How does Mr. Atkinson develop over the course of the story? Read the excerpt from "August Heat" by W.F. Harvey below. I found myself standing before a gate that led into a yard bordered by a strip of thirsty earth, where there were flowers, purple stock and scarlet geranium. Above the entrance was a board with the inscription— CHAS. ATKINSON MONUMENTAL MASON WORKER IN ENGLISH AND ITALIAN MARBLES From the yard itself came a cheery whistle, the noise of hammer blows, and the cold sound of steel meeting stone. A sudden impulse made me enter. A man was sitting with his back towards me, busy at work on a slab of curiously veined marble. He turned round as he heard my steps and I stopped short. It was the man I had been drawing, whose portrait lay in my pocket. He sat there, huge and elephantine, the sweat pouring from his scalp, which he wiped with a red silk handkerchief. But though the face was the same, the expression was absolutely different. He greeted me smiling, as if we were old f
Answers
The correct answer is option D.
Mr. Atkinson is content with himself and his appearance until he sees the picture James drew of him and becomes self-conscious.
Mr. Atkinson is warm-hearted, cheerful and lively, even though it is a hot August afternoon. However, when he sees the picture, feels sad.
The story's protagonist James Clarence Withencroft is an artist who one morning drew a picture of a fat criminal who is already sentenced and now standing in a dock with a sad expression on his face. Withencroft dw the man as if he is just his impulsive imagination.
But later, he finds the same man named Atkinson engraving a marble. The protagonist thought it to be just a coincidence at first but his gut was telling him otherwise. After he finishes, Atkinson shows his work proudly to Withencroft. The latter is horrified to find out his name curved on the marvel as late J. C Withencroft.
Atkinson looks not a bit like the man in the picture he had drew, but is more lively and easy going. So Atkinson developed from just a figure in a drawing to be a main living character in that story.