'A Town Like Alice' (Chapter 1)

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  'A Town Like Alice' (Chapter 1)

(A) Summary :

          Chapter 1 is about when James Macfadden died and he left his bulk of money to his son Dougles. Unfortunately, Dougles' brother-in-law, Authur Paget, had been killed in amotor accident some-where near Ipoh. He went to find Mr Noel Strachen , who is a lawyer and asked him to revise his will to his sister Jean. Mr Strachen told him that supposing that if he and his sister and the son Donald died , he will terminate the estate to the girl Jean when she became twenty-one. However, Dougles Macfadden despise woman and only allow her to inherit that estate until she's thirty-five.

Mr Strachan lost touch with him and later found out that one afternoon in January 1948, Dougles Macfaddenhad passed away, and that his sister and her son was also dead. Thus the girl Jean will get the money which is fifty-three thousand pounds , as she is still underage, she will only get the interest which isnine hundred a year. She then told him that she was once a prisoner in Malaya, and with the money, she wants to dig a well.

(B) Character Study :

           The characters seen in chapter 1 include Dougles Macfadden, Noel Strachan and Jean Paget.

            Dougles Macfadden- He is Jean Uncle. Although he is slightly more than forty years old, he looks "as frail as an old lady of eighty". He was living the live of an invalid and had a peculiar grey look about him. He is a loner as he lives by himself and the only companions he has are the budgergars in cages that were in his room. This tells me that he is a anti social person as all the windows of his sitting room is shut. In addition, he is described to be "an educated man" because he speaks with a "marked scots" accent. He is also seen as an affable man as he was "pleased that I (the author) had been able to visit him ". Howerver

I do not like his character because he thinks that "no lassie would be fit to administer her own estate when she was twenty-one." He only believes that a girl as that age is at the mercy of her sex. This shows that he look down on woman and that they are not as capable as men until they are old. This is why I do not liked this character.

                Jean-Paget- She is the niece of Dougles Macfadden.She is a girl or women of mediun height, dark-haired. She was good-looking in quiet a way ; she had a tranquillity in her of a women of a scottish descent.

I like this character because she isn't a fussy person and is polite "It's very kind of you to ask me." She is also has a strong character as she live well even thought her family was not with her.

 

                  Noel Strachan-He is a lawyer and a father of two sons, Harry in his submarine on the  China station and Martin in his oil company at Basra. His wife, Lucy , had died in the winter in 1935. His hair was white and his head was shaky. This tells me that he is quite old and he lives alone.

I like him because he is quite resonable and thoughtful "stated my own view that twenty-five was quite a resonable age."  And he had also help jean by letting her have the interest.

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(C) Highlights :

                   I think the most important thing being highlighted in chapter 1 is the issue about Jean's inheritance from her parental grandfather and the character of her uncle and how she going to use the money.

' A Town Liked Alice' (Chapter 2)

(A)Summary :

                   Chapter 2 is about when Jean told her story when she left for Malaya  in the winter of 1939 and worked in an office there. A few ...

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