Moral Judgement on The Girls of Slender Means - Essay Example

?Moral Judgement on The Girls of Slender Means Muriel Spark always has the ability in writing to create complex and powerful scenarios out of ordinary daily life events. She intertwines the stories and the lives of the characters in her 142-page book, The Girls of Slender Means. In brief, the books are set in England in 1945 with the focus on the struggle and survival after the World War I. The books is about the lives of the girls residing in The May of Teck Club. These girls, at some point, during their residency in the Club had connected with Nicholas Farringdon. Their lives, love, and fate slowly crafts the book as it is read in in a third person view. Aside from the meaningful interdependence of the stories of the characters, the paper will critically assess the moral judgment in the book. In this manner, the paper will identify if moral judgment is entirely absent in the text or if it is presented in an unconventional manner. In the light of moral judgment, it is considered as the manner of how people measures good or bad through acceptable or universal perception or idea of what is good. Taking into account the presence of moral judgment in The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark, it can be seen through the various degrees of the plot. The integration of the characters and events is significant to determine the moral judgment in the book. Nevertheless, there are some characters and plots that showed deficiency of moral judgment. First, moral judgment can be perceived in the character of Joanna Childe, who affirmed herself to live as a single woman for the rest of her life after her failed love. She chose to devote her life in the world of poetry that paved the way for her to reach the club. Therein she taught poetry to the girls, and many had admired her. In fact, when one fire incident happened in the club, she chose to save other girls first before herself. Even if she had a different perspective in life, she still could be viewed as a woman whose love and care for others are unparalleled. Moreover, even if she chose to live alone, to care for others was still an important facet for her. This decision of her is a clear manifestation that her judgment on what can be done morally and right is not clouded by the fear of the incident. She was able to withdraw herself from being selfish in order to save the lives of others. However, in the context of saving others’ lives, Joanna had made something that was great, but inappropriate in certain situations. During the fire, she was left alone on the top floor. She was trapped in a window wherein she could not wriggle herself out to reach the rooftop where the girls were already out. The firemen tried to reach her through a ladder, but she was calmly praying before she grasped the ladder and stepped out from the window. Dismally, the saintly image of her character was ended just because she had missed fleeing from the fire for only a few seconds. Her moral judgment in this particular situation may be right, but when it comes to life and death situations, people must instill themselves with solemn prayer aligned with appropriate actions. It does not mean that when one is praying during the accident, the fire will just vanish all the way. Another perspective is that the firemen would have been the answer to her prayers, but her exploitations were not paralleled to her actions. Joanna’s character is one of the characters that depicted the presence of moral judgment of the text. Another character who was very much aware of her moral in judging and decision making was Paulin Fox. Through the course of reading, one might have to consider her as an insane person while making stories of meeting Jack Buchanan. She made the other girls believed her by going out on certain nights, got dress and riding a taxi off to meeting Jack, and without a doubt the other girls believed her. However, the reason why she goes out on certain nights and creates stories with meeting Jack is that she does not want to sleep with men. This may be a very ironic case; however, in understanding her character, she believes that it is inappropriate to sleep with different men. Also, judging from her actions, it can be inferred that her actuation are rooted with moral judgment, which is right in the people outside the Club. These actions of her may connote that she is a person who had escaped from reality; however, on the bright side, she can be considered as the person who is morally sound compared to the other girls in the Club. For this reason, her moral judgment connote that she must create stories to impede her suitors or various men who admired and wanted her. However, it can also be cited in the character of Jane Wright the evolution of absence to the presence of moral judgment. Jane Wright is a secretary in a publishing company. After a few months of working for the company, she became an accomplice of George Johnson, the owner of the company, in order to break the moral of the authors that have been sending their manuscripts to be accepted by the firm. She solemnly obliged with George; however, when she meets Nicholas Farringdon, an aspiring poet, everything changes course. She divulges the crook in George to Nicholas and together they created a way to punish George. In this point, the morality of Jane’s character was vanishing as she devoured to step into one’s life and ruined everything on it. Her type of approach to reach her dream was immoral, and it did create a certain point of betrayal. A traitor is a paradigm to depict the detrimental notion of immorality. At a point in the story, Jane had also envied Joanna because Joanna was the only woman in the Club that was not drowned of her personality. A serious pinch of moral judgment was slowly materializing into the character of Jane in the course of the text. In the light of Nicholas Farringdon, his character often depicted the absence and the presence of moral judgment. In the time when she met Selina, all he thought of was her. His moral judgment was clouded by his need to address his physical need for Selina. In return, he lured her and gave her every coupon he could give so long as Selina stayed with him. On the other hand, as he waited for Selina or as he mingled with the other girls, he pitied them. His moral judgment on things is often times in between or depending on the situation. For one, his judgment was clouded by the presence of Selina, and on other cases his moral judgment was fuelled by Joanna. The need to decide on the future of his writing career was also a test of his moral judgment. In this case, he acted on the belief that whatever he would decide upon, it will be good for his career. The absence of moral judgment in the lives of some of the characters can also be identified. In this matter, Selina Redwood can be cited as an example. As her character played a strong role in the life of Nicholas Farringdon, she had also been more interested in form rather than in substance. She was dubbed as the prettiest woman in the club, but that was all she had. She did not exhibit any moral judgment in her actuation. Almost every decision of her was merely pushed by the need for something material or for the goal of getting married. For instance, when the fire commenced in the Club, Selina slipped back into the Club not to assist other girls, but to save an expensive Schiaparelli gown. She had her lows and highs in the story, but her character lacked moral judgement. Unlike Joanna, who had tried to save everybody’s life, Selina tried to save a piece of clothing that considerably cost nothing because material things are what she valued more in life. Also, even if she wanted to have a nobleman to be her husband and father of her children, she still chose to sleep with various men. Her character represents a woman of pride and ambiguity, which completely loses sight on the real meaning of life. Muriel Spark did a good job in intertwining the lives of the characters as the lack and presence of moral judgment unfolded. Her ability to interlock the past and the present was her way of unfolding the true essence of the text. Moral judgment was present in the beginning down to the end of the text. The presence and absence may have been depicted in an unconventional manner; still, it allowed the text to blossom. The inference may implicate the third connotation of the book title – The Girls of Slender Means – the ideal figure of body during that time was slender. Works Cited Sparks, Muriel. The Girls of Slender Means. New York: New Directions Publishing, 1998. Print. Read More