Kipling Rudyard Kipling\'s Mary Postgate Is Set

Kipling

Rudyard Kipling's "Mary Postgate" is set during World War I, at a time when British social hierarchies were at their peak in the wake of the Victorian Era and at the dawn of a new world order. Postgate seems to have her pulse on the shifting values and norms that unfold throughout her generation. Issues related to political, social, and economic power are raised in the short story. Money plays a major role in the story, as a symbol of power and social status. The way Mary Postgate deals with money-related issues is also significant. For example, Wynn Fowler demands an increase in his allowance. "Miss Fowler, who always looked facts in the face, said, 'He must have it. The chances are he won't live long to draw it, and if three hundred makes him happy -- " Here, money is a source of personal empowerment but Kipling adds the ironic twist by having Miss Fowler state that "he won't live long to draw it," and that Wynn would also be happy with a pittance just for the principle of it.

Social class status establishes Mary Postgate's character, shaping her reaction to events and her view of the war. As an accountant of sorts, Mary Postgate is in command and control of currency and she is summarily feared for her power to manage the books. Money is not a crucial formative factor in her character development, but off-screen, so to speak, Mary has been inextricably shaped by the social conventions of English society. Those conventions are extremely rigid; Kipling at many times in "Mary Postgate" reminds the reader of as much. The climactic masturbation scene is one of the most poignant symbols of the way Mary Postgate subverts the social order that confines her and the whole of her society. Ironically, though, her character has the stiff upper lip that characterizes British 20th century society. Her role as a bookkeeper establishes her calculating nature. Mary as "a treasure at domestic accounts, for which the village tradesmen, with their weekly books, loved her not."

Money is not the reason death is dealt with in a surreally detached and cold manner. When Wynn dies early in the story, the reaction even by Miss Fowler is curiously emotionless. The characters intuit that their flat affective state seems out of place and wrong. Miss Fowler, anyway, is placed in the submissive position of asking Mary for permission to show emotion. "She heard Miss Fowler say impatiently, 'But why can't we cry, Mary?' And herself replying, 'There's nothing to cry for. He has done his duty." Mary's reaction to Wynn's having been shot down is the most amusing of all: "Yes,' she said. 'It's a great pity he didn't die in action after he had killed somebody.' Mary's "deadly methodical" character imparts an eerie inhumanity about her character, which makes Postgate a piquant protagonist. She reveals rare emotion when the narrator notes that Mary "loathed pistols."