Tally’s Blood

Characters

• Rosinella Pedreschi

• Massimo Pedreschi

• Franco Pedreschi

• Lucia Ianelli

• Hughie Devlin

• Bridget Devlin

Key relationships

Rosinella + Massimo = loving marriage with conflict, Guardian of Lucia

Hughie + Lucia = dislike-friends-lovers

Bridget + Franco = deeply in love until Franco’s death

Lucia + Rosinella = Rosinella loves Lucia overbearingly

Rosinella + Bridget = Bridget causes Rosinella’s character development

Themes

Love,war,pride and family

Rosinella-family oriented

Massimo says “Last year when I gave you money for a coat you bought jumpers to send to Italy.”

“But see when I saw that wee dress, I just had to get her it.”

Rosinella-prejudice

Rosinella to Franco: “the scotch girls they’re all the same. They just go out with you for one thing. Because your faither‘s got a shop and they think you’ve got money.”

“Nobody loves their family like Italians”

“OK, so scotch people let their lassies go anywhere, do anything they like because they don’t care as much.”

Rosinella-patriotic

“I don’t know anybody who works as hard as the Italian men” ( in the background,Hughie Huey works like a Trojan)

“ Italians are good for this country. Who else is prepared to work till 11 o’clock at night.eh.?”

“ but it’s got nothing to do with us, Massimo. We’re Italian, we just live here. It’s not our country.”

Key quotations for Bridget

“ Just a wee Scottish tart for him to practice on”

(Rosinella says this about Bridget. Through this, the writer develops the attitude many Italians had towards Scottish girls and how they believe they had less morals.)

Bridget: “ we better stop Franco. We could get carried away.”

Franco: we won’t go all the way, I promise

(This highlights, the hypocrisy of Rosene’s opinions as it is Franco, who is pressuring her to carry on)

Rosinella: “ do you think if Italian girls were allowed out if they got doing all the things that you got do do you think for one minute Franco would have looked at you twice.”

Dachau-emotive language

“ nothing about war was ever as insanely wicked as the starved and outraged, naked, nameless dead.”

“ the skeleton sat in the sun and searched themselves for lice.”

Dachau-tone

“ we did not look at each other. I don’t know how to explain it, but aside from the terrible anger you feel, you are ashamed. You are as ashamed from mankind.”

“ then because I could listen to no more.”

Dachau-contrast

“Their wives and children lived here quite happily, while the chimneys of a crematorium poured out never-ending smoke.”

“Next to the hot-houses were the vegetable gardens…the starving prisoners cultivated the vitamin foods.”