THE FRUITCAKE

SPECIAL
Frank Brennan
ELEMENTS OF THE FRUITCAKE SPECIAL
SETTING
PHYSICAL SETTING
*Amos Cosmetics, New
Jersey
* Annas home
*French restaurant
* Aunt Mimis house
SOCIAL SETTING
Middle-class urbanites
TIME
20
th
century America

CHARACTERS
MAIN
CHARACTERS
*Anna
*David Amos
Aunt Mimi

MINOR
CHARACTERS
*Momma
*Armstrong
*Sabina
* The Waiter

THEMES
*Physical
appearance versus
true love

*importance of
integrity and
self-respect

MESSAGE
Be realistic in our expectations
Always look beyond physical
appearances.

MORAL VALUES
*rationality
and moral courage

* diligence and
perseverance
THE SYNOPSIS
The Fruitcake Special is an amusing story about Anna, a
scientist, who creates a perfume that has an extraordinary
effect on men. Her boss, David Amos, is instantly smitten with
her the minute he smells the perfume on Anna. Chaos ensues
when Anna and David dine together as Anna also becomes the
object of the waiters affection. Anna asks her Aunt Mimi for
more information about the fruitcake before coming to a dead
end. Guided by his jealous girlfriend Sabina, David offers a
money-based apology to Anna, who decides to leave for a rival
company. Annas love life develops together with her career as
she is wooed by Armstrong, her local pizza delivery man, who is
now a pizza owner.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
An Australian writer, originally a businessman.
Started to write fiction in 1983.

Died in 1995.

Wrote with his wife, Wendy Brennan under the
pseudonym Emma Darcy. As a team, they wrote more
than 45 romance novels.
CHARACTERS
THE FRUITCAKE
SPECIAL
SETTING
THEMES
MORAL
VALUES
Inner beauty vs
outer beauty
True love can do
wonders
Determination Honesty Courage Acceptance
Rationality
Lesson
Learnt
Try out new
ways and
experiment
Maintain dignity
when being
insulted
New does not
mean better
Some secrets are
better left buried.

Nobody is perfect.
ANNA
DAVID
AMOS
AUNT MIMI
MOMMA
ARMSTRONG
SABINA
THE WAITER
Aunt Mimis
apartment
Annas home
Amos Cosmetics
factory

The French
Restaurant
Anna experiments by adding a slice of
fruitcake to a mix of flowers to
create a new perfume.
EXPOSITION
Mr Amos is attracted to Anna
who is using the perfume and
invites her to dinner

RISING ACTION
The Fruitcake Special attracts both Mr
Amos and the waiter. A fight breaks out
between David, Sabina and the waiter.
CLIMAX
Anna visits Aunt Mimi and
discovers that the fruitcake was
brought from an old lady who had
put in a special ingredient.
Unfortunately the woman is now
dead and so is the secret.
FALLING ACTION
Armstrong, the owner of Armstrongs
Peachy Pizzas, presents Anna with flowers
and pizza and tells her that he had fallen in
love with her from the very first time he
delivered pizza to her.
RESOLUTION
THE PLOT
Anna
David
Amos
Aunt
Mimi
Sabina Waiter Momma
THE CHARACTERS

Armstrong
ANNA
CURIOUS
INTELLIGENT
OBSERVANT
PRACTICAL
INNOVATIVE
INTEGRITY
SENSIBLE
DETERMINED

ANNAS
Character Traits

Evidence from text
Practical * thinks her new invention smells nice but nothing more (p.32)
* uses the same handbag she does for work on her date with David
(p.38)
Sensible Knows she is an ordinary-looking girl and is not actually Davids
type (p.34)
Reminds the waiter to serve the lobster instead of being silly (p.43)
Realizes the effect of the perfume on the waiter and ensures she
does not walk by other men (p.44)
Innovative Tries to concoct new perfumes (p.31)
Intelligent Realizes that the fruitcake perfume had an effect on her boss
(p.41)
Observant Notices that her boss prefers pretty young models (p.32)
Observes that men say one thing but mean another
Curious Wants to know why David suddenly finds her attractive (p.38)
Determined Anna was determined to design good perfumes
When she knew the effect of the fruitcake special on men , she
stayed at home to find out the truth about the fruitcake given by
Aunt Mimi.
Integrity Anna portrayed integrity when she walked out of her job
She did this when she was insulted by her boss humiliating offer of
compensation.
DAVID AMOS
Weak
Impulsive
Superficial
Not employee-friendly
DAVID AMOSS
Character Traits
EVIDENCE FROM TEXT
WEAK Is controlled by Sabina and so offers Anna money
rather than apologizing properly
SUPERFICIAL Prefers the company of beautiful young models (p.34)
Looks at Annas body instead of her face when she
returns to the table (p.41)
IMPULSIVE Is flabbergasted when the waiter starts singing very
loudly, so he hit the waiter.
Feebly explains to Anna that they would not be a
good match, unlike him and Sabina (p.56)
NOT EMPLOYEE-
FRIENDLY
Anna is afraid to tell him how she made the new
perfume as he might have laughed at her (p.32)
David only speaks to his employees when he has
complaints (p.34)
AUNT
MIMI
WARM
GENEROUS
GOOD-HEARTED
OBSERVANT
CURIOUS
AUNT MIMIS
Character
Traits
Evidence from text
WARM Welcomes Annas visit even though she may have
other interests at heart (p.48)

GENEROUS Always brings gifts when she visit (p.37)

GOOD-
HEARTED
Being very concerned for Annas future, she wants to
find a nice husband for Anna.

OBSERVANT Tells Anna about her market experience and the
people she met at the funeral (p.52)

CURIOUS Is suspicious about Annas sudden interest in baking.
(p.49)





MOMMA
Annas mother
Loving and caring- still
packs meals for Anna

Gets on well with Aunt
Mimi
Sabina
The latest girlfriend of David
Amos
Beautiful
Snooty
Vain, Dominant, confident,
well-spoken
Condescending but is actually
jealous that David asked Anna
out
Hot-headed- Hits David hard
in the face when he proclaims
love for Anna.
ARMSTRONG
The pizza delivery man

Fell in love with Anna at
first sight

Hardworking-saved hard
and finally bought over the
pizza company he worked for

Was determined to improve
his social and economic status
before asking Anna out
The Waiter
*Like David Amos, was
impulsive and effusive in
his words and actions after
inhaling the Fruitcake
Special

* Bold told Anna how he
felt, and called her even
though she was in the
restaurant with David on a
date.
THEMES
Annas experiences with David and the waiter
at the French restaurant illustrate the
fragility of physical attraction or superficial
love.
Both the men are drawn to her not because
of her own qualities but because of the
special perfume she is wearing.

Fortunately Anna realizes that true love is not
based on external appearances but on genuine
liking and mutual self-respect.

The man who truly loves her- Armstrong the
pizza delivery man- declares his love for her
only after he has achieved success in his life.
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE VS
TRUE LOVE

We should focus on a persons
character rather than their physical
appearance.
Anna is a person of integrity and
practicality who is truly a credit to
her company.

Anna has dignity, pride and principles
and looks for these qualities in a
future husband.

She finds them in Armstrong, a
slightly short and balding man, but is
a gem compared to the superficial
David.
IMPORTANCE OF INTEGRITY AND
SELF-RESPECT
THEMES
Rationality
and moral
courage
When Anna creates the potent perfume
by chance, she does not give it to her
boss immediately as she is afraid of him
making fun of her.
She reveals her character and good
sense of values in her actions, speech and
thoughts ( mental self talk)

Her outrage at Davids treatment of her
and the scene in the office with Sabina
present shows her sense of dignity, pride
and moral courage.

Annas character grows and in the end
we see her willingness to accept
Armstrong even though she may have
higher expectations before.
Diligence and
Perseverance
Annas painstaking attitude and
seriousness about her work are work
ethics that should be followed.
She is creative and intelligent in the
work she is doing.
Determination
Can be seen in Armstrongs character
He is determine to be successful
before he can declare his love to
Anna.

From just ordinary pizza delivery
man, he turns to be the owner of
the pizza restaurant.

All this displays his strong
determination to be successful in life.
Honesty
Momma is honest in terms of her feelings
towards Armstrong. Even Armstrong is just a
pizza delivery man, she does not look down on
her.
Aunt Mimi is honest in finding a husband for
Anna.
Anna is an honest employee. She does not reveal
the secret
Armstrong accepts Anna for who she
is. He also able to accept his own
weaknesses and work to improve on
them until he becomes successful.

Anna accepts the fact to let the
secret of the fruitcake special lie
buried with the old woman who has
died. She never pursues the matter
although she was persistent in finding
out the truth about it.


Acceptance

Courage
It takes courage to stand up to ones
beliefs. Anna is willing to walk out of
her career in Amos Cosmetics after
the event in the French restaurant.

Armstrong is courageous in asking
Anna out at last. He knows his status
but never gives up .