"It used to be sweets and
ciggies he gave me... now its a
job and a house"
Mickey has a feeling of helplessness and
weakness compared to Edward
"Do you want to be my blood brother?"
Shows a very suddern
affection towards his
twin
"If I was like him"
Lack of self confidence
and does not recognise
Eddie as a twin 'him'
"He must be workin' over time... I go away
to university tomorrow"
Shows a difference in education 'workin'
"He's old before his time"
The stress of poverty means that he has grown to mentally
and he can no longer enjoy life
"That's why I take them. So I can be invisible"
Mickey has become dependant on the drugs so that he
can forget about the problems society is facing at the
time with the lack of employment
"I stopped takin' the pills"
Tells us that Mickey is strong for his family and has
accepted he has a problem
Edward
"Don't you know what a dictionary is?
Dominates Mickey intellectually since the
start of the play
"Bright and forthcoming"
Filled with obvious
potential from the
start of the book
"She's fabulous isn't she, your ma"
Thinks very much of Mrs Johnstone ever since the start of the play
"It used to be sweets and
ciggies... now its a house and a
job"
Generous and can afford to be
"Take as many as you want"
Nievity and generosity Eddie had as a child
"Grabs Linda's mate and begins to waltz"
Shows the confidence Eddie had in adolescense
Mrs Johnstone
"He told me I was sexier then Marilyn Monroe"
This is a motif which occurs through-out whole book. This also
fore shadows the tragic end of the book. This is because, Marilyn
Monroe has a tragic end to her life
"By the time I was 25, I looked like 42"
She looks like this through all of the stress she has
through all of her children and how she is a single
parent.
"Hear of a mother so cruel"
We hear this at the start of
the book and it gives us an
initial view/ opinion on Mrs
Johnstone
"No point clutching your rosary"
From this we find out Mrs
Johnstone is a christian
"Nothing's yours on easy terms"
From this we find out that despite Mrs
Johnstone having life easy, she still feels that
nothing is hers
"She takes him. Cradles him and lets him cry
Show the maternal nature Mrs
Johnstone has towards Edward
"Living on the never never."
Mrs Johnstone is living in a
circumstance which means that she
will never be able to advance in
status and her life is controlled by
welfare and the money she is given
"Couldn't I keep him for a few more days. Please. Please?"
This tells us that Mrs Johnstones maternal feeling make her
not want to give Edward away. This shows the inital bond
between her and Edward
Linda
"She starts drying his tears"
This tells us that from the beginning of the play, Linda is very
caring and parent like towards Mickey
"I got him a job"
Shows us how Linda is still protective and caring towards Mickey
"Linda is weighed down with
shopping bags and is weary"
This shows how the stress has got to Linda. The bags symbolise the problems that
she is forced to bear on her shoulders. We also find out that Linda is tired from all the
stress she has.
"Linda takes a gun and fires"
This helps foreshadow the ending of the play. This is because, you
can argue that Linda is the reason for the shotting and the gun they
are shotting helps enforce this idea
"Linda misses all
three shots"
We can interpret this that as Linda
enters Adulthood, she experiences a
loss of power.
"Oh he's gorgeous, isn't he?"
Enjoys mocking Mickey about
her true feelings.
"Take no notice Mickey, I love you"
Shows how open Linda is about her feelings towards Mickey
Mrs Lyons
"I reach out. But as I do. He fades away"
This tells us about the despiration that
Mrs Lyons has to have a child
"You'll be locked up. You sold your baby"
Mrs Lyons blackmails Mrs Johnstone
"You won't tell anyone about this Mrs Johnstone. Because if you do, you will kill them both"
Mrs Lyons invents the superstition which
eventually leads to how the book ends
"Mrs Lyons hit Edward hard and instinctively"
This shows how cruel and how Mrs Lyons doesn't have the materal feeling for Eddie.
As well as that, it foreshadows how Mrs Lyons becomes mad because of the deal
"Everyone has there secrets, don't you have secrets"
This is ironic because, Mrs Lyons has
the biggest secret out of both the
characters.
"Mrs Lyons has opened the knife draw and has a lethal looking kitchen knife in her hand"
This show how mad Mrs Lyons has become
because of the secret and how it has engulfed her
decision making ability
"High upon the hill there's a
women gone mad"
Tells us that the superstition and secret have
made her mad. This is ironic because, Mrs
Johnstone has not become mad and she was the
worst affected.
"She turns mickey around and points out Edward and Linda out to him"
This makes the reader think whether
or not Mrs Lyons is responsible for the
death of the twins
Narrator
"DId you ever hear about the Johnstone twins"
Tells us about the end of the book. This quote is
repeated in the end of the book which shows the
cyclical structure
"Actually I've given up the milk round and gone into medicine"
This shows us how the
narrator is constantly
present throughout the
whole book
"There's a pact been sealed, there's a deal been born"
This tells us that the idea of giving away the baby has
been made official by the swearing of the bible. As well
as that, 'the deal been born' applies because the deal
was made about the birth of a baby, this shows how the
narrator foresees the birth
"And do we blame superstition for what came to
pass? Or could it have been what us as the
English, have come to know as class?
This is the idea that would the story turn out the same if the
twins were not to be split up. It also asks the audience if class
determines aspects like future asperations and intelligance.