a minor role -u.a fanthorpe Flashcards
dramatic monologue
conversational sense
implied listener - theatrical
structure falls apart
façade begins to fall
single stanza
tonal shift
enjambment
outpouring of emotion
caesura
pauses and interruptions involved with illness
how it impacts life
‘i’m best observed on stage’
first person
someone else
metaphor for life
sense of distance between the reader and the speaker
almost ironic - only the best in a side role
‘yes sir. o no sir’
simplistic lines - mirrors her role in society
‘midget moments wrong, the monstrous fabric shrinks to an unwanted snigger’
societal norms
still important - contributes to something bigger
metaphor of society as a ‘monstrous fabric’ is complex and multi-layered, its dangerousness is alluded to by the adjective ‘monstrous’, whilst there is also an implied sense of facade being central to society through ‘fabrications’.
we present ourselves in a way that doesn’t cause embarrassment or discomfort to others
‘but my heart’s in the unobtrusive’
go under the radar - doesn’t want to draw attention to themselves
disjunction - how the illness changes the speaker
‘waiting room roles; driving to hospitals,’
boring and monotonous
exhaustive technique in order to attempt to make the reader understand the heavy toll in which the hospital-world has on those involved
‘consultants monologues’
trying to make sense of it
bored
links to theatre
hospital world and its expectations sound as exhausting as the illness itself
‘getting on terms with receptionists’
being polite
there so often
‘sustaining the background music of civility’
social norms
metaphor
have to play a certain role
people asking if you’re okay
‘walking fast in case anyone stops:’
caesura - mimics being stopped, trapped in illness
rude not to ask
bored of being asked
‘o getting on, getting better my formula for well meant intrusiveness’
medical language
procedural way of answering questions - second nature now
echolalia
they are opposites.- society demands the very thing her heart wishes to avoid.
