Mrs Johnstone

Motherhood

  • Loving - despite her struggles, she always tries to care for her eight children as a single mother.

“I love the bones of every one of them” (Pg 11)

“Look he wants to be picked up’ (Pg 20)

  • Forgiving - she is non-judgemental and chooses to hold out empathy for her children.

“I know our Sammy burnt the school down, but it’s very easily done” (Pg 59)

“Some hypocrite I’d be. No, I’m not mad son” (Pg 88)

  • Understanding - she understands and can empathise with her kids about romance or their actions.

“You’ve only been talkin’ about her in your sleep for the past week” (Pg 62)

“Do the pair of you really think I was born yesterday?” (Pg 76)

  • Lack of control - she struggles to control her children (link to Forgiving, Mickey, Sammy) and to not give up Edward.

“The welfare have already been on to me.” … “They say I should put some of them into care” (Pg 11)

“Only mine until the time comes round to pay the bill” (Pg 17)

Poverty

  • Working/Middle Class Divide - Mrs Johnstone is trapped by a cycle of poverty with her children, and her dialect reflects this.

“How are we going to live without my job?” (Pg 22)

“But, ‘ey, don’t you go playin’ with those hooligans down at the rough end” (Pg 25)

  • Age - Mrs Johnstone is old before her time, due to her difficult circumstances.

“By the time that I was twenty five, I looked like forty two” (Pg 6)

“An’ though I fancied dancing, my husband wouldn’t go, with a wife he said was twice the size of Marilyn Monroe” (Pg 6)

  • Lack of control - forced to marry and become financially reliant on a man who walked out on her and forced to rehouse.

“Me husband he’d walked out on me, a month or two ago” (Pg 6)

“We’re gettin’ out. We’re movin’ house” (Pg 58)

  • Care of her children - she struggles to care for her children and is convinced to give up Edward so he can have a better life

“I know it’s hard on all you kids, but try and get some sleep. Next week I’ll be earning, we’ll have loads of things to eat” (Pg 7)

“If my child was raised in a palace like this one, he wouldn’t have to worry where his next meal was comin’ from” (Pg 13)

Personality

  • Hopeful - she tries to think positively about her poor situation and remains hopeful, making her a sympathetic character

“When I bring home the dough, we’ll live like kings like bright young things, like Marilyn Monroe” (Pg 7-8)

“Got a new situation, a new destination, an’ no reputation following me” (Pg 58)

  • Naive - Mrs Johnstone is impressionable and allows herself to be knocked up by a man and manipulated by Mrs Lyons.

“Once I had a husband, you know the sort of chap, I met him at a dance and how he came on with the chat.” (Pg 5)

“At least if the child was with me you’d be able to see him every day, as you came to work” (Pg 12)

  • Optimism - no matter what, she looks on the bright side, such as in Skemersdale.

“The neighbours are a treat. They sometimes fight on Saturday night but never in the week” (Pg 59)

“We might get a car, be all ‘lardie dah’, an’ go drivin’ out to the sands” (Pg 56)

  • Tragedy - Mrs Johnstone refuses to accept the truth in ‘Tell me it’s not true’ and her circumstances create sympathy.

“Tell me it’s not true, say it’s just a story” (Pg 107)

“Say it’s just a dream, say it’s just a scene from an old movie of years ago, from an old movie of Marilyn Monroe” (Pg 107)

  • Irresponsibility - she sometimes makes bad decisions like ordering from catalogues, leading to them becoming repossessed.

“When y’ look in the catalogue an’ there’s six months to pay, it seems years away” (Pg 16)

Superstition

  • Lack of Education - superstition is associated with a lack of education and the working class, looked down on by Mrs Lyons.

“You mean you’re superstitious?” (Pg 8)

  • Vulnerability - she fears the consequences of ignoring superstitions, even whilst claiming to not be superstitious.

“Oh God, Mrs Lyons, never put new shoes on a table… you never know what’ll happen” (Pg 8)

  • Manipulated - Mrs Lyons uses Mrs Johnstone’s fear of superstitions to keep her away from Edward.

“They… they say that if either twin learns that he was once a pair, they shall both immediately die.” (Pg 23)

You won’t tell anyone about this, Mrs Johnstone, because if you do, you will kill them.” (Pg 23)

  • Catholic beliefs - Mrs Lyons uses Mrs Johnstone’s religious beliefs to control her further; she fears the devil and the bible.

“Ain’t no point in clutching at your rosary” (Pg 23)

“Now y’know the devil’s got your number, y’know he’s gonna find y’” (Pg 23)

“In the name of Jesus, the thing was done” (Pg 15)

“You swore on the Bible.” (Pg 18)