“‘Come and sit down, my dear, on the slope of the beach along, with me. I’ll dry your eyes for you first, and then I’ll make so bold as to ask what you have been crying about.’”
The narrative begins with the Mr. Betteredge’s description of the surroundings of the household he resides in on the Yorkshire coast. There are ample amounts of imagery, used in the first and second paragraph of the passage, to develop a picture of the setting of the narrative for the reader in order to create the desired atmosphere of the author.
“We have got beautiful walks all round us, in every direction but one. That one I acknowledge to be a horrid walk. It leads for a quarter of a mile, through a melancholy plantation of firs, and brings you out between low cliffs on the loneliest and ugliest little bay on all our coast.”
The narrator continues to describe this walk and the bay. He describes the quick sand present in the bay as “the most horrible quicksand on the shores of Yorkshire”. He also gives the quicksand almost human-like characteristics,
“At the turn of the tide, something goes on in the unknown deeps below, which sets the whole face of the quicksand shivering and trembling in a manner most remarkable to see, and which has given it, among the people in our parts, the name of The Shivering Sand.”
This personification of the quicksand draws more attention to its presence and to its significance in the narrative. The desolate being of the quicksand is told to us directly by the narrator, “A lonesome and horrid retreat”, therefore one must question why the character of Roseanna is drawn to such a place. The description of the way the tide flows over the quicksand also uses personification once again drawing our attention to the quicksand, the bay and their significance in the narrative.
“Winter and summer, when the tide flows over the quicksand, the sea seems to leave the waves behind it on the bank, and rolls its waters in smoothly with a heave, and covers the sand in silence.”
The author has managed, through the description of these surroundings, to begin shaping the character of Roseanna. The fact that Roseanna seems to be drawn to this “horrid retreat” causes the reader to wonder why her character would feel inclined to visit such a place on a regular basis. The narrator also questions this, drawing more attention to the character of Roseanna.
“That a young woman, with dozens of nice walks to chose from, and company to go with her, if she only said ‘Come!’ should prefer this place, and should sit and work or read in it , all alone, when it’s her turn out, I grant you, passes belief.”
The author has allowed us to draw conclusion regarding Roseanna’s character before we are aloud to meet her through Mr. Betteredge. This is a form of character development in the passage and is effective in furthering our view on Roseanna’s character in a short period.
Upon meeting Roseanna, our assumptions about her character are confirmed.
“…there she was in her little straw bonnet, and her plain grey cloak that she always wore to hide her deformed shoulder as much as it might be – there she was, all alone, looking out on the quicksand and the sea. She started when I came up with her, and turned her head away from me… I turned her round my way, and saw that she was crying.”
The physical descriptions of Roseanna are parallel to the assumptions that we have made regarding her character. The fact that she is dressed in grey parallels her mood; the fact that she is alone confirms the narrator’s previous indication of her solitude; and her shoulder heightens our pity for her as well as sparking new questions about her past and how she became this way.
Mr. Betteredge enquires as to why Roseanna is crying to which she replays,
“‘About the years that are gone Mr. Betteredge… My past life still comes back to me sometimes.’”
This reference to Roseanna’s past sparks new questions in the reader’s mind regarding her character. By building up questions concerning Roseanna, the author effectively draws the reader deeper into the story.
Mr. Betteredge attempts to encourage Roseanna to forget her past life and no longer fret about it for it has been “all sponged out”. However, Roseanna’s reply dictates her inability to do so.
“The day before, Roseanna has taken out a spot for me on the lappet of my coat… The grease was gone, but there was a little dull place left on the nap of the cloth where the grease had been. The girl pointed to that place and shook her head.
‘The stain is taken off,’ she said. ‘But the place shows, Mr. Betteredge – the place shows!’”
This use of metaphor magnifies the fact that Roseanna is unable to forget her past and suggests that something truly horrible must have happened to her, something that she is unable to erase from her memory. This passage does not go on to describe her past; however, the author has effectively provoked a great sense of pity and wonder in the reader regarding Roseanna.
It can be seen through this narrative that, although Mr. Betteredge is the narrator, Roseanna is the main character and draws a greater interest from the reader. The general purpose of this section of narrative is to develop Roseanna and the reader’s view of her. This is achieved through the author’s use of description, imagery, and through Roseanna’s interactions with her surrounding that have been perceived by the narrator, Mr. Betteredge.
