Short Stories Telling Tales Anthology Quotes and Context (GCSE English Literature AQA)

'Chemistry' Quotes

"The pond in our park was circular, exposed"

"It was never I, who went to the far side"

"Even gold can change"

"The shed was another sealed off world"

"slipped in, like a stray cat"

"Delicate equilibrium"

"sad symmetry"

"keeping a sort of equation in my head"

"knotted, veiny and mottled from an accident"

"suicide by prussic acid"

'Chemistry' Context

Chemistry: the science of change, bonds can be created/broken but nothing is ever lost.

Prussic acid: lethal.

'Invisible Mass of the Back Row' Quotes

"The stench of fear"

"What was Columbus doing here anyway?"

"a power surges through me"

"steam bath"

"The jailers are quick to realise that this battle is lost. For now"

"Is 'cause you black and stupid"

"red"

"Smells mingle and whirl"

"Like a stranger, I greet my new clothes"

"I am cold in the blazing sunshine"

"Paraffin heater"

"They help us assert our right to be"

"learning the new language in dis here England"

'Invisible Mass of the Back Row' Context

Jamaica: part of British Empire until 1962, taught the English curriculum

History class: taught as if Columbus had discovered Jamaica, instead of mentioning those who rebelled against persecution and slavery

Windrush Generation: Came to Britain after WW2 to fill in lower paid, hard labour jobs. They encountered racism. Many sent of their children once they could afford to.

'My Polish Teacher's Tie' Quotes

"I wear a uniform."

"£3.89 per hour"

"I shovel chips"

"I like the kids"

"Very keen on fairness, we are, here"

"He stitched a nice smile on his face.. 'Oh, er- Mrs, er- Carter"

"bird"

"Colleagues don't wear blue overalls and white caps"

"I'd never had a letter like that before"

"It's hell for the kids, he doesn't mean to be funny but"

"Isn't that tea made yet?"

"It was a terribly hopeful tie"

"It was a flag from another country, a better country"

'My Polish Teacher's Tie' Context

Schools: hierarchical institutes.

Uniform: teacher's don't wear a uniform.

International exchange programmes: (for teachers) to learn about different education systems.

'A Family Supper' Quotes

"Fugu"

"He did not wish to live with the disgrace"

"I respected him"

"punctuated by long pauses"

"conversation had become sparser"

"stark walls"

"empty rooms"

"stony jaw"

"furious black eyebrows"

"stony and forbidding"

"Just fish"

"excuse me for being burdened by such matters"

"white kimono"

"grinned mischievously"

"she's a good girl"

"tea-room"

"I gazed out once more into the darkness"

'A Family Supper' Context

Fugu: lethal poison, eating is very risky.

Japanese society: conservative, focused on gender roles. Women were meant to complete domestic tasks and obey their fathers and husbands.

Suicide: seen as honourable, Samurai warriors were expected to commit suicide and old people who felt disgraceful to their families.

'Odour of Chrysanthemums" Quotes

"stagnant light"

"Beside the path hung disheveled pink chrysanthemums"

"her mouth was closed in disillusionment"

"handsome"

"almost lost in the darkness"

"her anger was tinged with fear"

"He'll come back home when they carry him"

"I don't know why he's got to be such a trouble"

"a cold deathly smell of chrysanthemums"

"Clean over him"

"an' shut 'im in, like a mouse-trap."

"pale and perplexed"

"they had met in the dark and fought in the dark"

"the child was like ice in her womb"

'Odour of Chrysanthemums' Context

Mining: dangerous work, unmechanised at the time.

Autobiographical: Lawrence's mother regretted her marriage to coal miner husband who spent too much time at the pub. Lawrence grew up in a mining town. Lawrence's uncle died in a mining accident when his wife was pregnant. His elder brother died and was laid out in a coffin in their home.

Preparation for death: It was a woman's job to prepare a body for burial.

'The Darkness Out There' Quotes

"Packer's end"

"inescapable darkness"

"Witches and wolves and tigers"

"gypsy types"

"girl attacked on the lonely road"

"German plane"

"Her eyes investigated, quick as mice"

"A creamy swimming pool of a face in which her eyes snapped and darted"

"ox-eye daisies"

"cottage loaf of a woman"

"I saw it come down, all right"

"tit for tat"

"I've got a sympathy with young people"

"she would fall in love and she would get a good job"

"secretarial"

"the boy's spoon clattered to the floor"

"explosive acne"

"his anger eclipsed his acne"

"a world grown unreliable"

'The Darkness Out There' Context

Rule of war: captured and injured enemy combatants are not killed but imprisoned and given medical treatment.

WW2: many German planes were shot down and crashed in bad weather.

'Korea' Quotes

"You saw an execution then too, didn't you?"

"the boy tore at his tunic over the heart, as if to pluck out the bullets"

"on my honeymoon... the way [the furzepods] burst in all directions seemed shocking like the buttons when he started to tear at his tunic"

"it was my last summer with him on the river"

"the river was dead silent"

"there was something calculating in the face"

"the land of opportunity"

"I fought for this country. And now they want to take away even the licence to fish"

"Every American soldier's life is insured to the tune of ten thousand dollars"

"the smell of shit and piss"

"In the darkness of the lavatory... I knew my youth had ended"

"It'll be your own funeral"

"I don't want to talk about it"

"I rowed in silence"

'Korea' Context

Poverty: widespread in Ireland, even in 1950s.

Korean War: America vs North Korea 1950-53. Irish men fought for America.

Irish war of Independence (1922-23): caused bitter divisions. Many Nationalists were imprisoned and executed by the firing squad.