Compare and Contrast at Least Three stories from "A Time to Dance".

Authors Avatar

Nikhil Patel

15 December 2003

Compare and Contrast at Least Three stories from “A Time to Dance”

A Time to Dance is a compilation of stories, most of which are set in Northern Ireland. The three stories chosen each centre mainly around one or two central characters. The Daily Woman depicts the life of Liz, a mother who regularly suffers beatings from her husband and pursued by her boss, prostitutes herself for extra cash. Phonefun Limited tells us about two retired prostitutes who find a new way of making money by making a phone call and Father and Son explores the relationship between a father and son who have lost their wife and mother and are not able to cope with the situation.  

In all three of these stories, there is a running theme of loneliness, with each of them showing how different people deal with such emotions. In Father and Son, both of the characters isolate themselves. They do not converse with each other and because of this isolation their relationship turns to a more hostile nature:

My son, he is full of hatred. For me, for everything. He spits when he speaks.

His son isolates himself by locking the door to his room because he believes that his "lousy" father isn't strong enough to help him with his problems. What becomes obvious is that he feels threatened as well and therefore has a gun under his bed. Alternatively in The Daily Woman Liz having just been beaten by her husband Eamonn, decides to treat herself at a hotel and fill the void, which even if she does, she knows will only be temporary. In Phonefun Limited, the “retired” prostitutes have never been in a serious relationship as they’re former line of work prevented them from doing this and they too are alone and deal with it by blocking and hiding their true emotions.

Join now!

We can clearly see in Father and Son that there has been a major breakdown in their relationship which is soon revealed to us:

My mother is dead but I have another one in her place. He is an old woman.

This is similar to the relationship between Liz and Eamonn in The Daily Woman, but the cause of the breakdown there is unknown.

Different techniques of characterisation are used in each of the stories. Phonefun Limited seems to mainly rely on the dialogue and their actions to portray the characters Sadie and Agnes:

I’m the brains. You’re supposed to ...

This is a preview of the whole essay