This week, during my english, we have read an extract full of mystery of An Unofficial Rose by Iris Murdoch. And I am not sure to have understood it thoroughly.
"He had been thoroughtly English, and though this was rather beautiful it was something for which she (Marie-Laure) now had to pay. Which is the meaning of being thoroughly English. What is implied, what is the meaning, if there is a specific one ?
Thamks for your light.
Anne
Well it's hard to say (maybe it's talking about our love of tea), but my guess would be it's talking about the maintenance of a 'stiff upper lip' in times of crisis.
"One who has a stiff upper lip displays fortitude in the face of adversity, or exercises great self-restraint in the expression of emotion. The phrase is most commonly heard as part of the idiom "keep a stiff upper lip", and has traditionally been used to describe an attribute of British people, who are sometimes perceived by other cultures as being unemotional. A sign of weakness is trembling of the upper lip, hence the saying keep a stiff upper lip. When a person's upper lip begins to tremble, it is one of the first signs that the person is scared or shaken by experiencing deep emotion."
How could you define a way of being thoroughly English that would differenciate you from other people ? A sense of humour, a state of mind, an uncompromising way of watching the world, a stylishness, a way of dressing, ? I do not have enough background relating to this novel or the English way of living to make sense of this sentence, but I feel that there is something to dig, something hard to grasp for a non native english speaker that I would like to fathom.
It is referring to the ethnic/cultural group, not the language. It means he behaved in a way typical of an Englishman. In this context, it seems intended as a compliment, to mean that he behaved in a way consistent with the ideals of English culture.
