Commentary on Dorothy Parker's "Mr. Durant".

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IB English                                                                                                    Ada Pasholli

                             

    Commentary on Dorothy Parker’s “Mr. Durant”

  1. Summary

      “Mr. Durant’ is a prose about a man, who he had promised his children they could keep a dog but seems to no longer want to do so. He promised so while on their back he is trying to kick the dog out of the house. He does is on their back because he wants to remain the authority figure of the house who does nothing wrong. On the other hand, to his wife he gives stupid reasons like "all the males in the neighborhood will be running after her” and “first thing you know, she’d be having puppies.” Mrs. Durant is not very educated and also very ingénues and so blindly trusts and believes whatever her husband tells her. She idolizes him because she does not read and is not very educated and therefore her husband’s knowledge might impress her a lot. The family relationships where the father is the dominant figure remain the same through the whole passage.

  1. Chronology/time

Dorothy Parker has written this passage in such a way, tending to give actions one by one, making so the piece more intriguing and interesting. However, she often goes backwards and forwards when describing Mr. Durant’s den and character to give us a deeper understanding or certainty of his character. However, time in either case is significant but not essential and does not affect directly the themes of this passage.

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  1. Themes

Some themes implied through the passage are:

Authority is one of the main themes in this passage and Mr. Durant conveys this authority very easily. His wifes lets him do so, because she thinks that he is very educated and in consequence his actions and word is always right. This shows another theme, the ingenuity of Mrs. Durant who blindly believes everything her husband tells her. The relationships between these two characters seem very cold and unpleasant, not only because there is no agreement and understanding between this couples there is no evince of affection as well. Dishonesty ...

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