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Iain Crichton Smith

Features to Consider:• Characterisation• Setting• Language• Key incident(s)• Climax / turning point• Plot• Structure• Narrative Technique• Theme• Ideas• Description

Characterisation• Main characters: Mr & Mrs Jackson– Snobby / rags to riches– Evidence of wealth (fur coat / posh car)– Look down on those left behind (‘had the guts to travel’)– Fall out but also look out for each other– Conflict between them highlights theme of story

• Minor characters: The Jamiesons, the factor, Nicky & Charlie– Jamiesons – domestic violence / petty religious

arguments / heavy drinking– The factor – tight with money / unsympathetic– Nicky & Charlie (‘punks’) – threatening / potentially

violent. Tell the Jacksons they don’t belong (‘tourists’). Represent the change in the neighbourhood.

Setting

• WHERE– Glasgow (mentions Clyde / references to gang

culture – graffiti / blades / language / tenements

• WHEN– 1970s (shipbuilding / picture house /

moustaches / overt racism)

Language

• “Her face has a haggard...desiccated gypsy” (describing Mrs Jackson) – SIMILE

• “like a victorious gladiator” SIMILE (Mr Jamieson)

• “supermarkets...flexing huge muscles” PERSONIFICATION

• “car bulging like a black wave” SIMILE• “his wallet bulged” WORD CHOICE

Language

• “with a hungry look as if he were scanning the veldt” SIMILE

• “the flat-faced shops looked at them blankly” PERSONIFICATION

• “her repertoire of invention was endless” WORD CHOICE

• “lost its atmosphere of pastoral carelessness...literate slogans in flowers” JUXTAPOSITION

Language• “...as if even giving away words were an agony of the

spirit.” WORD CHOICE• “the dispirited receptionist in the glass cage”

METAPHOR• “The wee nyaff. The Scottish words rose unbidden to

his mouth like bile.” SIMILE• “The interior of the cinema came back to him in a

warm flood.” METAPHOR• “Remember it was me who drove you to the top.”

(LITERAL AND METAPHORICAL)• “...like a bull wounded in the arena.” SIMILE• “...dirty boys and girls...all dead and rotting...” WORD

CHOICE

Language• “...surrounded by a pack of children...an empress

surrounded by prairie dogs.” METAPHOR / WORD CHOICE

• “..the voice which was like a saw that would cut through steel forever.” SIMILE

• “...no space in this bloody country. Everybody crowded like rats.” SIMILE

• “in a place much like Africa, the bar of a first class hotel.” PARADOX

• “his car bulging like a black wave.” ALLITERATION / SIMILE

Key Incidents

• Reminiscing at the tenements• Mr Jackson’s encounter with the factor

(flashback)• The couple argue and Mrs Jackson returns to

car• Mr Jackson threatened by youths• They go ‘home’ to the hotel

Climax / Turning Point

• When Jackson is told by youths to get out of their neighbourhood. The Jacksons are called ‘tourists’ although they used to live there.

Plot

1) Couple arrive at the tenement in Glasgow.2) They reminisce and disagree3) Realise they don’t belong / encounter the

youths4) They go to a hotel5) Mr Jackson realises his true home is Africa

(paradox at end of story)

Structure

• Mainly chronological• Use of flashbacks (contrast of past and

present / poor and rich)

Narrative Technique

• Third person narrative• Flashbacks from Mr Jackson’s point of view• We get an objective view of the Jacksons and

their views of ‘home’ – hear both their points of view

Themes

• Belonging• Change• Home• Racism

Ideas• Where is home? Once left, you should can never go back?• Whose memories are more reliable?• Success – does it bring happiness / contentedness? • Religion / sectarianism & associated violence• Domestic violence / alcohol abuse• Gangs / disrespectful youths• Class / roles within society• Racism• Colonial views• Cultural identity / language / background – still there when

you scratch the surface. It cannot be ignored• Money doesn’t bring happiness

Description

• Characters (appearance, belongings, reactions, thoughts and feelings)

• Setting (time / place / atmosphere)• Attitudes (speech and actions reveal characters’

attitudes• Wealthy lifestyle of the Jacksons / rougher, working-

class existence of the tenement residents • Differences / contrasts between Africa & Glasgow /

Jacksons and their old neighbours• Of setting (time and place / atmosphere)