On Saying Please by A.G.Gardiner summary

Satavahana University Karimnagar.Telangana

I Year English Semester-1

Unit 2-Ac.yr.2020-21 onwards

Osmania University Degree English Sem 1

Unit 2 Prose

Summary & Analysis

Q. Comment on the importance of patience with respect to the theme of the essay 'On Saying Please'. ( OU. Dec 23/Jan 2024).

A.G. Gardiner was born on 2 June 1865, in Chelmsford, United Kingdom. He was an essayist, editor, and journalist. He wrote under the pen name ‘Alpha of the Plough’. The essay ‘On Saying Please’ is taken from the collection ‘Many Furrows’. His popular works include “Pebbles on the Shore”, “Pillars of Society”, and “Leaves in the Wind”. This essay highlights the importance of expressing small courtesies like thank you, please, pardon, and sorry in conversation and the negative impact of bad temper and rudeness in daily life.

A.G. Gardiner explores the themes of responsibility, politeness, good manners, and control over emotions. The writer emphasizes the importance of courtesy and politeness in daily behavior. little courtesies such as thank you, please, welcome, and excuse me play a significant role in leading our lives smoothly. Negative behaviors such as impoliteness, discourtesy, and bad temper hurt others’ self-respect. The writer analyzes two contrasting characters in this essay: an angry lift man and a polite bus conductor.

A young lift man in a city office demands ‘Top please’ when he is asked ‘Top’ by a passenger while entering the lift. The lift man is hurt by the passenger’s discourtesy and in retaliation, throws the passenger out of the lift. Though the lift man is offended, he cannot file a case against the passenger. Discourtesy is not a legal offence, and the lift man cannot sue the passenger for his impoliteness. The author says that discourtesy is not a legal offence because it is not a physical or verbal attack. If a burglar breaks into his house, he can hit the burglar. The law permits him to retaliate with reasonable violence if he is physically assaulted by the burglar. However, if a person is impolite to us, the law does not permit us to use violence against them. The writer opines that the lift man may express his anger at his wife in the evening as he dwells on the incident that happened in the lift. The writer gives an account of Sir Anthony Absolute, Captain Absolute, Fag, and the lift passenger, who restore their equilibrium by passing anger and frustration on to others.

Some bus conductors treat the passengers as their natural enemies and behave in an aggressive manner. But the writer has had a good experience with a bus conductor. The writer narrates his experience of boarding a bus without any money in his pocket and being surprised by the kind gesture of the conductor who booked a ticket to his destination. The writer gives an elaborate account of the good-natured conductor and his concern for elderly passengers and the blind on board. The polite conductor creates an atmosphere of good temper and kindness, and a journey with him is a great pleasure to the writer.

The essayist suggests that if the lift man had treated the passenger with kindness and politeness, he would have had victory over the rude passenger and also over himself. The writer says that courtesy, civility, and morality in everyday life are the key ingredients to a happy and cheerful life.

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Annotations only for Satavahana University Karimnagar 

  Annotate the following.

1. "Discourtesy is not a legal offence and it does not excuse assault and battery". 

Reference:-These lines are taken from the essay ’On Saying Please’ written by A.G.Gardiner. He was a British Journalist, editor and author. He wrote under pen name “Alpha of the Plough”. This essay is extracted from his collection ‘Many Furrows’.

 Context:-  The author explores the themes of responsibility, politeness, good manners and control over the emotions. These small courtesies do a lot in leading our life smoothly. Impoliteness, discourtesy and bad temper have ill-effects on others. In this essay he explains two contrary characters. a rude lift man and a good-natured bus conductor. 

Meaning :-The author highlights the importance of politeness in the society with the lift man character. The lift man is offended by the passenger, so he is thrown out of the lift for not saying please. The author says that discourtesy is not a legal offence because it is not a physical or verbal attack. If a burglar breaks into his house, he can hit the burglar .The law permits him to retaliate with the reasonable violence if he is physically assaulted by the burglar.

S. Rajesh Kumar.