🚶🏻♀️➡️Sylvia Flashcards
Who is Sylvia?
She is Maureen’s sister and looks after Leon whilst Maureen is in hospital suffering from bronchial pneumonia.
Despite Leon’s initial dislike of her and her unconventional parenting methods, Sylvia becomes a character that Leon’s trusts and loves.
“Leon nods and Sylvia pokes him in the back. “You make bloody sure. If you don’t and anything happens to her, you’ll be sorry.”” (Chapter 13)
The first time we see Sylvia, the reader recognises that she doesn’t know how to speak to children properly. Her tone with Leon is fierce and aggressive. This quotation also highlights her fierce loyalty and need to protect this she loves.
“He’s a good lad. He saved ger bloody life, he has. She always said he was a good kid, Mo did. I’ll have him. Yes, I will. Bless him.” (Chapter 15)
Juxtaposing Sylvia’s attitude to Leon in Chapter 13 (when she threatened him and refused to use his name), Sylvia responds to the belief that Leon saved Maureen with loyalty; she says she will foster him temporarily.
“We all have adventures, some are good and some are not so good.” (Chapter 25)
Leon wants Sylvia to feel him a story when he is ill but instead she tells him a joke about a rabbit which Leon decides ‘isn’t a story, it’s a trick.’ However, the moral, Sylvia says that comes from this story is pragmatic and insightful- not everything in life is good, but there may be better things that happen later. Could be showing that she is a good role model for Leon. Foregrounds what Maureen says at the end of the novel; that this is a “bit of [Leon’s] life” not the whole of it.
“Don’t s**t where you sit.” (Chapter 28)
After the Earrings visit, Leon makes a mess in the bathroom, putting toilet roll and a dressing gown down the toilet. He wets himself in his anger. Sylvia helps him to clean it up, but in a way which contrasts Maureen’s more caring way- whereas Maureen let him eat ice cream after his tantrum in Chapter 10, Sylvia makes him clean up himself and then tells him this adage- crude for a young boy! Regardless, we see that Sylvia, in her own way, cares for Leon, and is giving him more boundaries than he perhaps had with Maureen.
“Sylvia and Leon both think of the rabbit story and smile at each other. Sylvia even checks his bum as they walk past.” (Chapter 32)
Since his illness, there is more friendship and comradely between Sylvia and Leon, and this private joke highlights this. The joke seems to be emblematic of Sylvia as a character- it is lightly rude and inappropriate but born out of when she looked after Leon when he was poorly, suggesting her good intentions.
“He holds her hand because that’s what she did when he started crying when he was sick.” (Chapter 34)
This quotation is import at because it highlights Leon’s need to look after others, but also demonstrates the importance of modelling- Leon knows how to comfort Sylvia be use of how Sylvia comforted Leon in the past. Like how he wants to replicate Tufty’s cut off shorts and fashion sense, he learns to replicate Sylvia’s approach to love. This highlights the nature vs. nurture debate and how important a child’s upbringing and role models are for their development.
