The Japanese QuinceJohn Galsworthy

Setting

Types of Work & Publication Year

Characters7 Parts

About the Author

Point of View

Description Style

Symbols

John Galsworthy(1867-1933) • English novelist and playwright

• Satirize the Victorian upper-middle class

• Show the daily life of ordinary

• Combine the description of social and

political evils with great sympathy for the

people who hopelessly and helplessly

suffer them

Type of Work and Publication Year

• “The Japanese Quince" is a short

story about a well-to-do London

businessman.

• Charles Scribner's Sons first

published it in 1910 as part of a

collection entitled A Motley.

Setting

• The action takes place on Campden Hill in London

in the early twentieth century.

• The main character and his neighbor both work in

London's financial district, known as "the City." 

Characters• Mr. Nilson: London businessman who experiences

worrisome symptoms even though he is the picture of

good health. 

• Mr. Tandram: Nilson's next-door neighbor. He is also

a businessman and experiences symptoms like

Nilson's.

• Wives of Nilson and Tandram: The narrator mentions

the spouses, but they have no speaking role in the

story.  

Point of View

• Limited third-person point of view

• The viewpoint is omniscient only in relation to main character, Nilson—that is, the narrator reveals Nilson's unspoken thoughts but not Tandram's.

What is a Japanese Quince?• A shrub or small tree that blossoms with pink

or red flowers

Plot Summary• While in the dressing room of his home on Campden

Hill in London, Mr. Nilson experiences a sweetness in his throat and an emptiness in his chest. Opening a window, he notices that a small tree in the Campden Hill gardens is blossoming. “Perfect morning,” he thinks; “spring at last!” (paragraph 1).

• After going downstairs and getting the morning paper from the sideboard in the dining room, that same sweetness affects him as before. A bit concerned, he goes outside for fresh air and a walk in the gardens. But only moments pass before he again experiences the feeling of sweetness, along with a slight ache above his heart. 

Plot Summary• He considers what he ate the previous evening but

recalls no food that could cause his sensations. Then he notices the small tree that he saw from the window. It has green leaves and pink and white blossoms. Very pretty. When he stops to observe it, he notices his neighbor, Mr. Tandram, doing the same. Nilson had never spoken to him even though Tandram had lived in the house next door for five years.  

• Feeling obliged to speak, Nilson says, "Fine morning!" (paragraph 7), 

• "Beautiful, for the time of year" (paragraph 7), Tandram says. 

Plot Summary• Both men are about the same height, both

have mustaches, and both are carrying the morning paper. Nilson asks whether Tandram knows the name of the tree. 

• “I was about to ask you that” (paragraph 10) Tandram says. Tandram then steps closer to it and sees a label on it. "Japanese quince" (paragraph 13), he says. 

Plot Summary• They exchange friendly small talk about the tree and

the song of a blackbird nearby, then return to their homes. When Nilson reaches the top step, he experiences that same choking sweetness in his throat. At that very moment, he hears someone cough or sigh. When he looks in the direction of the cough, he sees Tandram looking out from his French window at the Japanese quince.  

• "Unaccountably upset," the narrator says, "Mr. Nilson turned abruptly into the house, and opened his morning paper" (last paragraph). 

• Nilson's "feeling of emptiness" (paragraph 1)

• Nilson's "ivory-backed handglass" (paragraph 2)

• How similar Nilson and Tandram are—and commonplace and boring

• "It struck him [Nilson] suddenly that Mr. Tandram looked a little foolish; and, as if he had seen himself, he said: 'I must be going in. Good morning!' ” (paragraph 19).

Descriptive Style

Climax

• The climax occurs when Nilson hears Tandram cough and sees him look out the window at the Japanese quince. It is at this moment that Nilson realizes that he and Tandram are alike and lead the same kind of boring life. 

Symbol

• The Japanese Quince

Symbol

• The Blackbird

Thank you!