Blood Brothers - Quotes

Question 1

Superstition

Answer 1

“…y’ know the devils got your number
Y’know he’s gonna find y’” -Narrator
“They say that if either twin learns that he was once a pair, they shall both immediatly die” -Mrs L —> exploiting Mrs J’s superstition to keep the twins apart
“There’s shoes on the table an’ a joker in the pack” -Narrator

Question 2

Friendship

Answer 2

“My best friend. He could swear like a soldier. You would laugh till you died at the stories he told y’” -Edward

Question 3

Money

Answer 3

“No money, no milk.” -Milkman
“kids can’t live on love alone”

Question 4

Social class

Answer 4

“Don’t you know what a dictionary is?” -Eddie
“Pissed off. You say smashing things don’t you?” “Are you feeling better now, Mummy?” -Eddie
“Talk of Oxbridge” -Eddie’s teacher
“I’m going away to tomorrow…to University” -Eddie
“Well, how come you got everything…an’ I got nothin’?” -Mickey
“you are not like them” -Mrs L
“I start a job next week. I’ll have money comin’ in an’ I’ll be able to pay y’” -Mrs J
The difference between the Johnstone and Lyons families draws attention to the impact that a person’s social class can have on their opportunities in life.
Eg: Narrator: “A debt is a debt and must be paid”, Edward: “Why…why is a job so important? If I couldn’t get a job I just say, sod it and draw the dole, live like a bohemian”

Question 5

Nature vs Nurture

Answer 5

“Why didn’t you give me away? I could have been…I could have been him!” -Mickey

We see Edward & Mickey evolve from infants, to boys, to teenagers, to young men, and at each point playwright Willy Russell makes sure to show us the unique difficulties and preoccupations of that stage of life.

Question 6

Violence

Answer 6

“I’m gonna get a real gun soon” -Mickey

Violence has a presence in the working class characters’ lives from a young age. When we first meet Mickey as a seven year old, he has a toy gun and he plays games involving imaginary guns with his friends and neighbours. The violence escalates as the play progresses, culminating in the tragic death
of Mickey and Edward.

Violence reflects a lack of control; when characters start to lose power in some way, they become more violent.

Question 7

Mrs J

Answer 7

“He told me I was sexier than Marilyn Monroe”
“kids can’t live on love alone”

Question 8

Sammy

Answer 8

“Mam, our Sammy’s robbed me other gun” / “He robbed me toy car y’know” — Sammy steals from Mickey, harmless at this stage but foreshadows events to come.

“He draws nudey women, Without arms, or legs, or even heads” —> Immature and always breaking the rules

“Fuck off. (He produces a knife. To the conductor.) Now move, you. Move! Give me the bag.” —> Increasing violence, not a game any more like in scene 1

Sammy splits out the back. —> cowardly

He is an aggressive and threatening kind of character who the audience would recognise. From the start of the play he is shown to enjoy making fun of others, especially Mickey.
He is presented as anti-social and criminal, threatening a bus conductor with a knife and killing a filling station worker.
He has no outlet for his hostile tendencies, he has no job or money.