Laundrette

Question 1

‘It calms the air and makes the windows stream’

What technique is used here?

Answer 1

The steam is personified

Question 2

‘Rippling the hinterlands big houses to a blur’
Analyse…
HINTERLAND
BLUR

Answer 2

HINTERLAND - areas remote from cultural centres

BLUR - links back to the idea of nebulous is the previous stanza, which connotes ambiguity

Question 3

‘Of bedsits - not a patch on what they were before’
What is the significance of using the imagery of bedsits? Think back to the previous line
What does this line suggest?
Analyse the language used in the second part of the line

Answer 3

BEDSITS - communicates the idea that the area is poor and poverty stricken - creates contrast with the idea of ‘big houses’ on the previous line
The line suggests that the area has changed beyond recognition
The language is relatively colloquial

Question 4

‘We stuff the tub, jam money in the slot’

What do the words ‘stuff’ and ‘jam’ suggest?

Answer 4

A sense of frustration and carelessness

Question 5

‘We sit nebulous in steam’

What is the significance of using the word ‘nebulous’?

Answer 5

NEBULOUS

• Cloudlike, hazy
• Unclear, vague

Question 6

‘Sit back on rickle chairs not’

What does rickle mean?

Answer 6

Scottish lexis (the author is Scottish) meaning unsteady

Question 7

‘Reading. The paperbacks in our pockets curl’

What does this line suggest about how the people are behaving?

Answer 7

They are silent and isolated, watching each other rather then reading their books

Question 8

‘Our eyes are riveted, our colours whirl’

What does this suggest?

Answer 8

We are lonely and isolated, despite the presence of others around us

Question 9

‘We pour in smithereens of soap. The machine sobs’

What does smithereens mean in this context? W

Answer 9

Fragmented, splintered pieces

The writer is perhaps making an observation of society and the people around her

Question 10

‘Our duds don’t know which way to turn.’

What is implied?

Answer 10

• We are filled with uncertainty and do not know which direction to go in
• Could also be speaking in the literal sense that the people in the laundrettes do not know which way to look, they are all avoiding each other’s eye

Question 11

What is the reason behind the repeated sibilance in the third stanza?

Answer 11

Sibilance is repeated in order to mimic the repeated motion of the washing machines

Question 12

What structure does the poem follow?

Why is this done?

Answer 12

• Quatrains and couplets

- In order to mimic the rhythm of the washing machine

Question 13

‘The dark shoves one man in.’
What technique is used (in reference to dark)
What technique is used (in reference to punctuation)

Answer 13

• The dark is personified

- Caesura is used to bring a pause, which mimics the rhythm Of the washing machines

Question 14

‘Lugging a bundle like a wandering Jew’

Why is a Jew used?

Answer 14

Jews are traditionally archetypal of a lonely figure - dates back to biblical times

Question 15

‘Linen washed in public here’

What does this infer?

Answer 15

You’re life is exposed, out on display for everyone to observe, it cannot be hidden

Question 16

‘We let out of the bag who we are’

What is this symbolic of?

Answer 16

• Refers to a loss of identity - metaphorical of life, emptying into the washing machine, wash away problems

Question 17

‘This young wife has a fine stack of sheets, each pair
A present. She admires the clean cut air’
The sheets are possibly a…

Answer 17

Wedding present

She is proud of them

Question 18

‘Of colour schemes and being chosen. Are the dyes fast?’

Why is the question mark used?

Answer 18

To suggest that she is unsure, she is naive and inexperienced, she is looking for help

Question 19

‘The christening lather will be the first test’

What is meant by ‘christening’

Answer 19

First

Question 20

‘This woman is deadpan before the rinse and sluice’
We guess the woman is a….
What is meant by deadpan?

Answer 20

….mother

DEADPAN - experienced and hardened, in contrast to the naive, inexperienced newlywed

Question 21

‘Let them stew in their juice’

What do we learn about the woman?

Answer 21

She is referring to the family - she doesn’t want to go home, wants to escape. The clothes are metaphorical of issues at home

Question 22

‘To a final fankle, twisted, wrung into rope’

What is meant by fankle?

Answer 22

Scottish dialect meaning tangled up

Question 23

What is the significance of describing the three different characters in the poem?

Answer 23

Perhaps in order to reflect the development of life; from a naive newlywed, to a worn out mother, to a lonely, washed up man

Question 24

‘For her to narrow her eyes and blow smoke at, his overalls’

What is referenced by ‘his overalls’ and what do we learn?

Answer 24

The woman’s husband is referenced

We learn that he is possibly a manual labourer, so the family are maybe quite poor

Question 25

‘And pants ballooning, tangling with her smalls’

What is this sentence reflective of?

Answer 25

They are joined and intertwined as a family

Question 26

‘And the tee shirts skinned from her wriggling son’

Answer 26

• Skinned - aggressive lexical choice

- Everyday imagery

Question 27

‘She has a weather eye for what might shrink or run’

What does this line suggest about the woman?

Answer 27

The sentence underlines her experience

Question 28

‘This dour man does for himself. Before him,’
What does dour mean?
What does the line suggest?

Answer 28

Dour means sour

The line suggests that he is isolated and alone

Question 29

‘….before him
Half lost, his small possessions swim’
What does this suggest?

Answer 29

Only his clothes

Perhaps suggests insignificance

Question 30

‘Cast off, random’

What does this suggest?

Answer 30

There is no system or process

Question 31

‘They nose and nudge the porthole glass like flotsdam’
What does this sentence suggest?
What is meant by flotsam?

Answer 31

• Was he maybe widowed or divorced?

- Flotsam - ship wreckage