I feel that Auden tells the story of Miss Edith Gee extremely well, using a wide variety of literary techniques to make it an interesting but disturbingly thought-provoking read. The story shows how our protagonist is surely going about her life, in the eyes of others, as if nothing is wrong, but when she is alone she wonders if anyone does care about her.
The initial exposition is extremely sympathetic towards Miss Gee. “Now let me tell you a little story about Miss Edith Gee” is a cruel way to open the narrative as Auden instantly belittles her character and makes her seem insignificant, whereas she is actually the main, if not only character we meet in detail. This technique is effectives the reader then feels that she is …show more content…

She tries to get away on her bike, but that harsh back-pedal brake slows her and soon she finds herself being overtaken by the vicar, now given the title of a bull with a “lowered horn”. The way she is presented is restricted in life and that she can’t get what she desires, whether it is a sexual relationship with the vicar, or a relationship, or even attention.
The ideas surrounding the way she has her “clothes buttoned up to her neck” could be repeated to enforce the sheer regularity of her life, backed up with the regularity of the poem structure (4 lines - monotonous rhythm). Others may think that Auden wanted the reader to see the lack of progression in character, that she started off at the beginning of the poem in the same state that it finished: a dreary, lonely character.
During Miss Gee’s inspection by the doctor, some may say that Auden is making another cynical remark, and trying to bring humour into not such a funny concept: “cancer’s a funny thing”. Of course others may think that he just means unpredictable, but there is always the chance that Auden meant something more. The way in which the doctor is shown to be moving over to the wash basin as he washes himself could be portrayed as him washing his hands of Miss Gee, truly showing that she is beyond the stage of being saved.
The shocking revelation of Miss Gee’s condition is so casually mentioned to Dr Thomas’ wife as he says “I saw Miss Gee