Men Should Weep - Theme of Role of Men

Question 1

John’s guilt for being in poverty

Answer 1

Dialogue:
“Every time I’ve had tae say ‘no’ tae you a the waens it’s doubled me up like a kick in the stomach. Christ Almighty! A we’ve din wrong is tae be born into poverty! Whit dae they think this kind o life dis tae a man? Whiles it turns ye intae a wild animal. Whiles we’re a human question mark, aye askin why? Why? Why? There’s nae answer. Ye end up a bent back and a head hanging in shame for whit ye canna help.”

Question 2

Dialogue:
“Every time I’ve had tae say ‘no’ tae you a the waens it’s doubled me up like a kick in the stomach. Christ Almighty! A we’ve din wrong is tae be born into poverty! Whit dae they think this kind o life dis tae a man? Whiles it turns ye intae a wild animal. Whiles we’re a human question mark, aye askin why? Why? Why? There’s nae answer. Ye end up a bent back and a head hanging in shame for whit ye canna help.”

Answer 2

1. Poverty: this shows the theme of poverty through John’s guilt of not being able to provide for his family or treat his children to things they ask for. He explains how he hasn’t done anything to deserve this and cannot help it due to having been born into poverty to begin with.
2. Role of men: this shows the theme of the role of men through John’s guilt in not being able to live up to his expected role of providing for his family. He feels like he is going insane (like a wild animal) due to failing to do so as he only tries his hardest to make sure his family have the money to be fed, cleaned and clothed.
3. Unemployment: this shows the theme of unemployment through John’s struggle to find a job and his guilt for it. He is ashamed that he can’t give his children everything they ask for because he hardly brings in enough money to give his family their basic needs.

Question 3

John’s guilt for Jenny leaving

Answer 3

Dialogue:
“An I couldna make enough tae gie her a decent hame. So! She’s left us! She’s as guid as deid tae us.”

Question 4

Dialogue:
“An I couldna make enough tae gie her a decent hame. So! She’s left us! She’s as guid as deid tae us.”

Answer 4

1. Role of men: this shows the theme of the role of men through John’s guilt for being unable to give his daughter Jenny enough to make her stay with him. He is ashamed for not having enough money to have a good home which left his daughter ashamed of it and caused her to leave.
2. Poverty: this shows the theme of poverty through the families poor housing. Due to them not having a decent house and being stuck in poverty their eldest daughter left to try and make a better life for herself.

Question 5

The responsibility of a man when having children

Answer 5

Dialogue:
“A man’s got nae right tae bring waens intae the world if he canna provide for them.”

Question 6

Dialogue:
“A man’s got nae right tae bring waens intae the world if he canna provide for them.”

Answer 6

1. Role of men: this shows the theme of the role of men through how men are meant to provide for their family. In this moment John is ashamed of how he is unable to live up to his one responsibility as a father which is providing for his family and states he finds people unfit to become parents if they cannot.

Question 7

Maggie defends John to Lily

Answer 7

Dialogue:
“[Lily] If John wid gie hissel a shake…
[Maggie] You leave John alane! He does his best for us!”

Question 8

Dialogue:
“[Lily] If John wid gie hissel a shake…
[Maggie] You leave John alane! He does his best for us!”

Answer 8

1. Role of men: this shows the role of men because it relays the responsibility of having to look after the family onto the man of the family. Lily dislikes how John isn’t providing for his family as and complains about how he doesn’t seem to be trying enough.
2. Family: this shows the theme of family through how Maggie protects her husband. It is the fact she even defends him against the word of her sister, showing how strong their love is. It is the contrast of one family bond to another.

Question 9

How John sees Alec

Answer 9

Dialogue:
“There ye are! That’s whit ma feyther thinks o me. Ye’ve aye been the same tae me. Despisin… despisin.”

Question 10

Dialogue:
“There ye are! That’s whit ma feyther thinks o me. Ye’ve aye been the same tae me. Despisin… despisin.”

Answer 10

1. Role of men: this shows the theme of the role of men through John and Alec’s relationship. John has always looked down at his son, disliking him for not being ‘manly’ enough. Alec doesn’t live up to the stereotypical masculinity all men are supposed to have.

Question 11

Isa thinks Alec’s soft

Answer 11

Dialogue:
“Mammy’s bit tumphy! G’on ye big lump o dough!”

Question 12

Dialogue:
“Mammy’s bit tumphy! G’on ye big lump o dough!”

Answer 12

1. Role of men: this shows the role of men through Isa’s insulting towards Alec’s masculinity. Typically a man ‘wears the pants’ in the relationship but Isa does in this relationship, bragging about the control she has over him. Here she insults Alec as portraying him as a ‘softy’ and a ‘Mummy’s boy’. These incidents show the role of men because of how Alec doesn’t fit them and is insulted for it.

Question 13

John doesn’t want to do chores

Answer 13

Dialogue:
“Tae hell wi this Jessie business every time I’m oot o a job! I’m no turning masel intae a bloomin skivvy! I’m a man!”

Question 14

Dialogue:
“Tae hell wi this Jessie business every time I’m oot o a job! I’m no turning masel intae a bloomin skivvy! I’m a man!”

Answer 14

1. Role of men: this shows the theme of the role of men through how men (John in this case) do not want to be involved in domestic work because it isn’t ‘manly’. The negligence of household work by men shows that their role is to do the out of house work, working to earn money whilst the role of a woman is to run the house and raiser the children, cook and clean and all other things domestic, yet the men are still supposed to be the ‘head of the house’.

Question 15

Alec chokes Isa

Answer 15

Dialogue:
“Goad! Yon wis rough, Alec! That’s mair like a man!”

Question 16

Dialogue:
“Goad! Yon wis rough, Alec! That’s mair like a man!”

Answer 16

1. Role of men: this shows the theme of the role of men through how Alec apparently doesn’t ‘act’ like a man and fit the stereotypes set for being one. At this point Isa and Alec have been arguing and Alec strangles her which makes her comment on this being ‘manly’. Men are portrayed as strong, short tempered and hard working, out during the day working to them come home to food cooked by their wife. They are also typically seen as violent due to their short temper and likeliness to lash out.

Question 17

Men blame the government

Answer 17

Dialogue:
“Aye I’ve seen yous men looking for work. Haudin up the street corners, ca’in doon the government - telling the world whit you’d dae if you wis rinnin the country.”

Question 18

Dialogue:
“Aye I’ve seen yous men looking for work. Haudin up the street corners, ca’in doon the government - telling the world whit you’d dae if you wis rinnin the country.”

Answer 18

1. Role of men: this shows the theme of the role of men because many men comment on the workload of others and how they could do it better - earlier in the play John comments on how he could do domestic work better than women because he would have a system - and yet they do not try and take on these heavy workloads.
2. Unemployment: this shows the theme of unemployment because at this time unemployment rates were and due to the governments failing attempts to fix this as they were not creating jobs only places to advertise jobs. This explains why men are blaming the government and commenting on how they could fix it better because they understand the issue and what is needed unlike the rich men stood in parliament.

Question 19

Alec chokes Isa then panics

Answer 19

Stage Directions:
“He gets hold of her by the throat: she makes strangling noises. He panics and drops her.”

Question 20

Stage Directions:
“He gets hold of her by the throat: she makes strangling noises. He panics and drops her.”

Answer 20

1. Violence: this shows the theme of violence through how during an argument Alec begins to strangle Isa. Violence is more common in this time than it used to be as today it is highly frowned upon and more likely to be punished.
2. Role of men: this shows the theme of the role of men because Alec’s panic also shows how he doesn’t play into the stereotypical role of a man where they are meant to be angry, short tempered and violent. Even though he is short tempered and does lash out at Isa, he is quick to realise what he is doing, panics and drops her, chasing after her for an apology which isn’t the ‘manly’ way to go about this.