English Lit - Outsiders

Authors Avatar

Chris Lindsay 11-2

By Referring To You Have Read, One Of Which Must Be From Another Culture, Discuss The Presentation Of The Characters Who Are ‘Outsiders’.

OUTSIDERS

Both poems by Carol Ann Duffy, Education for leisure and Stealing share a main theme, Outsiders however the imagery and language used to display this theme differ significantly between the two. Both poems share a main character that is separated from everyday society but the character in Education for leisure appears to take his separation more seriously; his thoughts even extend to planning a murder, compared to a less violent character in stealing. Another noticeable difference is that the character in Education for leisure appears to talk about what he is doing presently, more in the moment compared to a more reflective character in Stealing, possibly talking to a doctor or police officer etc.

In Education for leisure the character uses violent and boastful language “Today I am going to kill something” “I am a genius”. The character n Education for leisure is bored and restless, and so has decided to kill something. He seems arrogant and believes, what he is doing, i.e. planning murder, is reasonable behaviour for a human being. This is also emphasised by the character’s calm tone of voice as he describes killing the fly and how he believes himself so be a superstar. The character cannot understand why nobody understands him or believes that he is a superstar or genius “He cuts me off”, however he blames everyone else but himself for his lack or recognition “I could be anything with half the chance”

In stealing we see the character almost engage in a conversation with perhaps a therapist or police officer, possible after having being caught stealing. He starts with the repeating a question “The most unusual thing I ever stole?” and ends with one “You don’t understand a word I’m saying do you?” We learn throughout the poem that the character lives a very lonely and solitary life; he steals things just for the thrill. Throughout stealing we see the character show both boredom and frustration. He says “Boredom. Mostly I’m so bored I could eat myself”, when congers up some very strange and surreal imagery in the reader’s mind. As for frustration we see his anger build up throughout the poem culminating in his violent destruction of the snowman. At the end of the poem, he ends with a question which seems to explain how futile he thought his attempt at communication with another person was.

Join now!

The character in Education for leisure sees himself as a genius, and also has some strange ideas about certain concepts, for example when he says “Today I am going to play God” he sees God, to be a being that kills and causes pain and suffering compared to the usual image of a God how created the world. Although he starts off killing Animals, such as the fly he seems to be planning a murder from the very beginning “It is an ordinary day”, this leads us to believe that it san ordinary day for whoever he chooses as ...

This is a preview of the whole essay