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AbstractA Village Celebration , a well-written essay by A.A. Milne , a renowned English writer, has been studied by many a scholar from various angles. This paper is attempted to probe into the essay from the perspective of the clash between idealism and realism, which enlightens us on the significance of living a down-to-earth life.
Key wordsidealism realismdown-to-earth life
A vivid picture of a village celebration is well delineated by the concise, simple but meaningful words. In the picture, the characters of various dispositions render livelier and intriguing the celebration, which should have been an event with rapture and exhilaration well mingled and turned out to be the other way around yet. The different views on the way to show gratitude to those returned heroes embody, to a greater extent, the clash between idealism and realism. In addition, a touch of sarcastic tone is never hard to be noticed between the lines.
The colloquial words and the first person “we” adopted in the essay strike the reader that the author seems to be conversing with a friend, informing him of what was about the celebration. The simple words, nevertheless, are packed with certain profound meanings, to which heed should be drawn.
In a celebration for peace after the First World War, it is of significance and necessity to extend gratefulness to those returned soldiers. Miss Travers proposed that in honor of their valor, a drinking mountain should be erected with their names suitably inscribed. The Vicar, presiding over the celebration, was fully supportive of this seemingly “beautiful” idea. However, Mr Clayton, the squire and Sir John expressed their concern over the feasibility of this proposal. For want of money, this fantastic suggestion turned out to be abandoned. The squire in the end decided to throw a feast for the heroes with himself shouldering the burden of the entertaining expenditure.
In the celebration, the conflict between the two opposite views on the construction of the drinking fountain manifests to the fullest the clash between idealism and realism. Being dominant in the west in the wake of the First World War, idealism penetrated into every aspect of people’s life, especially into the field of politics. Idealists aim for perfection and set high goals for themselves and others. In the essay, Miss Traverse is a stereotype of idealism. She, a romantic and passionate woman as shown by her considerable expression when playing the organ, suggested building a fountain without the actual conditions of the village taken into account. The war threw many a country into economic recession, the Britain included. A small village was presumably in short of money, which is implied by the sentence, “in those prosaic modern days, the sordid questions of pounds, shillings and pence could not be wholly disregarded. How much money would they have?” How could a fountain be established for lack of money? Miss Traverse and the Vicar were out of touch with reality and their proposals were undoubtedly impractical.
In the sharp contrast, Mr Clayton and Sir John behaved in a practical manner. As Mr Clayton put, it was still in doubt whether they were genuinely in need of a fountain and who wanted it. That was where the rub was. Apart from lack of money, the devoted soldiers, for whom the fountain was conceived of to be built, in essence failed to show assent on its building. As for those soldiers represented by Charlie Rudd, the building of a fountain was nothing but drudgery and was of no meaning to them. What was important was their having come back to the village safe and sound, and seeing their dear fellows. Taking into account such factors as a little money they had, the likely uselessness of the fountain and the true feelings of the heroes, the squire offered to entertain those gallant young men at his own expense. Besides, it can be judged from the cobbler, Embury’s questions, “if ‘leaping’ was the exact word for a young fellow,” and “what’s coming out of the fountain”, that he was in a sense pragmatic, wet blanket as he was considered to be on grand occasions. In conclusion, it is evident that idealism was conquered by realism in the end.
What should not escape our notice either is the irony hidden in the passage. As the landlord of the Dog and Duck said, the people in the village celebrated peace and a celebration meant sitting down in sincerity and heart-like. However, their celebration was permeated with conflicts and discord, which was highlighted by Embury’s vexing Mr Bates for twice and was totally contrary to the thrust of the celebration. This aside, much thought should be given to the recurring sentences, “they were getting on too fast” and “they were getting on a little too fast”. Some of them were indeed getting on too fast on the way to idealism but getting on a little slow on the way to realism, implied by the sentence, “our village is a little slow at getting on to things; ‘leaping’ is not the exact word for our movement at any time, either of brain or body.” The author’s contempt for the ignorance of such characters as Miss Traverse and the Vicar is clearly expressed in the essay. “Their valued friend Miss Traverse” and “he was not ashamed to call a suggestion both rare and beautiful”, are heavy sarcasm for both of them respectively. Simultaneously, however, the author gives a relatively detailed description of Charlie Rudd’s utterance, with a view to extolling his integrity and valiancy as a patriotic soldier.
The thought-provoking essay being well woven and featuring succinct words, the author issues a denunciation of idealism and idealists as well, and enlightens the reader upon the significance of taking a down-to-earth attitude towards life and not being induced to an idealist living in fantasy. The light writing style and the irony tone running through the whole lifelike depiction of the celebration make the essay more readable.
Key wordsidealism realismdown-to-earth life
A vivid picture of a village celebration is well delineated by the concise, simple but meaningful words. In the picture, the characters of various dispositions render livelier and intriguing the celebration, which should have been an event with rapture and exhilaration well mingled and turned out to be the other way around yet. The different views on the way to show gratitude to those returned heroes embody, to a greater extent, the clash between idealism and realism. In addition, a touch of sarcastic tone is never hard to be noticed between the lines.
The colloquial words and the first person “we” adopted in the essay strike the reader that the author seems to be conversing with a friend, informing him of what was about the celebration. The simple words, nevertheless, are packed with certain profound meanings, to which heed should be drawn.
In a celebration for peace after the First World War, it is of significance and necessity to extend gratefulness to those returned soldiers. Miss Travers proposed that in honor of their valor, a drinking mountain should be erected with their names suitably inscribed. The Vicar, presiding over the celebration, was fully supportive of this seemingly “beautiful” idea. However, Mr Clayton, the squire and Sir John expressed their concern over the feasibility of this proposal. For want of money, this fantastic suggestion turned out to be abandoned. The squire in the end decided to throw a feast for the heroes with himself shouldering the burden of the entertaining expenditure.
In the celebration, the conflict between the two opposite views on the construction of the drinking fountain manifests to the fullest the clash between idealism and realism. Being dominant in the west in the wake of the First World War, idealism penetrated into every aspect of people’s life, especially into the field of politics. Idealists aim for perfection and set high goals for themselves and others. In the essay, Miss Traverse is a stereotype of idealism. She, a romantic and passionate woman as shown by her considerable expression when playing the organ, suggested building a fountain without the actual conditions of the village taken into account. The war threw many a country into economic recession, the Britain included. A small village was presumably in short of money, which is implied by the sentence, “in those prosaic modern days, the sordid questions of pounds, shillings and pence could not be wholly disregarded. How much money would they have?” How could a fountain be established for lack of money? Miss Traverse and the Vicar were out of touch with reality and their proposals were undoubtedly impractical.
In the sharp contrast, Mr Clayton and Sir John behaved in a practical manner. As Mr Clayton put, it was still in doubt whether they were genuinely in need of a fountain and who wanted it. That was where the rub was. Apart from lack of money, the devoted soldiers, for whom the fountain was conceived of to be built, in essence failed to show assent on its building. As for those soldiers represented by Charlie Rudd, the building of a fountain was nothing but drudgery and was of no meaning to them. What was important was their having come back to the village safe and sound, and seeing their dear fellows. Taking into account such factors as a little money they had, the likely uselessness of the fountain and the true feelings of the heroes, the squire offered to entertain those gallant young men at his own expense. Besides, it can be judged from the cobbler, Embury’s questions, “if ‘leaping’ was the exact word for a young fellow,” and “what’s coming out of the fountain”, that he was in a sense pragmatic, wet blanket as he was considered to be on grand occasions. In conclusion, it is evident that idealism was conquered by realism in the end.
What should not escape our notice either is the irony hidden in the passage. As the landlord of the Dog and Duck said, the people in the village celebrated peace and a celebration meant sitting down in sincerity and heart-like. However, their celebration was permeated with conflicts and discord, which was highlighted by Embury’s vexing Mr Bates for twice and was totally contrary to the thrust of the celebration. This aside, much thought should be given to the recurring sentences, “they were getting on too fast” and “they were getting on a little too fast”. Some of them were indeed getting on too fast on the way to idealism but getting on a little slow on the way to realism, implied by the sentence, “our village is a little slow at getting on to things; ‘leaping’ is not the exact word for our movement at any time, either of brain or body.” The author’s contempt for the ignorance of such characters as Miss Traverse and the Vicar is clearly expressed in the essay. “Their valued friend Miss Traverse” and “he was not ashamed to call a suggestion both rare and beautiful”, are heavy sarcasm for both of them respectively. Simultaneously, however, the author gives a relatively detailed description of Charlie Rudd’s utterance, with a view to extolling his integrity and valiancy as a patriotic soldier.
The thought-provoking essay being well woven and featuring succinct words, the author issues a denunciation of idealism and idealists as well, and enlightens the reader upon the significance of taking a down-to-earth attitude towards life and not being induced to an idealist living in fantasy. The light writing style and the irony tone running through the whole lifelike depiction of the celebration make the essay more readable.