1. Anthology B Short Stories
SIGNIFICANT CIGARETTES: Rose Tremain
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2. Genre Not a short story An extract from a novel (The road home)
What differences might we be looking for in terms of structure and narrative in an extract as opposed to a complete short story?
jonathan Peel JLS 2017

3. Stimuli
What kind of situations cause people to leave their countries to seek a new life in a foreign environment?
How would you hope to be received in this situation?
What would be your biggest fears?
If you have ever spent time in a foreign environment, especially when you did not speak the language, how did you feel?
jonathan Peel JLS 2017

4. SCASI as an approach Setting Characters Action Style ideas
jonathan Peel JLS 2017

5. setting Locus: Where is this passage set (physically)?
What implications are there because of this setting?
Can you find any moments in the text which suggest that chaRActers feel trapped in this setting?
Can you find language hinting at moments of beauty or hope in the landscape of their journey?
jonathan Peel JLS 2017

6. characters Lev and Lydia
Why does it take so long for them to reveal their names?
Thinking about characters: (find as many as you can)
What troubles Lev?
Evidence
Leaving home
‘staring out at the land he was leaving’
What is Lev Hoping for?
jonathan Peel JLS 2017

7. Character: what can you add?
Lydia
Feels trapped
‘I began to imagine I would die seeing these things. I didn’t want this’
teacher
Knows more than Lev
Language and literature - cultured
confident
Initiates speech
Apologetic, not using imperatives
jonathan Peel JLS 2017

8. Lev: what else? Travelling because of sadness
Trapped and uncomfortable
‘then they would be herded back onto the coach
desperate
‘the long agony of it’
Nicotine addict is trapped
‘He had to distract himself with something’
Marina has died
‘If only we were storks…’
‘when his wife… was dying…’ ll44ff
Needs money to support a 5 year old daughter
He’d found no work at all
jonathan Peel JLS 2017

9. Action What actually happens?
How does Tremain give the sense of the journey taking place?
Find the internal structure of the extract.
Time passes
Topic sentence to indicate this
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10. Action Lev remembers Lev and Lydia talk
Lev ruminates on his possible future
We need to look at each section and focus on the language used to tell both the back story and to help us to understand the characters.
jonathan Peel JLS 2017

11. Lev’s Fears and memories 1
LL14-37: Can you find evidence to support the idea that Lev is lonely and possibly not ready for a close relationship?
What is the effect of the simile on L18?
How is Pathetic Fallacy used to heighten the sense of pessimism in his prediction for his future?
Can you find other examples of his pessimism?
jonathan Peel JLS 2017

12. Dialogue
Who is the first speaker in direct speech and what do they say? What does tremain suggest about their character by her choice of language?
To whom does lev first speak in direct speech: why do you think this is? What is the effect of this element of backstory being told in this way?
Between Lev and Lydia, who:
Initiates the longer conversation – why?
Who dominates the exchange?
Who is seeking help and who provides it?
WhaT DO YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE SENTENCE LENGTHS?
Who speaks last and what is the effect of their final statement?
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13. Fretful LL
The sentences become fractured and short in this section. How does this realte to Lev’s state of mind?
Can you find examples of heightened language suggesting his mental state?
How is the rhetorical question used in this section?
On 129 Lydia is ‘immersed in her English book’ how does this emphasise the difference between the two characters?
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14. IDEAS Themes to pursue: Alienation and loneliness Never-ending travel
Desperation
England and the English- Lev views England as his ‘hope’. What significance can be found in his reading of the £20note? Who is the moustachioed gentleman depicted and what sort of englishness does he represent?
jonathan Peel JLS 2017