Short story assessement - "The Bread winner" by Leslie Halward.

Towards Billy I felt sympathy because he is working all week then comes home and gets a beating from his dad. I also feel admiration towards Billy because I admire him for standing up to his dad. A quotation which helps me feel sympathetic towards Billy is:

        “he beat him unmercifully about the body and legs”

I felt really sorry for Billy at this point because he had been working all week and came in to a beating and no food. The word “unmercifully” shows me that his father beat him repeatedly and not just once. A quotation which helps me feel admiration is:

        “the boy sank to the floor but did not cry”

The word “sank” shows me that the beating his father gave him was very painful but he was brave and didn’t give into his father by crying. I felt that this made the story more enjoyable as I could understand fully what he was going through.

I felt sympathy and respect towards the mother. I felt sympathetic towards her because she is fed up and has to put up with the father. A quotation which helps me feel this way is:

        “she looked tired and frequently sighed heavily”

The word tired shows me that the mother hasn’t been sleeping very well. I think that’s because she is worrying about money, food and the rent. I also felt respect towards her as she stood up to the father, a quotation which makes me feel this way towards her is:

“you’ve been boss here for long enough. I put up with it when you    

         were bringing money into the house, but I’ll not put up with it now”

This quotation shows me that she has had a lot to put up with when he was bringing money in but now he isn’t she is trying to get him to listen to her. This makes the story more enjoyable as it had given a detailed description of the mother.

I felt sympathy and disgusted towards Billy’s father. I felt disgusted towards him because he kept on bringing up arguments with the mother and the pressure he put both Billy and his wife under. A quotation which helps me feel this way is:

        ““where’s the money,” he demanded.”

The word “demanded” made me realise that his father wasn’t polite he was very mean. I felt sympathetic towards him as well because he may have a drinking problem, maybe even an addiction, A quotation which helps me feel this way is:

        “not go into the till at the nearest Public House”

This quotation shows me that he is always desperate for a drink. This makes the story more interesting because it gives a lot of detail but not too much.

The characters and the way I felt about them helped me to understand the story in full detail. It also helped me understand the background of all the characters.