The Struggle for Identity in Modern Literature

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Round One: Picture Association

Part A: Firstly name the novel, play or poem that you feel this picture is associated with.

Part B: Explain the association.

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Round Two – ‘Spies’

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Round Three – ‘1984’

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Round Four – ‘Top Girls’

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Round Five – ‘A Dolls House’

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Round Six – ‘The World’s Wife’

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Round Seven – General Knowledge

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Round Two: SPIES

1. What is distinctive about the way Uncle Peter’s appearances in the street are described? (colour, the emblem on his air
force uniform, all the children gathered round him, the overwhelmingly positive tone)
2. What colour is Mrs Hayward’s silk cravat and what significance/symbolism might this have?  (Blue, same as the air
force, pale to suggest her fragility, the cravat symbolises the fact that she hides the truth and carries on, silk to show
her social superiority/lifestyle)
3. What is ironic about the way Uncle Peter is killed?  (The train that runs him over has broken aircraft pieces on it and he
was a supposedly heroic fighter pilot.)
4. What does Barbara do to the hideout and what might this represent? (She tidies and domesticates it too represent the
sort of relationship she wants to have with Stephen, their attempts to play at being grown up)

Round Three: 1984

1. At what point in the novel is nature described and what effect does it have on the reader? (Meet Julia – part two,
freedom, hope etc ....)
2. What are the ministries called and what is significant about their names? (Truth, Peace, Plenty, Love, - name is
opposite)
3. What is significant / ironic about the name of the hero? (Churchill / Smith / Un-heroic / everyman etc ..)
4. How do the prolls differ from members of the party? (Ignorance / happiness / control / dress)

Round Four: Top Girls

1. Mrs Kidd is only ever referred to as Mrs Kidd and the waitress in Act One has no name – what does this symbolise?
(Loss of identity / some women are still repressed etc ...)
2. What is significant about the fact that the women gathered at the dinner party exist across time/fact/fiction and
literature? (solidarity, female consciousness, women have always / will always struggle for identity)
3. What is frightening about Angie’s final line of ‘frightening’ in Act Three? (the future for Angie as a less than cleaver
woman / the future for women / what will become of us all)
4. Marlene always chooses to dress as a woman when at the office – why is this significant? (Retention of femininity /
allows her to be masculine but appear feminine / symbolic of Thatcher)

Round Five: A Doll’s House

1. What is the name of this play representational of? (Entrapment / life for a woman in the time of the play)
2. Why did German audiences and some British audiences view an alternative ending to ‘A Doll’s House’? (not suitable /
people wanted happy endings etc ...)
3. How does Nora’s language change throughout the course of the play? (As she begins to break free she becomes freer in
everything her tonal range etc ... are symbolic of this)
4. How would an audience react to the fact that there are a large number of doors visible on stage? What do the doors
represent? (Freedom / excitement etc ...)

Round Six: World’s Wife

1. In ‘Mrs Midas’ what is the double meaning of the word petrified on line 38?
2. In ‘The Devil’s Wife’ what is significant about the line ‘nobody’s mam’?
3. At the start of ‘Demeter’ why does Duffy use words such as ‘winter’ ‘stone’ ‘flint’ ‘break’?
4. In’ Pilate’s Wife’ why does she describe his hands as ‘mothy’?
5. In ‘Mrs Aesop’ why is it significant that she claims Mr Aesop could ‘bore for purgatory’?
6. Why would ‘Mrs Icarus’ lend itself to performance poetry?
7. What does Mrs Sisyphus feel the loss of in her marriage?
8. What does Frau Freud mock in her public address?

Round Seven: General Knowledge

 1. What decade is ‘Top Girls’ set in and who was Prime Minister at this time? (80’s Margaret Thatcher)
2. Between what years did WWII take place? (1939 – 1945)
3. What type of Government is ‘Big Brother’ parodying? (Communism ½ Totalitarian)
4. How many New Testament characters feature in ‘The World’s Wife? – Name them! (All but Delilah – Salome, Mrs L,
Pilates W and Queen H)

Bonus Question: What is Ms C’ favourite poem from ‘The World’s Wife’ 5 POINTS