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Discuss.

1. Discuss some of the beliefs and attitudes about Smiths that are expressed here as examples of prejudiced thinking. Give examples from your own experience of similar condemnations of foreigners or minorities (gypsies, for instance). Which statements would you describe as contradictory or circular arguments?
2. This play was first produced on television in 1965 and has been printed as a one-act play suitable for groups of amateur actresses. Is this an effective way of emphasizing the absurdity of racial prejudice? Would seeing this play, or acting in it, really change people's attitudes?
3. How do you think the play continues? Will Miss Smith leave? Will Miss Jones go with her, or will she argue that Miss Smith is a fool not to take the offer of a bed in the annexe? Will Miss Brown or Mrs. Blake make any further concessions?

3. Write out a suitable neutral or objective word or phrase that would be equivalent to the following emotionally toned words or phrases from the extract printed in italics. Discuss the
associations of the original word or phrase used.

e.g. Not that I hold anything against the young woman personally.... But a line must be drawn somewhere. (The clause means "there are some matters about which I am not prepared to compromise".)

1. It runs in the blood. A Smith is a Smith.

2. The arrogance of the tribe!

3, 4. They crawl through our daily life like an unmentionable disease.

5. Commerce is riddled with them.

6. Kindly stop molesting me.

7. You? Your crew!...

8. Who tainted the money?

9. I can smell out a Smith anywhere.

10. I could not possibly stay in a place that harbours a Smith.

Note. When (in the extract from the play) Miss Brown offers Miss Smith accommodation in the boathouse annexe, the same offer is described in four different ways:

JONES: It's a compromise.

BROWN: It's a solution.

BLAKE: It's the thin end of the wedge.

SMITH: I cannot take your second best.

Each of the women chooses words to match her own attitude or prejudice. A phrase like "thin end of the wedge" is an emotionally toned equivalent to "compromise"; "second best" indicates a different attitude from "alternative accommodation''.

4. Expand all the following statements in writing; and then in discussion point out the emotionally-loaded words, the over­simplifications, the sweeping assumptions, and the illogicalities of the views expressed in them.

1. Once a thief, always a thief.
2. If we didn't have trade unions, we wouldn't have strikes.
3. Black and white don't mix.
4. Mixed marriages make mongrels.
5. Roman Catholics have too much power.
6. Writers and artists are pansies; they don't know what an honest day's work is.

Note. Short, emotive statements such as "Whitehall is riddled with them" are very persuasive. They make an impact because they are vivid, simple and easy to remember. Many people therefore accept them without thinking about their meaning. If we expand them, however, our reasoning powers at once begin to operate. Consider this expanded version of the quotation above.

I think that there are far too many people with the surname "Smith" working in the civil service.

It is now much easier to see what an absurd and over-simplified argument is being put forward. The condensed version is much more dangerous because it can slip past our critical faculties so easily.

Shirley, the receptionist, is a perfect example of a person who accepts short, emotive statements without ever thinking about them. e.g. "I was told they ought never to have been let in the country in the first place". Such statements do not convey thought. They avoid it.