Studying a passage from Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Meghan Jennings

Commentary #1

The passage comes from the work Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey. It's a fairly modern piece being written in only 1988. The title itself reflects a notion that the piece centers on two characters, Oscar and Lucinda. We are acquainted with these characters in the first few paragraphs. There is a man of middle class standing, Oscar, and a woman with a glass making business of her own, Lucinda. This passage comes rather late in the story of Oscar and Lucinda and is the introduction of Oscar to Lucinda's world.

The first paragraph of the passage tells us that the work is written in the third person view point but this particular viewpoint focuses on Oscar. We find that he is attracted to the female character, she who owns a glass manufacturing business, as he dreams of treating her to wine or sitting down over tea to talk. He wants to be with her and treat her as if they are both in a higher class. Of course, she is from an upper class, higher order than Oscar is from. He feels he has "opened the door" (Line 6)