# XLIII explained — Memoirs of a Midget

> Chapter companion for Memoirs of a Midget by Walter de la Mare.

## What happens

The narrator describes her disastrous Birthday Banquet hosted by Mrs. Monnerie. Overwhelmed by the grotesque spectacle and her own alienation, she drinks a green liqueur, becomes disoriented, and in a desperate attempt to reach Fanny, falls from the table in front of the guests.

## Themes in this chapter

### Performance and Being on Show

The entire banquet is a theatrical spectacle where the narrator is forced to perform as the centerpiece, culminating in her public collapse.

### Deception and Self-Deception

Mrs. Monnerie's cruel joke about nightingale tongues and the narrator's own desperate bravado in drinking the liqueur highlight layers of deceit.

### Solitude and Self-Discovery

Despite being surrounded by guests, the narrator feels utterly isolated, and her breakdown leads to a moment of raw self-confrontation.

## Character check-ins

### Miss M.

The narrator and guest of honor, who experiences a public breakdown at her own birthday banquet.

### Mrs. Monnerie

The hostess who orchestrates the elaborate birthday banquet and a cruel joke involving nightingale tongues.

### Fanny Bowater

Seated between Percy and Captain Valentine, she recoils in horror when the narrator calls out to her during the collapse.

### Lord Chiltern

Seated next to the narrator, he tries to be kind and proposes her health, but his efforts fail.

### Mrs. Percy Maudlen

Referred to as Percy, he conceived the banquet and later fills the narrator's glass with green liqueur.

### Captain Valentine

Seated next to Fanny, she languishes up at him during the dinner.

### Marvell

The butler who opens the doors for the narrator's late entry and is present behind her during the meal.

### Fleming

The narrator's maid who finishes her coiffure and argues with her before the banquet.

## Key lines

> Knees knocking together, utterly tongue-tied, I stood up in my chair, and surveyed the two converging rows of smiling, curious faces.

Trembling and speechless, I rose from my seat and looked at the two lines of amused and inquisitive faces facing me.

_The narrator's terror and vulnerability are vividly captured as she prepares to speak._

> The green syrup coursed along vein and artery like molten lead. A horrifying transparency began to spread over my mind.

The green liquid burned through my body like hot metal, and my thoughts became disturbingly clear and empty.

_The narrator describes the physical and mental effects of the liqueur she drinks in desperation._

> I toppled and fell in a heap beside her plate.

I lost my balance and collapsed in a pile next to Fanny's plate.

_The climax of the narrator's public humiliation as she falls at the table._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/memoirs_of_a_midget_se/chapters/xliii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/memoirs_of_a_midget_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/memoirs_of_a_midget_se/chapters