Sem 1 Exam

go back

Close Reading

“Text” by Author can be read as endorsing/critiquing (aspect of society) through its representation of (people , place, idea, issue, event, etc)

Values and Attitudes

Thesis statement: Top Girls endorses my belief that the patriarchy has a detrimental effect on society, by highlighting the internalised misogyny in bourgeois feminism that dehumanises women, by criticising the patriarchal representation of feminine values, and by showcasing the need to share and validate women’s stories.

Paragraph 1

Churchill highlights the internalised misogyny in bourgeois feminism that dehumanises women, that is prevalent in a patriarchal society

Dialogue

• bourgeois feminism: acceptance of the idea of the patriarchy, and the integration of women into society as well, given those slight effects
  • it took until end of 1970s for this to become a visible and effective tendency. one that is massively overloaded with problems
  • Unseen effects of patriarchal society on women
  • Poisoned ideas and infected minds of women to not criticise the patriarchy, perhaps even idolise it
  • accept the patriarchy as part of everyday life
• Nijo fails to see that she has been violated, due to the internalised misogyny present within her social system
• There is no humanity within her words (she objectifies herself), she don’t have an actual character, as if she’s just retelling her story Marlene: Are you saying he raped you? Nijo: No, of course not, Marlene, I belonged to him, it was what I was brought up for from a baby.

Tone

• Joan was killed for being a woman in a traditionally male role
• Joan herself doesn’t see how cruelly she was treated, just for being a woman
• She doesn’t actually see herself as human, as she seems quite indifferent to her death Joan: They took me by the feet and dragged me out of town and stoned me to death…I don’t really remember

both cases demonstrate objectivism

Paragraph 2: Rejection of Patriarchal Representation of a woman

Churchill criticises the patriarchal ideals/internalised misogyny that is so prevalent in a patriarchal society

• Mrs Kidd comes to see Marlene, as her husband (Howard) is ill and refusing to go to work
• Howard’s ego is so bruised by the fact that he has been passed over for a promotion, which was then given to a woman, that he is physically ill, and literally cannot imagine returning to work in an environment in which he is even in title alone beholden to a woman.
• Contrasts the patriarchal ideal wife’s (Mrs Kidd) nature as meek, submissive and in service to her husband as opposed to Marlene’s controversial “carpe diem” attitude and blunt dialogue
  • We can see that Mrs Kidd’s dialogue indicates her meek nature, and her servitude towards her husband
    • she doesn’t want Howard’s image to be hurt, she came on a personal basis
  • This is compared to Marlene’s no-nonsense nature which is indicated with her getting straight to the point, and her not being afraid to voice her opinions

Marlene: Are you suggesting I give up the job to him then? Mrs Kidd: It had crossed my mind…I’m not asking…You mustn’t tell him I came. He’s very proud.

Rebels against patriarchal idea that a woman should be subservient to a man

• Mrs. Kidd represents the effect of internalised misogyny, creating fractures and fissures in relationships with other women.
• Marlene represents Churchill’s rejection of this internalised misogyny, and a call for society to acknowledge it
• The dialogue illustrates the clash between these 2 ideals
• Mrs Kidd’s statement is in reference to Marlene not having a husband, whereas Marlene is implying that she does not need a man to define her strength and happiness
  • “Ballbreaker” refers to someone who is not married, so the fact that this is an insult is reflective of traditional values of a woman
  • From “ball and chain”, a phrase for marriage i.e. jail, i.e. criminal, i.e. bound in service to a man
• Furthermore, Marlene is shown to prioritise her work over worrying about dying alone, showcasing her independence of a partner and rejection of the patriarchy
• “Piss off” is an informal colloquialism that is usually not associated with femininity, and thus serves to break stereotypical representations of women
• High modality language that shows the strength of Marlenes distaste towards hegemony ideals such as traditional marriage
  • High modality language that shows the strength of Marlenes distaste towards the idea that she has to get married and have a family which portrays dominant values of hegemony and a traditional family in a negative way
• Rejects hegemony ideals

Mrs Kidd: You’re one of those ballbreakers/…You’ll end up lonely and miserable Marlene: I’m sorry, but I do have some work to do. Marlene: Would you please piss off?

Women’s Stories/Suppression of free speech

Churchill conveys the need to share and validate women’s stories that is swept under the rug by the patriarchal society that is so frequent in postmodern literature. Realistic conversational dialogue (realism)

• In Act One, a conversation is held in a restaurant between Marlene and various women who lived under the patriarchy in the past
• Very frequently interrupt each other
• Show this through “forward slashes”
• This use of dramatic dialogue illustrates Churchill’s choice to imbue her characters with the desire to make themselves heard speaks to her thematic preoccupation with the necessity of sharing and validating women’s stories. Joan: And next day he was ill, / I was so annoyed with him, all the time I was
• Over the course of the act, the conversations the women hold aren’t necessarily related to each other.
• Linked to disorder and chaos that is prevalent in postmodern theatre
• Further supports notion that they want to be heard Nijo: Misery in this life and worse in the next, all because of me.

Language conventions

Poem: The Hollow Men, T.S. Elliot Question: context: stuff abt loss of faith after ww1. 1st para: loss of faith 2nd para: way to regain faith 3rd: lack of salvation due to lack of faith

• Biblical Allusions
  • “Stone images” and “supplication”
  • “fading star”
  • “Thine is the kingdom” refers to a passage in the Bible, where Christ states, “Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, amen.” To summarise, God is the ruler of everything in the universe. However, this line is italicised, implying that the persona does not actually state this line, and instead an external voice does. This external voice could potentially be related to God, as they know the Bible and can quote from it. Conversely, the speaker cannot; they try and fail, with “Thine is the…thine is the…”, representing their disconnection to God.
• Symbolism
  • To further illustrate their lack of connection to God, the “hollow men” are described as blind, and “sightless”, with sight being a symbol of faith, and thus they are losing their faith. They can restore their “eyes”, i.e. faith, through a “multifoliate rose”. The rose is a symbol of the Virgin Mary in Catholicism, and thus the speaker is saying that to restore their faith, or “sight”, they need the Virgin Mary’s help.
  • Restoring their sight leads them to ”death’s twilight kingdom”, which symbolises heaven, and a common Catholic belief is that if you reject God, you go to hell. This further supports the notion of having their “sight” restored, to save them from hell.
• Metonym (for darkness from lack of faith)
  • The Shadow mentioned in the poem could also be interfering with the persona’s ability to relate to God. The Shadow interferes with notions such as “idea and reality”, and “motion and act”. In essence, it is dividing cause and effect, and seems to be tied to negative emotions, as increasingly nihilistic statements start to appear, as can be seen through the repetition of “this is the way the world ends”.
  • The persona views the Shadow as invincible; the poem ends with the world seemingly ending “not with a bang but a whimper”, indicating that the persona has lost all hope of fighting back. As the Shadow separates cause and effect, the world seemingly fades. However, the aforementioned allusions remind the reader that God can reset everything, i.e.  Make everything right, and perhaps provide the Hollow Men salvation, through a higher purpose. However, since the poem states that the world has already ended, the persona acknowledges their failure and has given up on trying to follow God, but still reminisces of their past religion.

Practise Close Reading

Great Britain has quite a history of colonisation, to say the least. They have stolen resources, integrated their cultures into their own, converting people, and generally “causing a ruckus”, as they would say. Limbs, by Waubgeshig Rice, can be read as a scathing commentary on the colonisation of other civilisations through their representation of British colonisers and businesspeople. Rice conveys the detrimental effects of colonisation through the illustration of the disregard for other cultures, and for their disregard of the people of their cultures. Employing representation and the capitalistic nature of White Society, Rice manages to provide a scathing social commentary on colonisation and its disregard for other people and their cultures.

Rice represents the disregard of culture as undesirable and detrimental. In Limbs, a native guide (Makwa) and inspector (Carter) are exploring for suitable land to build on. The native, wanting to preserve the land, tries to play to the inspectors artistic sensibilities by trying show him the “fish in all these lakes” and the “moose [you’d see] if you weren’t too loud walking around”. However, the inspector replies that his company “don’t give a shit about moose” and that they only want to take the land if they can “dig gold outta the ground”. This highlights the blatant disregard for the land, which is so prevalent to Native Americans throughout their cultures. To them, the land is seen as something to be cherished, to be cared for, but to colonisers, all they can see is the monetary potential it has, and this highlights the contrast in values of the natural world between colonisers and natives. This is further evident when the inspector makes “no attempt to learn [the native language] and inquired only about the surrounding resources”. Again, the inspector is outright ignoring the enormous heritage in the land, and again, only looking at the economic value. Thus, the disregarding of culture is represented by Rice.

Rice also illustrates the devaluation of the native peoples. The inspector deliberately labels Makwa as “Mikey”, and when corrected, states, “I’ll call ya what I’ll call ya. That Indian name won’t do ya no good outside this bush.” This whitewashing of Makwa is used to represent the whitewashing of natives, and is also used to show how Great Britain doesn’t accept anyone who doesn’t align with their values, as can be seen in “that Indian name won’t do ya no good”. Furthermore, it is also evident in the text that Carter makes no effort to understand Makwa, in “the men bonded over very little…Carter was often impatient and commanding”, and even disrespects him outright, as discussed before. “Impatient and commanding” represent that Carter believes that Makwa is his servant and nothing more, and just because he is white means he is in a senior position. Thus, the disregarding of the people is represented by Rice

In conclusion, Rice conveys the detrimental effects of colonisation through the illustration of the disregard for other cultures, and for their disregard of the people of their cultures. Even today, white-washing is still prevalent, with people preaching about their religion, while others look on in silence, but discriminate nonetheless. It is a problem, that Rice tries to convey, in hope of the world fixing it for the better.

QUOTES CRAMMING WOOOOO

Top girls

• M: are u saying he raped you

• N: no of course not marlene, i belonged to him, it was what i was brought up for from a baby

• they dragged me out of town and stoned me to death…i don’t really remember

• are u suggesting i give up the job to him

• it had crossed my mind…no i’m not suggesting…you musn’t tell him i came, he’s very proud

• “ball breaker”, end up “alone and miserable”

• “do have some work to do”, “please piss off”

• “and the next day he was ill/i was”

• “misery in this life, and the next, all because of me”

The Hollow Men

• “praying” “supplication” “Stone images” “fallen star”

• “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, amen”

• “sightless” “eyes” “multifoliate rose”

• “death’s twilight kingdom”

• “idea and reality”, “motion and act”, “Shadow”

• “for this is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper”