Transcript Sailmaker Revision Notes - Peterhead Academy English

Sailmaker Revision
Notes
Key Themes
The key themes of Sailmaker are:
• Poverty
• Religion
• Prejudice
Poverty
Alec and Davie live in poverty for most of the play. Davie is addicted to
gambling and is unable to move on after the death of his wife. He turns to loan
sharks and his friends (Billy) to make ends meet. He has been made redundant
from four jobs.
By the end of the play Davie is not moving on and is living in a dirty flat with
no electricity and no heat. He is unable to move forward, prompting Alec to
leave him to make his own future.
Religion
Religion features heavily in Sailmaker. Primarily it focuses on the conflict
between protestants (Church of Scotland) and Catholics. Alec gets sucked into
this and goes frequently to the Bible studies class and is friendly with the
minister.
Alec also claims to have seen either his mother or the Virgin Mary in the sky
near the beginning of the play. This suggests that Alec is spiritual in some way.
Prejudice/Sectarianism
Sectarianism (Prejudice) features strongly also. Ian and Billy are staunch
Rangers supporters and hate Catholics because they support Celtic. They are
uneducated and are unwilling to change their views. (‘He’s a pape.’) Davie and
Alec see it for what it is, that it is simply just two football teams.
There is also prejudice against gay people and those of wealth as Ian suggests
that when Alec goes to private school he will have to ‘watch his bum.’
Characters
There 4 main characters in Sailmaker:
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Billy,
Ian,
Davie,
Alec.
Davie
• Davie is an example of someone who cannot move past the death of his
wife (poverty, depression and addiction.) He is addicted to gambling and falls
into deep depressions because he cannot stand being alone.
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Good scenes for Davie include:
When he asks Billy for money and when he gets beaten up (Poverty)
When he blows all the money on drink and gambling (Addiction)
When he confesses to Billy that he feels lonely without his wife (Depression)
Alec
• Alec is Davie’s son. He is forward thinking and thinks for himself. He doesn’t want
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a trade and seeks to better himself. (independence, intelligence, fair). Davie gets
himself out of the gutter and into university through education, giving a strong
message that education can solve problems.
Good scenes for Alec are:
When he gets top marks in the exams or goes to private school (intelligence)
When he leaves Davie at the end of the play to go to university (independence)
When he discusses with Ian that he can’t see a difference between Catholics and
Protestants (fair)
Billy
• Billy is a painter by trade and the father of Ian. He is a firm Rangers supporter and
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sees himself as a proud member of the ‘Church of Scotland’. He can’t tell the
difference between football and religion. He is however, dependable and a good
friend to Davie. (Sectarianism, Education, Poverty.)
Good scenes for Billy are:
When he loans Davie money (poverty).
When he curses Catholics after the football game. (Sectarianism)
When he doesn’t let Ian follow his dreams or stay at school and tells him to get a
trade. (Education)
Ian
• Ian is Billy’s son. He is simple minded and dependable but wants to be more than he
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is. He is tied down by his father and is unable to think for himself. He ends up not
joining the army and is trapped in a trade he doesn’t particularly want to be in. He
also mimics his father’s sectarian views but doesn’t understand them in the same
way. (Education, Prejudice, Trapped)
Good scenes for Ian are:
When he tells Alec that he wants to join the army (trapped)
When he makes insults against intelligent/wealthy/gay people (prejudice)
When he tells Alec that he has to get a trade (education)
Literary Techniques to be Aware of.
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Word Choice, (‘pape’)
Tone, (Ian and Davie)
Theme, (Prejudice, Poverty, Nostalgia, Education, Religion, Depression).
Characterisation,
Stage Directions, (Transitions between scenes.)
Symbolism, (Sail making tools and Christian Endeavour badges)
Imagery. (metaphor, simile, alliteration, personification, onomatopoeia)
Contexts to be aware of.
• The fact that the play is set in the 1960s after WW2 during a period of
depression and unemployment. Set in Govan Glasgow a ‘rough’ area and
heavily protestant. Shipyards have shut down and many people are struggling
to find work.
• The play was written in the 1980s during the Margaret Thatcher years,
another period of great unemployment as she had shut down a large portion
of the manufacturing and coal industry. She had also smashed the trade
unions. Many people were out of work and were struggling to make ends
meet.
The 8 Mark Question
1. You get 2 marks for stating a common link between the extract you
are given and from a scene elsewhere in the play. 1 mark is for
identification of a similar scene from within the play and 1 mark is
for explaining how it is relevant/fits in.
• E.g. From the extract about money problems and the scene where Davie gets
beaten up by the money lender.
2. You get 2 marks for explaining how this theme is explored from the
extract. You get 1 mark for quoting from the extract, and 1 mark for
explaining it.
Part 2
3. You get 4 marks for quoting and explaining from other parts of the texts.
You must quote/provide evidence and explain twice for full marks.
e.g. <Quote/reference to text> (explain explain explain explain)
<quote/reference to text> (explain explain explain explain)
Sample Answer
Q. The theme of social class is explored in this extract.
Show how the theme of social class is developed here and elsewhere in the
play.
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Answer
The theme of social class is explored by:
• In the extract by the fact that Alec lives in Govan, Glasgow which is a well known
working class area.
• This is shown elsewhere in the text when we see Billy telling Ian that he should ‘get a
trade’ and that it’s the best option for him indication that Billy has strong working class
roots and wants to pass this on.
• Alec uses the word ‘midden’ in the extract. A ‘midden’ is a bin or bin area and is a word
frequently used in tenement buildings in working class areas of Glasgow. This shows he
is working class as had he been of a higher class he would not have referred to it in this
way.
Answer
• Ian becomes very working class due to his father Billy and does not want to get an
education to better himself. This is shown by the fact he moves to Aberdeen when
his job as a painter dries up in Glasgow and he moves to find work elsewhere.
• Davie encourages Alec to get an education and better himself. This is shown by
Davie sending Alec to private school and encouraging to get a job that does not
require him to ‘take his jacket off ’. Taking the jacket off is a reference to not having
to do physical manual labour, which was associated with the working classes and not
the middle classes which Davie inspires Alec to join.