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Short stories Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the story of The Darkness Out There?

A
  • Sandra and Kerry are teenagers who go to volunteer at elderly Mrs Rutter’s house
  • Mrs Rutter tells them she left a German pilot to die in WW2
  • Sandra and Kerry are shocked and disgusted by her revelation
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2
Q

What are the main themes in The Darkness Out There?

A
  • loss of innocence / growing up
  • generational divide
  • stereotypes and prejudice
  • appearance vs reality
  • the past and the present
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3
Q

What is the context for The Darkness Out There?

A
  • written and set in 1984 - accounts for stereotyped assumptions about gender
  • contrasts Mrs Rutter’s attitude and Sandra and Kerry’ attitude towards the Germans - WW2 is the defining event for Mrs Rutter yet for the teenagers it’s a distant story
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4
Q

What is the structure of The Darkness Out There?

A
  • circular structure - reinforces the loss of innocence
  • framed narrative (Mrs Rutter’s story in the middle) reflects the idea of concealed truths and appearance vs reality
  • the story is fairy tale like at the beginning - reflects Sandra’s simplistic views of the world and how they change at the end
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5
Q

How is symbolism used in The Darkness Out There?

A
  • images of darkness and light throughout the story show how evil and good can live side by side
  • colours reinforce Sandra’s ideas - she describes the woods as dark and dreams of a “light white house”
  • flowers reflect Sandra’s innocence + femininty at the beginning of the story
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6
Q

Who wrote The Darkness Out There?

A

Penelope Lively

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7
Q

What are some key quotes from The Darkness Out There?

A
  • “she walked through flowers, the girl … she kept to the track”
  • “she walked behind him in a world grown unreliable”
  • “the darkness was out there and it was a part of you and you would never be without it, ever”
  • “Mrs Rutter is a cottage-loaf of a woman”
  • “tit for tat … you had it coming for you mate, there’s a war on”
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8
Q

“she walked through …
(DOT)

A

“she walked through flowers, the girl … she kept to the track”

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9
Q

“she walked behind …
(DOT)

A

“she walked behind him in a world grown unreliable”

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10
Q

“the darkness was …
(DOT)

A

“the darkness was out there and it was a part of you and you would never be without it, ever”

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11
Q

“Mrs Rutter is a …
(DOT)

A

“Mrs Rutter is a cottage-loaf of a woman”

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12
Q

“tit for …
(DOT)

A

“tit for tat … you had it coming for you mate, there’s a war on”

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13
Q

What is the story of Korea?

A
  • set in southern Ireland on a fishing boat
  • begins with father talking to son about an execution he witnessed during the Irish War of Independence
  • father tries to persuade teenage son to go to America
  • son overhears father’s plan for him to be conscripted into USA army - father would receive compensation for his service/death
  • son refuses to go
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14
Q

What are the main themes in Korea?

A
  • loss of innocence / growing up
  • conflict within family + generations
  • the past and the present
  • betrayal
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15
Q

What is the context for Korea?

A
  • Irish War of Independence - Irish nationalists (like the father) were disappointed by the partioning of Ireland - the war frames the father’s emotional + financial damage
  • 1950s rural Ireland was very poor - lots of young people emigrated
  • Korean war in early 1950s - America invading
  • both Korea and Ireland are divided countries, reflecting a fractured family
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16
Q

What the the structure of Korea?

A
  • circular structure, beginning and ending on the river + framed by ideas of murder (execution at the exposition, spiritual murder at the end)
  • story opens in media res, as his father recounts the execution
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17
Q

What are some key quotes from Korea?

A
  • “it destroyed the day”
  • “his fingers baiting each twisted hook”
  • “the guilt of leaving came: I was discarding his life to assume my own”
  • “I stood in the darkness, in the smell of shit and piss”
  • “the splintering of self-esteem”
  • “in the darkness … I knew my youth had ended”
  • “I knew this silence was fixed forever”
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18
Q

“it destroyed …
(Korea)

A

“it destroyed the day”

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19
Q

“his fingers …
(Korea)

A

“his fingers baiting each twisted hook”

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20
Q

“the guilt of …
(Korea)

A

“the guilt of leaving came: I was discarding his life to assume my own”

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21
Q

“I stood in the …
(Korea)

A

“I stood in the darkness, in the smell of shit and piss”

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22
Q

“the splintering …
(Korea)

A

“the splintering of self-esteem”

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23
Q

“in the darkness …
(Korea)

A

“in the darkness .. I knew my youth had ended”

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24
Q

“I knew this …
(Korea)

A

“I knew this silence was fixed forever”

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25
Q

What is the story of My Polish Teacher’s Tie ?

A
  • Carla Carter is a catering assistant in a school
  • she lacks a sense of personal and professional identity - she hides her Polish side and devalues her job
  • she sends letter to a Polish teacher, Stefan, and they bond over poetry - however he thinks she’s a teacher
  • she fears humiliation when he comes to UK, however he doesn’t judge and they sing a Polish song together in front of everyone
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26
Q

What are the main themes in My Polish Teacher’s Tie?

A
  • identity
  • social status
  • relationships between adults
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27
Q

What is the context for My Polish Teacher’s Tie?

A
  • story was published and set in 2003
  • deals with issues that come with trying to integrate into a new culture (prejudice, isolation etc.)
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28
Q

Who wrote My Polish Teacher’s Tie?

A

Helen Dunmore

29
Q

What is the structure (+narrative voice) of My Polish Teacher’s Tie?

A
  • circular structure - begins and ends in the school staffroom
  • at the beginning, Carla feels unvalued and insignificant whereas at the end, she claims her space in the room and is the centre of attention
  • at the start, she uses simple language, whereas at the end, she uses more figurative language - Steve is awakening all of her language, not just her Polish
30
Q

What are some key quotes from My Polish Teacher’s Tie?

A
  • “Part-time catering staff, that’s me …”
  • “I spoke Polish until I was six, baby Polish full of the rhymes Mum taught me. Then my father put a stop to it”
  • “The bird got lost … then it sang and sang until it died. Everyone heard it singing, but no one could find it”
  • “his bright tie blazing and he sang a song I knew. It went through me like a knife through butter. I knew it. I knew it.”
  • “It was a flag from another country, a better country”
31
Q

“Part-time …
(polish teacher)

A

“Part-time catering staff, that’s me …”

32
Q

“I spoke Polish …
(polish teacher)

A

“I spoke Polish until I was six, baby Polish full of the rhymes Mum taught me. Then my father put a stop to it”

33
Q

“The bird got lost … “
(polish teacher)

A

“The bird got lost … then it sang and sang until it died. Everyone heard it singing, but no one could find it.”

34
Q

“his bright tie …”
(polish teacher)

A

“his bright tie blazing and he sang a song I knew. It went through me like a knife through butter. I knew it. I knew it. “

35
Q

“It was a flag ..”
(polish teacher)

A

“It was a flag from another country, a better country”

36
Q

What is the story of the Invisible Mass of the Back Row?

A
  • exposition - in a classroom in Jamaica
  • Hortense is being grilled by an inspector asking her about the importance of Christopher Columbus
  • Hortense resents his legacy and there is a row
  • she learns she is going to England to join her parents
  • she goes to school in England and is placed on the backrow (she’s thought to be stupid)
  • but she and her friends learn about their own heroes and openly criticise Columbus
37
Q

What are the main themes in Invisible Mass of the Back Row?

A
  • generational conflict
  • identity
  • growing up
  • belonging
  • power
  • importance of the past
38
Q

What is the context for Invisible Mass of the Back Row ?

A
  • windrush generation - the UK needed help to rebuild after WW2 so they shipped large numbers from West Indies - these people faced a lot of prejudice
  • Columbus was often perceived as a great explorer but actually enslaved and mistreated indiginous people
39
Q

What is the structure (+narrative voice )for Invisible Mass of the Back Row?

A
  • circular - begins and ends in a classroom, talking about Columbus. At the start, she is passionate but inarticulate whereas at the end she is informed and eloquent
  • the narrative voice moves between standard English and West Indian patois - this displays her desire to integrate one culture into another and not lose her roots
40
Q

Who wrote Invisible Mass of the Back Row?

A

Claudette Williams

41
Q

What are some key quotes from Invisible Mass of the Back Row?

A
  • “The inspector’s eye pierce me through. They demand to be respected and obeyed.”
  • “Stand up. Recite the adventures of Columbus”
  • “We discover heroes, rebels, guerilla fighters. They help us assert our right to be.”
  • “Voices are raised, claiming, proclaiming, learning the new language in dis here England.”
42
Q

“The inspectors eyes … “
(invisible mass)

A

“The inspectors eyes pierce me through. They demand to be respected and obeyed.”

43
Q

“Stand up. …”
(invisible mass)

A

“Stand up. Recite the adventures of Columbus.”

44
Q

“We discover heroes …
(invisible mass)

A

“We discover heroes, rebels, guerilla fighters. They help us assert our right to be.”

45
Q

“Voices are raised …
(invisible mass)

A

“Voices are raised, claiming, proclaiming, learning the new language in dis here England”

46
Q

What is the story of Chemistry?

A
  • a young boy lives with his mum and grandad, in grandfathers house, after the death of his father and grandmother - calm status quo exists
  • mum’s new boyfriend Ralph enters (large + dominant)
  • Ralph and mum join forces - grandad is banished to shed, where he does chemistry experiments
  • boy steals acid to throw in Ralph’s face but grandad dies by suicide in the night (drinks laurel water)
  • mum and Ralph’s relationship flourishes - lonely boy returns to pond and sees grandad’s ghost
47
Q

What are the main themes in Chemistry?

A
  • loss and grief
  • loneliness
  • relationships between adults and children
  • growing up
  • change
48
Q

What is the context for Chemistry?

A
  • Swift likes to write about “the moments of crisis in people’s lives where a space opens up”
  • water is a recurring theme/motif in Swift’s work - it symbolises both change and permanence
49
Q

What is the structure of Chemistry?

A
  • circular structure - begins and ends at pond
  • opening is foreboding and has a sense of impending crisis and end is more positive - grandad’s ghost is there, showing change rather than destruction
50
Q

What is the narrative viewpoint of Chemistry?

A
  • written in first person from the viewpoint of 10 year old boy
  • we never learn the boys name - emphasises the universality of story’s themes
  • unreliable narrator because he’s naive and young and may misunderstand the complex situation
51
Q

Who wrote Chemistry?

A

Graham Swift

52
Q

What are some key quotes from Chemistry?
(6)

A
  • “The launch wallowed, sank”
  • “The house where Ralph now lorded it, tucking into bigger and bigger meals”
  • “You don’t make things in Chemistry - you change them.”
  • “Anything can change. Even gold change change”
  • “She never did explain. All her life since then, I think, she has been trying to explain, or to avoid explaining.”
  • “But though things changed, they aren’t destroyed”
53
Q

“the launch …
(chemistry)

A

“the launch wallowed, sank”

54
Q

“The house where …
(chemistry)

A

“The house where Ralph now lorded it, tucking into bigger and bigger meals.”

55
Q

“You don’t make …
(chemistry)

A

“You don’t make things in Chemistry - you change them”

56
Q

“Anything can …
(chemistry)

A

“Anything can change. Even gold can change”

57
Q

“She never did …
(chemistry)

A

“She never did explain. All her life since then, I think, she has been trying to explain, or to avoid explaining.”

58
Q

“But though things …
(chemistry)

A

“But though things changed, they aren’t destroyed.”

59
Q

Who wrote Family Supper?

A

Kazuo Ishiguro

60
Q

What is some context for Family Supper?

A
  • Ishiguro has described the story as “just a big trick, playing on Western readers’ expectations about Japaneses people who kill themselves”
  • the story is full of Japanese cultural tropes but he ends up subverting lots of these
61
Q

“the fish has held …
(supper)

A

“the fish has held a special significance for me ever since my mother died through eating one”

62
Q

“my father was …
(supper)

A

“my father was a formidable looking man with a large stony jaw and furious black eyebrows”

63
Q

“not only …
(supper)

A

“not only must they lose their children, they must lose them to things they don’t understand”

64
Q

“Kikuko, come …
(supper)

A

’ “Kikuko, come here and help”. For some moments my sister did not move’

65
Q

“studying the …
(supper)

A

“studying the back of his hands”

66
Q

“there was little …
(supper)

A

“there was little conversation … we fell silent again … we fell silent once more”

67
Q

Quotes for family supper
(5)

A
  • “the fish has held a special significance for me ever since my mother died through eating one”
  • “my father was a formidable looking man with a large stony jaw and furious black eyebrows”
  • “not only must they lose their children, they must lose them to things they don’t understand”
  • ’ “Kikuko, come here and help”. For some moments my sister did not move’
  • “studying the back of his hands”
68
Q

Who wrote Korea?

A

John McGahern

English (4 decks)

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