THE LILY WHITE BOYS SUMMARY

Summary

The couple finds they’re robbed after returning from Christmas party

This is a story happening on Christmas Eve. The couple, Dan Coleman and Celia Coleman attends a Christmas party which is held by wealthy Beth Follansbee. They walked home after the party, but it is when Dan Coleman tries to put his key into the lock that the door opens with a weird sound. As they enter the house, they know they get robbed. The burglar steals Celia’s jewelry, and other valuable things.


They are astonished but soon be calm. Celia says “in some way it is a relief.” They check everything as “the standard procedure”, and then call the police. After the police leave, Dan Coleman sees Celia trying evening suit when he is about to start up the stairs.


Theme


The dictionary meaning of lily-white is “pure white like the color of a lily”.Like many words,the expression also has both a positive and a negative connotation.On the positive side,it means “pure or spotless”;on the negative side,in the United States the term has come to imply a rich,segregated neighborhood in which white inhabitant are protected from other races and from the world of the underprivileged.

when it comes to the story,we are surprised to find the couple’s calmness towards the robbery of their house. However, the possession they had lost ,such as hi-fi, color TV,moonstone,diamond earrings,were all of high value.The couple just felt shocked,and didn’t urge the police to chase the burgler.How wealthy they were,and they may thanks to the robbery since it offerred them a good excuse to buy new valuables. So the word lily-white in the title ,implies the wealthy couple,who squander money without any hesitation and at the same time criticizes the broad gap between the wealth and the poor.