The Japanese Quince

The neutral tone of the narration contributes to the sense of repressed emotions. The narrator does provide access to Nilson’s thoughts and feelings, but there is little complexity to be found there as the workings of his mind are highly conventional. When Nilson is puzzled by what he feels, he makes only a cursory effort to understand himself. The range of Nilson’s emotions is limited and circumscribed by what is considered proper and acceptable. The narrator does grant him the indulgence of an exclamation point—the only concession to a heightened emotional response—when Nilson thinks “Perfect morning!” and “spring at last!” (Paragraph 1). Even so, these are generic thoughts of the kind he would later exchange with Tandram.

One distinctive feature of Nilson’s (and Tandram’s) emotions is how highly regulated and qualified they are. Nilson looks at Tandram and thinks to himself “I rather like him” (Paragraph 18, italics added). Similarly, Tandram looks at Nilson “in an almost friendly way” (Paragraph 17, italics added). It is as though each man fears over-extending himself and becoming vulnerable and exposed. When Nilson suddenly feels awkward and foolish, he drops his eyes and quickly retreats into himself.

The theme of emotional repression is most pronounced in the contrast between Nilson and both the tree and the blackbird. The tree is spontaneous and responsive to its environment, opening its blossoms and welcoming the blackbird into its branches. It “quivers” and “glows” for the men “as if appreciating their attention” (Paragraph 19). The blackbird, too, is uninhibited in “chanting out his heart” (Paragraph 23). This openness stands in contrast to the cramped and guarded dialogue of the men. Nilson constantly filters his speech through social propriety, second-guessing himself and feeling, the narrator says, “[d]oubtful as to his proper conduct” (Paragraph 6). As Nilson’s double, Tandram also has “a slight nervousness” in his voice (Paragraph 6); the men do not look each other in the eye at first, and it is only reluctantly that Nilson gains the courage “to regard him openly” (Paragraph 6).

The theme of repression and inhibition works in concert with the theme of Social Separation and Alienation. The former is the internal reality of Nilson’s life, while the latter is its outward manifestation. The story is bookended with scenes at a window. In the opening paragraph, Nilson looks out his French window at the Japanese quince in the garden and sees what is possible; in the penultimate paragraph, Tandram looks out his French window at the tree and sees what might have been. Though it seems at first that little happens in the story, a great distance has been covered between what is possible and what might have been. The turning point between these options is the moment in front of the tree when both men succumb to their deeply entrenched fears.

Many scholars see a contrast between the urban, human-made setting of the houses and the natural landscape of the garden. The reality is more complicated, however, as nothing in the story is natural except the blackbird. The garden is planned and symmetrical; in a word, they are “unnatural.” Moreover, the Japanese quince is not indigenous but is an “exotic,” imported ornamental tree that has been cultivated. Everything about the garden is artificial. The Kensington district, in which the Campden Hill neighborhood is located, was once a rural village before it was absorbed into London in the mid-19th century.

Instead of a rigid dichotomy marked by a sharp contrast between the natural and human-made, Galsworthy depicts how the materialism of Edwardian culture—and the wealth produced by Britain’s imperial expansion—overwhelms the natural order of things, transforming both the external landscape and the internal landscape of the human heart. The luxury items that are tokens of social class (e.g., the ivory-backed hand-glass) are made possible through colonial conquest. Similarly, Nilson’s preoccupation with the price of Tintos (which is an apparent reference to stock in a mining company), implies a backstory—creating wealth by extracting the Earth’s resources.

The theme of materialism is introduced in the opening sentence when Nilson’s association with “the City” is mentioned. The fact that “City” is capitalized means that this does not refer to the entirety of London, but rather to the small designated area—one square mile, known as the “City of London”—that is the historic financial and ceremonial center. The City is known as London’s equivalent to Wall Street in New York. The London Stock Exchange, for example, is located there.