character sketch of ms. parker
Answers
This man is referred to as a gentleman in the story because he is posh and well-educated. He has a housekeeper at a young age, which implies he is wealthy enough to afford one. Even though he is in a higher class than Ma Parker, he lacks empathy. While he pities Ma Parker, the young man is too aloof to understand the reality of her life. He is also ungrateful for all the work Ma Parker does for him. He is very untidy and awkward when it comes to showing empathy. Three quotes best describe this man:
1. ''You simply dirty everything you've got, get a hag in once a week to clean up, and the thing's done.'' This is how he describes his weekly upkeep of his flat to his friends. The kitchen is so dirty that the author jokes it would take an entire book to describe it.
2. ''I hope the funeral went off all right.'' He thinks that funerals are somehow ceremonious for low-class people like Ma Parker's family. It shows that he is a bit uncouth about the ways of lower class people.
3. ''It must be rather nice to be married to a baker! Such a clean trade''. He believes that Ma Parker's husband's trade was clean whereas, in reality, the man died from his lungs being filled with flour. The gentleman clearly has no clue about the lives of people in the trade business. Again, it shows he is cut off from the at times distressing realities faced by lower class people.