Quotes/Notes for Ploughing
Quotes/Notes for Ploughing ‘mother’s face grew queer and questioning, her eyes far back on those springs, she might never see again, dear and blithe they had been’ – this shows that jean Guthrie does not really like her life anymore, she wishes that she could go back to better times. The reason she doesn’t enjoy life anymore is because John Guthrie has changes so much – ‘the dourness hardened, hard and cold, in the heart of Jean Guthrie’s man’‘one night they heard her cry to John Guthrie – ‘“Four of a family is fine, there’ll be no more” and father thundered at her, that way he had “Fine? We’ll have what God in his mercy may send to us, woman. See you to that’ – jean hates childbirth, she has a terrible time with this, This also shows how religious John was, mainly due to his back ground – He thinks God should decide when they should have children as well as how many they have. (Big families were normal at this time)‘ “Come over Jehovah” – Will cried to the horse, John Guthrie came ‘fleeting across the yard into the stable’ this is because he does not believe in this word being used, as it is like taking his makers name in vain. The incident which then happens is – he hits Will and he fell below the feet of their horse, Bess the is bleeding ‘and then John Guthrie dragged his son aside an paid no more heed to him’ – this is almost like he cares more about the horse than his own son. He then states ‘ “if I ever hear you use that word again, I’ll libb you. Mind that. Libb you like a lamb”’ – this show how violent and threatening he can be towards his children.The two Chris’s come up a lot in this section – ‘two Chris’s there were that fought for her heart and tormented her’ There is the English Chris, who is the one which wants to go on to further education and to the middle-class of a teacher at the moment it looks as though this one will prevail, and the Scottish Chris is the one which loves the land and beauty and
sweetness of Scotland. ‘Flowers of the forest’ – this is a lament about the soldiers, which went to Flodden and never returned, it is written from the point of view of a women and her husband does not come back it, had a great meaning to Chris, she first hears it when she is a child in Echt, it makes her want to cry, here she writes an essay about it significance of which her school masters approves. Her first experience of childbirth ‘mother had an awful time as she’d always had. She was sobbing and ill when she went ...
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sweetness of Scotland. ‘Flowers of the forest’ – this is a lament about the soldiers, which went to Flodden and never returned, it is written from the point of view of a women and her husband does not come back it, had a great meaning to Chris, she first hears it when she is a child in Echt, it makes her want to cry, here she writes an essay about it significance of which her school masters approves. Her first experience of childbirth ‘mother had an awful time as she’d always had. She was sobbing and ill when she went to bed’ this is when the twins are born. The decidedly nasty nature of the whole business is summed up for Chris by the smell of the doctor’s hands, which haunt her for a day and a night.Chris becomes more aware of human sexuality at this point, she sees her father smitten with guilt at what he calls ‘the lusts of the flesh’. She asks Will ‘”What has father to do with it?”‘ this is not unusual for someone of her age to be so nieve and not know about it as it was not explained in school. Will explains by saying ‘What’s a bull to do with a calf, you fool?”’, this first realisation of sex was not a good one, as mother is screaming and father is unhappy as a result of it! But she uses her natural ability to get beyond these things; she has a levelheaded approach.Now they move from Donside to the Mearns (there new farm), when looking for a place to move to John Guthrie becomes aware at this part about how small crofters are being squeezed out by the large, modern farms. ‘he saw that nearly all the district was land of the large-like farm, he’d be squeezed to death and he’d stand no chance’. The move itself was awful, mainly due to the awful weather that they had to do it in. ‘Darkness came down like a wet, wet blanket, weariness below it and the crying of the twins to vex John Guthrie’. Jean wants to stop on the way and stay over night due to the conditions, but John carries on. This shows that he had strength of will and he is an admirable character. The reason they had to move in the first place was due to him being stubborn – he would not back down when he had trouble with motorist and he said what he thinks. Also when they first get to Blawearie, he has a run in with someone shooting on his land ‘ “u’re not to shoot on MY land d’hear?”’This bit introduces the major theme of change-a family change of habitat (this would probably be the first main change Chris had experienced).On the first night they stayed in their new house Chris and Will sleep together to keep warm, Will moves back to his own bed before morning in case of what father might think. Chris thinks to herself ‘was it likely a brother and a sister would do anything if they slept together? And besides, she didn’t know how.’ This shows she is just at the age of realisation and confusion – as she had never really thought of it of anything but normal before.At college in Duncairn, she met Marget Strachan (Chae’s daughter) and they made friends. Here is another example where her personality is split – ‘two Chrisses went there each morning, and one was right douce and studious and the other sat…. and minded Blawearie brae and the champ of horses and the smell of dung and her father’s brown, grained hands till she was sick to go home again’. Then in the part where it says ‘he was a socialist and thought that Rich and Poor should be Equal. And what was the sense of believing that and then sending his daughter to educate herself and become one of the rich.’ – the narration changes subtlety in this paragraph from factual writing to gossipy comments. Marget continues to educate her about sex – Chris finds this talk thrilling but also shameful, she finds this feeling that sex is somehow rather frightening which is reinforced by the incident when Andy the daftie breaks out on a sexual rampage and he first approaches, Mistress Ellison violently and crudely but then his encounter with the sexual innocence of Maggie Jean Gordon makes him cry. She tells him ‘mother only was allowed to touch her there, not anyone else’. This causes the innocence within her to be given a jolt, not just due to her meeting with Andy but also due to the fact that her father goes mad when he finds out and implies that something terrible could of happened, which would of, destroyed her forever. Marget kisses her and said ‘wait till you find yourself in the arms of your land….he’ll take you like this…-and hold you like this, with his hand held so, and kiss you like this!’ After this she felt ill each time she saw mother/father, but she put that behind her – ‘Nothing endures.’ – Marget soon leaves to go to Aberdeen – this is the first person to leave (change).At this time there is no minister at the church, we get a description of three, which came to try to get the job. Minister one – Was small and basically a laughing stalk. Minister two- He was a ‘poor old brute from Banff’, not many people paid attention to him, only Chris and her father. He talked about history of the land, the rising of Christ, the talks about how the innocence of natural man is destroyed by the coming of civilization. ‘he pictured the dark, slow tribes that came drifting across the low lands of the northern seas, the great bear watched them com, and they hunted and fished and loved and died, God’s children in the morn of time: and he brought the first voyagers sailing the sounding coasts, they brought the heathen idols of the great Stone Rings, the Golden Age was over and past and lust cruelty trod the world..’ We also learn that the standing stone were raided up by these first bringers of civilization so that they mark the beginning of that process of which we are now seeing the climax. Minister three- This is reverend Gibbon who talks about breasts and thighs – earthy things that they recognise. His voice is described to be ‘brave and big like the voice of a bull.’ They go for him in the end as only john Guthrie votes for number two. Long Rob of the mill is always negative about the church and makes laughs about it ‘Ellison and Mutch, they were awful king’s men both of them, ready to die for the King any day of the week and twice on Sundays, said Long Rob of the Mill’, which put across the authors own point of view. The hypocritical behaviour of the ministers of the Kirk is treated quite lightly. Chris goes to get a book from the manse, the reverend swore she decides not to tell father as it was kind of him to lend her the book and father did not no that she was going to get the book, also her father himself swore sometimes. When she returns home the rain comes on, her father gets mad and started ‘raging at Will and Chris that he’d leather them till they hadn’t enough skin to sit a threepenny bit on: and at last, fair skite, he’d shaken his fist at the sky and cried, Ay, laugh, you mucker!’Chris is washing her closes in a big tub with only her underwear on, her father comes in and cries ‘Get out of that at once, you shameful limmer, and get on your clothes!’ He then begins to rage at mother, asking what she thought people would say if they saw her – ‘We’d be the speak and laughing stock of the place’ then her mother comes back with a very calm/down to earth approach ‘ wouldn’t be the first time you’ve seen a naked lass yourself: if your neighbours haven’t they must have fathered their own bairns with their breeks on’Chris see’s a ‘caged beast’ within her father’s eyes, this links to his predicament with that of Andy the daftie. – He was barely keeping his lust under control.Chris asks her mother about this she becomes ‘so white and ill-looking’, her mother tells her ‘you’ll have to face men for yourself when the time comes, there’s none can stand help you’- she will have to work it out for herself – the interactions between men and women.She works out that things always change except the weather, the English Chris wants to go to Aberdeen university as it will be a way out and she could never get married then as she wouldn’t be allowed to teach (so she wouldn’t have to deal with men!). The Scottish Chris did not want this, she does not no what she want to do there is conflict between the two Chris’sIntro to next stage as she runs down to see what Dod and Alec were waving her up for and crying to her.