View a FREE sample

1. What does Ashenden ignore but still wonder about?

Author William Ashenden ignores telephone messages from colleague Alroy "Roy" Kear, delivered through his landlady, Miss Fellows, but wonders what his acquaintance for twenty years could suddenly want.

2. How does Ashenden characterize Alroy Kear's writing career?

William contemplates Roy's achievement, parlaying little talent into a successful writing and speaking career. He writes with a knowing ear about the aristocracy in his early, tasteful novels, benefits from advice from other authors and critics and in turn, is generous in giving new writers a leg up. He is never successful enough to worry competitors and knows that he is not a great novelist.

3. What does Ashenden think about Roy as a person?

Ashenden beleives Roy has no qualms about abandoning those whose usefulness he has exhausted, remaining cordial if they meet again and if the other party is not bitter. Roy is free of hypocrisy and sincerely believes whatever everyone else believes at a given moment. Sincerity is the key to his stable popularity as a writer and lecturer. Roy never marries, believing it will hinder his art and be unfair to the woman.

(read all 60 Short Essay Questions and Answers)

This section contains 5,633 words (approx. 19 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample