Sunday, January 15, 2006

Town Mouse Country Mouse

I do love Flora and her quest to tidy the country folk of Cold Comfort Farm. She has the gall to tell the men folk to hush up she is trying to sleep and demand Adam keep the door closed while indoors. She is changing all she can (surroundings and people) to satisfy her own need for civilized living.

Flora decides the room and the water in her wash basin are adequate given her primitive situation, but the curtains have to be cleaned. She then enters the hut of the hired girl Meriam, who has just given birth to her fourth child, and asks if she can wash the curtains in a day or two. Furthermore, Flora takes the opportunity to explain birth control to the obvious information lacking Meriam, before returning to the house.

Is Flora tidying or taking over?

Pointless, Aimless, Feckless and Graceless are the farm’s cows. Which made for a quick chuckle, but I laughed out loud when Graceless dropped a leg on the way to the pasture. I thought the passage about Pointless’ gangrened flank was just alluding to the cow’s soiled nature; poetic license to relate how the animals were unkempt and possibly unwell not actually ill.

I guess poor Pointless is next!

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