Saturday, August 31, 2013

What does "pot of jam" mean in the short story "The Fly"?

In “The Fly,” the pot of jam is mentioned by old Woodifield as he tells of his girls traveling in Belgium: "’D'you know what the hotel made the girls pay for a pot of jam?’ he piped. ‘Ten francs! Robbery, I call it….Gertrude brought the pot away with her to teach 'em a lesson.’” What he means by this is really quite simple—a pot is just a small container in which jam is served. The...

In “The Fly,” the pot of jam is mentioned by old Woodifield as he tells of his girls traveling in Belgium: "’D'you know what the hotel made the girls pay for a pot of jam?’ he piped. ‘Ten francs! Robbery, I call it….Gertrude brought the pot away with her to teach 'em a lesson.’” What he means by this is really quite simple—a pot is just a small container in which jam is served. The term isn’t very popular nowadays, but a good comparison could be a honey pot, which is still in common usage. "Pot" is really just another way to refer to a small jar in this context.


Ten francs for a small container of jam—a container the size of a large coin—seems an exorbitant price to pay, and Gertrude is so disgusted at being ripped off for something as simple as jam that she steals the pot from the dining room.

No comments:

Post a Comment