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Literary notes about Scullion (AI summary)

In literature, the term "scullion" is frequently used to denote a kitchen servant of the lowest order, charged with menial tasks in a culinary milieu while simultaneously symbolizing humble status and social inferiority. In works by Casanova, the scullion is portrayed as an indispensable yet low-ranking attendant whose presence underscores the rigid stratifications within royal households ([1],[2]). Meanwhile, authors such as Joyce commit attention to the physical conditions of the scullion—depicting damp aprons and laborious chores—to evoke a palpable sense of subjugation and the drudgery of everyday life ([3],[4]). The word is also deployed figuratively to denounce or belittle characters, as when an individual is insulted by being compared to the "meanest scullion," thereby reinforcing class distinctions and the social hierarchy that pervade many narrative worlds ([5],[6]).
  1. I gave the scullion a Louis, and went away to ripen my plans.
    — from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova
  2. As I have said, his majesty had only this one cook, and Noel had only one scullion to help him.
    — from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova
  3. He wondered whether the scullion’s apron was damp too or whether all white things were cold and damp.
    — from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
  4. But he drank off the hot weak tea which the clumsy scullion, girt with a white apron, poured into his cup.
    — from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
  5. I did my best to reassure her, and should doubtless have won her amity had not that sot of a scullion come between us.’
    — from The Queen Pedauque by Anatole France
  6. Can jewels and riches and the flattery of princes and nobles bring happiness to such a one as I, who am more wretched than the meanest scullion wench?
    — from Cleopatra by H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard

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