The virgin and the gipsy door D.H. Lawrence

1. David Herbert Lawrence, The Virgin And The Gipsy, The Penguin English Library, 1987. First published in: 1930. Number of pages: 89.

2. I was just wandering around in the library looking for an English book to read, and I saw this little book with the title ‘The Virgin And The Gypsy’. It sounded really interesting so I took the book home. There seems to be a film of it, and to my opinion only good books are found worth to film.

3. The sisters Yvette and Lucille Saywell are sick and tired of the everlasting rest and peace there is at home and on a certain day they decide to go out. With a few friends they go to the city and on their way they meet a Gypsy on a cart, who offers to tell them their fortune. The girls would like that and let the Gypsy woman tell their fortune. Yvette, the younger sister, is really excited, but when it’s her turn, she gets scared. To convince Yvette to tell her her fortune, the Gypsy woman takes her into her cart. As she returns from the cart she doesn’t want to say anything at all about her fortune forecast and tells her friends it was just silly and that it didn’t mean anything. Yvette pays the Gypsy with some church-money she had borrowed from her aunt, and they resume their way to the city. Yvette didn’t want anybody to know what the woman had said because she didn’t know exactly what it meant and she was confused by the message. The woman had told her that there would come a dark, mysterious man in her life who would come with the water. Yvette really doesn’t know what to think of this. She only know she felt very attracted to a dark Gypsy man. She’s not sure the woman meant him, after all, the Gypsy is probably her husband. A couple of days later, the Gypsy is at her door, selling pots and pans and other copper forged stuff. Her aunt buys a candlestick, and goes inside to show it to Yvette’s father. The Gypsy takes his chance and asks Yvette to come to his Gypsy camp on Friday, and she answers she’ll think about it. She forgets about his offer and goes to a party of a friend. That night he proposes to her but she only wants him as her friend and turn it down. Later on she decides to go to the Gypsy camp. They sit and eat and barely talk. Then an engaged couple interrupts their meal and talk about the weather and things like that. They offer Yvette a ride home, because it will probably going to rain. Yvette takes the offer and goes with them. She doesn’t see the Gypsy anymore. The camp is gone, they have moved on. Then, on a Sunday morning she sits in the garden, home alone with her very old, blind and annoying grandmother when the nearest dike breaks down. The Gypsy appears just in time and rescues her. They escape to the back of the house, to Yvettes bedroom. They will freeze to death if they don’t dry fast, so they quickly take their clothes of and get in Yvettes bed. The next morning the police is looking for her and the firemen climb up a ladder to rescue her, because is going to collapse. Yvettes grandmother drowned, but they find Yvette safe and sound in her bed. She’s all alone. Nobody has seen the Gypsy. Everybody’s happy because Yvette is safe, but she keeps on thinking about the Gypsy. Time passes and then, finally, Yvette gets a note from the Gypsy. It says they’ll meet again, someday. Signed by Joe Boswell. This is the first time she realises he has a name.

4. When the dike breaks down every peace of the puzzle finds his place. You know who and what the Gypsy woman meant in her fortune forecast with ‘a dark, mysterious man in her life who would come with the water’. The tension between Yvette and the Gypsy is gone too. The Gypsy lost his charm but Yvette has become even more mysterious, because she doesn’t really know what she wants and she gets even more confused by her own thoughts. I think the climax isn’t the most intriguing part of the book, in this case. Everything lost its charm and mystery, and that was what kept the book interesting.

5. The title refers to the main characters, Yvette and the Gypsy man, later known as Joe Boswell. The Gypsy clearly refers to Joe Boswell, because he is a Gypsy. The virgin refers to Yvette, because her virginity is what attracts the Gypsy the most, for some sort of reason.

6. Yvette: she is a bit rebellious because she doesn’t want to live her life like her father, always at home, never doing anything exciting and very alone. Probably that’s why she feels so attracted to the Gypsy, because he can do what he wants and he’s free to go wherever he wants. Yvette is also the most temperamental of the two sisters. The entire book is based on what Yvette thinks and knows and sees etc etc. You know her thoughts and her memories. She’s very surprising, because she doesn’t even know what she wants herself. Yvette becomes more rebellious after she met the gypsies and spoke with the Gypsy woman. I like Yvette. She looks a bit like me, even though she does things I would never have the courage for. And in spite of her silly fights and arguments, it seems like she really fights for something important. Even though she doesn’t know what that is herself. Lucille: Yvette’s older sister. She likes things to stay simple and uncomplicated. she’s very responsible and she is a little bit like a mother to Yvette. You only know Lucille the way Yvette knows her and sees her. Lucille only acts the way you expect and she barely changes. The only thing that changes is that she shows more and more emotions as the story makes progress. I like her concern about her little sister, Yvette, but she’s also very boring. She never breaks any rules and always tells the truth etc etc. Joe Boswell: The Gypsy man. He’s very mysterious, you hardly know him. You don’t even know his name until the last sentence of the book. He’s very quite and likes looking instead of talking. The reader doesn’t know much about him, but he’s not a character you easily like very much. He’s a bit curt and not very friendly to strangers, except to Yvette. He’s also married and has five children, but he doesn’t mind sleeping with Yvette.