Doris has a dead husband, Wilfred, who she misses a lot. We can tell that Doris misses him by the way she talks to her wedding photo, “Cracked the photo. Were cracked, Wilfred,” and by the way she talks about him a lot during the monologue; “We were always on our own, me and Wilfred.” This causes the audience to feel sympathy for Doris because the audience can see that she truly misses him because she talks to the photo so it seems to the audience that she is not used to not talking to Wilfred and because Doris and Wilfred always used to be on their own now that Wilfred is dead Doris is left by herself.
The audience also feels sympathy for Doris is because of Zuleema, Doris’ house keeper. Zuleema dictates to Doris by saying “Doris, the ewbank is strictly out of bounds.” Doris also says “I was glad when she’d gone, dictating.” This makes the audience feel sorry for Doris because the term ‘out of bounds’ implies a lot of rules and regulations and it seems like Zuleema tries to force Doris to do as she's told.
Another reason why the audience feels sympathy for Doris is because she doesn’t want to go to Stafford house. Zuleema works for Stafford house. Stafford house is an old people’s home. Doris doesn’t want to be sent there because she thinks that all the old people there will ‘smell of pee’ and ‘go daft. It’s the only way to go.” This causes the audience to feel sympathy for Doris because she already has a fear of Stafford house even though she hasn’t been there.
We also feel sympathetic towards Doris as Zuleema threatens her about going to Stafford house. Zuleema says to Doris “What you don’t seem to understand, Doris, is that I am the only person standing in between you and Stafford house.” This makes the audience feel sympathy for Doris because Zuleema threatens Doris using her fear of Stafford house to make her do as she is told.
Doris has a mad obsession with cleaning. Doris says “Shan’t let on I was dusting. Dusting is forbidden.” This causes the audience to feel sorry for Doris because she is obsessed with cleaning but she isn’t allowed to clean.
The audience feels empathy for Doris because her obsession with cleanliness causes her to fall and break her leg while trying to dust her wedding photo, which also falls and cracks. She looks down at the photo and says ‘Cracked the photo. We’re cracked, Wilfred.’ This makes the audience feel sympathy for Doris because her obsession with cleanliness leads to her climbing up to dust the top of her wedding photo, which causes her to fall and break her leg, so she is stuck on the floor with no help, and also causes her to crack one of her most treasured possessions, her and Wilfred’s wedding photo.
Even though Doris is stuck on the floor in pain, she still worries about the dirt and comments on the lack of Zuleema’s cleaning. Doris finds a cream cracker under the settee and says ‘She’s not half done this place, Zuleema.’ This causes the audience to feel sympathy for Doris because she is still concerned with her obsession with cleanliness even while she is stuck on the floor in pain.
The audience feels sympathy towards Doris because she thinks that Zuleema doesn’t clean properly. Doris thinks that ‘Zuleema doesn’t dust, she half dusts.’ This makes us feel sympathy for Doris because she is not allowed to clean, even though she is obsessed with cleanliness, so she is frustrated when Zuleema, who is supposed to clean her house properly, only half cleans.
Another reason why the audience feels sympathy for Doris is because she cares a lot about what people think of her. She thinks that people will judge her for having a dirty pathway. We see she thinks this when Doris says ‘… they see the path and think ‘Them’s her leaves.’ Well, they’re not’ and she also says ‘I ought to put a note on the gate. ‘Not my leaves.’’ Doris doesn’t like people to think that she's not clean. This makes the audience feel sympathy for Doris as she cares too much about what other people think of her and this shows signs of her obsession again.
We also feel sorry for Doris as she has no children. Doris only had one child, which died at birth. Doris said ‘I wanted to call it John. The nurse said it wasn’t fit to be called anything and do we have any newspaper.’ This causes the audience to feel sorry for Doris because her only child was still born and ‘wrapped up in newspaper like it was dirty.’ Doris does not want her child to be seen as dirty. This may have triggered Doris’ obsession with cleanliness because she thinks her child was seen as dirty and didn’t want anything in her life to be seen as dirty. Also her feelings were not considered by the nurse or Wilfred, as Wilfred ‘then starts talking about getting a dog.’ This seems like he is trying to replace a child with a dog which could be quite offensive to Doris as she just lost her child. We feel sympathetic towards Doris because the people around her at the time had no sympathy for her.
The audience shows compassion towards Doris because she is stuck on the floor with no help. There are two points in the monologue when Doris could have asked for help but doesn’t. First the little kid comes onto her lawn and she is about to ask her help, but then he starts urinating on her lawn. Instead of asking for help she shouts ‘Hey. Get out. Go on. Clear off.’ This makes us feel sorry for Doris as she is obsessed with cleanliness that she would put it in front of her own safety and completely forgets to ask for help.
Another point where she could have asked for help is when she is sitting at her door and a police man knocks saying ‘Are you alright?’ Doris replies ‘No… I’m all right.’ Doris does not ask the policeman for help because she does not want it too seem like she can’t take care of herself. She may also feel embarrassed that she had got herself into that situation and she knows that if she asks for help it will seem like she is not fit to live alone and she will be sent to Stafford house.
At the end of the monologue it seems as if Doris has lost her life. Her last words are ‘Never mind. It’s done with now, anyway,’ then the light fades. As the light fades this shows us that her life has come to an end and has faded away. This causes the audience to feel sympathy for Doris as she had died sadly and alone sitting on the cold floor at her front door.
This monologue shows us that old people are not really treated with respect and are not given a lot of independence because they are just put into homes. This monologue makes me feel a lot more sympathy for old people in our society because through this monologue I can see that old people are not treated the way they should be and I think this needs to change. We should give old people more independence. Who are we to take it away from them?
All the points listed are all reasons which contribute towards how Alan Bennett makes the audience feel sympathy for the character Doris in A Cream Cracker under the Settee.
