The Bargain

Question 1

January

Answer 1

(T) Passage of Time -
First month of the
new year, a time for
change/ resolutions

cold and bleak weather is suggestive of their emotional state

Question 2

You and I

Answer 2

(S.S) Separate
line to represent
the distance
between the
couple

OR they are in this together/still love each other

Question 3

Barrows

Answer 3

(I) The Barrows is
used as an extended
metaphor to explore
and reflect on the
relationship.

(C) Famous market
in the east end of
Glasgow.

Question 4

twitch and fret

Answer 4

(W.C) suggests
anticipated trouble.
In the same way the
police are waiting
for the football
supporters to cause
trouble, the speaker
is waiting for trouble
to erupt between
them on what should
be a happy day out.

twitch connotes restless, agitated
fret connotes worry and stress

Question 5

kick-off
three thirty

Answer 5

implies a football match

Question 6

rubbing the wrong way

getting ready to fly

Answer 6

idiom and metaphor

(W.C) suggests discomfort as they
walk against the football
supporters and the beginning of a
disagreement between the
couple.

Question 7

where the two rivers meet.

Answer 7

(I) Literally the two streams that
meet to forge the River Clyde,
metaphorically suggests the sectarian
nature of the violence at the football.

Question 8

January (line 11)

Answer 8

repetition reaffirms the idea of a new era for the speaker

theme of the passage of time

Question 9

looking back, looking forward

Answer 9

repetition

(I) Extended
metaphor of the
Barrows. The
couple are literally
lost in the market
but metaphorically
lost in their
relationship.

keep changing their minds (back and forth in relationship)

Question 10

don’t know which way

Answer 10

(S.S) Enjambment forces us to read
on from the end of this stanza to
the beginning of the next.
Suggests the speaker is allowing
herself to be distracted so that she
doesn’t have to think about her
failing relationship.

Question 11

but the boy
with three beautiful Bakelite
Bush radios for sale in Meadow’s Minimarket is

Answer 11

(I) Alliteration of ‘b’ adds to the
quickness of the line
Suggests she wants to
change topic quickly

The plosive ‘b’s in ‘boy’, ‘beautiful’, ‘Bakelite’, ‘Bush’ imitate a bopping rhythm. This makes the market seem alive

Question 12

buttonpopping stationhopping

Answer 12

(W.C) made up
words help
present the boy
in a precise way
and create a
playful tone

Question 13

doesn’t miss a beat sings along it’s easy

Answer 13

(S.S) Deliberate spacing conveys
effectively the static as the boy switches
between stations/the voice of the
stallholder. Represents the distance
between the couple.

Question 14

to every changing tune

Answer 14

(T) breakdown of the relationship, the couple keep changing their mind

metaphorically

Question 15

Yes today we’re in love aren’t we?

Answer 15

The question continues the uncertainty. ‘today’ they’re in love-but what about tomorrow?

suggests unsureness in the relationship. Yes, they are currently in love but there is uncertainty whether they feel the same in the near future

Question 16

splintering

Answer 16

word choice
commits breaking apart, broken and shabby
Refers to the sectarianism dividing the city and also links to the couple’s relationship that is breaking apart

Question 17

brazen

Answer 17

implies the idea of Glasgow is loud, brash

Question 18

wintry bridges

Answer 18

Metaphor
suggests the literal coldness of the city in January but also the disinterestedness of the couple in their relationship; things have grown cold between them

Question 19

So what if every other tenement
wears its hearth on its gable end?

Answer 19

(W.C) play on the phrase ‘wear
your heart on your sleeve’ –
refers to the honest nature of
Glaswegian people but suggests
the couple should do the same. They should be emotionally open and honest

the question continues to depict their uncertainties in the relationship

Question 20

All I want
is my glad eye to catch
a glint in your flinty Northern face again
just once.

Answer 20

(T) Complex
relationships –
speaker hopes for a
reconciliation

Question 21

underneath the arches

Answer 21

reference to weddings is ironic given the state of their relationship

Question 22

Somebody absolutely steamboats he says on
sweet warm wine
swigged plaincover from a paper bag

Answer 22

alliteration/sibilance mimics the voice of a man, slurring his words

Question 23

squats in a puddle with nothing to sell
but three bent forks a torn
calendar (last year’s)
and a broken plastic sandal.

Answer 23

(I) Everything he
sells is worthless/
broken – the couple
are selling each
other a broken idea

Question 24

So we hadn’t the stomach for it today.

We don’t deserve a bargain then!

Answer 24

(S.S) short sentence
reflects how tiring
the argument has
become. Tone of
defeat.

exclamation mark creates a tone of anger

Question 25

There was no doubt the rare the beautiful and the bugle-beaded the real antique dirt cheap

Answer 25

(S.S) spacing
becomes more
frequent suggesting
the growing
distance between
the couple.

(T) Relationships - they are looking for something of value but
they don’t want to pay the price. There is a price to be paid in
commitment and compromise which they don’t seem to be
willing to pay.

Question 26

At the Barrows everything has a price

Answer 26

Relationship-suggests there is a price to be paid for everything, including a relationship

Question 27

believe me
this boy knows his radios.

Answer 27

relationship.
(S.S) take the
reader back to
the boy selling
radios in stanza
3, suggests the
couple are going
round in circles.

Question 28

fibreglass is flabbergasted

Answer 28

(I) Lochhead again
vividly brings to life
the people of
Glasgow through
alliteration

Question 29

struggling families

wound up

Answer 29

the couple do not have any strong relationship to look up to

Question 30

All the couples we know fall apart | or have kids

Answer 30

enjambment emphasises the idea that for some couples having children is a choice they make to try to save the relationship

enjambment also emphases that the couple are falling apart

Question 31

Oh we’ve never shouldered much

Answer 31

(T) Breakdown of relationships. The couple only
ever buy small, trivial things, similar to their
relationship. They refuse to commit.

But also that they’ve failed to invest much emotionally, or never taken on the burdens of what should be a committed relationship.

Question 32

We’ll stick to small ikons for our home–
as long as they’re portable –

Answer 32

ikons-(c)implying that the word is misspelled at the market

parenthesis reinforces that they are ready to move on

as long as they’re portable-(T)Breakdown of
relationship.
‘portable’ suggests each is
ready to move on if
necessary.

Question 33

no connoisseur can afford to be too scrupulous

Answer 33

scrupulous-connotes careful, thorough, attentive to details

suggests for their relationship to be fixed, they must look over the little issues they have

Question 34

stucco

Answer 34

(c)types of material

Question 35

grit our teeth

Answer 35

(W.C) play on words –
grit from the sugar or to
grit your teeth to
prevent you from saying
something you might
regret/to accept a difficult or unpleasant situation and get through it-deal with it in a determined way

Question 36

I keep losing and finding you

Answer 36

key idea of the poem-true of their trip to the Barrows and of their relationship

double entendre

Question 37

gilt

Answer 37

word play on the word ‘gilt’ which also makes us think of ‘guilt’. Each feel guilty about the cracks in the relationship which they can no longer hide

Question 38

Oh come on we promised
we’d not let our affection for the slightly cracked
trap us into such expenditure again.

Answer 38

(I) Extended image of the
Barrows as a metaphor
for the relationship. They
have promised each other
before that they will not
stay together out of habit

Question 39

she says see January
it’s been the doldrums the day

Answer 39

(i)Scottish dialect introduced-lochhead creates a realistic character through the stallholder

doldrums-a depressing word which could also be used to speak of their relationship

Question 40

And it’s packing up time

Answer 40

(c) It’s time to go home, the market is coming to an end: this could also be true of their relationship

double entendre

Question 41

dark coming early
and as cold as the river.

Answer 41

W.C) The words here are
ominous – darkness
is coming and it’s cold.
Reference to the river in
stanza one – the day is
coming to an end but
nothing is resolved.

Question 42

the inlaid butterfly and the broken catch.
you’ve bought a record by the Shangri-las
a pin-stripe waistcoat that needs a stitch
it just won’t get

Answer 42

(I) The broken things
they have bought are a
metaphor for their
relationship. Neither
will be mended

Question 43

The raw cold gets colder.

Answer 43

(S.S) short sentence
is abrupt – suggests
the distance
between the couple
is growing.

Question 44

There doesn’t seem to be a lot to say.
I wish we could either mend things
or learn to throw them away.

Answer 44

first sentence-(T) They have lost the ability to
communicate with each other
– this is often regarded as
fundamental in any
relationship

second sentence-y
relationship
(T) Links to the previous stanza and the broken items. The
speaker wishes they could mend their relationship or end it, yet
they seem unable to do either, leaving the poem on a tone of
uncertainty.

say and away-S.S) The rhyme in
the last lines adds to
their finality