 Blood Brothers Revision

Themes  Class divide  Family  Growing up  Superstition and Fate  Hopes and Dreams  Nature versus Nurture  Love and Marriage

Characters  Mrs Johnstone  Mickey  Other children including Sammy and Donna-Marie  Linda  Mrs Lyons  Mr Lyons  Edward Lyons Narrator Chorus to play minor roles such as Miss Jones

Motifs  Marilyn Monroe  Guns- toy and real  The idea of games  Dancing

Techniques  Parallel scenes to bring out class differences  Use of key episodes to give a flavour of life, since play covers a long period of time  Use of songs  Use of motifs  Narrator and chorus  Flashback – starts with final scene

Language  The working class characters speak in Liverpool dialect, which makes them sound natural, warm and likeable.  The middle class characters speak in Standard English, this is the cause of humour when the boys first meet.

Essay Questions The role of the narrator  Comments on the action  Tells the story and involves the audience  Links episodes together  Warns of danger by appearing on stage at crucial times  Points out themes  Asks audience questions

What do the songs add to the Play?  Link scenes and draw parallels  Remind the audience of Key themes  Link the two halves of the play by using some of the same words/ tunes, such as ‘Easy Terms’  Mood and atmosphere  Humour and pathos  Fill in parts of the plot

The tragic outcome is inevitable from the very start. Discuss.  Theme of Superstition and Fate  Starting with final scene  Continual warnings from the narrator  The Marilyn Monroe motif  The gun motif  Nurture – Johnstone family are in trouble from the start e.g. Sammy’s behaviour and Mrs Johnstone’s fears for Mickey  Class divide

To what extent do you feel sympathy for Mrs Johnstone?  At the start, very little: ‘a stone in place of a heart’, but gradually as story unfolds we feel much more:  Husband walks out leaving her with little money  Mrs Lyons pushes her into it  She does it ‘for the best’  She’s a loving mother to all her children  She stays cheerful and makes the best of things  But do we also feel she could have controlled her children better, been harder on them?

What does this play have to say about class?  The class divide is unfair  Russell shows that two people with identical DNA can be so different in what they achieve because working class people were denied the chances to develop  Russell poses the question: ‘could it be what we, the English’ have come to know as class?’  Money can’t buy love but it can buy power.

Now you try…  What has this play to say about mother/child relationships?  How is the theme of love presented? You may consider family love, romantic love and married love.  How far do you think Russell presents the working class characters in a more favourable light than the middle class characters? Can you think of any other questions?

What is it?  Sometimes an EMPATHY question is set on either of the Literature texts, Blood Brothers or To Kill a Mockingbird.  This means that you have to put yourself in the position of a character and write in their voice, while showcasing your knowledge of the text in your own words. (Walk in their shoes!)

Usual forms of the question  Imagine you are _____________. At the end of the story you think back over what has happened. Write your thoughts and feelings. Remember how __________ would speak when you write your answer.  Imagine you are __________. Write down your thoughts and feelings about: the events that were important to you; your relationship with _______; how you feel you have changed.

Tips  Write in the first person  Refer to events they took part in  Root your answer in the text  Include some authentic touches where possible using the character’s way of speaking, such as Mrs Lyons calls Eddie Edward.

To quote or not to quote?  It can be difficult to incorporate quotations, although it is sometimes appropriate.  However, you should ‘echo’ the text or closely refer to quotations.  You do not use quotation marks unless you are using direct speech.

Example: Eddie Things are going a bit better now Linda and I are friends again. That’s all we are, friends. Not that I wouldn’t like it to be more, but she loves Mickey, and I wouldn’t be disloyal even though he doesn’t want to know me anymore. I still think of him as a brother, but I have had more success in life and he envies me. I wish I could turn back the clock to before I went to uni…

Your practice task:  Imagine you are Linda Write down your thoughts and feelings after the deaths of the twins.  Plan your response, including events, themes and feelings.  Write the opening paragraph or more.  If you wish to, you may finish the essay at home.