conflict/disruption to the social order

Question 1

Pararaph one - Main Point

Answer 1

• women conflicting with patriarchy to reclaim power and challenge heteronormative standards placed upon women
  -disruption to society is therefore a powerful force which highlights female power in the face of oppression

Question 2

Paragraph 1 - power of disruption to social order - Orange’s

Answer 2

• dominated by a feminist subtext of Jeanette questioning the value of marriage/female position in society, alongside at an individual level the heteronormative ideas imposed by patriarchal church insitution
• ‘my dress was pure white…. as I walked up the aisle, the crown got heavier and heavier’ - conflict with heteronormative expectations
• Jeanette has the strength to challenge these things: evident in the crushing of expectations of women by the patriarchy in the crushing of the Maureen 4 Kens
• repulsion at ‘girls squashed against the wall’
• ‘there are women in the world. And there are beasts. What do you do if you marry a beast’ - mouthpiece for winters to question value of marriage for women
• The most powerful conflict with the social order is her homosexual relationship - these subtle acts of rebellion foreshadow it

Question 3

Paragraph 1 - power of disruption to social order - THE LAUGHTER OF STAFFORD GIRLS HIGH

Answer 3

• laughter serves as an allegory for the irreverent rise of second wave feminism - emphasising the unstoppable power of women to disrupt the social order - interrupts asyndetic listing (representative of patriarchal control) 'Rawhery, Roeburn, Skirfare, Troutbeck, Wash…. the sound of the laugh of Emily Jane was a liquid one’ - the freeing power and inevitability of feminism is represented through water - collective female power threatens the social order
• ‘cauldron of noise’ - contrasts with witchcraft stereotype

Question 4

Paragraph 1 - power of disruption to social order - White Writing

Answer 4

• Whilst the other two show conflict/dirsuption to social order through actual threats/actions against patriarchal institutions, in W.W it is shown through unwavering love in the face of the patriarchy;s attempts to control/suppress it - homosexual relationships ignored by a society which doesn’t recognise the, - frustration of lgbtq community and a sense of defiance
• direct reference to idea of ‘white ink’ - Helene Cixous idea that women effectively write in the white ink of breastmilk, unrecognised - Duffy therefore challenges this erasure of female/homosexual experience in a society where the ‘black ink’ of laws leaves them unrecognised
• ‘your soul a flame/bright in the window of your maiden name’ - duality of female experience, as both passionate and powerful 0 reflecting patriarchal control - expressions f rebellion are subtle
• ‘your hand in mine. palm against palm, lifeline, heartland’ - images of unity, love is powerful enough in its own existence

Question 5

paragraph 2 - main idea

Answer 5

• success of this disruption/confict with the social order varies

Question 6

paragraph 2 - success - Laughter

Answer 6

• it is successful: ‘you girls have laughed this once great school into the ground’ - victory over conservative/restrictive education and restrictive roles in society - Duffy uses Dr Bream as the voice of patriarchal authority ‘how could they hope to grow up to be the finest of England’s daughter and mothers and wives’ - laughter is like a tidal wave, successfully overcoming this.
• the teachers also change - Miss Batt and Miss Fife gain the freedom to express their sexuality - ‘electric under her tartan skirt’ - erotic presentation of teachers serves as a direct challenge
• perhaps their reason for their success is the collective energy generated by female power of lots poe women otghether - they are likened to a chorus

Question 7

paragraph 2 - success - white writing

Answer 7

• rather than success, the poem is dominated by a sense of acceptance that they are unable o overcomethwe oppressive social order which silences gay couples
• In every stana, Duffy repeats ‘No’ and then the way that they are silenced -
  -‘no vows written to wed you, I write them white’ - protection and comfort.
• Image of frustration, and yet simultaneously acceptance: ‘words on the wond/traced with a stick where we walk in the sand’ - images of transcend allow Duffy to reclaim the ‘washed a3ay’ history of these relationships with a ghostly metaphor which mirrors their untraceable existence - ‘foam on a wave…we wade’ - physical struggle is juxtaposed with peaceful image represents the hidden fight of the lGTBQ community

Question 8

Para 3: Oranges

Answer 8

• success is debatable - she escapes insular evangelical community but she is estranged from her mother, sacrificing social and familial relationships - however it is successful in that she gains personal autonomy and freedom
• ‘difficult, different time’, as the Orange Demon notes