Galloping
Foxley by Roald Dahl was the story we had discussed in the class because of its
peculiar ending. The ending of the story could be interpreted in two ways;
weather Jocelyn Fortescue was Foxley
but lying to deceive William Perkins, or he was completely different person
from Foxley. I thought there was another possibility that he actually was Foxley
but had regretted his misdeed repented his own action and had changed himself
completely from how he was before. However I came to a conclusion that the possibility
of the third choice was very low since Foxley would probably apologize to
Perkins if he had changed to such an honest and benignant man. Therefore I thought
the first two choices have stronger possibility and of those I believe in the choice
that Foxley and Fortescue are two different people. Here is my reason of why I
thought so.
Firstly,
Perkins is being too sensitive to Foxley, observing from reaction of his when
he came to the idea that the man was Foxley. What he had experienced had been a
trauma and it may have had a very big impact towards his personality making him
a person who hates changes but loves daily routines. Also another personality
of his, that he hates good-looking men but does not care about good-looking
woman tells that some kind of experience by man, possibly a handsome man, made
him be this way; that is Foxley. This hatred and love are probably the emotions
he had unconsciously however the fact that he has this feeling, weather it is unconscious
or not, proves that he has a trauma and still could have not gotten over it and
still is effecting him somewhere deep inside his mind. This exaggerated
response to “Foxley” is the first reason that supports my idea.
Another
reason is that the way Fortescue reacts to Perkins seems to be that of the one
who is not acquainted with him and the behavior of his seemed to be very sophisticated.
In the end he mentions that he is from Eton, which is one of the most famous
schools in England where many high-classed people commute to. The way he acted
seemed to fit in this character from a high society as in the text he greets
Perkins in a very polite way. For example he said, “Ripping day, isn’t it” and had also asked Perkins if he minded him
smoking. A person who is poor-mannered would not act in this way, moreover, a
person who has a very poor manner who even bullies someone would surely react
in different ways.
From
these reasons, I assume that the Fortescue is not the man who bullied Perkins
and next, I would like to write a story from his point of view.
On
the other day, I had a very strange experience. That was a day I had to get on
a different train from usual. On the train ride, I sat on the seat in the
corner like people normally do when there is an empty seat. There was nothing so
strange about my action, I thought. However, someone was glowering at me,
staring, and I felt as if I were being told that I had done something serious wrongly.
It may have been that he didn’t feel comfortable me sitting at that particular
place. So the next day, even though that seat in the corner by the window was
empty, I sat on a different seat. But still the same man was staring at me.
Then what was it that made him glance at me? Did he not like me smoking? So I
had asked him, “D’you mind the pipe?”
I
didn’t mean to discomfort anyone. Hence I would have stopped smoking on the
moment he said yes. However the reaction of his was not the one I had expected.
He said, “This is a smoker, so you may do as you please”.
Again,
there was some strangeness in our conversation, and the cause of that
strangeness was that he had a vicious tongue. I couldn’t think of the reason
why because yesterday was the first time I saw this man. Pondered the memories
in my head, I still couldn’t get a clue of who this man was.
On
Friday, I happened to meet this man again. This time it seemed that he was surprised
to see me and cried,
“It’s
Foxley!”
“Galloping Foxley And still is swinging his
cane!”
He sure have cried out those words looking
at me. Foxley? Who is Foxley? Well, all those words and his reactions in the
past days and today were pretty disturbing and unpleasant, but I tried to be
polite as much as I can. It would be nice to ignore someone who was talking to
me, so I said,
“Ripping
day, isn’t it. Just like summer.”
Hearing my voice, he was surprised again.
This time, it looked like he was convinced of something. Then he shut his mouth
and started to think. All right then, what now?
After all the silence, he suddenly opened
his mouth and introduced himself.
“I do hope you’ll excuse me. I’d like to introduce
myself” he said, and went on like this;
“My name is William Perkins – William
Perkins– and I was at Repton in 1907.”
There was nothing so special about his
name, nowhere in my memory was his name. I didn’t know why he introduced his
name, but because he introduced himself, I should too introduce myself.
“I’m glad to meet you. Mine’s Fortescue –
Jocelyn Fortescue, Eton 1916.”
He opened his eyes widely after my reply.
He was surprised, more surprised than he was ever before. And there was the
silence again...
This is the end of my story form Fortescue’s
point of view.
One thing that surprised me when I had
researched about Roald Dahl was that the name of the school he used to go to
was “Repton” and he had experienced fagging in his young days in Repton and
Roald Dahl actually says that this story, Galloping Foxley was based on his own
experience.
