There are also very strong signs of him being mentally ill, there are clues like; he attends a support group, he attends a day centre, takes medication and he used to live in a hostel. When Mr Turnbull (Graham’s mothers old friend) is talking to Grahams mother (but actually aiming it at Graham) he says “I don’t believe in mental illness” instead of saying something that he might regret he used silence as a defence mechanism. The comment that Mr Turnbull made is another indication of Graham’s mental illness.
Graham and his mother are very close, as the first thing written in “ a chip in the sugar” is that he has taken up a cup of tea for her and is swilling her teeth. He takes her out every day to visit he war memorial and held a bucket for her when she was being sick. He cares about her a lot; this is particularly because she is the only person he has.
Graham thinks he is really clever, he tries to educate his mother “she’s picked up enough from me to be able to hold her own in up to the minute issues.” But in actual fact he himself is not particularly clever.
A particular thing that annoys graham about his mother is that when he “slips” his arm through hers to help her cross the road she purposely hesitates to remove her arm. She does this because they were once mistaken for husband and wife, this obviously upset graham because she is his mother and he would not want to be assumed to be the same age, but for her, it was a compliment.
Graham is very pretentious when he thinks he is highly educated as he reads The Guardian, he acts like a snob but he is actually lacking in any real education or class.
When Mr Turnbull enters the monologue he pushes Graham aside because grahams mother is sitting on the floor having just fallen over, they realise they are old friends. From then he changes Grahams routine which threatens his mental illness. Mr Turnbull brings life into grahams mother’s life by taking her out for meals and trips but graham is left behind which gets him angry and jealous. Mr Turnbull doesn’t really like Graham as he keeps making little remarks about him being mentally ill, like “I don’t believe in mental illness”. When Graham describes Mr Turnbull it brings out a comical element as you can hear Graham’s prejudices, snobbery and jealousy. You have to use your imagination to think what Mr Turnbull is really like.
Just like Graham from “ a chip in the sugar”, Irene from, “a lady of letters “ is middle aged and lived with her mother. Irene is an old fashioned person and, like Graham, she doesn’t know any other way of living, she has her own routine that she is set to and has stayed like that since her mother died.
When Irene is bored she writes letters as like a hobby, she thinks she is doing good sending letters to the council and such, complaining about the standard of the streets and anything else she can kind to complain about. But in actual fact she is annoying everyone she writes to. Irene writes many letters because she is lonely and thinks that, by getting a reply its like she has a friend, the pen she writes with she also calls a friend, “its been a real friend” Irene is like Graham In many ways because both of them are quick to judge and are not very trusting, Graham with Mr Turnbull and Irene with the social workers. And like Graham she noses into other peoples lives because she is unfulfilled with her own.
When the social workers come round she is not very helpful towards them, and she makes it clear to the reader that it is the norm and they are usually there. After they have left, she makes it clear that she has been in trouble with the police before “but they always call me Irene, her, the police, everybody” and “I’m on what’s called a suspended sentence.”
After telling us she’s on a suspended sentence, she still carries on writing letters because she is not aware what she is doing is wrong. When she is talking about prison, she shows just how narrow minded she is by saying “they have it easy, television, table tennis, art, its just like a holiday” this is very Ironic.
She writes a letter about the people across the street accusing them for mistreating their child, social workers come round to inform her that’s she is very inconsiderate because in actual fact the child is in hospital with leukaemia. She gets put in prison for this.
When she is in prison she tries to fit in by swearing like the other prisoners, she however has never sworn before an gets it wrong by saying fuck up instead of fuck off, this puts humour into the monologue.
When Irene’s mother dies she leaves a pen in her possession and this becomes basically her only friend. Her mothers death is a big shock for Irene because she has always relied on her and, like Graham, not having her mother with her is a huge change in her routine. It is obvious that Irene is not used to functioning with out her mother and her death has changed her because she says “my mother knew everyone in the whole street” and “I haven’t been Irene. Since mother died” this is also like graham, as when his mother keeps going out with Mr Turnbull, graham gets upset by change. Just like we’ve seen with graham, Irene has got a mental illness. This is very gradual, but becomes obvious. “Getting upset, like I did before” “this tablet will help you take a more balanced view” and “if they new they were being watched they might behave” there is also awareness that she has been in trouble with writing vindictive letters before. “Who was it who gave the lollipop man a nervous breakdown?”
Irene sees herself as a public guardian, believes she is doing good for the general public she even has the council install a ramp for wheelchairs and calls it “my monumental ramp”
Irene doesn’t think that she will ever be happy, so she doesn’t try to be. She is cynical of life “whereas in life you can see you’re never going to be happy so you never are happy”
When Irene goes to prison, it is ironic how she gains a sense of freedom. “This is the first taste of freedom I’ve has in years” it is better for her, having a mental illness, to have a structured life and she finally has some friends.
When it comes to the social workers they are ineffective, as neither graham nor Irene take any notice of them, this is because with graham, Steve treats them like they are all children, and talks to them like they are simple, and uses catchphrases to try and get his point across, with Irene when the social workers come round she just thinks all they seem to answer is “me too” which for a person with mental instabilities she needs someone who listens to her and makes her feel as if they do care about her rather than as if her point is insignificant and it happens to everyone. This is how Bennet portrays them, he reveals this contempt for them, satire.
I think that Allan Bennett was very clever by using a monologue as you hear one side of the story, if gets your imagination working better because you have to imagine what is really going on and see past the shallow view of the two characters.
If we knew the truth and didn’t only see what graham and Irene see then it would be uninteresting to read.
