Student Question
What are the differences between Alan Beverly and Reginald Sellers from Annette Brougham's perspective?
Quick answer:
Annette Brougham perceives Alan Beverly as charming, modest, and likable, contrasting sharply with Reginald Sellers, who is pompous and mean-spirited. While Alan is a struggling artist, Reginald has some success, which amplifies his conceit. Despite brief moments of doubt, Annette generally dislikes Reginald and is drawn to Alan, suggesting she may accept his marriage proposal at the story's conclusion.
In P. G. Wodehouse's short story "The Man Upstairs" Annette immediately finds herself drawn to the struggling artist Alan Beverley, who is charming and modest. His fellow painter Reginald Sellers, who lives in the same building, is the complete opposite of Alan: pompous, boorish, and mean-spirited. He has had some success, having been hired by a millionaire to paint his portrait, and this has made him even more insufferably conceited.
Apart from a brief period in which she feels she has been too harsh to Reginald and an even shorter time in which she is angry with him for deceiving her (as he is, in fact, none other than Bill Bates, the millionaire Reginald has been painting), Annette dislikes Reginald and likes, perhaps comes to love Alan. We assume that, at the end of the story when she decides to talk to him, she is going to accept his proposal of marriage.
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