Bowls (Afterward)

Bowls or also known as lawn balls is a ball game that is played outdoors on a lawn. The goal of the game is to roll one ball, the bowl, as close as possible towards another ball on the ground, the jack. This sounds easy but gets more difficult if one thinks of the opponents that try to achieve the same goal. This then results in multiple bowls being rolled as close as possible to the jack. Now one has to add to that the fact that it is fair game to knock an opponent’s bowl out of positions with one’s own bowl. The game has its origins in ancient Egypt and was immensely popular among the population of Europe in the Middle Ages (Britannica.com).

Most interestingly about the game is that it was banned in England due to its popularity. King Henry the VIII banned the game for those that weren’t wealthy enough. Firstly, no one was allowed to play the game outside of their own garden. Secondly, in order to keep a bowl lawn, a person had to pay a fee of 100 pounds. The king did this because the game was so popular that people were more occupied with playing bowl than working or practicing archery. The ban was lifted by King James I in 1845 (Masters).

The game itself is never mentioned in “Afterward”, but the lawn is (Wharton 356). The bowl lawn is very fitting for the premise of Lyng if one considers that the Boynes are rich and want to show off their wealth.

• Britannica.com. “Bowls”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. 09. March. 2018. 16. June. 2019. https://www.britannica.com/sports/bowls

• Masters, James. “Bowls”. Trad Games. Tradgames.org.uk. 15. June. 2019. https://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Bowls.htm

• Wharton, Edith. "Afterward". The Muse's Tragedy and Other Stories . Ed. Candace Waid. London: Penguin Books, 1992. 342-373. Print.

• Image 1: A game of Bowls: https://www.tradgames.org.uk/images/LawnBowls5.jpg (Retrieved 15/06/2019)