A cream cracker under the settee

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A cream cracker under the settee.
By Alan Bennett.

 A Cream cracker under the settee is a monologue by Alan Bennett. He tries to create a dramatic monologue that proves you don’t have to follow the typical stereotypes of every other film for it to be a success. Alan Bennett does this by having the normal characters, story line and plot you would expect for films but in an unconventional way.

 In the monologue there is only one actor that is Doris. Doris is an old lady in her seventies who lives on her completely on her own other than a social worker who comes to visit her every so often. Having only one character means the audience have to really concentrate on her and use their imagination to see the scenes of her life she talks about. As a single character, we see her just on her own; this shows the audience the truth of her situation and creates sympathy towards her character. During the monologues you only hear about Doris’ side to every story, so in cream cracker we don’t get Zulema’s view on things. If we did get her view the sympathy the audience feels towards Doris would probably be different so by just including Doris’ points of view Alan Bennett has been clever as to create the right attitude towards Doris.

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We see Doris as a moaning bitter character; this is portrayed as she feels that Zulema is constantly bossing her around. “I was glad when she’d gone, dictating.” The word dictating conveys the impression that Doris is inferior to Zulema. In a way, Zulema has power over Doris because she could report her and Doris could end up in a home, which is the thing that she fears most. Very early on in the monologue the audience feels pity for Doris, as it seems like she has lost her dignity as someone younger than her is giving the orders. The ...

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