Analysis

An analysis of the short story “Jubilee” by Carys Davies shows that the text has a non-chronological structure. The story focuses on Queen Victoria’s jubilee, which is celebrated in a town somewhere in Lancashire, but also on Arthur Pritt’s background.

The main characters are alderman Arthur Pritt, and Queen Victoria, who is celebrating her jubilee. The story suggests that Arthur’s initial beliefs about Queen Victoria’s sadness are wrong. 

The setting is a town in Lancashire, one of the many places which celebrate Queen Victoria’s jubilee. The town square and the festivities are described negatively from Arthur’s point of view. We also hear a few things about Calcutta in India, the city where he used to live with his wife. 

The events are told by a third-person narrator limited to Arthur’s point of view. As Arthur sees everything through a sad lens, he misinterprets the Queen’s attitude and mistakenly projects his own feelings of sadness and misery onto her. 

The style of writing is mainly formal and old-fashioned and mirrors the style of the time when the story takes place. Arthur’s point of view also influences the story’s style, as his negative view of the celebrations is reflected in the story’s use of negative words and metaphors. 

A full analysis of the short story can be found on the following pages.