Sunset Song Flashcards
“…in Etcht_____”
End of farming way of life
“…In Etch that the day of the crofter was fell near finished… the last of the farming folk that wrung their living from the land with their own bare hands.”
When John tries to get another croft, he realises that all the crofts are going, and kindraddie is the only place for people like him.
“With them______”
End of farming way of life
“With them we may say there died a thing older than themselves, these were the last of the Peasants, the last of the old Scot folks.”
The death of their generation is also the death of old traditions
“And the land________”
End of farming way of life
“And the land changes, their parks and their steadings are a desolation where the sheep are pastured, we are told that great machines come soon…”
“For I will give you the morning star” at the memorial shows again that the farming methods are changing
“When round a_______”
End of farming way of life
“When round a corner below the barmekin came a motor car spitting and barking… the cart jammed fast across the road”
End of the farming way of life, shows the meeting of agriculture and industrialisation
“… And Nell”
End of farming way of life
“…And Nell groaned, groaning blood and sweating, and turned away her neck and father thrust the scythe at her neck, sawing till she died”
Violent death of horses recurring throughout the book
“John Guthrie and will______”
The community
“John Guthrie and Will were off at the keek of dawn when they saw the smoke rise from the engines, Chris followed an hour later to help Chae’s wife with the dinner…broke he might be but he wasn’t mean”
Threshing at Peesie’s Knapp
“He banged_____”
The community
“He banged at the door and cried Damn’t to hell do you want to be roasted? and when he got no answer he smashed in the window…and Mistress Strachan cried Oh my sampler! and in Rob tore and rived that off a blazing wall.”
Fire at Peesie’s Knapp
“Rob tuned up_______”
The community
“Rob tuned up his fiddle, Chae squeaked on his melodeon… Mistress Munro had stayed behind to help clear the tables.”
The wedding, one of the last time the community comes together.
“Chae and Long Rob________”
The community
“Chae and Long Rob and Elison and Gordon carried the coffin down to the stair-foot, and settled it on their shoulders… But Chris walked walked free and uncaring”
John Guthrie’s funeral, they relieve Chris of the weight of her fathers death
“Like a______”
“strange______”
“beast-like____”
The war
“Like a beast at a trough.”
“Strange swaying figure”
“Beast-like mauling”
Ewan’s treatment of Chris after training
“What have they_______”
The war
“What have they to do with my Ewan, what was the king to him, what their damned country?”
Impact of war on family and community.
“A strange place_______”
The war
“A strange place and desolate with its crash of trees and it’s milling faces. And not that alone, for the folk seemed different, into their bones the war had eaten, they were money mad or mad with grief for somebody.”
War an additional catalyst for the end of the farming way of love, and shows sacrifice of community in the face of profit.
“And Mutch and________”
The war
“And Mutch and Munro wouldn’t go near him, neither would Gordon”
The ruined bonds within the community as a result of the war.
“In the days_______”
Chris
“In the days when you’re neither Bairn nor woman”
Still innocent in her childhood.
“So that was Chris_______”
Chris
“So that was Chris and her reading and schooling, two Chrisses there were that fought for her heart and tormented her.”
