Literature revision
Monday 22nd May
Paper 1: Shakespeare
and Post 1914 Literature
1 hour 45 mins
Section A: Macbeth
Part a – Extract based (language,
structure and form) (30 mins)
Part b – whole text (context
based) (30 mins)
Section B: Blood Brothers or An
Inspector Calls (context) (45 mins)
Friday 26th May
Paper 2: 19th century
Novel and Poetry since
1789
2 hours 15 mins
Section A: Jekyll and Hyde or A
Christmas Carol
Part a – Extract based (language,
structure and form) (30 mins)
Part b – whole text (thematic) (30
mins)
Section B: Time and Place
(comparison, language, structure
and form and context)
Section C: Unseen poetry
(comparison, language, structure
and form and ideas)
Blood Brothers
In the first exam, you will be given an option of two questions. You must answer
only one. This question is an essay based question and could be on any of the
characters, events or key themes. You should spend 45 minutes responding to this
question and use PEEFEE (point, evidence, explanation, focused exploration and
effect) in your response. You MUST also refer to your contextual understanding.
This part of the revision guide is organised into three sections:
1. Comprehension revision questions to secure your knowledge and
understanding of the play.
2. Linking text to the context
3. Practice questions
Test your understanding: Comprehension questions
Why is the play called ‘Blood Brothers’?
Who wrote the play ‘Blood Brothers’?
Where and when was the play ‘Blood Brothers’ set?
What does the word ‘prologue’ mean?
What does the term ‘didactic’ mean?
What evidence is there to suggest that ‘Blood Brothers’ is a didactic play within
the prologue?
7. Mrs Johnstone is described as ‘cruel. How far would you agree with this?’
8. Who was Marilyn Monroe?
9. What did Marilyn Monroe symbolise for women during the 1960s?
10.
What comparisons are made between Mrs Johnstone and Marilyn
Monroe on pages 5/6?
11.
How do these comparisons help us to create an impression of Mrs
Johnstone at the start of the musical?
12.
What basic staple can Mrs Johnstone not afford to pay for at the start of
the play?
13.
Why is the choice of item here significant?
14.
What evidence other than this is there to suggest the family are working
class?
15.
What does Mrs Johnstone promise the kids and how can she make this
promise?
16.
What does Mrs Johnstone hope for herself?
17.
What does Mrs Lyons say about her house at the start of the play?
18.
What does Mrs Lyons tell Mrs Johnstone about Mr Lyons?
19.
Why is the house so empty?
20.
What does Mrs Lyons do with the shoes she has purchased and how
does Mrs Johnstone react?
21.
What similarities and differences are evident between Mrs Johnstone
and Mrs Lyons at the start of the play?
22.
Why is Mrs Johnstone anxious about having twins?
23.
What does Mrs Lyons suggest?
24.
How does Willy Russell use language to show Mrs Lyon’s determination
and Mrs Johnstone’s reluctance?
25.
What finally persuades Mrs Johnstone to go ahead with the plan?
26.
What does Mrs Lyons force Mrs Johnstone to do to ensure the plan
goes ahead?
27.
How does Mrs Johnstone feel about giving one of her sons away?
28.
What does Mrs Johnstone tell the kids about the other baby?
29.
How does Mrs Lyons attitude towards Mrs Johnstone change once she
has the baby?
30.
What does Mrs Lyons ask Mr Lyons?
31.
How does Mrs Lyons threaten Mrs Johnstone?
32.
33.
Why won’t Mrs Johnstone let Mickey play up the other end?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
34.
Who does Mickey wish he was like and why?
35.
Sweets are used to reveal the immediate differences between Mickey
and Edward. How?
36.
How does the verb phrase ‘pissed off’ and the noun ‘dictionary’ connect
Mickey and Edward?
37.
What do Mickey and Edward become at the end of their first meeting?
38.
What is Sammy carrying with him as he enters the scene on page 25?
Why is this significant?
39.
What does Sammy say to Edward and what does this reveal about
attitudes within society at the time?
40.
How does Mrs Johnstone react when Mickey takes Edward home?
41.
How would you describe the relationship between Mr Lyons and Edward
on page 27?
42.
What superstition does Edward bring up in front of Mrs Lyons and how
does she respond?
43.
How does Mrs Lyons react when Mickey knocks on the door for
Edward?
44.
What does Edward say and why do you think he says this?
45.
Mrs Lyons says ‘you see why I don’t want you mixing with boys like that.’
What does she mean by this?
46.
‘You learn filth from them and behave like this.’ What does this
quotation reveal about Mrs Lyon’s attitude to the working class?
47.
Cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers dominate the kid’s play. Why is
this?
48.
What is the significance of the chorus ‘But you know that if you cross
your fingers / And if you count from one to ten. / You can get off the ground
again, / It doesn’t matter, / The whole things just a game’?
49.
What do Linda and Mickey tell Edward about what they say to
policeman?
50.
Why is there a tension between the working class and policeman during
this time?
51.
What does Mrs Lyons ask of Mr Lyons?
52.
Mickey, Edward and Linda are rude to the police officer. What do they
say?
53.
How does the policeman interact with the two families and what does
this reveal about attitudes during this time?
54.
Edward reveals to Mrs Johnstone that he is moving away. What does
Mrs Johnstone give him and why?
55.
What does Edward see on arrival at his new house and why is this
important?
56.
How does Edward’s move affect Mickey?
57.
Mrs Johnstone learns she is being rehoused. Where is she being
rehoused to?
58.
What hopes does Mrs Johnstone have for the move?
59.
How do the neighbours react to the news that the Johnstones are
moving?
60.
What evidence is there to suggest that despite the move some things
will remain the same?
61.
How has life improved for Mrs Johnstone at the start of Act 2?
62.
What evidence is there to suggest, however, that it isn’t all plain sailing?
63.
The motif of Marilyn Monroe is used again at the start of Act 2. What
does the use of the motif reveal about Mrs Johnstone and Mickey?
64.
The motif of dancing is used again at the start of Act 2. What does the
use of the motif reveal about Mrs Johnstone and Mickey and Mrs Lyons and
Edward?
65.
Compare the presentation of the relationship between Mrs Johnstone
and Mickey and Mrs Lyons and Edward at the start of Act 2.
66.
Where is Sammy heading on page 48? Why is this significant?
67.
What does Sammy ask for on the bus?
68.
How does the conductor respond?
69.
What does Sammy do?
70.
How does Mickey react to Sammy’s actions? Why? What does this
reveal about Mickey’s character?
71.
Where is Edward hoping to go to university after school?
72.
What does the teacher say to Edward and why?
73.
How does Edward respond and what does this result in?
74.
What impression is given of Mickey’s experience of school?
75.
When Mickey answers back, what happens to Mickey?
76.
Why do you think Willy Russell has both boys suspended?
77.
Where is Edward hoping to go to university after school?
78.
What does the teacher say to Edward and why?
79.
How does Edward respond and what does this result in?
80.
What impression is given of Mickey’s experience of school?
81.
When Mickey answers back, what happens to Mickey?
82.
Why do you think Willy Russell has both boys suspended?
83.
How does Mrs Lyons react to the locket?
84.
What is the significance of Edward saying to Mrs Lyons ‘It’s just a secret,
everybody has secrets, don’t you have secrets?’
85.
On page 55, what do Edward and Mickey say they admire in each
other?
86.
What advice does Edward give Mickey about asking Linda out?
87.
When Edward offers to pay for Mickey to go to the cinema, what does
Mickey say? Why is this?
88.
How is Mickey’s positive relationship with Mrs Johnstone evident when
he tells her they are off to the cinema?
89.
When Mrs Lyons says to Mrs Johnstone ‘You’ve ruined me’, what does
she mean?
90.
What does Mrs Lyons offer Mrs Johnstone and how does Mrs Johnstone
react?
91.
What does Mrs Lyons try to do?
92.
Why is the line, spoken by Mrs Lyons, ‘I curse you. Witch!’ significant?
93.
What does the summer sequence reveal about the friendship between
Mickey, Edward and Linda?
94.
What is the significance of the line ‘An’ you don’t even notice broken
bottles in the sand’ in the summer sequence?
95.
What do we learn about Edward’s feelings towards Linda in the song ‘If I
was that guy’?
96.
Why does Mickey have to do overtime?
97.
How are the differences between Mickey and Edward becoming more
apparent?
98.
What news does Mickey have for Mrs Johnstone on page 67 and how
does she respond?
99.
When Mickey goes to work, what letter is he given?
100.
Edward returns from university. What do we learn about university life
from Edward?
101.
Why does Mickey say to Edward ‘You don’t understand anythin’ do y? I
don’t wear a hat I can tilt at the world’?
102.
Why does Mickey throw Edward’s money back at him?
103.
According to Mickey, why has his relationship with Edward changed?
104.
What does Edward reveal to Linda and what does she say in response?
105.
What does Sammy ask Mickey to do for him? Why does Mickey agree?
106.
What are the consequences of Mickey agreeing to help Sammy?
107.
While in prison what does Mickey get addicted to?
108.
How does this addiction affect Mickey both inside of prison and after his
immediate release?
109.
What does Linda manage to get for herself and Mickey? How does she
manage to do this?
110.
What does Mickey beg Linda for and why?
111.
How does Mickey feel about the fact that Councillor Eddie Lyons has
acquired them a house?
112.
Why does Mickey say ‘That’s why I take them. So I can be invisible’?
113.
What does Linda do after she gives Mickey the pills?
114.
Who tells Mickey about the affair between Linda and Edward?
115.
Where does Mickey get the gun from?
116.
Who does Linda say Mickey is going after?
117.
What does Mickey tell Edward he has done and why?
118.
Why does Mickey say to Edward ‘how come you got everything…an’ I
got nothing?’
119.
What does Mrs Johnstone reveal to Mickey?
120.
Why does Mickey say ‘Why didn’t you give me away! I could have
been…I could have been him!’?
121.
What happens at the end of the play?
122.
Why do you think the narrator says ‘And do we blame superstition for
what came to pass?’
123.
Why do you think Willy Russell chose to end the play with the song ‘Tell
me it’s not true’? Think carefully about the words in this song.
Answering the question
Knowledge of the play is critical but your ability to link key moments in the play to
the relevant contextual backdrop is even more important as you are being assessed
on your understanding of context and the link between context and the text in this
exam.
On the next page is a summary of the key contextual details that you need to be
aware of.
Context in Blood Brothers
Class (i)
There was a sharp divide in Britain
between the working class and the
middle class. Lots of working class
parents struggled financially. Many
found it difficult to afford even basic
things such as food, clothes and
heating.
I said, I said, look, next week I’ll
pay y’… / ‘It’s a pretty house
isn’t it? It’s a pity it’s so big.’
‘it’s lovely son, he’ll be well
looked after there. He’ll have
anything he wants.’
He’s a friggin’ poshy.
No he’s not. He’s my best
friend.
Your…you’re a fuckoff.
You see, you see why I don’t
want you mixing with boys like
that! You learn filth from them
and behave like this.
But Mickey…I mean...suppose
we get caught…by a
policeman.’
Class (ii)
There was also a class divide in
education. Many middle-class
parents could afford to send their
children to private school which often
led to university and well-paid jobs.
By contrast, for most working-class
children, university wasn’t an option.
They needed to work when they left
school to support their families and
became stuck in the same low-paid
jobs for life.
‘Why is a job so important?’
You don’t understand anythin’
do y? I don’t wear a hat that I
can tilt at the world.’
‘Oh God, Mrs Lyons, never put
new shoes on a table…You
never know what’ll happen.’ /
‘Oh…you mean you’re
superstitious.’ / I curse you.
Witch! / it’s a magpie, never
look at one magpie. It’s one for
sorrow.
But I’m not playing now cos I’m
pissed off.
Fantastic. When I get home I’ll
look it up in the dictionary.
‘Talk of Oxbridge’
‘Modern school is formed – all
boredom and futility.’
‘I’m going away tomorrow…to
University’
‘Mickey, it’s fantastic. I haven’t
been to so many parties.’
Class (iii)
Liverpool has both working class and
middle class areas. In Liverpool, there
was a lot of poor quality housing for the
working classes, often close to the
docks or factories where they worked.
The middle classes lived in more
affluent parts of the city, with plenty of
green space. Skelmersdale was a New
Town and many working-class
Liverpool residents were rehoused
there in the 1960s. Middle-class
families also lived in Skelmersdale.
Family structure
The late twentieth century was seen as
a time of great social change. During
this time, divorce became easier.
However attitudes were slower to
change and families were still expected
to have a ‘nuclear’ structure – mother,
father and children. Single-parent
families, like Mrs Johnstone’s were less
common and were frowned upon. Most
families were patriarchal (led by the
man). Men would go to work whilst the
women would stay at home to care for
the children and the household.
Youth culture
Teenagers became a properly
recognised age group in the 1960s.
Youth culture referred to the behaviour
and interests of teenagers, including
fashion, music and hobbies and was
seen as a period of freedom and
potential. Young people also became
an important force in protest
movements as they believed in their
power to shape the future, and started
to break away from their parents’ views.
Margaret Thatcher
Britain was suffering from a recession
and unemployment was rising.
Margaret Thatcher became Prime
Minister in 1979. She believed that
Britain’s traditional industries weren’t
economically viable and decided to
close them down. The decline of these
industries had a huge impact on
working-class communities –
unemployment was widespread
amongst the working classes which
meant many people had to sign up for
benefits. Unemployment led to an
increase in depression and crime rates.
Mr Lyons: We thought a move,
perhaps further out towards the
country somewhere..
Mrs Johnson: Oh bright new day /
We are movin’ away.
‘Ey, we’ll be all right out here son,
away from the muck an’ the dirt
an’ the bloody trouble.’
‘Sammy. SAMMY! Get off that
bleedin’ cow.’
‘My husband walked out on me /
A month or two ago.’
‘Mrs Johnstone: Here’s you can’t
have kids, an’ me, I can’t stop
havin’ them.’
‘They say I should put some of
them into care.’
‘The house is your domain.’
‘Mummy will read the story,
Edward. I’ve got to go to work for
an hour.’
All: ‘I got y’ / I shot y’ / An y’
bloody know I did’
Mickey: ‘Yeh...like y’know when
they ask what y’ name is, we say
things like, like ‘Adolph Hitler’,
don’t we Linda?’
‘When I passed the Essoldo this
mornin’ they were showin’
Nymphomanic Nights and
Swedish Au pairs.’
‘Young, free and innocent, you
haven’t got a care.’
Y’ can’t stop the milk. I need the
milk.’
‘Take a letter, Miss Jones, / Due
to the world situation / The
shrinking pound, the global
slump, / And the price of oil / I’m
afraid we must fire you.’
The best preparation for this exam is to practise planning essay responses and then practise
writing them. In your essay response you should write an introduction (short but focused with
response to the question), aim to make 4 key points with quotations and contextual links.
Here is an example of an essay plan I have constructed.
English Literature Paper 1: Blood Brothers
Question:
Mickey (looking at him): You don’t understand anythin’, do ye? I don’t wear a hat that I can tilt
at the world.
Explore the significance of the relationship between Mickey and Eddie.
You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.
Bigger picture (forms your introduction – could be a summary of the main points you
identify below):
Significance of relationship between Mickey and Eddie is in their developing understanding of
how class radically alters their chances in life and peoples’ attitudes towards them. Willy
Russell purpose.
Point and quote:
Link to context:
In childhood, Mickey and Eddie’s friendship is
Societal differences between working and middle
formed and is naïve of their differences in class / class. Impact of nuclear family and mother being
background as well as the fact that they are
at home in comparison to Mrs Johnstone who is
related.
sole provider for family.
‘blood brothers’
But I’m not playing now cos I’m pissed off. /
Fantastic. When I get home I’ll look it up in the
dictionary.
Admiration of the other.
Eddie begins to copy Mickey’s behaviour.
‘You’re a fuck off.’ ‘You see – this is why I don’t
want you mixing with boys like that.’
Educational opportunities.
Edward – ‘talk of Oxbridge’
Mickey – ‘all boredom and futility’
‘Mickey, it’s fantastic. I haven’t been to so many
parties in my life.’
‘I’d crawl back to that job for half the pay and
double the hours.’
In early adulthood, Mickey struggles with no
work, marriage and a child on the way ‘because
while no one was looking I grew up. An’ you
didn’t because you didn’t need to.’
Attitudes towards class and middle class
perpetuating social divide. Upbringing significant
again – lack of father – Mickey’s role model is
Sammy who uses this poor language. Mrs
Lyons protective of Edward wants him to be
brought up well with manners and respect but
because he is an only child / and circumstances,
she is suffocating.
Eddie has access to university education.
Despite the expansion of higher education in the
1980s, this was still far less common (especially
among those of lower social class) than it is now
– bringing clear-cut socio economic advantages.
Liverpool was a thriving area for factories and
low paid jobs. Lack of education for Mickey
means he accepts low paid job especially with
family on the way (repeating cycle)..Margaret
Thatcher closed down the factories meaning that
unemployment was rife. Mickey needs to
provide an income for his family. The pressures
on him are significant whilst Eddie has the
freedom of a university education and financial
support from his family so can enjoy life.
Now practise preparing responses to a range of potential essay questions.
NB: Remember that pretty much all essays can be brought back to the theme of
class as it was Willy Russell’s purpose to educate the masses about the unjust
treatment of those of a lower social class. This is what Willy Russell has said about
the writing of Blood Brothers:
I was brought up as a member of a class whose members were treated like secondclass citizens. I was aware from a very early age of the injustice of it. we were the
ones who went into the mines and factories, who did the manual labour, whose
sensitivities were blunted, whose intelligence was never acknowledged. I lived in an
environment where we were told every day of our lives that we were thick, daft,
stupid and unworthy. My father had been a miner and then worked for ICI. He was
not a party member or a tub-thumping socialist but he was very firmly on the side of
the underdog. He'd often bring home people who were not waifs and strays exactly
but people who had suffered some kind of misfortune. My dad gravitated towards
interesting talkers, and he liked nothing better on a Saturday night than to have a
heated discussion with three or four people on politics or religion. He was part of
that socialist tradition. At eighteen he went to night school because he knew he had
never learned much at school and in fact he became a very good mathematician.
Like many people of his generation his life would have been fantastically different if
he'd been born into my generation or into a different class, which is what Blood
Brothers is all about.
English Literature Paper 1: Blood Brothers
Question:
Narrator: When you’re young, free and innocent and just eighteen.
In what ways is freedom important in Blood Brothers?
You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.
Bigger picture (forms your introduction – could be a summary of the main
points you identify below):
Point and quote:
Link to context:
English Literature Paper 1: Blood Brothers
Question:
Mrs Lyons: You see, you see why I don’t want you mixing with boys like that!
You learn filth from them and behave like this – like a, horrible little boy, like them.
But you are not like them.
Explore the significance of class in Blood Brothers.
You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.
Bigger picture (forms your introduction – could be a summary of the main
points you identify below):
Point and quote:
Link to context:
English Literature Paper 1: Blood Brothers
Question:
Mickey: Just one thing I had left, Eddie – Linda – an’ I wanted to keep her. So, so
I stopped taking the pills. But it was too late.
Explain the importance of the relationship between Linda and the twins.
You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.
Bigger picture (forms your introduction – could be a summary of the main
points you identify below):
Point and quote:
Link to context:
English Literature Paper 1: Blood Brothers
Question:
Mrs Lyons: They say that if either twin learns that he was once a pair, they will
both immediately die.
What is the significance of superstition in Blood Brothers?
You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.
Bigger picture (forms your introduction – could be a summary of the main
points you identify below):
Point and quote:
Link to context:
English Literature Paper 1: Blood Brothers
Question:
Mrs Johnstone: They say I should put them into care, but…I love the bones of
every one of them.
Explore the importance of the character of Mrs Johnstone.
You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.
Bigger picture (forms your introduction – could be a summary of the main
points you identify below):
Point and quote:
Link to context:
Below is an example of a Level 3 essay on Blood Brothers and the characters of
Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons. Read through the response to get an idea of what
your essay response should look like.
Using the PEEFEE structure will be useful to you here: Point, evidence, explanation,
focused exploration (to include link to context) and effect.
Fundamentally, though within each paragraph you want to
Identify what is learnt (ensuring each point is distinct and focused on the question)
How it is learnt (choosing excellent examples)
Why it is significant (in relation to the question and in supporting our understanding
of context)
Over the next couple of pages, choose two questions from the bank of five on the
previous pages to write a response to. Ideally choose one character and one
thematic question to respond to.
Practice character question
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