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The Skin Game

John Galsworthy

Book Overview: 

A small play in three acts. A kind of comic tragedy. The plot tells the story of the interaction between two very different families in rural England just after the end of the First World War. Squire Hillcrist lives in the manor house where his family has lived for generations. He has a daughter, Jill, who is in her late teens; and a wife, Amy, as well as servants and retainers. He is "old money", although his finances are at a bit of low ebb. The other family is the "nouveau riche" Hornblowers, headed by the single-minded and rich industrialist Hornblower, who throws old retainers the Jackmans out of their home (much to the Squire's disgust), and who plans to surround the Hillcrist's rural estate with factories. (Summary by catrose and Wikipedia)

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Book Excerpt: 
. . .n' and you're the settin' sun, as the poet says.

HILLCRIST. [Touching the bell] We shall see if you can ride rough-shod like this. We used to have decent ways of going about things here. You want to change all that. Well, we shall do our damnedest to stop you. [To FELLOWS at the door] Are the Jackmans still in the house? Ask them to be good enough to come in.

HORNBLOWER. [With the first sign of uneasiness] I've seen these people. I've nothing more to say to them. I told 'em I'd give 'em five pounds to cover their moving.

HILLCRIST. It doesn't occur to you that people, however humble, like to have some say in their own fate?

HORNBLOWER. I never had any say in mine till I had the brass, and nobody ever will. It's all hypocrisy. You county folk are fair awful hypocrites. Ye talk about good form and all that sort o' thing. It's just the comfortable doctrine of the man in the saddle; sentimental varnish. Ye're ev. . . Read More

Community Reviews

The Skin Game, written in 1920, is an old-fashioned morality play wrapped around an old-fashioned melodrama. Neither of those categorizations should be taken as anything but complimentary, mind you: soap operas about the tribulations of rich people are great and popular fodder, and this one is espec

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The Skin Game, by John Galsworthy.
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This short three act play takes place just after World War I. The Hillcrists live on an estate that has been in the family for many years. They live comfortably but their financial situation is a little strained at this time. Mr. Hornblower is a newly rich industrialist with an abrasive personality.