The Japanese Quince

Galsworthy stated in a letter that the “The Japanese Quince attempts to convey the feeling that comes to all of us—even the most unlikely—in the spring” (Smit, Jan Hendrick. The Short Stories of John Galsworthy. 1947, pp. 44-45). How essential is the season to the meaning of the story? How would the story be different if it were set in a different season?

Usually it is straightforward to identify how many characters—major and minor—are in a story. Why is this more difficult in “The Japanese Quince”?

Galsworthy described “The Japanese Quince” as “a satire on the profound dislike which most of us have of exhibiting the feelings which Nature produces in us, when those feelings are for one quite primitive and genuine” (Smit, p. 45). Does Galsworthy’s term “satire” sufficiently describes the literary strategies employed in this story? Read about satire and then argue whether you feel this is the best way to describe this story. Ground your answer in specific evidence drawn from the text.