Today if a woman is left alone then she gets help from the government through income support, child benefit and other kinds of financial backing. But at this time the government didn’t offer financial help to the people so many people like Mrs Johnston suffered. But life is still not equal because many people still can’t afford designer clothes or afford to send their children to private school.
This has changed now because then the government didn’t provide any financial help for single mums. Also at this time there were high levels of redundancies and unemployment. This meant it was harder for her to get a job and provide for her family. When she says ‘Next week I’ll be earning, there’ll be loads of stuff to eat’. This suggests that she is looking for work to make her life better. At the time this was written, people lived in overcrowded homes in the slums of the cities. This meant that living conditions were poor and many people had to wait for years to be re-housed. This is shown when she goes to the housing authorities and they say that she has to wait.
At this time women who were left to bring the children up on their own did not have the help of the government through housing benefit and income support. This makes you feel sorry for them because the poor people had to struggle and live in appalling conditions. Whereas the rich have the easy life because they have the money. For example Eddie gets the position of power on the board when his father dies. This makes you feel that the poor have been cheated.
If I was directing this play, to emphasise Mrs Johnston’s low social class I would make her wear clothes which are old, ripped and dirty with dust and stains. She looks like this because the mother has to make sacrifices in order to feed her children. Also I would make her scruffy because she is too preoccupied to comb her hair. The backdrop would be of a lot of houses together like a slum and the floor would be dirty with rubbish.
In contrast to Mrs Johnston, Mrs Lyons is described as ‘Bright, breezy early thirties’. Her life is totally different because she is rich, has a bigger house, is healthier and looks younger. Her family is different because her husband hasn’t left her. Also Mrs Lyons is educated and isn’t superstitious. Mrs Johnston has to work but Mrs Lyons doesn’t because her husband brings in the money. Their circumstances are different; Mrs Lyons knows that Mrs Johnston is in a desperate situation and that she is superstitious. So Mrs Lyons is able to take advantage of her by persuading Mrs Johnston into giving her baby away by saying ‘If he grew up here……as our son ……he could have everything’. She makes her swear on the bible and makes it formal like a lawyer. ‘At the birth of my twins I shall give one of the children to Jennifer.J.Lyons’. Later on she uses the mother’s superstition against her when she says ‘You know what will happen, don’t you? You know what they say about twins secretly parted, don’t you’. She uses her education to give her power over the mother.
In the play Russell uses language to emphasise the class of the characters. Mrs Johnston’s character is established through her language. She speaks non-standard English and with a scouse accent. An example of this is when she says ‘And cakes when I bring home the dough’. This shows us that she comes from a poor family and from a working class background. In contrast to Mrs Johnston Mrs Lyons speaks totally different. She speaks in Standard English and in Received Pronunciation. One example of this is ‘And remove all further claim on the said child’. This shows that she is rich and educated as she is able to speak formally and in the official legal terminology.
The children reflect this use of language. Mickey speaks in non-standard English and swears a lot. ‘You’re a dickhead’. This tells us that he has had a poor education and a poor upbringing. Edward speaks in Standard English and in a similar posh accent to his mother. He doesn’t know how to swear. ‘Fantastic, when I get home I’ll look it up in the dictionary’. He says this because he doesn’t know what the word means because his upbringing was in a different environment to Mickey. Also one example of him not being able to swear properly is ‘You’re a…..You’re a fuckoff’. This shows that he is brought up well and doesn’t have the same bad influences as Mickey because he is the only child. Whereas Mickey has his elder brother Sammy. It is funny and makes the audience laugh because hardly anyone uses a swearword in the wrong way.
When the policewoman catches Mickey and Eddie throwing stones she treats the mothers differently because of their classes. She patronises the mother by saying ‘Now do you understand?’. Then she threatens her by saying ‘You keep them in order or it’ll be the courts for you, or worse’. Also one example that Mrs Johnston doesn’t have same power or influence over the policewoman as Mrs Lyons.
In contrast, Mrs Lyons is treated differently by the policewoman. This is because of her wealth and she is respected by the policewoman because of the powerful position her husband has. This is shown when she says ‘But I’d not let him mix with the likes of them in the future’. This is ironic because the audience and Mrs Lyons know that Eddie is one of them. This shows that the policewoman shares the same snobbish prejudices as Mrs Lyons. I think that the tone of voice of the policewoman would be different towards the mothers. To Mrs Johnston she speaks in a tone like you’d speak to a child. To Mrs Lyons she would speak in a more respectable manner and even says sorry to Mrs Lyons because she thinks she might be interfering in Mrs Lyons parenting. Showing these visits back to back in the same scene is dramatic juxtaposition. This emphasises to the audience the different treatment of the two mothers.
Russell shows us many examples of how power and influence affect the lives of the two families. Firstly Mrs Lyons has more power over Mrs Johnston because she is her employer. She then uses this power to sack her. Also she has influence over her because she is educated and doesn’t believe in superstition. This makes her able to manipulate Mrs Johnston, using this against her. The two children mirror their mother’s lives. Edward has the position of power like his mother Mrs Lyons. Mickey is in a desperate situation like his mother and is almost destitute. He finds it difficult to move houses as his mother did previously in the play. Mickey, when offered a better job by Eddie does not take it because he wants to be independent. His mother did exactly the same when she didn’t take the money from Mrs Lyons. She just wanted to work and earn her money independently. These are examples of working class pride. This is also known as class consciousness. Edward didn’t understand Mickey’s situation because he wasn’t from a working class background.
The two boys have a very different education. Eddie is sent to private school and then expects to go to university. Mickey on the other hand was truanting so he wouldn’t have had a good education resulting in his poor vocabulary and lack of knowledge. Eddie is brought up scientifically and doesn’t know who the ‘bogey man’ is. Because of their education they end up in totally different situations. Eddie gets a better job because of his father and his education. Mickey doesn’t have an education so he is forced to work in a low paid job which doesn’t require any qualifications. There education also differs because of their upbringing. Mickey truants because his mother doesn’t have the time to parent effectively unlike Mrs Lyons who has more time to bring up her child because she has nothing to worry about. Whereas Mrs Johnston is too preoccupied to even know whether her child attends school or not.
Family expectations are different. Mickey is expected to get low grades because his mother had done so and so is he. Eddie however is expected to pass school easily and then go on to university to improve his job prospects. He is able to do this because his family has the resources to pay for the fees and because of his background he is expected to do this. Eddie has a better education so he gets the top job on the board of a company and therefore has more power then Mickey. Eddie is then able to use his position to offer Mickey a better job at his company but Mickey doesn’t accept. Also when Linda asks to be re-housed they say that she has to wait five years but Eddie sorts it out in five minutes. This suggests power and money can have a big impact on your life and knowing someone in a powerful position can be useful. This happened because the boys were expected to lead these lives and even if Mickey had got better grades he still would not have been able to go to university because his family can’t afford to send him. If this happened today Mickey could have got a grant from the government.
I enjoyed reading this play because it was funny and had a point to make. Poor people have to struggle and the rich people don’t. The part that I liked best was when Eddie misuses a swearword. This is what he says ‘You’re a……You’re a fuckoff’. Overall I understood the point Willy Russell was trying to make, that your class and education affect your life.
I believe your class and education still make a difference to your life because it affects your job opportunities if you have a poor education. For example someone with an A* has a better chance then someone with a D of getting the job if they applied for the same job. If you go to a private school you have a better chance of passing because there are fewer students so the teacher can help you more because there is more time. In the end it depends on your class which determines whether you can go to a private school or not. If you’re from a rich family you can got to a private school and you will have a much better chance of passing your exams. But if you’re from a poor family then you will have to go to a government school and you will have less chance of passing. It also depends on your hard work and not the school you attend because if you are truanting and you go to a higher achieving school then you will still fail.
