Seventy TWO Derwents - themes, key ideas, characters, structure, language and quotes PDF

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themes, key ideas, characters, structure, language and quotes ...

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SEVENTY –TWO DERWENTS Summary: Tyler keeps a journal for school, using it to record the considerable challenges in her home life. She faces harassment and manipulation by her mother’s boyfriend Shane, and even her own mother takes advantage of her, forcing her to sew ‘Plushies’ to sell. Her older sister Ellie offers support and protection and eventually their mother stands up for them against the abusive Shane, demanding he leave, then defends herself and her children by stabbing him with scissors. Title: The Seventy two Derwents as a metaphor for everything that is desirable and beautiful in this world. Not a useless consumer item, but rather something from which Tyler can conjure beauty in this world Key ideas and themes Disadvantage Tyler’s and her family’s situation is far from ideal. Doesn’t really know most of her siblings, her mother struggles emotionally and financially, her interest in art is not supported at home or at school. To some extent it is a depiction of child-abuse and family violence Disappointed that Grandma gives her a plastic packet of cheaper pencils for her birthday

Hope and Tenacity/The possibility of change/Resilience When the shopkeeper sees them and tells them that Plushies sold out in three days Ellie tries to forge a future for herself Tyler’s mother prioritises her children over Shane Tyler’s hope symbolised in the Derwent pencils.

Characters Tyler Year 6 . on cusp of being a teenager Has artistic talent that needs nurturing. Loves praise Financially and emotionally trapped, as evidenced by her simple dream of owning good quality (Derwent) coloured pencils Has a supportive relationship uncomplicated by conflict (with her sister) (different from other stories) Bullied and blackmailed by her mother’s boyfriend, whom the story strongly hints may have tried to abuse Tyler’s elder sister Looks forward to her future and embraces opportunities available to her Feels proud when Aunt Jacinta says ‘We think you’re wonderful’ (p263) Tries to keep peace at home. Replies ‘Yes’ when her mother asks if she likes Shane Naïve but senses danger that Shane presents ‘I don’t want a boyfriend, I want a set of seventy – two Derwents’ (p 242) This shows Tyler’s naivety and Shane’s inappropriate behaviour ‘Because I don’t like being in my pyjamas when he’s there’ (p249) Shows she senses that something is wrong about the way Shane interacts with her. Views most adults as trying to get her to do things for them. ‘Or they use it to make you do something you don’t want’ (p263) ‘They will be anonymous’ (p239) Her underlining of the word emphasises how important anonymity is for her. Worries about being taken away from mother? Ashamed of family situation? Anxious ‘The stone in my stomach was squeezing and pressing’ (p265) ‘Sometimes I dream of a wolf. He’s coming for me …’(p254) Shane -

Mother’s boyfriend. Socially disengaged? Abusive and manipulative. On parole. Ultimately revealed to be vulnerable too ‘He could have still stabbed us all to death but then he didn’t even look up. He just started crying’ (p 276)

Context/ setting –geographical, historical, social How is the setting constructed in this story

Family relationships Family is dysfunctional. Older siblings have run away or been placed in care. For much of the story Tyler’s mother prioritises her relationship with latest boyfriend over her relationship with her children. Yet support is found within the family. Ellie supports Tyler and Aunt Jacinta offers support. Text me ‘if you get the stones feeling’ (p259) Mother ultimately supports her children ‘Don’t touch my kids’ Social isolation The family is socially isolated. No real support from friends or community is evident.

Mother Struggles to financially and emotionally support her family is unemployed, desperate to please and has a history of poor relationship choices, at least one of which resulted in a child being abused and removed from her care. Lacks self -confidence. Believes she needs a man if she is to feel safe. Has had a series of unsuitable boyfriends Older children ran away or taken from her. Suffers anxiety and low self esteem. Having a guy around the house; ‘it makes you feel safe doesn’t it’(p262) When her Plushie dolls sell out, her self-confidence is boosted ’It’s as if someone had come along and put the white dots into her eyes’ ‘Don’t touch my kids’ Mother has finally begun to value herself and defend her family. It is with the tools of her new selfconfidence (the scissors for making Plushies) that she defends herself and her children Ellie (sister) Tyler’s older sister. In Year 10 Takes education seriously. Wants to go to uni. A far stronger character than her mother. Emotionally supports Tyler. Works at subway. Does her best to look after Tyler Text me ‘if you get the stones feeling’ (p259) Like Tyler, has also suffered emotional damage because of abusive home life ‘I didn’t know that Ellie had bad dreams too’ (p254) Trying to do well at school to give herself an alternative life Longs to leave home but will not abandon Tyler ‘I’m not leaving you not ever’ (p 260) Mrs Carlyle Kind and supportive ‘I just want to do the right thing by you Tyler, I just don’t know exactly what it is’ (pg 270) Aunty Jacinta supportive figure

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Contemporary Australia

Elements of the short story: genre/plot /narration

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Structure: Opening/closing Point of view….

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Language: Symbolism, metaphor, simile Foreshadowing Tyler expresses concern that the mother bird pulls out their own feathers to line the nest, an instinctive act of maternal sacrifice that foreshadows the ending. Tyler wonders if a running person leaves a personshaped hole in the wall

Language Grammatical errors Kennedy reinforces the narrator’s naivety by deliberate errors would ‘of’ as opposed to ‘have’ Short simple sentences highlight naivety see (p242) No quotation marks for dialogue Moments of conflict Shane threatens the family Moments of hope ‘It was like a little speck of shine’ (p257) ‘Something has just brushed across her face’ (p275) ‘It’s as if someone had come along and put the white dots into her eyes’(p 276) ‘Don’t touch my kids’ ‘Tyler’s mother takes control’. Changes from passive to assertive. Tyler’s mother responds to crisis with Shane by standing up for her children. The mother has finally begun to value herself (success of the Plushies initiated this) While Tyler’s life is far from ideal, she looks forward to her future and her hopes are symbolised by the set of seventy - two Derwents. She even finds a picture of the Derwent river in a library book. ‘When I get to high school I want to do art in the art room where they have easels’ (p253) ‘Now I think I’m doing good’ (Tyler to Mrs Carlyle) -

Quotes looking at a pasta shell on her plate while her mum fights with Shane about the car, Tyler thinks, “I could curl up inside this soft shell and it would be like a hammock in there, all warm.‟ (Pg 244) “…it felt strange because the cousins were all like new kids at a strange school, not talking…‟ (Pg 246) “I don‟t like being just in my pyjamas when he‟s here. It just feels funny.‟ (Pg 249) The inadequacy of Tyler’s upbringing is symbolised by the pencils she longs for. When she is making her project on Ancient Greece, Tyler has only cheap scissors, glue and pencils to use. She is ashamed of this and apologises to her teacher. ‘They’re the plastic ones that on’t cut. Pictures stuck down with the glue that doesn’t stick, coloured in with the pencils that don‟t colour. Sorry Mrs Carlyle.‟ (Pg 252) ‘When she and Mum fight Mum says set your sister a

Told from Tyler’s first- person perspective though the artifice of a diary/ journal (allows her to be concrete with the information she provides) Tyler is writing to someone who is familiar with her… her teacher Mrs Carlyle. However, POV is limited because of Tyler’s age her naivety is palpable and the sick “stones‟ feeling she describes is an obvious physiological reaction to the dangers she is too young to recognise Told by a young girl on the cusp of adolescence Narrative voice: told from Tyler’s first person perspective through ‘journal’ Central event: The ongoing threat posed by Shane. Some degree of resolution at end

Imagery/ Metaphor/Symbolism ‘Tyler’s stomach turning to cold, hard stone’ (p247) Signals Tyler’s distress ‘…in cartoons time really fast and sudden. Also, things happen that aren’t true’ (p243). Cartoons intrigue Tyler- perhaps because she knows the violence isn’t real. She thinks of Shane’s tattoo like a cartoon. Not the real Shane? Tyler feels ‘like a thread is pulling through me like I am one of the dolls stitched up tight and stiff’ (p267) While Tyler’s life is far from ideal, she looks forward to her future and hopes for the future symbolised by the set of seventy - two Derwent’s

Moments of resolution and hope The mother strongly stands up for her children and retaliates The mother has finally begun to value herself (facilitated by the success of the plushies) and in turn learns to value and defend her family; significantly it is with the very tools of her new self- confidence (the special scissors for making the plushies) that she finally eradicates danger from her daughter’s lives Tyler, her sister and mother are safe and reconnect with their aunt Jacinta, Tyler has aspirations to be like Mrs Carlyle (a learned and kind woman) and Tyler’s mother appears to have woken up from a helpless and vulnerable state. This „awakening‟ is symbolised by Tyler’s comment that her mother ‘…wasn’t like a doll anymore. Someone had come along and put the white dots into her eyes and they were bright as black glittering glass and her mouth was like the line you cut in the felt…‟ (p.276). Moments of revelation ‘He could have still stabbed us all to death but then he didn’t even look up. He just started crying’ (p 276) Shane, while abusive, is vulnerable too ‘That’s my promise’ Tyler promises that one day, when she has an aviary of her own, she’ll come and collect a budgie from Mrs Carlyle

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good example, and Ellie says I‟m setting her the best example I can, which is how to get the fuck out of here.‟ (Pg 254) ;He is in a mean mood I can tell because even though he is smiling his mouth is wrong.‟ (Pg 254) ‘Sometimes I dream of a wolf. He‟s coming for me and his eyes are on fire and he‟s looking everywhere for me but he can‟t find me. I don‟t tell Ellie about this but I say sometimes I feel like I have a stone inside my stomach.‟ (Pg 255) “His voice is so different when he is telling a secret. It is all soft and like you’re best friends and I want to believe everything he tells me.‟ (Pg 256)...