Quality by John Galsworthy I Explanation in English I CBSE

[00:00:00]I am Saptharishi, and in this audio I'm going to discuss a short story written by John Galsworthy. The name of the story is Quality. John Galsworthy was a British novelist, a short story writer. He is known for his book The Forsyte Saga. Many of us have read his play Justice. His timeline was 1867 to 1933.

[00:00:36]In 1932 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. The story which we are doing Quality was published in 1912.

[00:00:52]It was published later on in a book or in a collection called The Inns of Tranquility.

[00:01:01]Now, it's a story about Gessler brothers.

[00:01:06]They're two German brothers, shoemakers.

[00:01:09]They would make the best of boots, but the story shows that how they failed to survive the stiff competition in the market. They failed not because they're not able to make good boots. They failed because they lost to companies who made inferior boots, but had money for marketing and advertising. So, this is a very realistic story. It often happens that big companies destroy the small companies through their marketing chain and advertisements.

[00:01:53]And often the skilled workers fail to get the kind of recognition they deserve.

[00:02:02]Let us read the story.

[00:02:04]I knew him from the days of my extreme youth because he made my father's boots.

[00:02:13]So, the writer is going to talk about the Gessler brothers and they have been there since the beginning. In fact, the father of the writer used to get his boots done from the Gessler brothers.

[00:02:31]That means it's a tradition. Their boot making culture is a tradition which everyone knows and appreciates.

[00:02:40]He lived with his elder brother in his shop which was in a small by street. By street is a road that has shops, houses on one or both sides of it. That is a by street which was in a small by street in a fashionable part of London.

[00:03:02]The shop had a quite distinction. Quite distinction means it was separate, it was different. There was no sign up in it other than the name of Gessler brothers. This is the name of the shop, this is the name of the brothers. And in the window, a few pairs of boots. He made only what was ordered and what he made never failed to fit. To make boots, such boots as he made, seemed to me then and still seems to me mysterious and wonderful. So, we have Gessler brothers.

[00:03:41]Only the name is there.

[00:03:43]And in the window, you could see a few pairs of boots. Why few pairs? Because they only made whatever they were ordered to make. They didn't have a huge stock, but there is one point they could make the best of boots.

[00:04:03]Their boots had the best fitting. I remember well my shy remarks one day while stretching out to him my youthful foot.

[00:04:13]Isn't it awfully hard to do, Mr. Gessler?

[00:04:16]And his answer, given with a sudden smile from out of his redness of his beard, "It is an art." Here I would like to tell you something. Galsworthy wrote it in a different way. Whenever the Gessler brothers speak, they speak with a different accent. So, for your convenience, I won't use the different accent because it will be difficult for you to understand that way. So, when the writer, as a young man, he asked that, "Don't you think it is a very difficult thing to make such boots?" And then he has this wonderful statement, "It is an art." It was not possible to go to him very often. His boots lasted terribly, having something beyond the temporary, some essence of the boot stitched into them.

[00:05:12]So, Gessler brothers, they made exceptionally long-lasting boots.

[00:05:19]One waited, not as into most shops, but restfully, as one enters a church, and sitting on the single wooden chair waited. Gutteral sound and the tip-tap of his slippers beating the narrow wooden stairs, and he would stand before one without coat, a little bent, leather apron with sleeves turned back, blinking, as if awakened from some dream of boots.

[00:05:47]This is very interesting.

[00:05:49]Galsworthy is saying going into the shop gave him a different kind of experience.

[00:05:55]It is not like visiting other shops. He compares the visit to the Gessler brothers to the visit to a church because there is a single wooden chair.

[00:06:07]There is only the tip-tap of his slippers and the man and his boots. The devotion of this man, the Gessler brothers or Gessler brother, impresses the writer. I mean, he understands that this man is devoted.

[00:06:26]This man is obsessed with his boots. And I would say, "How do you do, Mr. Gessler? Could you make me a pair of Russian leather boots?" Without a word, he would leave me returning retiring whence he came or into the other portion of the shop. I would continue to rest in the wooden chair.

[00:06:45]Inhaling the incense. Incense means basically smell, but I wrote in my book spirit. Soon he would come back holding in his hand a piece of gold-brown leather. With eyes fixed on, he would remark, "What a beautiful piece." When I too had admired it, he would speak again, "When do you want them?" And I would answer, "Oh, as soon as you conveniently can means comfortably can."

[00:07:12]As he would say, "Tomorrow fortnight."

[00:07:15]Or if you are in his elder brother, "I will ask my brother." See, uh usually what we see in a shop that the salesperson, they tend to uh talk a lot. They boast about their products.

[00:07:30]They push sell. They ask you that we are going to give you discounts. You don't find such things with the Gessler brothers. They speak very little.

[00:07:40]They're only concerned with the boot and the comfort of the customer. So, there is one point I would like to raise in terms of quality, there is no question. They are making the best of boots. But, I would also say that if you need to survive in a world, you need to have some selling skills. You must have some capacity, some desire to impress your customer. But, I'm afraid that Gessler brothers don't have it or they are too proud of their trade. They're too proud of their boots to do something like that. Then, I would murmur. Murmur means to say something soft. Thank you.

[00:08:27]Good morning, Mr. Gessler. Good morning, he would reply, still looking at the leather in his hand. And as I moved to the door, I would hear the tiptoe of his slippers going to the stairs. to his dream of boots. So, we have a person who is a man of few words, but at least he knew his trade. I cannot forget that day on which I had [clears throat] occasion to say to him, Mr. Gessler, the last pair of boots creaked, you know. Creak is make a creaking sound. He looked at me for a time without replying as if expecting me to withdraw or qualify the statement, then said, It shouldn't have creaked. It did, I'm afraid. You got them wet before they found themselves.

[00:09:18]This is very interesting. The speaker is saying that the boots are creaking. Why?

[00:09:25]And immediately, Gessler brother says that the boots were exposed to water before the leather was comfortably settled. So, just look at the technical knowledge of the man. He knows exactly when in which condition the boot might creak. I don't think so. At that he lowered his eyes as if hunting for memory of those boots and I felt sorry I had mentioned this grave thing. Send them back, he said. I will look at them.

[00:09:58]Some boots, he continued slowly, are bad from birth. If I can do nothing with them I take them off your bill. I mean, look at the professional integrity of the man. He says that if you don't find the boots comfortable, I will take them off your bill. Means you don't have to pay for those boots. This is remarkable professional honesty. Once Once only I went absentmindedly into his shop in a pair of boots bought in an emergency at some large firm. Means the author usually used to wear the boots from Gessler Brothers, but once only once it happened he went into his shop wearing the boots from some other company, some large firm.

[00:10:52]The author says, see I didn't mean to buy those boots, but it was an emergency. I didn't have time, that's why. He took my order without showing me any leather and I could feel his eyes penetrating Penetrating is piercing, looking into the inferior covering of my foot. At last he said, those are not my boots. I find these lines really really uh sad because you see, now the Gessler brother he expects a certain kind of loyalty from his customers and he is sad when he finds that the boots have been bought from somewhere else. And he says, "These are not my boots." The tone was not of anger, not of sorrow, not even of contempt. But there was in it something quiet that froze the blood. Wonderful lines. He was not angry, he was not sorry. But there was he was so quiet, so silent about it that the author felt bad. The author felt embarrassed. He put his hand down and pressed a finger on the place where the left boot was not quite comfortable.

[00:12:13]So he also finds a place where the left boot was not comfortable. "It hurts you there." He said, "Does big firms have no self-respect?" He says that you might have purchased your boots from a big firm, but let me tell you these big firms have no self-respect. They have no professionalism.

[00:12:37]And then, as if something had given way within him, he spoke long and bitterly.

[00:12:43]It was the only time I had heard him I have ever heard him discuss the conditions and hardships of his trade.

[00:12:50]They get it by advertisement, not by work. They take it away from us who love our boots. It comes to this. Presently I have no work. Every year it gets less.

[00:13:02]You will see. Now, for the first time, the Gessler brother talks about the problems of his trade. How the large firms, with their marketing and advertisement, are taking away customers from small shoemakers like the Gessler brothers. He's complaining, but he also knows that there is no way to escape it because people are impressed with their advertising and they have no value for the hard work, for the perfection Gessler brother creates with his boots.

[00:13:34]And looking at his line face, I saw things I had never noticed before.

[00:13:40]Bitter things and bitter struggle and what a lot of gray hairs there seemed suddenly in his red beard. And this man, he has wrinkles on his face. He has gray hairs. He has grown old, of course, because this man is struggling. This man is not getting enough customers for his shoes. As best I could, I explained the circumstances of those ill-omened boots. Ill-omened boots means those boots which he purchased from other large firms. But his face and voice made so deep an impression that during the next few minutes, I ordered many pairs. They lasted longer than ever. And I was not able to go to him for nearly 2 years.

[00:14:28]The The author felt bad and he ordered many shoes as many as possible. He also needed the shoes. He also wanted to make uh the Gessler brother happy, that's why. It was many months before my next visit to his shop. This time, it appeared to be his elder brother handling a piece of leather. "Well, Mr. Gessler," I said, "how are you?" He came close and peered means looked at me.

[00:14:56]"I'm pretty well," he said slowly, "but my elder brother is dead." And I saw that it was indeed himself, but how aged and worn. Man is pale, thin, and never before had I heard him mention his brother.

[00:15:11]Much shocked, I murmured, "Oh, I'm sorry." "Yes," he answered, "he was a good man. He made a good boot, but he is dead." And he touched the top of his head where the hair had suddenly gone as thin as it had been on that of his poor brother to indicate I suppose the cause of his death. Do you want any boots? And he held up the leather in his hand. It's a beautiful piece. I ordered several pairs. It was very long before they came, but they were better than ever.

[00:15:43]One simply couldn't wear them out. And soon after then after that I went abroad. This is very interesting. Now the author, he notices that the Gessler brother, since he's alone, his brother is dead, he's taking longer time to prepare the boots. But as always, the boots they're very well fitting. It was over a year before I was again in London. And the first shop I went to was my old friends.

[00:16:14]I had left a man of 60. I came back to one of 75, pinched and worn. Who genuinely this time didn't at first know me.

[00:16:23]Do you want any boots? Any boots? He said, I can make them quickly. It's a slack time. Means the business is falling. The business is on the down.

[00:16:34]And there is not much demand for his boots. I answered, please, please. I want boots all around, every kind. I had given those boots up when the evening one evening they came. One by one I tried them on. In shape and fit, in finishing quality of leather, they were the best he had ever made. I flew downstairs, wrote a check, and posted it at once with my own hand. A week later, passing the little street, I thought I would go in and tell him how splendidly the new boots fitted. But when I came to where his shop had been, his name was gone.

[00:17:16]What happened? I went in very much disturbed. In the shop there was a young man with an English face. "Mr. Gessler in?" I said. "No, sir." he said. "No, but we can attend to anything with pleasure. We have taken the shop over."

[00:17:31]he says. "But Mr. Gessler?" "Oh." he [clears throat] answered, "dead." "Dead?

[00:17:36]But I only received those boots from the last Wednesday week." "Ah." he said, "poor old man starved himself. Slow slow starvation." starvation, the doctor called it. You see, he went to work in such a way. Would keep the shop on, would have wouldn't have a soul touch his boots except himself. When he got an order, it took him such a time. People won't wait. He lost everybody. And there he would sit going on and on. I'll say that for him, not a man in London's made a better boot. But look at the competition. He never advertised. Would have the best leather too, and do it all himself. Well, there it is. What could you expect with his ideas? Must starvation. That may be a little bit flowery, as the saying is, but I know myself he was sitting over his boots day and night to the very last, you see. I used to watch him. Never gave himself time to eat. Never had a penny in the house. All went in rent and leather.

[00:18:38]How he lived so long, I don't know. He regularly let his fire go out. He was a character, but he made good boots. Yes, I said he made good boots. Uh the last part is really heart-wrenching.

[00:18:55]How the man died. How How the man lost in competition. The problem with this man was that he was a perfectionist. He wanted to make perfect boots. He wanted to give the best of leathers.

[00:19:10]And that is why he never trusted anyone to make his boots. He did it all by himself.

[00:19:17]>> [snorts] >> He had tremendous faith in his capacity to make boots. But the truth is that you cannot survive in this world without advertisement. The old man, the great bootmaker, failed to understand this simple truth and he lost the competition. That is the sad truth of business.