Steve’s father was very aggressive towards him on numerous occasions. He punches him for know reason and even threw him out once for burning the toast. One time when Steve was thrown out he went round to see Sandra to explain what had happened to him. The type of caring person that Sandra is she took him in. After listening to Steve she told him he could stay the night. Then said this to Steve’s dad “Your little Steven’s round at our place tonight. I’ve every mind to report you.” This shows the sensitive and caring side that Sandra has.
Among all Sandra’s responsibilities she tries her best to monitor Jamie’s progress at school. Sandra makes sure of this by the phrase “I shall be checking your homework when I get in.” This is to ensure he is doing well. Sandra is also very unreliable like when she is supposed to check Jamie’s homework she doesn’t even though she promises too do so. Telling Jamie “Ooh, Sod that, I’m knackered” gives a mixed impression that she is trying her best to provide money but is short of time due to working, and this is why she is tired.
Another shocking point is that Sandra is incredibly judgemental. Coming to negative conclusions without thinking about the consequences and affects that it has on other people. Sandra proves her character is judgemental by telling Leah “A Leopard never changes its spots and a slapper never changes her knickers.” An alternative example of Sandra being judgmental is when she tells Jamie “I want you inside. She’s a bad influence.” Both these quotes prove how Sandra is quick to form an unpleasant opinion of someone.
Additionally Sandra is also extremely boastful and is keen to tell others about her achievements. Bragging to a group of friends telling them “I won that hanging basket in the south east Thames barmaid at the year awards.” Sandra is proving that she is significantly more than an average barmaid the proof of this was winning the award.
Sandra is also very insecure. She was adopted when she was a child so she can’t remember her real parents at all. She is not sure that she is a good parent, because she doesn’t know how to bring up a child properly and not knowing her real parents she feels she can’t ask for help and advice. As a result she occasionally makes mistakes and when she makes mistakes she feels very upset because she thinks that she has failed as a parent. “I never had a mum and dad so think your self lucky, sometimes I’m going to make mistakes.”
Another good point to Sandra is that she is tremendously proud and has a high opinion of her own abilities. This demonstrates that she has a tough character because she is prepared to boast to anyone about her abilities when she achieves something. Sandra is also confident in what she does. An example of Sandra’s confidence is when she was talking about her time at school. She enjoyed sport at school and was good at it she said “I was a brilliant netball player when I was at school”. Sandra was trying to encourage Jamie at school with sport because he didn’t like it because of this he comes home every time he has P.E. In trying to encourage Jamie to enjoy P.E Sandra is trying to get Jamie to interact with others and to prove that he can achieve great things. Like the things she couldn’t achieve with her real parents.
Sarcastic is another good way of describing Sandra’s amusing character she like’s making other characters very feel small by insulting their intelligence “You wouldn’t know sense if it came up and slapped you round the face and said, I’m sense.” By being sarcastic and insulting people Sandra is preventing people from hurting her because she is covering up her vulnerable side. This part of Sandra’s character lost her many friends because they didn’t liked to be talked to in this way. It is very hurtful and not much fun but it prevented Sandra getting hurt.
Honest is another good way of describing Sandra’s characteristic, she believes in facing facts and speaking the truth even though she doesn’t always speak the truth herself. She always makes Jamie tell the truth and quotes to him “it’s no time for lying Jamie” This is to prove that the truth will always come out in the end.
Harvey uses Sandra to create many dramatic functions these include the theme, lifestyle, tension and many more. The main dramatic function is that there is nothing wrong with being gay. Sandra shows this by not throwing him Jamie out. “I’m not going to put you out in the morning with the milk bottles.”
Sandra sets a certain theme in “Beautiful Thing.” The theme for the story is about a single mother and how she manages to bring up a child on her own. Harvey uses Sandra show all the sides to bringing up a child single-handed. These include the good and bad sides to Sandra and how she copes. The Theme Sandra brings to the play is that she is tolerant, understanding, acceptance and loving. She accepts Jamie for what he is even when he tells her that he is gay. “I’m not going to put you out in the morning with the bottles.” This shows that whatever Jamie wants to be that it is his option and she doesn’t want to change that given that her character is accepting and loving no matter what. We learn from this to accept people for what they are and not to try and change them but to accept them for what they are.
Harvey uses Sandra to bring contrasts to the play. This is demonstrated by, Sandra’s acceptance of Jamie contrasted with Ronnie’s cruelty to Ste. This is used to show how characters can differ and have different attitudes towards life and to show not everyone is the same. From this can form an opinion that everyone will believe in what they consider is right.
Lifestyle in another function, that Sandra brings into the play. Sandra represents a hard working class woman that is totally independent. That’s had working in a sense that she is loving and honest even though she sometimes is sarcastic. She shows that you can still be successful even if you are disadvantaged because of Jamie being gay but and she thinks that young gay should be cared for and loved. She doesn’t tell Jamie that she feels disadvantaged by him being gay because she doesn’t want to hurt or upset him.
Harvey uses Sandra to add dramatic tensions in the play. This is an alternative function demonstrated by the conflicts Sandra has with Jamie, Leah and Tony. Tension is used in the play to cause friction and to show the opinions of the different characters when arguing. From this we gain more knowledge about Sandra’s character. This is that she sticks to what she believes in and isn’t shy to stick up for what she believes in. Friction is important because it is one of the main functions of the play.
In conclusion I think that Sandra is a fascinating person. She has lots of different effects on people this makes her an interesting character to study because she is a contradiction one hand she’s tough but on the other hand she’s tender. Another good example of this is that she is judgmental but she is also a tolerant person. Negative and positive qualities.