Muriel Spark

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Summary, tone, mood, and characterization in Muriel Spark's "You Should Have Seen the Mess."

Summary:

Muriel Spark's "You Should Have Seen the Mess" uses a satirical tone to critique societal norms and expectations. The mood is one of dark humor and irony, reflecting the absurdity of the characters' obsessions with cleanliness and order. Characterization is sharp and exaggerated, highlighting the superficiality and pretentiousness of the individuals portrayed in the story.

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What is the summary and characterization in Muriel Spark's "You Should Have Seen the Mess"?

"You Should Have Seen the Mess" is about a 17-year-old named Lorna who has graduated with a degree in typing and who works in a chemical company. She is obsessed with cleanliness and a kind of superficial presentability, and she speaks about her joy at attending a secondary modern school instead of the grammar school at which she might have gotten a better education, because the secondary modern school is, in her words, more "hygienic." 

She previously worked at a solicitor's office but quit because of the cracked tea cups and the generally run-down appearance of the place. Lorna's mother, Mrs. Merrifield, keeps their council flat spotless and expects the same of other people. Though Lorna is gifted at English, she won't consider taking a job at a publishing house because the company's offices are messy, and she settles for a job at a chemical concern because it is modern and has the latest models of typewriters.

Lorna applies the same principles to dating. She befriends a doctor and his wife named Dr. and Mrs. Darby, though they are messier than she would like, and they introduce her to a good-looking chemist's assistant. She eventually tires of him because he is poor and won't be able to provide her with the "extras" she likes. She then dates an artist named Willy Morley. As he wears a dark shirt, she can't tell immediately whether he's clean. Though Willy cares for her, has money, and enjoys her company, she rejects him in the end because his place is too messy and "it would break my heart to sink so low."

Lorna is an obsessive person whose evaluation of the world around her is clearly distorted. Her obsession with cleanliness and with presenting a kind of middle-class respectability stems in part from her (and her mother's) insecurity. They live in a council flat, which is public housing in Britain. They want to be socially acceptable by keeping their flat spotlessly clean. Lorna's insecurity over her class status makes her unable to relate well to others and to find happiness. 

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What is the tone and mood of Muriel Spark's "You Should Have Seen the Mess"?

The short story centers around a seventeen-year-old girl obsessed with cleanliness. The tone of the work is belittling in nature where the narrator, Lorna, speaks of people she deems unclean. The overall mood of the work is arrogant and naive. Lorna is shocked at everyday actions or ways of keeping house to which she is not accustomed.

Lorna is overly critical of almost everyone in the narration, despite her lack of social standing. Her obsession with cleanliness forces her to view everyone and everything through a single lens. This makes her a very flat character who does not experience any growth in the story. Her arrogance is demonstrated on numerous occasions, including when she foregoes grammar school, a higher school, because it is not as new as the modern secondary school she attended. She criticized several of her employers before leaving her position based on few actual insults that she nevertheless perceived. The end of the story highlights Lorna's arrogance. During her brief affair with Willy the artist she admits she likes him in a way. He also takes care of her, gives her gifts and he comes from a good family with some wealth. However, despite these positives she cannot move past his untidy ways and claims she cannot stoop so low as to marry him.

Lorna continually belittles other people and their habits when she deems them to be either unclean or acting beneath their station in life. She is appalled at how Dr. and Mrs. Darby raise their children. Lorna believes even play clothes should be new and clean. She disparages Mrs. Darby for sending her kids out in what Lorna deems improper clothes. She also chides Dr. Darby's mother for staying in her quaint cottage. Lorna is unable to understand why she would not want to move to another place and is surprised Dr. Darby allows his mother to live there. These are examples of how little Lorna understands about the world and how she demonstrates her lack of empathy toward anyone. In another scene, she is dating a young man she finds attractive but ends the relationship because he can only bathe once per week in hot water. This is the only reason she finds him unclean, but her arrogance will not allow her to be involved with someone who cannot provide for the "extra little things" to which she is accustomed.

The story is a warning about how obsession of any kind can ultimately harm a person, regardless of how it is perceived morally. At the same time it is also a warning that obsession can lead to arrogance because it shifts the focus of evaluation from fair to a biased point of view. In this manner it is a cautionary tale to be mindful of how we interact with the world.

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