Sale


 * Sale **

__** Brief storyline: **__ The story “Sale” is about a family of 3 who live in the slums. A talented artist sells his painting for a living, yet living in poverty, his artwork had never been acknowledged and he can barely sell a few of them to make a living. His disorganized living environment and the failure to sign his name on his paintings drive away prospective buyers. This story shows a rare occasion in which a customer is looking for a painting for their new home. His chance has come, yet as the “sale” has finally come to an end, he realize that his customers are nowhere close to a purchase, finally he is so fed up that he simply pleaded for money and loses his patience to complete the “sale”. What evidence is there that he's successfully sold paintings? Why are the 'customers' there? Is it really because he hasn't signed his name that they won't buy his work? Or is it because it won't fit their decor? Explore...Is he fed up or desperate?

**Wife**: - The wife of the talented artist, despite that fact that she does not work to earn money for her family, she is very concern about his husband sales of paintings. Although she does not participate in any of the process of the sale, readers could notice she was behind the scene throughout the whole process. The way she peeps through the door and listen to the conversation of his husband and the customers, indicates that she is highly concern and worry about his husband’s job. There seem to have a lack of information in regards to the background of the wife, except staying at home and taking care of her son. However, there is a clue in the story suggesting that the wife might have some knowledge of art when the painter scoff at the visitor, 'she is so artless, so completely without any vestige of imagination, and so completely unlike his wife.' This may explain why is she so interested in the selling process. [1] His husband? You need to correct the pronoun in several places. She listen to? Who is the she referring to. The customer or the wife? What contrasts does Desai draw between the two?

**Painter**:- He is a talented painter and sells his [|art work] for a living. Evidence of this? Even though he has not seen many things before, such as flowers or birds, he can still paint them by imagination or memory. Suggesting what about creativity and reality? As he seldom has visitors drop in to his hut to look for paintings, he shows a sense of nervousness and stress while dealing with his customers. The fact that this sale appear to him as his only chance to save his family Why do you think so? further increase his stress and pressure during the process. Despite his inexperience of dealing with customers, he can still maintain a certain level of professionalism and passion when he is introducing his work, after all he paint them. [2] Proof? However, at the end of the story, as he realize that his customers are looking for something more special and that he could not deliver, he loses patience. Does 'flat' suggest impatience? “Then what do you want?” in a flat voice. “Can you give me an advance?” The painter at this point loses his dignity for being a professional painter, not only does he give up selling his painting to his customers, but he simply pleaded money from them. As the story ends, we can see that his wife comes out; this implies that the painter has failed to complete the sale and once again he was consumed by the pressure and stress leave behind by his family and desperation. Where does this painter live? What shows he is 'desperate'?

**Man**:-Compare to the painter who lives in the slums, this man represents the urban bourgeois. Although he seem to have brought in one more customer than previously he had promised to the painter and being attentive during the process, it does not represent the true interest of the man’s interest to buy a painting for this painter. What does the previous sentence mean? Not only does he not show any signs of sympathy to the painter’s situation, his action creates a false hope to the painter. The foolishness of not knowing what he wants drives the painter into a more puzzled and desperate situation as if he is fooling around with the painter. Not only does he not respect the painter’s work, the way he did not bring along money and claim that 'when you bring the picture, I will give you something...' and not providing an address, indicate the man had no interest to be involved in the “sale” sense at all.[3] Work on subject verb agreement. What is suggested about the reason the threesome visit the painter? How does their 'interest' compare with his 'need'?

**Woman**:- Despite showing high interest in the artist work, she has limited knowledge in painting and obviously showing a lack of artistic sense. Why do you say so? Her over excited and over compliments created misunderstandings and false hopes to the painter. At the end as the painter turns to desperate and hostile to ask for an advance, she felt her guilt, so she creeps away into a corner of the car.

The title “Sale” is very significant to the story itself because it relates to exactly what the artist is trying to do in the story; trying to make a sale, desperately. It also relates to how difficult it his for an artist living in the slums to make a sale. The word “sale” also relates to how difficult it is for him to make a living. No matter how talented he is at art, not only could he not receive fame or reputation, he struggles to live in poverty with a family to look after, and his artwork remains unrecognised. Why are the people there in the first place? The title is very ironic because although the title is "Sale", the artist fails to sell any of his works. Also, In the end of the story when the painter discovers the 3 customers are not here to buy, and he had been mislead by the over exaggerated woman, his role of being a “seller” changes to a desperate person who begs for money from people. He no longer is a “seller” but more or less like a beggar. This is also ironic. [4] For "Sale" it can possibly mean that the artist is trying to sell his art to a market that does not appreciate his art. A sale also refers to a price reduction in a product in order to attract consumers, however, the artist's final reduction "Sale" still does not attract any buyers, and the results that follow are unknown. The title is satirical as the story is indeed about the process of trying to make a sale but it fails miserably. [5] Significance of the latter? **Plot/ situation** A family of 3 (husband, wife and child) living in the slums. The man is a talented artist, who tries to earn a living for the family. He rarely gets the chance to successfully sell his paintings, and is in desperate need of money. His wife is very concerned for him too, and is anxious as to whether or not they can finally earn some money for a living. The wife does not work, but stays at home looking after their child who is a few years old. The whole family is dependant on the husband. They do not show any signs of happiness in their home, but instead seem to be very cold, and lost, as money seems to be the most important thing to them in their situation. Desai's portrayal of a poverty stricken home is immaculate and aids in the support of her central idea. Everything revolves around the lack of money in this story. What is that 'everything'. Any details you can provide here?
 * Significance of title **

**Tone/ feeling** The readers can sense the feeling of determination and desperation from the artist. We can feel how anxious the husband and wife both are in the beginning of the story and how nervous he was when the people arrived to look at his paintings. HOW? The artist got impatient after some time, and we could feel he was being very pushy towards the customers, almost trying to force them to buy something. The way he spoke was hostile, and aslight feeling of intimidation could be sensed. HOW? The customers on the other hand came from a very wealthy background. They were ill-at-ease when the saw the disordered place of the artist. But overall, they were jovial most of the time, especially the woman. We sense the artist's increasing frustration and desperation as the customers showed signs of not being able to find what they were looking for. We feel more of the sense of the artist who cannot support his family because his talent is not appreciated by the potential customers. He was merely frustrated and desperate, he started to act in a manner which degraded himself, but at the same time, he wouldn’t risk losing his customers by intimidating them, only perhaps pressuring and pleading them. [6] Proof for these claims? What is being suggested about poverty, art, the artist, class?

**Mood/atmosphere** The setting is very run down, which gives a feeling of gloominess, and a dull, depressed atmosphere. The artist's home is described as "shambles" and from then on, readers perceive the story to progress in a dim, slow and discouraging atmosphere. [7] Detail?

**Setting** The slum is a very run down area. The author describes the room as “dusk mottled”. There are things lying all over the floor; bundle of rags, cigarette stubs, hair oil, toys, calendars, newspapers, dirty clothes… Amongst the layer of mess, there are some paintings lying around, but by looking at the description of the room, it is near impossible to tell that this is an artist’s home. The room is very cluttered, making the room unpleasant, and also camouflages the beautiful pieces of art work. Interesting, significance?

**Point of view** The story is told in 3rd person using he/she/it and they. What kind? We see the points of view through the author and her way of writing. Therefore, points of view can be also be seen through the words, actions and thoughts of the character. For example we can see the desperation of the artist from his actions and the tone he speaks in. S pecific example(s)?

**Structure** The structure of the story all happens in one day, probably within less than 2 hours. The story is like a short clip of a rare moment in the artist’s life. Slice of life? It is such a short period of time, like a flash of light, a faint glimmer of hope for the artist, but this opportunity slips away in a blink of an eye. [8]

**Theme** The story explores the life of the artist and the desperation he has in order to make some money. He is working for his wife and child, but seems to be unable to be successful. The story explores how unfair life can be. An amazingly talented artist who can paint everything and anything just by imagination. Yet he lives in the slums, in poverty, hopeless, and in need of money. There is a big contrast between his beautiful artwork and the run down, poor environment he spends his whole life in. It is almost ironic. The story depicts lack of compassion and understanding from the upper class of the society. The social class is a major theme in this story, if the painter was from a better background his unkemptness and imagination would be perceived in a completely different way and not be laughed and thought to be ‘quite a comic, or even a bit crazy’ or ‘drunk’. The story delves into the life of a poorer population and represents and sympathizes with those who possess talent, but are in a lack of resources or opportunities to demonstrate their unique talents and art. [9] The author also comments on the difficulties of living on making art. Although art seems like a highly respected and esteemed profession, it is very hard to earn a steady income from it. Those who have money to buy art may not necessarily be the ones who can understand and appreciate it. Instead, their buying decisions are influenced by outward factors for example the conditions of the studios, the presentation of art, etc. This piece reflects the desperation of artists and sympathizes with them. [10]  Good understanding here. Much significant comment. Need to work on expression. She is also exploring the dire straits that 'culture', in general, seems to be in.

Citation: Desai, Anita. //Games at Twilight//. 1st ed. Great Britain: Vintage, 1998. 41-49. Print.
 __**References**__ 1,3 10 Alasdair Kan, Class Comments, "Sale", EngA1S1012tracesgames, Oct 2010 <__http://enga1s1012tracesgames.wikispaces.com/Sale__>

2, 7, 8, Brandon Chan ,Class Comments, "Sale", EngA1S1012tracesgames, Oct 2010 <__http://enga1s1012tracesgames.wikispaces.com/Sale__>

4, 12 Sunan Tareque ,Class Comments, "Sale", EngA1S1012tracesgames, Oct 2010 <__http://enga1s1012tracesgames.wikispaces.com/Sale__>

5,6, 9 Christine Ho ,Class Comments, "Sale", EngA1S1012tracesgames, Oct 2010 <__http://enga1s1012tracesgames.wikispaces.com/Sale__>

11, Anita Desai, Indain Women Writer” __Indainetzone,__ 16/11/2009, Jupiter Infomedia Pvt. 21st Oct. 2010. < __http://www.indianetzone.com/4/anita_desai.htm__l> We need footnotes and a bibliography.Before the 'final' you need to provide us with more evidence of claims. We can help build this during class discussion.