things I know to be true

Question 1

describe the character Bob:

Answer 1

a 65 year old retired man who was made redundant from his job as a factory owner. family patriarch. hard-working nature, seen in his devotion to the garden.
- dislikes conflict. aims to maintain a safe and stable future for the family.
- favours Fran - he tries really hard to make things work between them. he often just agrees with what she says. got Fran pregnant on purpose with Rosie, wanted to keep the family going longer. favours Rosie, as she’s symbolic of a put-together family. last rose in the garden.
- strictly adheres to traditional values and has strong morals, and this can cause conflict with the children. has a ‘village mindset’. doesn’t believe in his children levelling up and moving on and away - he wants to keep all of his loved ones nearby.

Question 2

describe Bob’s character development during the play:

Answer 2

has been harsh on his children (especially the boys), but towards the end of the play, their journey together allows him to learn to be more forgiving and accepting towards them.

Question 3

describe the character Fran:

Answer 3

family matriarch. 57 year old senior nurse.
- often aims to solve the entire family’s problems. her actions often stem from a place of nurturing love, but can also be controlling, wanting to maintain the family’s image and stability.
- especially harsh on Pip - resents how similar she is to Pip, and dislikes the fact that Pip is making the effort to make her life better for herself, which is what Fran failed to do.
- favours Ben. does his weekly washing for him, despite him being a ‘successful businessman’. when it turned out he was skimming money from work, Fran jumped to his rescue, revealing a hidden bank account full of money that she’d been saving up over the years.
- feels it is difficult to hid her honesty when lies would be kinder (the harshness of her words, especially to Pip). very aggressive and sarcastic personality.

Question 4

describe Fran’s character development during the play:

Answer 4

Fran remained the same until she died - she did not develop. even in her last few moments, she was still pondering on how to keep her family as a unit.

Question 5

describe the character Pip:

Answer 5

eldest child. 34 year old education bureaucrat. mother of two children and wife of Steve, but leaves them to pursue a new job and an affair in Vancouver.
- aims to achieve true happiness in her life, and not go down the same path as her mother, who got trapped caring for multiple children, and who wasn’t able to live out her dream.
- driven by her desire for independence and self-realisation. defiant and stubborn, like Fran.
- she favours Bob, as he’s more understanding of her strained relationship with Fran.
- her decision to leave her family and pursue her dreams shows her motivation to carve out an identity separate from her family, and this causes conflict and friction.

Question 6

describe Pip’s character development during the play:

Answer 6

she developed massively. she realised that her life at the beginning of the play (stuck in an unhappy marriage with two young kids, and a strained relationship with her mother) was insufficient, so she reached a sense of independence and made the bold decision to move to Vancouver.

Question 7

describe the character Mark/Mia:

Answer 7

eldest son. 32 year old IT specialist. struggles with his gender and identity, and transitions to female later in the play.
- aims to feel understood and loved, no matter his identity.
- favours Rosie, as he can identify with her. she, like him, struggles with her identity, and with finding her place in life.
- his actions are mainly characterised with hesitance and internal conflict, as he has difficulty expressing his true self to his family.
- poor relationship with his mother and father; he never shares anything serious with them (the one time he did, they severely pushed him away, and shamed him for his decision).

Question 8

describe Mark’s character development during the play:

Answer 8

Mark definitely developed during the play. despite his father’s traditional views on life, and despite his parent’s obvious disappointment, Mark underwent gender transformation surgery, in order to become what he believes is his true self.

Question 9

describe the character Ben:

Answer 9

28 year old financial services worker who enjoys spending money. he has his washing done by his mother. it’s revealed later in the play that he has drug issues.
- seeks validation and prestige.
- favours Fran. she treats him like a child, and forgives him for things she wouldn’t tolerate from the others.
- his actions are led by ambition and desire to prove himself, leading to poorly made decisions.
- laid-back, indifferent to his father, dependent on his mother. overall dislikes his family, as he feels they’re holding him back from reaching his true identity.

Question 10

describe Ben’s character development during the play:

Answer 10

Ben has a very high expectation of himself. he develops negatively during the play, as he sets impossible standards for himself and so begins spiralling (e.g. by skimming money from work and taking drugs).

Question 11

describe the character Rosie:

Answer 11

unemployed youngest daughter who arrives at the beginning of the play, having been travelling in Europe (and having had her heart broken by a Spanish man). she’s 19 and doesn’t know what to do with her life.
- aims to find her purpose in life.
- the most naïve and inexperienced character.
- her motivation stems from a romanticised view of life and love, and the idea of living away from home. she wants to break out of her role of being the baby of the family (e.g. by moving away to complete a creative writing course in Brisbane).
- however, she struggles with harsh realities.

Question 12

describe Rosie’s character development during the play:

Answer 12

she’s sort of developed and sort of hasn’t. she’s experienced the harsh realities of life, but still is unable to fully shake off her romanticised views of life. it’s revealed at the end of the play that she’s moving across the country and away from her family to Brisbane, which perhaps shows her determination to find her place in life.

Question 13

describe the theme of love:

Answer 13

• love, and the end of love. it’s not about a family breaking up because they hate each other. it’s about an incredibly powerful form of love that can both nurture and protect, but also crush and devour. this love reaches a point, where the people involved have to escape its clutch.

Question 14

describe the theme of dreams:

Answer 14

each member of the family is set on achieving their dreams, with varying levels of determination.
- e.g. bob and fran dream to fight for a better life for their children, and live debt free.
- all the children have dreams of their own, which often go against their parents traditional ideals (e.g. Mark changing his gender).

Question 15

describe the theme of identity:

Answer 15

• each of the kids are trying to work out who they’re destined to be, rather than who their parents want them to be.

Question 16

describe the Pip and Fran argument:

Answer 16

Pip decides to leave her husband and two children to pursue an affair and a job opportunity in Vancouver - basically start a new life there. Fran strongly disapproves, as she’s disappointed in herself for not doing the same before it was too late. Pip eventually moves to Vancouver, and writes an important letter to Fran, finally uncovering years of unmentioned childhood abuse.

Question 17

describe Mark’s coming out scene:

Answer 17

Mark comes out as transgender to his family, which Fran and Bob both greatly disapprove of (they have very traditional mindsets). Mark announces his plans for his transition, including his plan to move to Sydney and begin hormone therapy. his parents both beg Mark not to do it, but he follows through with it anyway, in pursuit of his identity.

Question 18

describe Ben’s breakdown:

Answer 18

at one point, Ben comes home, sweating and talking quickly, and Rosie realises that he’s been taking drugs. Bob and Fran arrive home, and Bob is incredibly angry at Ben, shouting and swearing at him. it comes out that Ben has also been skimming money from work, and that’s the reason why he was able to buy drugs and a flashy, European car. Fran is calm and collected, and ensures Ben that she will deal with it - her reaction would differ greatly if it were one of the other children.

Question 19

describe Fran’s Get-Out fund:

Answer 19

Fran had saved up around $250,000 as a get-out fund for her relationship with Bob, stating that, ‘It’s hard to love someone for 8 years straight’. she admitted that she’d once thought about running away from Bob, but had stayed with him for the sake of their children. Bob is naturally offended by Fran’s uncertainty about their relationship.
- Fran then offered to use this get-out fund to help Ben keep his job, and to pay reparations to his employer.

THEME OF SECRETS.

Question 20

what is the significance of Bob ripping his roses apart at the end of the play?

Answer 20

Bob greatly cares for and tends to his garden, as he needs to be in control of something. his flowers blooming symbolises how he also wants his family to bloom - at the end of the play, after Fran dies, Bob rips apart his rose garden, symbolising the family being torn apart.

Question 21

describe the relationship between Bob and Ben:

Answer 21

Bob is often quick to react aggressively at Ben’s wrongdoings, perhaps more-so than with his other children.

• finding out Ben had been doing drugs caused Bob to shout and swear at Ben.
• finding out that Pip planned to leave her husband and kids behind to move to Vancouver resulted in him attempting to calm the heated discussion between Pip and Fran.

Question 22

describe Rosie’s first monologue:

Answer 22

• on a train platform in Berlin.
• Rosie is feeling emotionally shattered, after having had her heart broken by a Spanish boy named Emmanuel, who preceded to rob her.
• she feels emotionally fragile. she went on the trip, trying to find an answer about her purpose in life, and ended up more confused than ever.
• she makes a list of the things she knows to be true, and one of them is that she needs to go home. this shows her naivety, and how she’s the ‘baby of the family’.

Question 23

describe the scene where Rosie tells her parents about her plans to move to Brisbane:

Answer 23

• a year after her first monologue, Rosie informs her parents she’ll be moving to Brisbane to take a creative writing course.
• Bob is worried about the practicality of it, and Fran is doubtful that Rosie will be able to make a living out of it.
• this shows that Rosie is naïve, and doesn’t know much about the real world; all she has to go off is a romanticised version in her head.

Question 24

describe Rosie’s final monologue:

Answer 24

• Rosie talks about the grief she’s experiencing after losing her mother.
• she still doesn’t fully know who she is, but she approaches topics with a more mature and experienced mindset - her mother’s death has forced her to mature and finally break out of her ‘baby of the family’ shell.
• she, again, makes a list of things she knows to be true, but concludes with the very insightful idea that although things may seem enormous at the time, life goes on, and you just have to deal with it.
• now that she isn’t under the influence of Fran anymore, she is able to break free into the world. Fran’s death could be argued as a good thing for Rosie.