On a Chinese Screen · Chapter
XXXIX: The Missionary Lady explained
The narrator describes a formidable missionary lady, a woman of unwavering conviction and confident authority, who engages him in a conversation filled with platitudes and clichés.
What happens
The narrator describes a formidable missionary lady, a woman of unwavering conviction and confident authority, who engages him in a conversation filled with platitudes and clichés. He attempts to match her with his own banalities, leading to a mutual but hollow exchange of ideas, highlighting the absurdity of their intellectual posturing.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Falling action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The emotional peak occurs when the stripling’s youthful audacity and pride in his strength reach their zenith…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Hypocrisy and Moral Compromise
The missionary lady's self-assured charity and the narrator's ironic participation in a dialogue of empty clichés expose the hypocrisy beneath their moral and intellectual posturing.
- Colonial Ennui and Isolation
The setting 'so far away from civilisation' and the trivial, disconnected conversation underscore the isolation and ennui of colonial life.
Characters to notice
- The Stranger
The narrator, who engages in a conversation of platitudes with the missionary lady.
Key passages
“She was certainly fifty, but a life of convictions harassed by never a doubt had left her face unwrinkled.”
At fifty, her unwavering certainty had kept her face smooth and unlined.
Introduces the missionary lady's unshakeable confidence.
“Her conversation had the admirable volubility of a politician at the end of an electioneering campaign.”
She talked as fluently and tirelessly as a politician finishing a campaign.
Highlights her relentless, practiced speech.
“I confess that I was staggered, but I determined to do my part. It was only civil.”
I was taken aback but resolved to match her platitudes out of politeness.
Shows the narrator's ironic compliance in the absurd exchange.
