Title :
The Never - Never Nest
Author :
Cedric Mount
Genre :
An One Act Play (Comic)
Theme :
Buy Now Pay Later - Marketing System
Introduction:
This comic
one act play ‘The Never - Never Nest’ is written by Cedric Mount. This drama
exposes the ‘Buy Now Pay Later” marketing system. The main characters of the
play are Jack, his wife Jill, Aunt Jane and Nurse who takes care of the baby.
Jack’s economic background
Jack and
Jill, the couple, called their house a little nest. Jack’s salary was six pound
a week. But
he has his own house, a car,
nice furniture and a radiogram. But
actually he does not own them. He has purchased all the cozy things on
installments. The installments came to more than seven pounds! For the extra 2
pounds he would borrow from the Thrift and Providence Trust Corporation.
Aunt Jane’s comment
Jane was
Jack’s Aunt. She had the principle of “ready cash” and she never borrowed money
from others. One day she visited Jack and Jill. She thought Jack had bought all
the things with ready cash. She came to know that everything was bought in installments.
So she criticized that even though Jack used the car, he was not the owner of
it. Only the steering wheel, one of the tyres and two of the cylinders belonged
to him. The installment purchase seemed absurd to Aunt Jane, since had the
policy of “Ready cash”. The opposite thinking of the aunt and the couple adds
to the humour.
Interesting part of their life
Aunt Jane
gave a cheque to Jack and asked him to pay off at least any one of his bills.
Then Aunt and Jack left. On return Jack asked Jill for the cheque because he
wanted to pay off installments on the car. But Jill had already sent the cheque
to Dr. Martin in order to pay off the delivery charges of her baby. Jill said
“Just one more installment and the Baby is really ours”. The most interesting
part of their life was this: They had not fully paid even the hospital charges
for the delivery of their baby!
Conclusion
Therefore Jack and Jill can never own anything fully. Even the baby is not theirs. So the title uses double negative Never-Never. “Nest” refers to their house. The end of the play is ironical, though an exaggeration. It is a satire on the materialistic bent of the mind of the modern man.
COMPREHENSION
Q.1. Describe Jack and Jill’s house and the things that Impressed Aunt Jane.
Ans. Jack and Jill’s house was very comfortable and cozy. The things that impressed Aunt Jane were furniture, the car, the piano, the refrigerator, and the radio.
Q.2. Why does Aunt Jane worried about her gift cheque?
Ans. Aunt Jane was worried about her gift cheque because she was thinking if she hadn’t put two thousand pound in place of two hundred pound.
Q.3. Why did Jack say that it was better ‘to be Mr. Owner than to be Mr. Tenant’?
Ans. Jack said that it was better ‘to be Mr. Owner than to be Mr. Tenant’ because he realized that it was very uneconomical to pay rent year after year.
Q.4. Why did Aunt Jane say that she would take a bus rather than go by jack’s car?
Ans. Aunt Jane said that she would take a bus rather than go by jack’s car because the car was not completely owned by Jack.
Q.5. What did Jill do with the ten pound cheque presented by Aunt Jane?
Ans. Jill sent the cheque to Dr. Martin.
Q.6. Why did Aunt Jane refuse to lie down on the bed?
Ans. Aunt jane refuse to lie down on the bed because the bed did not belong to Jack and Jill.
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