Anna of the Five Towns · Chapter
XIII: The Bazaar explained
Anna becomes absorbed in preparations for the Wesleyan Bazaar, which helps distract her from recent troubles.
What happens
Anna becomes absorbed in preparations for the Wesleyan Bazaar, which helps distract her from recent troubles. Mrs. Sutton advises her about wedding preparations and the cost of a trousseau and house-linen. Anna asks her father Ephraim for a hundred pounds of her own money, leading to a fierce argument. He eventually throws her bankbooks at her in anger. Anna consults Henry Mynors, who reveals she has over £250 and that her father claims she is worth £50,000. Mynors also discloses that Titus Price embezzled £50 from the building fund; Anna insists on paying half to keep the scandal quiet. The bazaar is a great success, raising nearly £500.
Themes in this chapter
Money and Moral Corruption
Titus Price's embezzlement of £50 from the building fund and the effort to keep it secret highlight how financial desperation leads to moral failure; Anna's fortune also tempts Mynors with visions of dominance.
Patriarchal Oppression and Domestic Tyranny
Ephraim's refusal to give Anna her own money and his angry outburst exemplify his control over her finances and life, even as she prepares for marriage.
Love and Marriage as Social Contract
The discussion of trousseau, house-linen, and the financial arrangements for marriage underscore the transactional and practical aspects of the union between Anna and Mynors.
Characters to notice
- Anna Tellwright
Busy with bazaar preparations; asserts her need for money for wedding clothes and house-linen; confronts her father and gains control of her bankbooks; learns of her fortune and shares in covering Titus Price's embezzlement.
- Henry Mynors
Discovers Titus Price's embezzlement of £50; is astonished and delighted by Anna's £50,000 fortune; agrees to let Anna pay half the missing sum; plans modestly for their married life.
- Ephraim Tellwright
Refuses Anna's request for £100, then angrily gives her the bankbooks and wash his hands of her money; continues to hold Anna's securities.
- Beatrice Sutton
Estimates the cost of Anna's trousseau and house-linen at £200; occupied with the bazaar.
- Mrs. Sutton
Organiser of the Sunday-school stall; advises Anna on wedding preparations and suggests £100 might suffice for the trousseau and linen.
- Willie Price
Anna worries about him learning of his father's embezzlement; she hopes no further disaster befalls him.
Key passages
“The Wesleyan Bazaar, the greatest undertaking of its kind ever known in Bursley, gradually became a cloud which filled the entire social horizon.”
The Wesleyan Bazaar, the largest event of its type ever held in Bursley, gradually came to dominate everyone's attention.
Sets the scene for the chapter's central communal activity.
“I wish to God thou 'dst never seen Henry Mynors. It's given thee pride and made thee undutiful.”
Ephraim curses the day Anna met Henry Mynors, claiming it has made her proud and disobedient.
Shows Ephraim's resentment of Anna's growing independence.
“The fifty thousand danced a jig in his brain that night.”
The thought of Anna's fifty thousand pounds filled Mynors with excited delight.
Reveals Mynors' materialistic reaction to Anna's fortune.
“It's a dreadful thing for Willie, if it gets about; a tale of that sort would follow him to Australia.”
Mynors warns that if the embezzlement becomes public, it would ruin Willie's reputation even abroad.
Highlights the stigma of financial scandal and Anna's concern for Willie.
