Cup of Tea Analysis

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“A Cup of Tea,” by Katherine Mansfield, is a short story that shows more than one theme. One of which is jealousy. Rosemary Fell is a rich young woman who is married and who lives the perfect life. She has money, beautiful clothes, and a nice house. Yet, when her husband calls another girl pretty, she lets that alone decide her future actions. Being written in another time period, the male-female dynamic differs from today. There are two reoccurring times when Rosemary asks Phillip, her husband for permission to buy something, or she follows his instructions all together. This falls into place at the end when two certain instances are combined together. It all begins when Rosemary invites a girl asking for a cup of tea to her home. At the beginning of the story, Rosemary is inside an antique store. She is shown a small cream colored box with blue velvet on the inside and a flower embroidery on the outside. Rosemary fell in love with it and was going to buy it, until she learned the price: twenty eight guineas. For a rich girl, this isn’t a lot of money, but she asked the man to keep it for her and she left. This part of the story has no significance until the end but it is important to keep in mind. As Rosemary leaves the antique store, she encounters a girl who is asking her for enough money to buy herself a cup of tea. Instead of giving the girl the money, she invites her back to her house. She thinks about what a great story it would be to tell her friends; it seemed like something taken out from a fairytale. She was going to prove to this girl that - wonderful things did happen in life, that - fairy godmothers were real, that - rich people had hearts, and that women were sisters. (1038) She felt the need to prove that stereotypes about rich people were not true. This showed that Rosemary belived she was doing something nice. Reading this, you feel as
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