Paul Marshall

Question 1

Amo bar

Answer 1

The Amo bars can be seen asa symbol of exploitation. Marshall exploits the coming of a new war as a marketing opportunity for his product, deliberately giving it a name with military associations (‘ammo’ - ammunition), a connotation underlined by McEwan using the term “shell” to describe its hard outer coating

Question 2

Disconcerting

Answer 2

Ch4
“Paul Marshall was staring at her” 4:48
“As she passed she felt him touch her lightly on her forearm. Or it may have been a leaf.” 4:54 Creates ambiguity and foreshadows Marhsall’s later behaviour with Lola.

ch5
“The tall man in a white suit standing in the doorway may have been there many minutes” pg58
“Paul Marshall sat back in the armchair, watching her closely… He crossed and uncrossed his legs. Then he took a deep breath. “Bite it”, he said softly. “You’ve got to bite it””pg62
Marshall’s evident pleasure in watching Lola try the chocolate bar is uncomfortable, particularly with Marshall’s focus on the sensual. The atmosphere is not quite right (even the twins recognise“that no adult had business with sweets”) and it is difficult to avoid the suspicion that Marshall is using the chocolate to lure or ‘groom’ Lola.
Readers will still have Marshall’s curious comment of Lola reminding him of his favourite sister fresh in their memory and also of the narrator’s account of Marshall waking“uncomfortably aroused”after a dream involving“his young sisters”. The tension increases at the end of the chapter as Lola, laughing, calls on the twins to leave. She will be alone with Marshall. pg60/61

Question 3

Controlling/patronising

Answer 3

ch4
“Marshall took control of the conversation with a ten-minute monologue”
“then came the problems of success itself, unbelievable sales, new production quotas, and disputes about overtime rates, and the search for a site for a second factory about which the four unions involved had been generally sullen and had needed to be charmed and coaxed like children” - simile foreshadows Paul’s behaviour with Lola

Question 4

Comic figure in chapter 4

Answer 4

Paul Marshall is at times presented as a rather comic figure in this chapter. Cecilia notices“something comically brooding about his face”and she longs to tell Leon that Marshall“had pubic hair growing from his ears”. She finally dismisses him as“unfathomably stupid”. McEwan may be deliberately misleading (or misdirecting) the reader here. By using Cecilia’s perspective/as the focaliser, he presents the readers with two possible villains, of whom Hardman seems to be the most sinister. However, the ambiguous ending to the chapter serves as a reminder that Marshall may not be all that he seems.

Question 5

Wealthy

Answer 5

‘He offered her one from a silver case 4:52 - symbolic of his wealth
‘two men in cream linen suits’ 4:53
‘so hugely rich’ 4:50