Telling Tales
Anthology
Short Story
Anthology
Revision Notes
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1 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
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2 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
Table of Contents
Contents ................................................................................................................................. 8
Chemistry – Graham Swift ................................................................................................................. 9
Odour of Chrysanthemums – DH Lawrence ...................................................................................... 9
My Polish Teacher’s Tie – Helen Dunmore ........................................................................................ 9
Korea – John McGahern..................................................................................................................... 9
Kazuo Ishiguro – A Family Supper ................................................................................................... 9
Claudette Williams – Invisible Mass of the Back Row..................................................................... 9
Penelope Lively – The Darkness Out There ....................................................................................... 9
Chemistry – Graham Swift ..................................................................................................... 10
Context............................................................................................................................................. 10
Outline ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 10
Characters ........................................................................................................................................ 11
The narrator .................................................................................................................................. 11
The grandfather ............................................................................................................................ 11
The mother ................................................................................................................................... 12
Ralph ............................................................................................................................................. 12
Style and Structure .......................................................................................................................... 12
The narrative viewpoint ................................................................................................................ 12
Genre............................................................................................................................................. 13
Language .......................................................................................................................................... 13
Imagery ......................................................................................................................................... 13
Alliteration .................................................................................................................................... 14
Comparison ...................................................................................................................................... 14
Important quotations ...................................................................................................................... 14
Themes............................................................................................................................................. 14
Relationships and different generations....................................................................................... 14
Loyalty and betrayal ...................................................................................................................... 15
‘Things don't end’.......................................................................................................................... 15
Hidden and invisible things ........................................................................................................... 15
Odour of Chrysanthemums – DH Lawrence ............................................................................ 16
Context............................................................................................................................................. 16
Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 17
Characters ........................................................................................................................................ 20
3 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
Elizabeth Bates .............................................................................................................................. 20
Walter Bates.................................................................................................................................. 20
Walter’s Mother............................................................................................................................ 21
Annie Bates ................................................................................................................................... 21
John Bates ..................................................................................................................................... 22
Elizabeth’s Father .......................................................................................................................... 22
Mrs. Rigley..................................................................................................................................... 22
Mr. Rigley ...................................................................................................................................... 22
Language and Style .......................................................................................................................... 22
Imagery ......................................................................................................................................... 22
Local dialect .................................................................................................................................. 23
Important quotations explained ................................................................................................... 23
Foreshadowing.............................................................................................................................. 24
Themes, Motifs, and Symbols .......................................................................................................... 25
Themes .......................................................................................................................................... 25
Motifs ............................................................................................................................................ 26
Symbols ......................................................................................................................................... 27
My Polish Teacher’s Tie – Helen Dunmore.............................................................................. 29
Context............................................................................................................................................. 29
Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 29
Part 1 ............................................................................................................................................. 29
Part 2 ............................................................................................................................................. 29
Characters ........................................................................................................................................ 30
Carla Carter ................................................................................................................................... 30
Stefan (Steve) Jeziomy .................................................................................................................. 31
Valerie Kenward ............................................................................................................................ 32
The Head ....................................................................................................................................... 32
Language .......................................................................................................................................... 33
Important quotations.................................................................................................................... 33
The Tie ........................................................................................................................................... 34
Themes............................................................................................................................................. 34
The bird in the coalmine ............................................................................................................... 34
Stefan's tie – individuals versus stereotypes ................................................................................ 35
Teachers and education ................................................................................................................ 35
Carla's mother ............................................................................................................................... 35
Valerie Kenward ............................................................................................................................ 35
4 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
The Head ....................................................................................................................................... 35
Stefan ............................................................................................................................................ 36
Korea – John McGahern ........................................................................................................ 37
Context............................................................................................................................................. 37
Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 38
Story Analysis ................................................................................................................................... 38
Structure ....................................................................................................................................... 38
Narration ....................................................................................................................................... 39
Characters – father and son (the narrator)................................................................................... 40
Story development........................................................................................................................ 40
Conflict .......................................................................................................................................... 41
Climax ............................................................................................................................................ 44
Kazuo Ishiguro – A Family Supper .......................................................................................... 48
Context............................................................................................................................................. 48
Style ................................................................................................................................................. 48
Outline and Overview ...................................................................................................................... 48
Characters and Setting..................................................................................................................... 49
Characterisation............................................................................................................................... 49
Character list .................................................................................................................................... 49
Father ............................................................................................................................................ 49
Mother .......................................................................................................................................... 50
Son ................................................................................................................................................ 50
Kikuko............................................................................................................................................ 50
Suichi ............................................................................................................................................. 50
Vicki ............................................................................................................................................... 50
Watanabe ...................................................................................................................................... 50
Setting ........................................................................................................................................... 50
Themes............................................................................................................................................. 50
The importance of communication in families ............................................................................. 50
Differences in attitudes and beliefs, particularly between different generations ....................... 51
Our culture doesn't always define us ........................................................................................... 51
The importance of tradition .......................................................................................................... 51
Symbols ............................................................................................................................................ 52
Claudette Williams – Invisible Mass of the Back Row.............................................................. 53
Context............................................................................................................................................. 53
Outline and Overview ...................................................................................................................... 53
5 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
Characters ........................................................................................................................................ 54
Hortense (the narrator) ................................................................................................................ 54
The Inspector ................................................................................................................................ 54
Miss Henderson ............................................................................................................................ 54
Lorna Phillips ................................................................................................................................. 55
Mr Edwards ................................................................................................................................... 55
Lunch women and Herby .............................................................................................................. 55
Hertense’s parents ........................................................................................................................ 55
Fay Green ...................................................................................................................................... 55
Themes............................................................................................................................................. 55
Education and Power .................................................................................................................... 55
Penelope Lively – The Darkness Out There ............................................................................. 56
Context............................................................................................................................................. 56
Outline and Overview ...................................................................................................................... 56
Characters and Setting..................................................................................................................... 57
Characters ........................................................................................................................................ 57
Sandra ........................................................................................................................................... 57
Kerry .............................................................................................................................................. 57
Mrs. Rutter .................................................................................................................................... 57
Pat (Miss Hammond) .................................................................................................................... 58
Setting .............................................................................................................................................. 58
Time and place .............................................................................................................................. 58
Style and Structure .......................................................................................................................... 58
Genre............................................................................................................................................. 58
Penelope Lively's technique .......................................................................................................... 59
Comparison ................................................................................................................................... 59
Dialogue ........................................................................................................................................ 60
Stereotyping .................................................................................................................................. 60
Language .......................................................................................................................................... 61
Pronouns and names .................................................................................................................... 61
Standard and non-standard forms ................................................................................................ 61
Imagery ......................................................................................................................................... 61
Repetition...................................................................................................................................... 62
Themes and Symbols ....................................................................................................................... 62
Themes .......................................................................................................................................... 62
Symbols ............................................................................................................................................ 63
6 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
Responding to the text .................................................................................................................... 63
Attitudes........................................................................................................................................ 63
Sample Answers .................................................................................................................... 65
Chemistry – Graham Swift ..................................................................................................... 65
In ‘Chemistry’, how does Swift use imagery to create certain effects?..................................... 65
Odour of Chrysanthemums – DH Lawrence ............................................................................ 66
The use of colour in ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’. .......................................................................... 66
My Polish Teacher’s Tie – Helen Dunmore.............................................................................. 69
Helen Dunmore uses a narrator, Carla Carter, to tell the story. Write about: ................................ 69
Kazuo Ishiguro – A Family Supper .......................................................................................... 71
Discuss the presentation of the narrator’s father in ‘A Family Supper’ by Kazuo Ishiguro. ............ 71
Claudette Williams – Invisible Mass of the Back Row.............................................................. 72
How does Claudette Williams present Hertense developing a sense of her own identity in
‘Invisible Mass of the Back Row’? .................................................................................................... 72
Penelope Lively – The Darkness Out There ............................................................................. 74
Penelope Lively chooses to call her story ‘The Darkness Out There’. Write about why 'darkness'
and 'out there' are important in this story. ..................................................................................... 74
7 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
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8 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
Contents
Chemistry – Graham Swift
Odour of Chrysanthemums – DH Lawrence
My Polish Teacher’s Tie – Helen Dunmore
Korea – John McGahern
Kazuo Ishiguro – A Family Supper
Claudette Williams – Invisible Mass of the Back Row
Penelope Lively – The Darkness Out There
9 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
Chemistry – Graham Swift
Context
Graham Swift was born in London in 1949. He studied at Cambridge University. Swift began
writing stories in his teens and taught English literature at various colleges until he became a
full-time writer in 1983.
Graham Swift's novels have won various awards and been translated into many languages.
His most famous novels, Waterland (1983) and Last Orders (1996) have been adapted as
feature films. ‘Chemistry’ comes from Learning to Swim (1982).
Outline
A widower lives with his daughter, also widowed, and their son. His daughter starts a
relationship with another man, and eventually this man quarrels with her father. He retreats
to his garden shed, where he spends time in his hobbies of chemical experiments and
model-making, and where his grandson joins him.
The grandson dreams of his dead father. The old man swallows Prussic acid, which kills him.
After the funeral, the grandson thinks he sees his grandfather in a park where they had once
sailed a motorized model boat.
Overview
The first section of this story shows the fond relationship the narrator shares with his
Grandfather. This all changes after the seemly unsinkable boat they sail sinks representing a
death.
Ralph is an unpleasant figure to the narrator and is presented as being loud and coarse. He
seems powerful and large, but is kept under control by the narrator’s mother.
The Grandfather is gradually made more of an outsider despite the fact they live in his
house. He has looked after his daughter and Grandson since the narrator’s father died. He
tries to wind up Ralph by eating slowly and generally being difficult. For the narrator,
the shed is a place of safety and a mini-home.
People change is a clear message of the piece. This can be linked to Grandfather’s
experiments with chemistry as he changes things on the surface, although deeper down
they stay the same.
The narrator’s mother seems to decline under the influence of Ralph and alcohol. She
seems trapped under his influence. Ralph is described as being like an animal. The narrator
plans to throw acid in Ralph's face, showing the hatred held for him.
10 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
After he is visited by his father in a dream, the narrator feels his mother is to blame for the
sinking of his boat and the end of the good relationship they all once had. He also convinces
himself that his mother killed his own father. He needs a scapegoat. This is all prevented by
his Grandfather’s death.
Pathetic fallacy is used where it is raining to reflect the mood of the sad scene. The official
verdict was suicide, but the narrator feels there was more to it, blaming his mother for
shutting him out of their lives.
The end is a poignant and sad memory of his grandfather catching the boat as he always
used to. He is gone but he lives on in memory.
Characters
Although this is a short story, the characters are all quite well-developed, with the possible
exception of the boyfriend, Ralph. Unlike the others, he is not a member of the narrator's
family, and the narrator has no interest in him except as regards how he affects his mother
and the general atmosphere in the home.
The narrator
The boy who tells the story is both an observer and an actor in the events of the narrative.
Perhaps he is the only one who sees all that goes on – though he notices that, because he is
so young (only ten) the police, encouraged by his mother, do not ask him about the
grandfather's death.
The boy is seven when his father dies and ten when his grandfather dies. But the story is
written as if by an older person, looking back – the child's observation is mixed with more
adult description and comment.
We see some evidence of a child's understanding – as when he thinks that his grandmother
must be literally in the same place as his father's body, where his mother means to suggest
something about death. (On the other hand, she does not say where it is that either has
gone, so the boy's confusion makes a kind of sense.)
The narrator suggests at the start of the story the possibility that he can make a plan and
influence events. But he is not able to answer his mother's request for advice, and it seems
that his plans do not change things for other people, only in terms of what he sees.
The grandfather
The grandfather is a constant character. He misses his wife, but consoles himself with the
company of his child and grandchild – seeming (as the narrator notes) to see the features of
his wife in both. He treats his daughter in some ways as he would a wife – he buys her
jewellery, and expects her to cook meals, while he supports her financially.
He shows loyalty and expects it in return. When his daughter chooses to side with Ralph, he
does not exploit his ownership of the house, but retreats to his shed. There is a hint that he
may be planning some scheme to reclaim what he has lost, but it seems he is planning only
his own exit.
11 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
The mother
The mother is the most ambiguous and dynamic character; she changes, where her father
and son remain loyal. It is her actions that disturb the ‘symmetry’ of which the narrator
thinks, and the ‘equation’ that he works out in his head.
There is a sense, though, that she is not wholly in control of her own decisions, that they are
not really choices. While later she thinks her son too young to speak to the police, at one
point she asks him to help her decide how to act: "What am I going to do?" The narrator is
starting to form a plan, but he does not answer his mother, and she makes her own
decision, to go to Ralph.
Ralph
Ralph is never formally introduced, something that may indicate the way the narrator thinks
of him and the stealthy way in which he enters, then dominates and finally disrupts the life
of the family unit.
He first appears in a parenthesis, to establish the date when the model boat sinks. This has
nothing to do with Ralph, yet the reader may see the coincidence as ominous. The next
reference to Ralph contains another parenthesis (his being a regular weekend guest) along
with the statement of his verbal attack on the grandfather.
Ralph represents this as sticking up for his girlfriend, the narrator's mother. But to the
reader it is one of many ambiguous incidents. Does it show his concern to protect her or his
wish to assert a claim to her; is Ralph defending the mother from a bullying parent or
making a claim to some kind of possession?
Ralph is not shown as a particularly bad man, but his presence has harmful consequences
for the old man and his grandson.
The suggestion that his anger is caused by his appetite is given as a kind of defence, but to
the reader may be a hint at how coarse and selfish he is, unable to wait for an old man to
finish.
His drinking seems more sinister, as if this is a way to weaken the resistance of his girlfriend
and her remaining attachment to her father, the narrator's grandfather.
Style and Structure
The narrative viewpoint
Perhaps the most obvious feature of the writer's technique is the way he tells the story in
the words of the narrator. He was ten at the time of the events in the story, but now seems
to have an adult's ability to look back on it and explain what has happened.
The narrator tries to explain things, but we cannot tell how sure he is about these
explanations. For example, he suggests at one point that ‘some outside force’ is directing his
mother (Line 59).
12 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
Genre
Is this a mystery story or a ghost story?
The story has some things in common with both of these. For example:
 The narrator says, of his belief that his father has gone forever, "I was wrong" (line
68) but we have to read on to find out how and why.
 The writer sees two dead people, his father and his grandfather. But we are not sure
quite what really happens in either case.
 At the end of the story we are offered a kind of explanation - that things change but
are not destroyed (282). This echoes the grandfather's statement that the forms of
things change "But the elements don't change" (line 188)
Language
Imagery
The writer uses many images in the story, sometimes of things that are really there (like
water), but also have a symbolic meaning (they represent or stand for some idea or other
thing), sometimes of things that serve only as metaphor (like an invisible cord). Here are a
few examples. You should look out for others.
1) Chemistry
Chemistry is commonly used today to refer to personal relationships. In this story, chemical
change is present both as reality and as symbol. The grandfather really experiments with
chemistry, but when the boy asks, in line 183, "People change too, don't they", his answer
makes the comparison clear.
There is chemistry in natural objects and also in or between people.
2) The invisible cord
In the opening paragraph the narrator suggests (lines 14 and 15) that there is ‘an actual
existing line’ between him with his mother and his grandfather on the other side of the
pond, as if the old man ‘were pulling us toward him on some invisible cord’.
Does the conclusion of the story support this idea of the invisible cord that joins people or
not, in your view?
3) The motif of water
The story uses water as a thematic image. Here are some of the ways in which it appears.
 The story opens and closes with a scene on a pond.
 In the opening the narrator likens the pond to a sea (line 2).
 The boy's father is lost in the Irish Sea. Later he returns, dripping with seawater.
 The grandfather has a special kind of water - laurel water or prussic acid - in his shed;
and this kills him.
On a first reading one might think that the story shows that water takes things away. But
the narrator claims that things are not lost, only changed; this is the fundamental idea in the
science of chemistry. The boy's father and grandfather are changed (by death, by the sea),
and so is his mother. He knows that the model boat and the bottle of nitric acid are still at
the bottom of the pond, as his father's aeroplane is at the bottom of the sea.
13 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
Alliteration
This is a common technique in poetry - but we meet it here. Look for example at the
repetition of consonant sounds in:
‘For about a year we lived quietly, calmly, even contentedly within the scope of this sad
symmetry.’ (Lines 77 and 78)
Comparison
It is easy to make comparisons in the story. We are led to make comparisons between these
things, among others:
 ideas of before and after, such as things before and after they change, the family
before and after Ralph's arrival
 attitudes of the boy and of his mother
 different kinds of water - water in the pond, sea water, laurel water
 the living and the dead
Important quotations
Here are some lines from the story. Use them to help focus your ideas. For each one, try to
see what it means in the context where it appears, what it tells you about characters and
ideas, and how it shows Graham Swift's technique:
1. He said very gravely: "You must accept it - you can't get it back - it's the only way"...
(Lines 24 and 25)
2. ...as if some outside force were all the time directing her... (Line 59)
3. We forgot we were three generations. (Line 85)
4. I remember keeping a kind of equation in my head... (Line 104)
5. "What am I going to do?" (Line 116)
6. It seemed that this invitation, his loneliness were written in a form only I could read
on the dark green door. (Lines 140 and 141)
7. "...You don't make things in chemistry - you change them. Anything can change."
(Lines 162 and 163)
8. ...it looked as if it was all gold - but it wasn't. (Lines 178 and 179)
9. But she never did explain. (Line 255)
10. "He's only ten, what can he know?" (Lines 270 and 271)
11. ...though things change, they aren't destroyed. (Line 282)
Themes
This story is very much about relationships, especially within families and across the
generations. It is also about loyalty and its opposite, betrayal. Another theme is suggested
by the narrator's comment that ‘things don't end’. You may like to look more closely at
these ideas.
Relationships and different generations

How does the story depict the relationships of the main characters at different
points: before the death of the narrator's father; after his mother is widowed; after
Ralph moves in, and after the death of the old man?
14 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.





What does the narrator mean, in your opinion, when he calls the relationship a ‘sad
symmetry’?
What do you think the narrator means by the ‘sort of equation’ that he keeps in his
head?
How far does the narrator suggest the idea that his mother is responsible for events
in his and her life?
Are there other ideas about relationships in the story?
How does the story present the way that different generations get on, or fail to?
Loyalty and betrayal



How far do the narrator and the grandfather show loyalty to others?
How does the story show the mother's choice between loyalty to her immediate
family and her new commitment to her boyfriend?
Does the narrator see his mother as disloyal? Does the reader agree with the
narrator's view, or do we have more sympathy for the mother?
‘Things don't end’





In what way does the story show how ‘things don't end’?
How does the visit of the boy's dead father support this idea?
Does the writer offer any explanation for the visit of the dead man (for example,
saying that it was a dream)?
What is your idea of the meaning of the grandfather's appearance at the end of the
story?
How does the comment that ‘things don't end’ help explain the earlier statement
about the boy's being ‘wrong’ if he believed that his father was ‘gone for ever’?
What did you think this meant when you first read it?
Hidden and invisible things
The story looks at the difference between appearance and reality in terms of things that are
seen and unseen. The boy sees things others do not, and is aware of things that are out of
sight or invisible. Here are some examples:
 Invisible things: the line that joins the boy and his mother to his grandfather; the
invitation on the green door to the shed.
 Hidden things: the aeroplane at the bottom of the sea; the model boat and the acid
bottle in the pond.
 Things only the boy can see: his father, dripping with sea-water; his dead
grandfather by the pond.
15 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
Odour of Chrysanthemums – DH Lawrence
Context
Born in 1885 in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England, the fourth child of a failed
schoolteacher and an illiterate coal miner, David Herbert Lawrence was a frail and delicate
child who deeply sympathized with the struggles his mother endured in her unhappy
marriage.
Many of the female characters in Lawrence’s fiction mirror his mother: sensitive women
who are shackled to coarse husbands and suffer from the difficulties of supporting a family
in the harsh labour conditions of the day. Like Elizabeth Bates, the protagonist in ‘Odour of
Chrysanthemums’, Lawrence’s mother, Lydia Beardsall Lawrence, spent many nights
lamenting her choices in life, particularly her marriage to a man who made the village pub,
not the family home, his primary after-work destination.
Through a combination of hard work, savings, and scholarship assistance, Lawrence
completed high school and eventually college, while at the same time beginning to explore
his interest in writing. Eventually, he became a poet, a dramatist, a critic, an essayist, a
novelist, and a short-story writer, and his works provoked high praise and controversy
during his lifetime and beyond. His first novel, Sons and Lovers, was published in 1913,
followed by The Rainbow in 1915. Deemed obscene, copies of The Rainbow were seized by
authorities, foreshadowing the controversy that many of Lawrence’s literary creations
would go on to provoke.
His best-known novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928), was initially published privately. In
1960, when it was released by a mainstream, commercial publisher, it was overwhelmed by
scandal and an obscenity trial. Such controversy often overshadowed the less
sensationalistic, less sexual aspects of Lawrence’s work, selling short his deft portrayal of
individuals governed by circumstances beyond their control. His sensitive explorations of
the natural world stood in sharp contrast to the mechanized world of industry and its rules
regarding human conduct and relationships.
Many critics view Lawrence’s short stories, including ‘The Horse Dealer’s Daughter’ (1922)
and ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’ (1926), as his greatest literary accomplishments. ‘Odour of
Chrysanthemums’, among Lawrence’s most highly regarded, was completed in 1909. The
writer Ford Madox Ford first published it in the June 1911 issue of the English Review, the
influential literary magazine he edited. A longer version was published in The Prussian
Officer and Other Stories (1914).
This version, referred to in this note, features an expanded final section in which Elizabeth
confronts the illusions and failures of her life after washing her husband Walter’s dead
body. This version emphasizes Elizabeth’s harsh realizations about her own responsibility in
the shortcomings of her marriage. Much has been written about the connection between
Elizabeth’s difficult conclusions and the bittersweet liberation Lawrence felt after his
mother’s death in 1910.
16 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
In ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’, as in many of his other prose works, Lawrence writes about
a world he knew intimately: the hardscrabble existence of the miners in Nottinghamshire,
who performed dangerous work to support their families. As in other works of Lawrence’s
fiction, a life-altering event, in this case a miner’s death, serves as a turning point and leads
the protagonist to reassess all that has led to such a tragic moment. In writing the story,
Lawrence drew from not only his own childhood experiences but also his evolving
perceptions of his days growing up in Nottinghamshire.
Although Lawrence’s fiction is not wholly autobiographical, Lawrence used fiction to
confront his own tenuous relationship with his father and move closer to understanding the
sacrifices that Arthur Lawrence made on behalf of his family. Like Elizabeth in ‘Odour of
Chrysanthemums’, Lawrence was able to embrace a more nuanced understanding of human
relationships and the ramifications of environment, choice, and consequence.
Lawrence, who was antimilitary, and his wife, Frieda, whose father was German, were
viewed suspiciously in wartime England during the early 1900s, and they left in 1917 under
orders from the government. For years, they travelled extensively, returning to England only
rarely. Lawrence died in France in 1930.
Overview
A locomotive engine comes chugging along the tracks, pulling seven loaded cars behind it. It
is late afternoon in the autumn, nearing dusk, in England’s coal country. The locomotive
pulls into the colliery’s loading area, as various miners make their way home. Nearby is a
low cottage with a tiled roof and a garden, a sparse apple orchard, and a brook beyond.
Elizabeth Bates emerges from the chicken coop, watching the miners walk along the
railroad. She turns and calls her son, John, who emerges from the raspberry patch. She tells
him that it is time to come in. The locomotive her father is driving appears in the distance.
As John makes his way to the house, she chides him for tearing off the petals of the
chrysanthemums and scattering them on the path. She picks a few of the flowers and, after
holding them against her cheek, sticks a sprig in her apron.
The train comes to a stop near the gate, and Elizabeth brings her father tea and bread and
butter. He tells Elizabeth that it is time he remarried. He also informs her that her husband,
Walter, had gone on another drinking binge and was heard bragging in the local pub about
how much he was going to spend. Done with his tea, the old man drives off. Elizabeth enters
the kitchen, where the table is set and awaiting Walter’s return so that the family can have
their tea. With no sign of Walter, Elizabeth continues preparing the meal. Her daughter,
Annie, enters the room, and Elizabeth mildly scolds her for being late. She asks Annie
whether she has seen Walter; she has not. Elizabeth fears that Walter is again at the pub,
and at Annie’s urging, they start to eat. Annie is transfixed by the slowly dying fire. Eating
little, Elizabeth grows increasingly antsy and angry.
Elizabeth goes to get coal and drops a few pieces on the fire, which snuffs out almost all the
light in the room. John repeatedly complains about the darkness, and Elizabeth lights the
overhead lamp, revealing for the first time that she is pregnant. Annie exclaims at the sight
of the chrysanthemums in Elizabeth’s apron. She removes them and puts the flowers to her
lips, enthralled by their scent. Looking at the clock, Elizabeth realizes that Walter will not get
home until he is again carried in, intoxicated, by his friends. She vows not to clean him after
his day of work and to leave him lying on the floor.
17 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.
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18 Telling Tales Anthology AQA– GCSE Revision Notes – English Literature.