Key Quotations Flashcards
Kathy’s caring nature/ Kathy as a mother figure
‘Tommy’s got his shirt on. His favourite polo shirt … He’s going to be so sick if he ruins that shirt’ (1)
‘ So I reached forward and put a hand on his arm’ (1)
Tommy as childlike
‘ Then he began to scream and shout, a nonsensical jumble of swear words and insults’ (1)
’Mad animal’ (1)
Creativity
‘ How Tommy never even tried to be creative’ (1)
Kathy as an unreliable narrator
’I might have some of it wrong’ (2)
Ruth as leader/ one in charge
‘ Everyone was waiting for Ruth’s response’ (2)
’ Ruth had been right: Madame was afraid of us’ (3)
Lack of privacy
‘ The lunch queue was one of the better places to have a private talk’ (2)
Lack of identity
’Exchanges … were our only means … of building up a collection of personal possessions’ (2)
Creativity
‘ How you were regarded at Hailsham … had to do with how good you were at ‘creating’ ’ (2)
‘ If I didn’t want to be creative … that was perfectly all right’ (2)
Fear of clones
‘The shudder she seemed to be suppressing, the real dread that one of us would accidentally brush against her’ (3)
’Ruth was right: Madame was afraid of us. But she was afraid of us in the same way someone might be afraid of spiders’ (3)
’He -Keffer’s- didn’t like to talk to us much’ (10)
Ruth not as dominant/ in charge as she seems
’Even Ruth looked really shaken’ (3)
’Now I saw how upset Ruth was; how for once she was at a complete loss for words, and had turned away on the verge of tears’ (5)
‘ You’re the only one I trust’ (9)
’Thank me for ’sorting it all out so well’’ (9)
‘ Even Ruth looked daunted’ (10)
Loneliness
’A car was a rarity’ (3)
Definitive difference between the clones and normal people
‘When you realise that you really are different to them’ (3)
‘ Your’e … special’ (6)
‘ We were different from our guardians, and also from the normal people outside’ (6)
That they don’t know a lot
‘ We knew a few things about ourselves’ (3)
‘ You’ve been told and not told. You’ve been told, but none of you really understand’ (7)
Ruth as superior/ dominant/ controlling
’Ruth was addressing only me. This absolutely delighted me, but I made a show of weighing her up before giving a reply’ (4)
‘ But you’re not to use your crop on him. And you’ve got to come now.’ (4)
’My best horse is Thunder … you can ride Bramble’ (4)
‘ I accepted the invisible rein she was holding out’ (4)
’I’ll let you be one of her secret guards’ (4)
‘ Thank me for ‘sorting it all out so well’’ (9)
‘ I noticed Ruth nodding with a lot of authority’ (13)
‘Ruth sighed and said: ’Well, they told us a few things, obviously’ ’ (13)
Kathy as dominant(ish)
‘ This absolutely delighted me, but I made a show of weighing her up before giving a reply’ (4)
Strict nature/ fear of Hailsham
‘ You felt dreadful, just knowing you’d fallen in her estimation’ (4)
’ Dreading the idea of her turning her gaze on me’ (4)
Fear of Hailsham boundaries (lack of freedom)
‘ Dark fringe of trees, but I certainly wasn’t the only one of my age to feel their presence day and night’ (5)
’The woods played on our imaginations’ (5)
‘ Wire mesh boundary’ (4)
Kathy as submissive to Ruth
‘ I accepted the invisible rein she was holding out’ (4)
’ I was really disappointed, but I made sure to say nothing and went along with her for a while’ (5)
‘ Panic coming over me … that I’d somehow let Ruth down’ (9)
Clones have emotions
‘ Even today, I’m puzzled by the sheer force of emotion that overtook me’
Lack of mother figure
’ Didn’t we all dream from time to time about one guardian or other bending the rules and doing something special for us? A spontaneous hug, a secret letter, a gift?’ (5)
Ruth as caring/ thoughtful / friends with Kathy/ trusts Kathy
’Ruth had been looking out for something nice to do for me in return’ (6)
‘ You’re the only one I trust’ (9)
’We were confiding in each other more than ever’ (11)
‘ She seemed confident I wouldn’t give her away. And of course, I didn’t’ (12)
’Ruth was getting people to look for it and saying you were really upset about losing it’ (15)
Loss
‘ But it’s also something of a lost corner … Norfolk came to be a real source of comfort to us’ (6)
Tommy as gullible
’The next day I could see Tommy going about with his arm held out very rigidly and looking worried’ (7)
Hailsham as a game
‘ It’s not a game anymore’ (9) RUTH
‘ It’s not like a game anymore’ (9) TOMMY
Ruth contradicting herself - being manipulative/ cunning?
’You’ve always had this way with him. He’ll listen to you’ (9)
‘ Even though Tommy was at Hailsham, he isn’t like a real Hailsham student’ (13)
Contrast of freedom
(Quotations from ’lack of freedom’ + …)
’We’d never been beyond the grounds of Hailsham’ (10)
‘ Provided we were back by the day and the time we entered into Keffer’s ledgerbook’ (10)
Two Ruths
‘One Ruth who was always trying to impress the veterans … was the Ruth from Hailsham’ (11)
Regret/ nostalgia
’You were never embarrassed about your collection and you kept it. I wish now I’d done that too’ (11)
Hailsham as being privileged
(The person Kathy cares for in Chp.1 wanted to know all about Hailsham - ’What he wanted was not just to hear about Hailsham, but to remember Hailsham, just like it had been his own childhood’)
‘ She … Chrissie … was always asking us questions about Hailsham’ (12)
‘ She was awestruck about our being from Hailsham’ (12)
‘ This notion of theirs that there were all kinds of possibilities open to us Hailsham students that weren’t open to them’ (14)
Kathy covering for Ruth
(Ruth upset about not being able to go to Norfolk) - ‘ That’s not what Ruth’s upset about. It’s about something else, something that happened earlier on’ (13)
Ruth as patronising to Kathy
’Kathy hates to be naughty. So we’d better not go and visit him’ (13)
Tommy learning to control himself - realisation of what he knows that others don’t (before, bullied for differences)
‘ Then he began to scream and shout, a nonsensical jumble of swear words and insults’ (1)
‘ Look had appeared in Tommy’s eyes that made me catch my breath … then the look faded’ (13)
Tommy as choosing Kathy over Ruth
(He tells Kathy about Miss Lucy’s conversation with him) (9)
‘ I’ll stay with Kath. If we’re splitting, then I’ll stay with Kath’ (14)
(Use of ’Kath’ - only character to - familiarity)
‘ I haven’t told anyone, not even Ruth’ (15) - Tommy’s theory on what gallery was for
- Tommy bought tape for Kathy - didn’t tell Ruth (15)
Clones are modelled from trash
‘ We all know it. We‘re modelled from trash. Junkies, prostitutes, winos, tramps’ (14)
’ If you want to look for possibles … then you look in the gutter. You look in rubbish bins’ (14)
Idea of not originals
’Do you think it could be the same one? I mean, the actual one. The one you lost?’ (15) - Norfolk ’the lost corner’
- idea of charity shops
Forgetting
’Ruth kept pretending to forget things about Hailsham … I got more and more irritated with her’ (16)
Self-blame for Ruth’s actions
‘ Perhaps if I hadn’t pulled her up so sharply - perhaps if I’d just made a joke of it and carried on’ (16)
Betrayal
‘It’s not just me, sweety. Kathy here finds your animals a complete hoot’ - Ruth betrayed Kathy, Kathy feels she’s betrayed Tommy
- Ruth patronising - ’sweety gums’
- memento mori - happened in graveyard (’old gravestones’) - Tommy’s animals supposed to help get deferral (putting off their death) - implies that it won’t work
Fragility of friendship
‘ It never occurred to me that our lives, until then so closely interwoven, could unravel and separate over a thing like that’ (17)
- symbolises DNA?
Start at …
Chp. 17/18
