Previous
Literary Devices
Flashbacks
Explanation and Analysis—Meringue Shell:
The flashback to the strained interactions Josephine and Constantia have with their nephew Cyril is an important moment in the Colonel’s characterization. Mansfield uses a simile referring to a meringue-shell during a flashback to illustrate the old man’s mean, crotchety personality, as Cyril and the Colonel’s two daughters pay him a visit in his bedroom:
They knocked at the door, and Cyril followed his aunts into grandfather's hot, sweetish room.[...] He was sitting in front of a roaring fire, clasping his stick. [...] Grandfather Pinner shot his eyes at Cyril in the way he was famous for. Where was Auntie Con? She stood on the other side of Aunt Josephine [...] She never took her eyes off grandfather.
"Eh?" said Grandfather Pinner, curving his hand like a purple meringue-shell over one ear.
Related Themes:
