Lily and John Flashcards
Maggie; ‘Don’t you two stert up!’
This pleading remark shows an awareness of repeated conflicts between John and Lily, and highlights the childish nature of John’s behaviour towards Lily.
(stage direction, John); turning to Lily
This is a lack of respect shown by John by the fact he only acknowledges Lily after some time of being in the same room. This shows John isn’t accustomed to Lily’s presence/enjoys delibrately ignoring her to evoke a negative reaction in her.
(stage direction, John); with as much of a smile he can muster
This suggests that being polite to Lily takes a lot of effort from John and getting along with her isn’t someting that comes naturally. It also shows his contempt and dislike for her, almost as if he is so disgusted by her that it is hard to treat her like a normal/equal person
Lily; ‘If you was a wumman….jist perfect!… weans a washed…everythin a spick an span.’
Lily ridicules John by presenting an idealised vision of the domestic world he believes men would create. This shows she dislikes John and thinks he is arrogant for being unaware of the burdens women have and implying that men could do a better job at being a housewife than women do.
Lily; ‘The cheek! It was me brung yon tin o beans that’s sittin up on your dresser this minute, John Morrsison!’
Lily feels insulted by John’s insinuation that she is expecting the Morrisons to feed her. Her mentioning the beans that she brought for them emphasises how she feels underappreciated that she often provides the family with food. Addressing John by his full name shows her hostility and suggests she is hinting that it is his job to bring food to his family, and yet she is the one does it.
John; ‘…the interferin bitch. Nae wunner she couldna get a man.’
This rude comment suggests that Lily being a single woman is why John disrespects her. This is because he feels intimidated and estranged by a woman who goes against the conventions by not needing a man, having a full time job, and being unafraid of speaking her opinions. However, Lily is financially stable enough to provide for herself and his wife and children and she is doing better in life than John is. Yet John believes that as a woman Lily has failed life just because she is single.
The word choice ‘interfering’ suggests that John feels Lily does not know her place and is intrusive. This is not true as Lily has in fact been a great help to the Morrions family by stepping up and shows John does not appreciate her and is unaware of her efforts.
John; ‘if a man jist crept ontae your horizon, ye’d be efter him like a cock at a grosset.’
John is implying that if Lily had the opportunity she would chase after a man. John thinks Lily is too unattractive and unnappealing to men to even have the chance of one showing interest in her, but if one did, she would run after him like some ravenous bird. This shows that John sees the male species as superior to women and strongly believes all women see men as something essential to a happy life, which means he does not know the real Lily and is too egolistical and stubborn to believe how she could possibly want nothing to do with a man.
Lily; ‘I’ve had tae fight hauf your battles for ye, John Morrison, or the hale lot o ye would hae been oot on the street mair than once!’
Lily addressing him by his whole name emphasises a confrontational tone to this dialogue and suggests she is desperate for him to feel humiliated and be aware of his failiure to be a supportive father and husband. She wants him to know that he is an arrogant, weak coward who cannot face the hardships in his life and so she has had to sort out a lot of his problems for him.
John is too dumfounded to respond to this comment which shows that although he may not admit it out loud, he feels intimidated by Lily’s ability to do what he couldn’t.
Lily telling John what kind of helpless situation they’d be in if it weren’t for her has a threatening tone to it and suggests to John that her support is something she can easily withdraw if she wants to. This gives Lily the upper hand over John and goes agaisnt the conventional gender roles as Lily’s financial stability can be used to control John the way in which he wrongly believes he has control over his family.
