<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
<style type="text/css" style="display:none;"> P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} </style>
</head>
<body dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif;">Thank you, Stuart!</span></div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif;"><br>
</span></div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif">I would entirely agree that Mrs. Flanders was cruel to Topaz—but he was specifically a
<i>male</i> cat (and she also disliked human males with red hair). She was </span>
<span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif"><i>so </i></span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif">pleased about the gelding that it really did verge on sadism. </span></div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif"><br>
</span></div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif">If Topaz was an indoor/outdoor cat (and most likely he was), his lifespan could have been much shorter than that of a cat restricted to the house. But maybe Mrs. Flanders was
just contemplating a further aggression toward a cat she disliked and was savoring the moment when she could put him down instead of having him treated for the mange.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><br>
</div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif">If Jacob was about 12 1/2 ("going to Rugby" when he turned 13?) at the point when Topaz was adopted, and Jacob went to Cambridge when he was 18 in 1906, then Topaz would have
been about seven or even eight years old when he was getting mangy behind his ears. According to veterinarians, seven is the turning point for cats--at that age they are officially categorized as "seniors" and more subject to health issues.<span style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif"><br>
</span></span></span></div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif"><br>
</span></div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif">Regarding 1901, as you note in the Cambridge edition, the phrase "<span style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Times;font-size:medium;display:inline !important">the King's Navy"
suggests that would have to be a reference to King Edward VII. </span><br>
</span></div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><br>
</div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif;">Hmmm. </span></div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif;"><br>
</span></div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif">Vara</span></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div class="ms-outlook-ios-signature">
<div style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif">Vara Neverow</span></div>
<div style="direction:ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif">Department of English</span>
</div>
<div style="direction:ltr">Southern Connecticut State University </div>
<div style="direction:ltr">New Haven, CT 06515</div>
<div style="direction:ltr">203-392-6717</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<hr tabindex="-1" style="display:inline-block; width:98%">
<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000" style="font-size:11pt"><b>From:</b> Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces+neverowv1=southernct.edu@lists.osu.edu> on behalf of Stuart N. Clarke via Vwoolf <vwoolf@lists.osu.edu><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, February 9, 2021 7:20:37 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> vwoolf@lists.osu.edu <vwoolf@lists.osu.edu><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Vwoolf] Trigger warning . . .</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="font-size:12pt; font-family:'Calibri'; color:#000000">
<div style="font-size:small; text-decoration:none; font-family:"Calibri"; font-weight:normal; color:#000000; font-style:normal; display:inline">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="font-size:12pt; font-family:'Calibri'; color:#000000">
<div style="font-size:small; text-decoration:none; font-family:"Calibri"; font-weight:normal; color:#000000; font-style:normal; display:inline">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="font-size:12pt; font-family:'Calibri'; color:#000000">
<div>This posting may cause distress to Vara and to Karen Levenback and to . . .</div>
<div> </div>
<div>First, the dates. When Mr Floyd leaves Scarborough, he gives Johnny Flanders his kitten (Topaz). This cannot be earlier than 1901 because there is a reference on the same page (p. 31 of the first Hogarth, 1922) to Archer’s joining the King’s Navy. The
following scene occurs before Jacob goes up to Cambridge in October 1906 (p. 44):</div>
<div> </div>
<div>‘“Poor Topaz,” she said (for Mr. Floyd’s kitten was now a very old cat, a little mangy behind the ears, and one of these days would have to be killed).
</div>
<div>‘“Poor old Topaz,” said Mrs. Flanders, as he stretched himself out in the sun, and she smiled, thinking how she had had him gelded ...’ (p. 33)</div>
<div> </div>
<div>(1) Mrs Flanders is pleased about “gelding” Topaz.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>(2) Topaz is *not* a very old cat. The average lifespan of cats is 12 to 15 years.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>(3) Mange refers to cat scabies, ‘caused by ectoparasitic mites, usually characterized by intense itching, inflammation, and hair loss’ (OED). It is and was curable.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Conclusion: Mrs Flanders is a sadistic cat killer.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Stuart</div>
<div>(Day 329)</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>