AP English Catherine Kuo
January 28, 2007 Period 6

“The Pupil” AP Prompt

The introduction to Henry James’ short story “The Pupil” presents to the reader a passage bursting with ridicule and mockery. Not at all shy with his portrayal of the characters in the first 75 lines of the story, James reveals a unique, extensive depiction of the three characters through a sarcastic tone and third person omniscient narrative point of view.
Pemberton, a hesitant procrastinator, is referred to Mrs. Moreen, an aristocrat whose son he is to tutor, by an acquaintance from Oxford. With barren “University honours,” Pemberton is apprehensive of his own aptitude in tutoring Morgan Moreen. However, in actuality, Pemberton, a "poor young man" excessively concerned with his wages for taking up the job of teaching Morgan mannerism, seems to fill the position perfectly. Illustrating the perfect gentleman, Pemberton skillfully shields his anxiousness about “the figure of his salary” fearing that interrupting Mrs. Moreen is rude even when she "repeated over and over everything but the thing he would have liked to hear" and just manages to “squeezes out a phrase about the rate of payment" at the close of their verbose conversation.
Mrs. Moreen, Pemberton’s employer, is depicted as a typical aristocrat with a "fat, jeweled hand" as well an easy going yet very pretentious and self-involved woman. With no concern for trivial monetary details, she addresses Pemberton’s inquiry about his rate of payment with a vague and nonchalant retort. Referring back to how she was going to pay Pemberton, the only reason she hired him because of Morgan's heart disease and possibly believes throwing money at him will somehow help her son's condition.
Morgan Moreen is the son of an aristocrat and seems to have a heart disease. Portrayed as a cynical eleven year old boy, he is blatantly disrespectful to his mother and Pemberton. James described him from Pembertons point of view as sickly but not delicate, as if he was very aware about his heart condition but didn't let it affect him or let people take sympathy on him because of it. Another attribute Morgan is tagged with is intelligent which is proven true when he easily understands his mothers vague answer towards Pemberton’s wage. Not only does he understand it however, he mocks Pemberton’s reaction with "Oh la-la!."
I believe the point of view is from an omniscient narrator because the narrator seems to hold knowledge regarding the characters and feeds the reader information. James entertains the reader with his diction. An example of this is when he writes "The poor child was not robust: this was the basis on which he had been invited to treat". Utilizing treat as a second meaning, this shows James' cleverness when it comes to wordplay. Also, at the end , the child mocks the comment in the shape of "foreign ejaculation." referring to the French. Lastly, the title itself has a double meaning with the usage of pupil. Either meaning Morgan, the student, or the perception through the pupil eye which has already played a major role in the first few lines, James' ingenuity through word play shines again. Through a mere 75 lines, James has sparked the beginning of a seemingly amazing novel.

AP English Catherine Kuo
January 28, 2007 Period 6

“The Pupil” AP Prompt

The introduction to Henry James’ short story “The Pupil” presents to the reader a passage bursting with ridicule and mockery. Not at all shy with his portrayal of the characters in the first 75 lines of the story, James reveals a unique, extensive depiction of the three characters through a sarcastic tone and third person omniscient narrative point of view.
Pemberton, a hesitant procrastinator, is referred to Mrs. Moreen, an aristocrat whose son he is to tutor, by an acquaintance from Oxford. With barren “University honours,” Pemberton is apprehensive of his own aptitude in tutoring Morgan Moreen. However, in actuality, Pemberton, a "poor young man" excessively concerned with his wages for taking up the job of teaching Morgan mannerism, seems to fill the position perfectly. Illustrating the perfect gentleman, Pemberton skillfully shields his anxiousness about “the figure of his salary” fearing that interrupting Mrs. Moreen is rude even when she "repeated over and over everything but the thing he would have liked to hear" and just manages to “squeezes out a phrase about the rate of payment" at the close of their verbose conversation.
Mrs. Moreen, Pemberton’s employer, is depicted as a typical aristocrat with a "fat, jeweled hand" as well an easy going yet very pretentious and self-involved woman. With no concern for trivial monetary details, she addresses Pemberton’s inquiry about his rate of payment with a vague and nonchalant retort. Referring back to how she was going to pay Pemberton, the only reason she hired him because of Morgan's heart disease and possibly believes throwing money at him will somehow help her son's condition.
Morgan Moreen is the son of an aristocrat and seems to have a heart disease. Portrayed as a cynical eleven year old boy, he is blatantly disrespectful to his mother and Pemberton. James described him from Pembertons point of view as sickly but not delicate, as if he was very aware about his heart condition but didn't let it affect him or let people take sympathy on him because of it. Another attribute Morgan is tagged with is intelligent which is proven true when he easily understands his mothers vague answer towards Pemberton’s wage. Not only does he understand it however, he mocks Pemberton’s reaction with "Oh la-la!."
I believe the point of view is from an omniscient narrator because the narrator seems to hold knowledge regarding the characters and feeds the reader information. James entertains the reader with his diction. An example of this is when he writes "The poor child was not robust: this was the basis on which he had been invited to treat". Utilizing treat as a second meaning, this shows James' cleverness when it comes to wordplay. Also, at the end , the child mocks the comment in the shape of "foreign ejaculation." referring to the French. Lastly, the title itself has a double meaning with the usage of pupil. Either meaning Morgan, the student, or the perception through the pupil eye which has already played a major role in the first few lines, James' ingenuity through word play shines again. Through a mere 75 lines, James has sparked the beginning of a seemingly amazing novel.