“It’s hard for a girl to be sure if
She wants to be rescued. I mean I quite
Took to the dragon.”
The fact that the maiden would have the audacity to make a statement like this would be shocking, as women in medieval society were expected to conform to the instructions they were given.
Fanthorpe also uses sexual innuendo as a way of showing that the maiden is not as innocent as she appears.
“He made me feel he was all ready to
Eat me. And any girl enjoys that.”
By using this, Fanthorpe makes a statement that the apparently virgin maiden is not actually as innocent as Uccello makes her appear to be, and that women have as much right to sexual freedom and free thought as men do, and are not as naïve or helpless as authority would like to make them.
The final part that Fanthorpe chooses to make in this stanza is that the maiden is very independent and focused on her future. Although the thought of being rescued by the young St George is not a desirable one, she still agrees to him rescuing her, as she knows that the long term prospects of going with St George outweighed the ones of staying with the dragon.
“The dragon got himself beaten by the boy,
And a girl’s got to think of her future.”
By showing the pro-active attitude of the maiden, Fanthorpe accentuates the fact that women can be as manipulative and as independent as men, and that they are not simply ‘trophies’ for men, but intelligent, business minded people. Although she prefers the dragon, she concedes to being rescued by St George, not because she want to be with him, but because she feels it would enable her to achieve this she could not with the dragon.
Despite conventionally bein portrayed as a brilliant individual, and the patron saint of England, in the final stanza of this poem, St George appears far from a saintly figure. Fanthorpe has chosen to make St George arrogant and inconsiderate. In doing this, Fanthorpe reveals her own critical voice, and emerges as a highly feminist character.
St George appears, from the start of his monologue, as very puerile and boastful.
“My horse is the latest model with
Automatic transmission and built in
Obsolescence.”
St George makes a big deal of showing off his state of the art gadgets, showing how important he is. I feel Fanthorpe has included this because she wanted to emphasise the fact that men often adopt an egotistical attitude over women, and flaunt their superiority by the amount of materialistic possessions they have.
As we continue to read the stanza, St George’s attitude changes from that of exhibition to one of arrogance and selfishness. He believes that his ‘inferiors’ should conform to the roles that they have been given to them in society.
“Don’t you want to be killed and/or rescued
In the most contempory way? Don’t
You want to carry out the roles
That sociology and myth have designed for you?”
By including this, Fanthorpe has succeeded in proclaiming the fact that men are seen as the absolute authority when it comes to judging how a person should act or behave within society, and men have gradually inherited the attitude of superiority over women, which will take a long time to rectify.
The poem ends with an emphatic statement of Fanthorpe’s perception of male attitudes towards women. St George’s real, self-centered personality is revealed when he ends his monologue with these words.
“What, in any case, does it matter what
You want? You’re in my way.”
Fanthorpe’s opinion of men in societal authority is truly revealed in these final lines. St George is only interested in his image, and he gives no consideration for the other characters in the poem (the maiden and the dragon), and he simply wants to increase his reputation. This point can be related to wider society, where men will not listen to the opinions of women, and do not consider their ideas, as they are not seen as worthy of a voice.
Quintessentially, ‘Not My Best Side’ is a poem that has been written in order to make the point that societal authority’s expectations do not allow individuality, as people are placed under so much pressure to comply to the particular parameters forced upon them, involuntarily, by factors out of anyone’s control, such as gender.
Similarly to ‘Not My Best Side’, the poem ‘You Will Be Hearing From Us Shortly’ explores the theme of authority. However, in this instance, U.A Fanthorpe chooses to ridicule the process of attending a job interview. She uses this setting to challenge the authority of the interview panel to make judgements about people’s lives based on prejudices or pre-conceived ideas. The title of the poem, ‘You Will Be Hearing From Us Shortly’ immediately indicates that the applicant failed to get the job because the phrase is clichéd as a polite let down at the end of an interview. In my opinion, this phrase may also have been placed as the title of the poem because Fanthorpe is attempting to show the reader that the candidate was not going to be successful in getting the job, no matter how successful the interview went. The poem is an ongoing monologue, with new stanzas beginning after the response of the applicant.
From the beginning of the poem, it become clear that the interview panel possess a range of prejudices towards the candidate. These appear to have already influenced the panel enough for them to decide that the applicant is not suitable for the job, and it seems as though the interview is being carried out simply as a formality, which must be endured by the applicant. It is evident that the candidate’s answers are seen as insignificant by the interviewing panel from the very beginning, as their response to the panel’s questions are not included. I believe Fanthorpe has done this to show that the candidate is voiceless when in an interview, and to display the pointlessness of interviews, when the outcome has been decided before the interview even takes place. The only way we have of knowing the answer to the interviewer’s questions are by making an educated guess from the response of the panel, which, in most cases, is a single, unenthusiastic phrase such as
“Ah” or “indeed”
It is clear that the interviewers have no interest in the person’s justifications for why they are suitable for the job; they simply make impertinent comments on the information displayed on their application form.
“Let us consider your application form”
This quote from the poem shows the disinterest in the actual person, and more interest on their class, gender, and other factors displayed on their application form.
The panel spend little time discussing the candidate’s “impressive” qualifications, and almost immediately moves on to focus on the negative aspect of them, and their possible use within the job for which the applicant is applying. The candidate is asked to justify the use of their qualifications very early in the interview.
“Would you care to defend their [the applicant’s qualifications] relevance?”
This would succeed in belittling the applicant, particularly when the interviewer’s response to their well though out answer is a sceptical “indeed”
After the polite, (if inhospitable) beginning to the job interview, the meeting soon descends into a personal battering of the applicant’s self esteem by the authoritative figure of the interviewer. The first matter the interviewing panel broaches is the age of the applicant.
“Perhaps you feel able to make a comment about that,
Too? We are conscious ourselves
Of the need for a candidate with precisely
The right degree of immaturity”
These comments, although ‘sugar-coated’ by the authoritative figure, succeed in alienating the candidate, and forcing them into assent. We can tell that the interviewee has been pressured into agreeing with the panel from the interviewer’s response after the applicant’s unheard comments.
“So glad we agree”
This indicates that the interviewing panel has repressed the candidate so much that they have simply begun to agree with the rhetoric statements made by the interviewer. Fanthorpe has included this to show that in wider society, authority influences people to conform to its rules and ideas, and does not allow free though or speech. Also, Fanthorpe has arisen the point that authoritative figures abuse the power they have been given, and this leads to corrupting the individual in possession of the power.
In the next stanza, the interviewer reveals another prejudice; that of the looks of the applicant. The panel is very rude during this stanza:
“You do appreciate this work involves
Contact with the actual public? Might they,
Perhaps, find your appearance
Disturbing?”
This reveals the blunt, inconsiderate nature of the interviewing panel, and, in Fanthorpe’s opinion, the whole of society. The interviewing panel has succeeded in making the candidate feel small, simply because of the way they are, and I believe that Fanthorpe is trying to illustrate a point that sexism, racism, ageism and other prejudices succeed constantly in repressing often valuable members of society into conforming to authority’s ideals.
In the next stanza, the interview panel seem to fire a barrage of questions at he applicant about their background, particularly their accent. Fanthorpe uses the clever technique of making one of the interviewers ‘accidentally’ use the wrong phrase, to deliver a highly offensive insult.
“Were you educated? We mean, of course,
Where were you educated?”
This is a comical way of accentuating the prejudice the interview shows when choosing a suitable candidate to take the job. The accent an applicant has obviously influences the choice a lot, although in actuality, the accent of a person has no effect on their intelligence. The panel were evidently considering the reactions of people using their company, who may think that they employ people of a lower intellect, which would make the company look sub-standard. This shows the way that people within society automatically judge others on the way they speak, as the panel simply assumed the candidate had little education because of their accent.
In the final stanza, the interview descends yet further into a sequence of offensive statements. The rhetoric questions have ceased, and the true nature of an interview, in Fanthorpe’s eyes, is revealed; a pointless meeting aimed purely at belittling the applicant, and enforcing authority’s stance on society. In this stanza, it becomes implicit that the candidate is female, as the interview panel focus strongly upon family background.
“Married, children,
We see. The usual dubious
Desire to perpetuate what had better
Not have happened at all.”
The fact that the candidate was asked about her family would tend to indicate that the applicant is female, as the panel would then begin to worry about the children, and whether they would need looking after. This may be a problem for the company.
The panel are also rude to the applicant in this part of the poem, as they insinuate that they cannot understand why the applicant would even consider having children, when, in fact, it would be better for the world if the candidate had never been born.
The poem ends emphatically, with the satirical statement
“And you were born-?
Yes. Pity.”
This is a witty use of word play by Fanthorpe. The interviewer is actually asking when the applicant was born, but in the absence of any dialogue, it seems as though the interviewer is saying that it is a pity that the candidate was born. With this final stanza, particularly the final line, I feel Fanthorpe is attempting to make a point that authoritative figures are of the opinion that anybody who does not fall within their ideals should not even exist.
In conclusion, the poem ‘You Will Be Hearing From Us Shortly’ is a poem aimed at bringing into relief the discrimination that has been ingrained into society. Fanthorpe is attempting to make a point that certain people, particularly women, are considered as useless, and are seen as undeserving of a voice within society by authoritative figures. She successfully proves that people of authority exploit the power they have over the masses, by belittling them, and repressing them to such an extent that they are forced to conform. Authority makes judgement on people not by the way they are individually, but base their judgements on factors that are not, in actual fact, of any relevance.
In the poem ‘Reports’, Fanthorpe offers yet another aspect to the role of authority and the way authoritative figures exploit people within society. In this instance, the poem is a simulated conversation between an older, more experienced teacher, and a newer teacher, focusing on the ‘correct’ way to write a school report. Fanthorpe has deliberately written the report very cynically, in an attempt to portray authoritative figures as cold and impersonal. In the final stanza, the poem adopts a tone of irony, when Fanthorpe compares the reports we receive at school to the way we live our lives. Being a former teacher herself, Fanthorpe would have known the perils of report writing, and likewise would have known the attitudes that some teachers take towards who they see as their inferiors, the pupils. Fanthorpe’s reason for leaving the teaching profession was that “I saw that the power was having a negative effect on me.” This shows Fanthorpe’s negative opinions on the authority that teachers have, and the way some of them abuse it.
The poem contains several short stanzas, using short, snappy phrases, which all make a separate point. In the first of these, there is a fundamental warning to teachers about the language they should use. The teacher writing the report is advised to use dull phrases so that the report does not generate any unwanted interest or complications from parents.
“Don’t give them anything
To take hold of. Even
Pronouns are dangerous.”
The teacher is being warned not to use pronouns because the teacher may mistake the gender of the pupil, therefore exposing the teacher’s lack of knowledge of individual pupils; essentially, the report could be given to any student.
The next stanza focuses on the impersonal nature of the reports once again, when Fanthorpe implies that the good pupils are not necessarily known from the bad.
“The good have no history…
Satisfactory should satisfy them.”
This stanza is included, I feel, to illustrate the fact that the good students are often ignored while the teacher is attempting to control the more disobedient pupils. This would mean that the teacher would have very little knowledge of the pupil, and therefore would not know, in actual fact, whether the pupil was good or not. The teacher is advised, instead of using ‘good’, to use a more universal phrase; ‘satisfactory’. By using ‘safe’ phrases such as this, teachers guard themselves from provoking high expectations from parents and higher authorities.
Stanza 3 makes another point about the way reports are depersonalised by the teachers. The teacher writing the report is advised to use terms that can relate to any pupil:
“Fair and quite good,
Multi-purpose terms,
By meaning nothing,
Apply to all.”
This shows the way teachers make reports appear personal, but are actually simply using universal terms that could relate to a range of students. The reason the teacher has chosen to do this is to prevent any unwanted backlash from parents.
In the first three stanzas, I feel that Fanthorpe is proclaiming that the authoritative figure does not see the people placed under their authority as individuals, but as a large group. This emphasises the fact that authority causes the identity and individuality of a person to be lost.
The teachers in this poem are also aware of the need to make themselves look as though they are not to blame for the pupil’s problems at school.
“Unmanageable oaf cuts both ways.
Finds the subject difficult,
Acquitting you,
Converts oaf into idiot, usher to master.”
Such phrases as ‘Unmanageable oaf’ reflect badly on the teacher, and suggests that the teacher may not be able to cope. To avoid this, the teachers use clever euphemisms to make it seem as though it is the pupil failing, and not the teacher. This illustrates the exploitation of the teacher’s authority over their pupils.
The next stanza warns that people will try to read into the reports, so they must remain as simple as possible, to avoid any complications.
“Set them no riddles, just
Echo the common-room cliché:
Must make more effort.”
The teachers are acutely aware of the need to keep the reports similar, as this will avoid confusion. Using common phrases such as ‘Must make more effort’ means that the parent, head and child accept the report, and they will not feel compelled to question the report further.
Although the poem is based around teacher’s relationships with pupils, in the final stanza, Fanthorpe uses school as a metaphor for life.
“Remember your high calling:
School is the world.”
Fanthorpe uses irony to indicate that the way we live our lives is similar to our school reports.
“Born at Sound beginning
We move from satisfactory
To fair, then Find
The subject difficult,
Learning at last we
Could have done better.”
In this final part of the stanza, I feel that Fanthorpe is attempting to make a statement that during life, you endeavour to be the best you can be, but ultimately realise that the decisions you have made may not have been the right ones. Moreover, she may be trying to make the point that one is pushed into inconspicuousness by authority, which causes one to feel disappointed, and insignificant. In the poem, we have no way of knowing whether Fanthorpe is referring to herself, or people in general, but the slightly bitter tone in the final three lines, and, indeed, the final stanza, is evident.
“Stone only, final instructor,
Modulates from the indicative
With rest in peace.”
By this, Fanthorpe means that the only time that we avoid the ‘report’ system of life is when we die, and our epitaph is inscribed onto our grave.
To conclude, the poem ‘Reports’ is illustrating the way that teachers depersonalise pupils, in order to prevent problems for them. The pupils are seen as one whole state, and the fact that the education system does not allow individuality leads to a sense of disappointment later on in life. This shows that individuals are repressed by society, and do not feel able to follow their own paths, as they are constantly being grouped with others.
Quintessentially, the poems ‘Not My Best Side’, ‘You Will Be Hearing From Us Shortly’, and ‘Reports’ all emphasise that UA Fanthorpe believes that power corrupts, and that people of authority usually use it to their advantage, to belittle others or to make them feel sub-standard. It is also clear that Fanthorpe believes that authority within society leads to depersonalisation of a character, and the stifling of individuals into conformity.
