The Cone Gatherers Chapter 1

Introduction to Characters: Calum Appearance  Calum has a physical deformity. He is hunchbacked.  In contrast, we are told he has a beautiful face, like an angel  Calum is compared to a monkey because of his agility in the trees, but he doesn’t consider this to be an insult.  He has dark curly hair.

Calum Appearance: key quotations  “his sunburnt face was alert and beautiful with trust” (P2)  “He was humpbacked with one shoulder higher than the other; he had no neck and on the misshapen lump of his body sat a face so beautiful and guileless as to be a diabolical joke.” (P12)  “ ‘No wonder they come and stare up at you, as if you were a monkey,’ he said” (P4)

Calum Relationship with Nature:  Calum is at home sitting in the trees  He identifies himself with the birds and animals in the woods  He is acutely sensitive to their suffering  Loves nature, and finds it difficult to understand the predatory nature of animals

Calum Relationship with nature: key quotations  “For Calum the tree-top was interest enough; in it he was as indigenous as a squirrel or bird” (P2)  “chaffinches fluttered round him” (P2)  “Listening, as if he was an owl himself” (P3)  “This was the terrifying mystery, why creatures he loved should kill one another.” (P3)  “He prayed by a bright star above that there would be no rabbits squealing in pain.” (P7)

Calum Skills:  Skilled in climbing trees: “with consummate confidence and grace began the descent through the inner night of the great tree.” (P6)  More confident than his brother: “He was sure that even at midnight he could climb down any tree, and help Neil to climb down too” (P3)  Is skilled in making carvings out of wood: “When complete, the squirrel would be not only recognisable, it would be almost alive.” (p15)

Calum: Overall First Impression  Simple-minded, child-like innocence  Content to live amongst nature  Completely at home in the trees, but clumsy on the ground  Sensitive. Identifies closely with victims  Skilled at many things, including carving animals  Gentle  Defenceless – we sense he will suffer at the hands of Duror  Reliant on his brother

Neil Appearance:  Neil is older than Calum. He has had to take responsibility for both of them. The strain of this shows on Neil: “Tall, thin, grey-haired, with an appearance of harsh meditation” (P12)

Neil Relationship with Calum:  More worldly-wise than Calum. He shows awareness of the world beyond the woods, whilst Calum only thinks of the woods and nature: “ ‘ Haven’t I told you, hundreds of times, there’s a war?’ “ (P8)  Thinks about their future; worries about what will happen if they lose their jobs because of Calum: “ ‘Do you want to ruin us just because of a rabbit?’” (P10)  Loves his brother and is very protective of him: “ ‘And I ken too that, though you’re simple, you’re better than any of them.’ “ (P5)  Has given up his chance of marriage for Calum: “To look after his brother, he had never got married, though once he had come very near it: that memory often revived to turn his heart to melancholy.” (P5)

Neil  Neil is sharply aware of social class divisions: “ ‘Yonder’s a house with fifty rooms, every one of them three times the size of our hut, and nearly all of them empty…We’re human beings just like them.’ “ (P4)  There is a sense of bitterness in the way they are treated. (P5)  Neil is aware of the threat that Duror poses: “ prophesied trouble” (P7)  Neil is a survivor and in order to survive, he has had to harden himself: “Neil had passed it without noticing” (P7).  However, he is not immune to pain and suffering in animals and doesn’t like killing them any more than Calum would.  Neil is practical and realistic.

Duror  Duror’s hatred of the two brothers is obsessive  His hatred of Calum is particularly strong. Calum’s goodness seems to unleash strong feelings of hatred in him  He despises anything that is deformed/ disabled/ imperfect  Duror seems to be a sinister character  Duror is an intimidating presence

Duror  Find quotations to support the character points about Duror  How does Duror feel about the presence of the two men in the forest? Support with evidence  Why is his hatred for Calum particularly strong?  Duror describes his feelings of hatred for Calum as an ‘overspreading tree of revulsion in him’ – explain what is effective about this metaphor?

Quotations:  “His rage had been quiet but intimidating” P7 – we sense that he is quite a powerful and terrifying character who will be a threat to the cone-gatherers  “in an icy sweat of hatred, with his gun aimed all the time at the feeble-minded hunchback” (P11) – Duror’s irrational hatred makes him feel physically ill – brings him out in a cold sweat. Emphasises the strength of his feelings  “the over-spreading tree of revulsion in him” (P11) – use of the metaphor helps us to understand that, like a tree has deep roots, so too is his feeling of revulsion deep-rooted within him.  “But now the wood was invaded and defiled” (P12) – strong use of language – ‘invaded’ suggests a hostile army; ‘defiled’ suggests ruining something which had been perfect. Both show his strength of feelings  “Since childhood Duror had been repelled by anything living that had an imperfection or deformity” (P13) – reveals a sinister, disturbed side to his character

Setting  Look at pages 1 and 2 – what first impression is created of setting?  The novel is set during WW2. The forest is a microcosm of the world in general. That is, the events in the forest reflect, on a smaller scale, the events of the outside world. Explain how this is shown through the actions and attitude of Duror in chapter 1?

Setting: Key Quotations  “A destroyer had steamed seawards…gunshots had cracked far off in the wood.” (P1)  Establishes the threat of war and reminds us of the brutality that is happening in the outside world. This contrasts with the idyllic setting of the woods.  “This wood had always been his stronghold and sanctuary… its cleansing and reviving virtues were gone” ((P12)  The woods are seen as a place of refuge, not only for the cone gatherers but for Duror too.