George Silverman's Explanation – Charles Dickens
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教育者の方へ： George Silverman's Explanation – Charles Dickens（English、World Literature）向けのすぐ使えるレッスンスライド, 復習ノート — レッスンで使うか、学習者がライブゲームとして遊ぶインタラクティブなクラス活動としてトピックを実施できます。
レッスンノート
The story at a glance
- "George Silverman's Explanation" (1868) by Charles Dickens (1812–1870) — one of his last completed stories, first published in the United States.
- A first-person confession in nine short chapters: George Silverman, now over sixty, writes to explain his life, "for the relief of my own mind".
- Born in a Preston cellar, called a "worldly little devil" by his mother, he spends his life trying not to be worldly — and is repeatedly misunderstood.
- His great sacrifice — giving up the woman he loves, Adelina, and marrying her to his pupil — is denounced by her mother as a "worldly" scheme for money.
- Key ideas: worldliness and self-denial, misjudgement, religious hypocrisy, class, sacrifice and love.
Chapters 1–4: the cellar
- The story struggles to begin: "IT happened in this wise—" is written, abandoned, repeated — George finds it hard "to explain my explanation".
- His infant home: a cellar in Preston. His mother, gripped by poverty, calls him "O, you worldly little devil!" for being cold, hungry or greedy — and he believes her.
- Both parents die of fever; George is lifted out, blinking, and says only "I am hungry and thirsty!" — the crowd looks on in horror.
- Mr Verity Hawkyard of West Bromwich, a pious drysalter, takes charge, sprinkling him with vinegar "as if to get my devil out", and sends him to a farm at Hoghton Towers to be "purified".
Chapter 5: Hoghton Towers and Sylvia
- The ruined, ancient house seems to look at him "sorrowfully" and whisper "Alas! poor worldly little devil!" — his first sense of beauty and pity.
- Seeing rats scuffling, he recoils from his old self: "How not to be this worldly little devil?" — and cries for the first time for a reason "not purely physical".
- Afraid he might give the farmer's daughter, Sylvia, the fever, he hides in the ruins all day to protect her, going hungry — his first unselfish act.
- She invites him to her birthday dance; he refuses. She calls him "a disagreeable, ill-humoured lad"; the farmer calls him "moody and broody".
- He watches the lit windows from the dark ruin: the first of many times he is misread — and the start of his shy, self-denying character.
Chapter 6: Brother Hawkyard
- Hawkyard puts him to school; George becomes a Foundation-boy and wins a place at Cambridge.
- Hawkyard's chapel is full of conceit and ignorance: he boasts of being "the best servant the Lord has had… (O, I have!)" — the self-confirming parentheses sound doubtful.
- Hawkyard's rival, Brother Gimblet, prays pointedly against "appropriation of the orphan's house-property" — hinting that Hawkyard has cheated George of his grandfather's houses.
- George, afraid his suspicion is itself "worldly", writes Hawkyard a letter of thanks; the brothers turn it into a sermon against George's "worldly-mindedness".
- Hawkyard and Gimblet go into partnership; Hawkyard later leaves everything to Gimblet. Hypocrisy is exposed quietly, through irony.
Chapters 7–9: Adelina
- At college George lives "always in the shadow looking on"; he is praised for his "gift of quiet explanation".
- Lady Fareway, "a managing woman" with a "steady glare", gives him a church living in Devonshire (on condition he does her accounts) and makes him tutor to her daughter Adelina.
- George falls in love with Adelina — and discovers she loves him. Believing marriage to her would be taking her fortune, he resolves on a sacrifice.
- He brings her together with his pupil, Granville Wharton, makes himself dull and "fatherly" — his hair turns white — and finally marries them himself.
- Lady Fareway slaps him and calls him "You worldly wretch!", accusing him of taking a percentage of Adelina's fortune. He resigns; the bishop reprimands him; his name is tarnished for years.
- Adelina, Granville and his college friends stand by him; he ends in a quiet college living, writing beside a churchyard, "equal resting-place for sound hearts, wounded hearts, and broken hearts".
Methods and themes
- Confessional first-person narration — hesitant, repetitive, self-doubting; the false starts show his pain.
- Irony: the man who fears worldliness above all is repeatedly accused of it; the "unworldly" chapel folk are the most worldly.
- Motif of "worldly": from his mother's curse to Lady Fareway's insult — the story's structure is a circle.
- Light and shadow: the cellar, the dark ruin, the "shadow looking on" vs others in the sunlight.
- Sympathy for the misjudged and the poor; satire of religious hypocrisy and of rich, "managing" snobbery.
- Section B pairings: "The Shrinking Shoe" (love and sacrifice), "Lappin and Lapinova" (marriage), "The Nightingale and the Rose" (sacrifice misunderstood).
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練習問題
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1.Who wrote 'George Silverman's Explanation'?
Easy- ACharles Dickens
- BThomas Hardy
- CWilkie Collins
- DGeorge Eliot
2.Where does George spend his early childhood?
Easy- AA farm in Devon
- BA London workhouse
- CA castle in Scotland
- DA cellar in Preston
3.What does his mother call him?
Easy- AA good-for-nothing
- BA poor lamb
- CA worldly little devil
- DA little angel
4.How do George's parents die?
Medium- AIn a fire
- BOf fever
- CIn an accident
- DOf starvation in the street
5.What are George's first words when he is lifted out of the cellar?
Medium- AI am hungry and thirsty!
- BWhere are my parents?
- CHelp me!
- DThank you, sir.
6.Who takes charge of George after his parents die?
Medium- ALady Fareway
- BBrother Gimblet
- CThe farmer
- DMr Verity Hawkyard
7.Where is George sent to be 'purified'?
Medium- AA hospital in Manchester
- BA ship at sea
- CA farm at Hoghton Towers
- DA school in London
8.Why does George avoid Sylvia?
Medium- AShe is rude to him
- BHe fears he might give her the fever
- CHe dislikes her
- DThe farmer forbids it
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