Passage from the text.
"Now the broad road was crossed. The lane began smoky and dark. Women in shawls and men's tweed caps hurried by. Men hung over the palings; the children played in the doorways. A low hum came from the mean little cottages. In some of them there was a flicker of light, and a shadow, crab-like, moved across the window. Laura bent her head and hurried on. She wished now she had put on a coat. How her frock shone! And the big hat with the velvet streamer-if only it was another hat! Were the people looking at her? They must be. It was a mistake to have come; she knew all along it was a mistake. Should she go back even now?" (10)
Text response.
7. The detail seems important, especially at this point in the story, because this is the reader's first vivid description of the living conditions of those who are not as privileged as Laura. There are also examples of symbolism in the details in this part of the text that emphasize the vast difference between social classes. When Laura crosses across from her manor and into the village she crosses a broad road that represents the large difference between these two places. The low hum that reverberates from the cottages is another way to give a foreign and foreboding aura to the little village that Laura has passed into. The details in this portion of text also give a sense of danger for those who inhabit the houses as shadows, crab-like figures, are lurking in the windows, and even the luxury of light isn't the same in the village as it is in Laura's mansion. The vivid description of Laura's extravagant attire is also juxtaposed against the very plain and simple look of the little village and the people in it. The reader is able to picture how much Laura stands out of the general crowd of people present at that time. This point of the story reminds me of Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution and her disconnect with the common peasants of France at the time. The village itself made me think of the Proles from 1984 and the slums that they lived in because of an oppressive force above them that they could not control.