Pineapple Cake Anita Desai - Introduction
Themes
DISAPPOINTMENT
“Victor hadn’t much faith in his mother’s promises. They had a way of getting postponed or cancelled on account of some small accidental lapse on his part.”We can see from this line that Mrs. Fernandez has let Victor down before and though her promise is as simple as giving him a pineapple cake, she cannot do so.
REPUTATION
Mrs. Fernandez has shown from the beginning that she is embarrassed by her son. “… Mrs Fernandez sighed to think how much easier it would have been if she had had a daughter instead.” We can see that Mrs. Fernandez is quite fixed on what other people view of her family as she “had the boy dressed in his new frilled shirt and purple velvet shorts and new shoes that bit his toes and had him sitting quietly in church right through the long ceremony.” We can see here that Mrs Fernandez is more fixed on how her son looks, as opposed to his comfort. “…the collar of the frilled shirt was a bit tight and the church was airless and stuffy but it wasn’t very refined of him to sweat so.” Even though the church is stuffy, Mrs Fernandez blames her son for sweating and ruining how he looks in public. “She ate it quickly. Wiping her mouth primly…” Everything for her has to be in a well-behaved manner. We can assume that the reason why she ate the pineapple cake was because she couldn’t have her son just staring down at a pastry, it would be rude. We see now that Mrs Fernandez treasures reputation over her son.
CENTRE OF ATTENTION
Throughout the entire story, we get the feeling that Mrs Fernandez thinks that she is of importance.
“… his mother was making a din about finding a vehicle to take them to the reception at Green’s.”
When Mrs Fernandez realizes that a whole line of cabs at the curb belonged to more ‘important’ members of the family, she “set her lips together and looked dangerously wrathful, and the party atmosphere began quickly to dissolve in the acid of bad temper and the threat to her dignity.” This can be linked in
DISAPPOINTMENT
“Victor hadn’t much faith in his mother’s promises. They had a way of getting postponed or cancelled on account of some small accidental lapse on his part.”We can see from this line that Mrs. Fernandez has let Victor down before and though her promise is as simple as giving him a pineapple cake, she cannot do so.
REPUTATION
Mrs. Fernandez has shown from the beginning that she is embarrassed by her son. “… Mrs Fernandez sighed to think how much easier it would have been if she had had a daughter instead.” We can see that Mrs. Fernandez is quite fixed on what other people view of her family as she “had the boy dressed in his new frilled shirt and purple velvet shorts and new shoes that bit his toes and had him sitting quietly in church right through the long ceremony.” We can see here that Mrs Fernandez is more fixed on how her son looks, as opposed to his comfort. “…the collar of the frilled shirt was a bit tight and the church was airless and stuffy but it wasn’t very refined of him to sweat so.” Even though the church is stuffy, Mrs Fernandez blames her son for sweating and ruining how he looks in public. “She ate it quickly. Wiping her mouth primly…” Everything for her has to be in a well-behaved manner. We can assume that the reason why she ate the pineapple cake was because she couldn’t have her son just staring down at a pastry, it would be rude. We see now that Mrs Fernandez treasures reputation over her son.
CENTRE OF ATTENTION
Throughout the entire story, we get the feeling that Mrs Fernandez thinks that she is of importance.
“… his mother was making a din about finding a vehicle to take them to the reception at Green’s.”
When Mrs Fernandez realizes that a whole line of cabs at the curb belonged to more ‘important’ members of the family, she “set her lips together and looked dangerously wrathful, and the party atmosphere began quickly to dissolve in the acid of bad temper and the threat to her dignity.” This can be linked in