Porcelain & PInk

Porcelain & Pink

By Dave Vaughan

A Short Play by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Draw

Using the vivid descriptions in the play, take 5 minutes to draw the scene.

Multiple Choice

What is the personality of the narrator in the play?

• There is no narrator

• The narrator purely exists in the script to obsess over details of the stage and offer slight commentary

• The narrator introduces the characters and their relationships

• The narrator imperfectly describes the scene and cannot be trusted throughout the play

Multiple Choice

What conflict emerges between the two sisters?

• One's appearance is more exquisite than the other

• Julie is jealous of the extra freedom Lois receives on account of being older

• Lois has slighted Julie over the bath in the past, the younger now takes her revenge

• The tub runs out of hot water and Lois is called upon to fix the plumbing

Multiple Choice

What Note and Notice is present in the following recollection of Julie:

"Oh, Godliness, do you remember a day in the chill of last January when one Julie, famous for her Easter-rabbit smile, was going out and there was scarcely any hot water and young Julie had just filled the tub for her own little self when the wicked sister came and did bathe herself therein, forcing the young Julie to perform her ablutions with cold cream--which is expensive and a darn lot of troubles."

• Words of the Wiser

• Contrast and Contradiction

• Tough Questions

• Memory Moments

Multiple Choice

What is Lois referring to with the remark "probably my bottle."

LOIS: You're very inconsistent--last summer you read every day.

JULIE: If I were consistent I'd still be living on warm milk out of a bottle.

LOIS: Yes, and probably my bottle.

• She's annoyed with how her sister has made use of the tub.

• She's saying how Julie is the preferred daughter to her mother.

• She's pointing out how she is the older and wiser of the two.

• She's misunderstanding her sister and does not understand the reference she is making.

Multiple Choice

Who is the Young Man who appears in the window?

• The Plumber

• Julie's father

• A church minister

• Mr. Calkins

Multiple Choice

What literary element is used in the play to present the overall humor of the script?

• Physical comedy in the form of stage directions

• Dramatic irony in terms of audience knowledge above that of Mr. Clakins

• The personification of the mural in the bathroom

• The lyrics of the song sang by Julie

Multiple Choice

What detail in the introduction helps establish this line by the Young Man who appears in the window?

THE YOUNG MAN: (Sentimentally) It's so nice talking to you like this--when you're merely a voice. I'm rather glad I can't see you.

• ...we deduce that [Julie] is not very tall and that she carries herself well.

• it lets in much sunshine, but effectually prevents any one who looks in from seeing the bath-tub.

• LOIS is a year older than JULIE and is nearly her double in face and voice,

• but in her clothes and expression are the marks of the conservative.

Multiple Choice

Humor in english is often constructed in scripts with the use of puns (words with two meanings). How is the pun used to capture a contrast between Julie and her sister in the following excerpt?

THE YOUNG MAN: (With sudden resolution) Lois, I love you. I am not a mundane man but I am a forger---

JULIE: (Interested at once) Oh, how fascinating.

THE YOUNG MAN:--a forger ahead. Lois, I want you.

• Forger often means to craft a duplicate of something illegally which appeals to the darker desires of Julie

• Julie takes interest in Mr. Clakins use of the word love and suddenly swoons over his honesty.

• Julie demonstrates sarcastic interest in Mr. Calkins with the use of the term "fascinating"

• Mr. Calkins is willing to fall madly in love with Lois despite her mercurial nature

Open Ended

How does the title of the play fit the ultimate resolution of the scene? Describe the two elements of the title and what they borrow from in the scene. How does it refer to the closing lines of the play.

THE YOUNG MAN: (Surprised) Why I thought you said you were wearing pinkish white!

[After one despairing stare LOIS shrieks, throws up her hands in surrender, and sinks to the floor.]

THE YOUNG MAN: (In great alarm) Good Lord! She's fainted! I'll be right in.

[JULIE'S eyes light on the towel which has slipped from LOIS'S inert hand.]

JULIE: In that case I'll be right out.