Litany- Theme Of Observing The Lives Of Others Flashcards
About
-persona closely observes the adults around her and recalls long boring afternoons spent with her mother and her friends
“Stiff haired wives and ‘red smiles”
-descriptions that hint at the way these women present themselves outwaardly, perhaps to mask their discontent
- through this attentive observation the persona picks up the subtleties of social interaction and social status conveyed through objects and body language
-perhaps it could be the women obeying to social expectations
-‘red smiles’ hints at forced smiles
-observes their appearance as stiff but also recognises their stiff ways of formality
‘Terrible marriages” and discomfort with “embarrassing” words
“Crackle”
-reflect the tension between appearance and reality
-persona watches these adults perform politeness and civility even as their lives crackle with suppresses discontent
-persona willing to speak openly about what she has observed
“Hard eyes and ‘sharp hands poised over biscuits’
-imply readiness to judge and and gossip showing the adults are aware of each others private struggles but use coded language to avoid direct convrentation or embarassent
“Cancer or sex or debts, certainly not lukemia”
-persona senses weight of social taboos and lerns to understand certain subjects are never to be openly spoke about
-Duffy is being ironic in her recording that people only suffered from diseases that the women knew how to spell not the difficult leukemia, mocking the falsehood and lack of of education she observes are diaplayed in these women
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“Code i learnt at my mothers knee”
An early lesson in the art of observing others while maintaining silence and decorum, hinting at the child’s role as an outsider who is expected to observe but not participate
- the child is old enough to know that when she says the forbidden later she has broken a taboo
“Fuck” “uproar “mute shame”
The persona repeated what was said to her by another child including the word fuck placed after the enjambment for maximum dramatic effect
- this revealed the fragility of the adults and the social codes and silent expectations imposed on the child
-this instance of observing extends to the speakers self awareness as they feel the impact of their mistake and learn about the consequences of speaking freely in a repressive social setting
“ A tiny ladder ran up mrs barrs American tan leg, sly like a rumour “
-the child acutely observes the imperfection in the “perfect” appearance, the ladder in the stocking of a leg “American tan was a new colour made to make the pale British legs look like the tanned glow of California girls.
-the “tan” is fake the ladder is “sly” because it goes unnoticed but grows and does damage like a ‘rumour” running maliciously among the women
Overall
-uses sensory details and restrained language to convey how the persona as a child perceives and interprets the adults lives around them
-the observations provide a window into the unspoken struggles of the adults allowing the reader too see how this world off quiet judgements and hidden emotions shapes the speakers understanding of adult life
Context
- may be an autographical based on duffys own childhood, set back in the 1960s when Duffy was a child
“Candlewick bed spread” “display cabinet” and “three piece suite”
Are italicised and unpunctured indicating this is how the child hears them like words recited but not understood: a litany
Critics
“Explores the way in which meaning are constructed through language” -Elizabeth o’reiley
“She explores the edges of comedy” Borland -“fuck’ adds humour
