, and closed door. A nurse acts more like a jail guard than a compassionate professional. Welty portrays Marian is an individual person or as a whole society that is insensitive to the welfare of elderly people.

People in society was used to living in their own comfort zones and neglect the inferior lives of unfortunate people. The story uses Campfire girls who pay visits to the nursing home for self-benefits as a mirror of the selfishness and dehumanization of society in reality. The epiphany of Marian in the story is actually a symbolic of reader’s awareness of human difficulties.

A Visit of Charity Summary in Telugu

మానవ సందంధాలను చిత్రించే కథా రచయిత్రిగా గన్న Eudora Welty అమెరికాకు చెందిన వారు. ప్రస్తుత కథ, ‘ధార్మిక సందర్శన’ దాతృత్వం వెనుక దాగిన స్వార్థ ఉద్దేశాలను బహిర్గతం చేస్తుంది. వ్యక్తుల, సంస్థల దురుద్దేశపూరిత కార్యక్రమాలను ఎండగట్టడంలో రచయిత్రి విజయవంత మవుతుంది. వర్ణనలు సవివరంగాను, కథనం ఆసక్తికరంగాను ఉన్నది.

దాతృత్వం గురించిన గంభీర ఆలోచనలోకి నడిపిస్తుంది కథ పాఠకులను. 14 సంవత్సరాల మరియన్ కథలో ప్రధాన పాత్ర. క్యాంప్ఫైర్ పేరున నడిచే ఒక యువజన అభివృద్ధి సంస్థలో కేవలం మార్కులు పొందటానికే ఒక వృద్ధ మహిళల ఆశశాన్ని సందర్శిస్తుంది మరియన్, అక్కడ ఆమె ఇద్దరు వృద్ధ, వ్యాధిగ్రస్త మహిళలను సందర్శిస్తుంది.

వారు ఇరుకు, మురికి, చీకటి, తేమగా ఉన్న గదిలో నివసిస్తున్నారు. ఇదంతా చూసిన తరువాత కూడా మరియన్ దృష్టి ఆమె పాయింట్ల మీదనే. ఆ వృద్ధి మహిళలకు కొన్ని నిముషాలైనా ఓదార్చును అందించాలనే ప్రయత్నం కూడా చేయదు. దాని బదులుగా ఆకస్మికంగా, త్వరగా అక్కడి నుండి పరుగు పెడుతుంది. ఈ విధంగా మరియన్ సందర్శన ఉద్దేశ్యం బహిర్గతమవుతుంది. అక్కడ పనిచేసే నర్స్ కూడా వారిపట్ల పూర్తి నిరాసక్తతతో ఉంటుంది.

OU Degree 2nd Sem English Study Material

Leave a comment cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Eudora Welty: Short Stories Symbols, Allegory and Motifs

By eudora welty.

These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.

Written by Timothy Sexton

The body of water which gives this story its title is its central and controlling symbol. The story takes place at a summer camp for girls on the threshold of maturation into young women. A reclusive male lifeguard who saves one of the girls from drowning but is otherwise hostile to them and an older deacon who lasciviously stares at their budding breasts are representative male figures in the story. Language filled with erotic subtext and imagery of the mysterious world lying beneath the surface of the water all contribute to situate Moon Lake a symbol of experience which the innocent find both tempting and terrorizing.

The Apple (A Visit of Charity)

At the beginning of this story the young Campfire Girl, Marian, mysterious pauses at a bush before entering a nursing home to earn points for acts of charity. Only at the very end of this disturbing and deeply metaphorical nightmarish encounter is the significance of the pause at the bush revealed. Before going inside, Marian hides a red apple behind the bush. Upon desperately running from the Gothic atmosphere of two strange old female residents inside the nursing home, Marian stoops to pick up the apple and the bite which ends the story serves to make the fruit fraught with Biblical symbolism associated with falls from grace, acquisition of knowledge and the true meaning of Christian charity.

The Pavilion (A Memory)

As the title indicates, “A Memory” is a story about the perfection of a single moment in time in the memory of a teenage girl. That perfection is subsequently marred forever by ugly intrusion of the real world. The symbol of this memory being flawed forever is a beach pavilion which has a clean white roof near the beginning but has become small, worn and pitiable by the end.

The Rabbit (The Wide Net)

“The Wide Net” is about a wife who is distraught over her husband spending more time out with his friends than with her. She leaves a message behind that she has had enough and is going to down herself and the husband is moved to go to his friends on a search mission which seems to lose its focus. At one point the husband manages to catch a wild rabbit in his hands which sparks the following dialogue with his companions:

“Let her go, William Wallace, let her go. What do you want with a live rabbit?”

“Let her go.”

“She can go if she wants to, but she don’t want to.”

The rabbit thus becomes one of Welty’s more obvious symbols as the conversation clearly implicates the status of its current state of bondage to William and the advice of the friends as a metaphor for his wife.

The Worn Path

One of Welty’s most famous stories is “A Worn Path” and the title landscape of that story operates on two symbolic levels simultaneously. On one level, the path is a symbol for the long life of the story’s protagonist, Phoenix Jackson in the way it presents obstacles to an old, frail woman who is just trying to get medicine for her grandchild. In addition to being, frail and a woman, however, Phoenix is also black and so the encounters which speak metaphorically to her personally also operate on a broader level which makes the worn path symbolic of the African-American struggle.

Update this section!

You can help us out by revising, improving and updating this section.

After you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. An editor will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback.

Eudora Welty: Short Stories Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Eudora Welty: Short Stories is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for Eudora Welty: Short Stories

Eudora Welty: Short Stories study guide contains a biography of Eudora Welty, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Eudora Welty: Short Stories
• Eudora Welty: Short Stories Summary
• Character List

Essays for Eudora Welty: Short Stories

Eudora Welty: Short Stories essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Eudora Welty: Short Stories by Eudora Welty.

• A Comparison of Materialism, Communication, and Connection in Death of a Traveling Salesman and Neighbor Rosicky

Wikipedia Entries for Eudora Welty: Short Stories

• Introduction
• Photography
• Writing career and major works
• Literary criticism related to Welty's fiction

A Visit of Charity

23 pages • 46 minutes read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Story Analysis

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Authorial Context: Photography

Before becoming famous as a writer, Welty was a photographer. She worked as a junior publicity agent for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), an employment program established by President Roosevelt during the Great Depression. Welty traveled to photograph her fellow Mississippians carrying out their daily routines. She felt her experience photographing these people influenced her writing. In her memoir One Writer’s Beginnings , Welty explained how photography informed her writing:

Making pictures of people in all sorts of situations, I learned that every feeling waits upon its gesture; and I had to be prepared to recognize this moment when I saw it. These were things a story writer needed to know. And I felt the need to hold transient life in words—there’s so much more of life that only words can convey—strongly enough to last me as long as I lived. The direction my mind took was a writer’s direction from the start, not a photographer’s, or a recorder’s (928).

Get access to this full Study Guide and much more!

• 7,750+ In-Depth Study Guides
• 4,800+ Quick-Read Plot Summaries
• Downloadable PDFs

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now

Related Titles

By Eudora Welty

A Worn Path

Eudora Welty

Death of a Traveling Salesman

Delta Wedding

Losing Battles

One Writer's Beginnings

Petrified Man

The Optimist's Daughter

The Ponder Heart

The Robber Bridegroom

Why I Live at the P.O.

Featured Collections

View Collection

American Literature

Childhood & Youth