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Blood Brothers- "Quote a day" Join the analysis!

Quotes are critical for your English Literature exam, so to help you remember them and get better at analysis, here's a thread which will (hopefully!) have a new quote from Blood Brothers every day until the exam :smile:
The idea will be that I post a quote from Blood Brothers, and one interpretation of that quote, then anyone who wants to can add other interpretations, add relevant context or word level analysis for the quote!
This will help with your analysis skills and also remembering your quotes for your exam :woo:
It's 94 days til the exam (as of 19/02/18) so let's get this quote learning off the ground :laugh:
Here's the first one:
"You swore on the bible" said by Mrs Lyons to Mrs Johnstone
This shows Mrs Lyon's superior education and class as she is able to use her knowledge of Mrs Johnstone's values to manipulate her into giving her Eddie when she was reluctant to.
(edited 6 years ago)

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No one wants to join in? There must be people out there who study Blood Brothers!
93 days to go

"And we went dancing" sung by Mrs Johnstone in Act 1 about her (ex-)husband.
Dancing is a metaphor for sex and having children together, so this suggests they had many children together.

Hint for next contibution: There's a fair bit of relevant context here!
Whoops! Didn't have time for one yesterday so I'll do one now and one this evening :smile:

"But keep it a secret eh, Eddie? Just our secret between you an' me." said by Mrs Johnstone to Eddie about the picture of her and Mickey she is giving him in a locket.
Mrs Johnstone is acting out of class, and more as a motherly person towards Eddie, having bitterly regretted giving him up, and wanting him to keep a part of her love.
Ok, if no one wants this at this point, I'll wait a bit and try again in a few weeks!
One last one before I go (if anyone finds this and wants it to continue I'm quite happy to do so, so do post to say so :colondollar:)

"It's doesn't matter, the whole thing's just a game" Sung by the kids playing out after one of them has been "shot"
This shows childhood innocence, as they don't understand that guns should not be played with and death is not something to be laughed away as it is final.
“I love you.” - Linda is able to express her feelings towards Mickey without hesitations, showing that she is in touch with her emotions.

“but I don’t know how to tell y’,” - Mickey to Linda (who has walked off) in the context of expressing love. Mickey is not in touch with his emotions, pointing to a clear gender stereotype. The same stereotype is also present in Mr/Mrs Lyons’ attitudes toward their ‘son’.
Reply 5
"never put new shoes on a table" by Mrs Johnstone
This implies that Mrs Johnstone believes in superstitions, depicting her lack of education and her lower class. This is also used as a way of foreshadowing how something terrible will happen soon.

Spoiler

Original post by mc_miah

Spoiler


I've never done LOTF so I wouldn't be any help for that and my Macbeth quotes never reached more than about 5 even when I did the exam so I wouldn't be the person to run those, but you're very welcome to set one up! I might try an A Christmas Carol one at some point, but I need to have the quotes before I start it so wouldn't be for a few weeks unfortunately.
Glad you like the concept though :smile:

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Original post by MiriamButcher
“I love you.” - Linda is able to express her feelings towards Mickey without hesitations, showing that she is in touch with her emotions.

“but I don’t know how to tell y’,” - Mickey to Linda (who has walked off) in the context of expressing love. Mickey is not in touch with his emotions, pointing to a clear gender stereotype. The same stereotype is also present in Mr/Mrs Lyons’ attitudes toward their ‘son’.


Original post by StelleD
"never put new shoes on a table" by Mrs Johnstone
This implies that Mrs Johnstone believes in superstitions, depicting her lack of education and her lower class. This is also used as a way of foreshadowing how something terrible will happen soon.

Loving these quotes guys, keep them coming :yep:
Will try and restart this semi regularly if there are people posting :smile:

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Reply 9
This quote is really good for the context!
"Y' can't stop the milk." by Mrs Johnstone. This is related to what had happened during 1980s when Russell was writing this play. The new female prime minister Thatcher had stopped giving out the free milk as the country was struggling economically. Hence, she was also widely known as the "Milk snatcher". So there might be a link between the two and perhaps Russell might be highlighting that fact and how the working class was severely affected by it?:s-smilie:
Original post by Lemur14
Loving these quotes guys, keep them coming :yep:
Will try and restart this semi regularly if there are people posting :smile:

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Yay:u:
Original post by StelleD
This quote is really good for the context!
"Y' can't stop the milk." by Mrs Johnstone. This is related to what had happened during 1980s when Russell was writing this play. The new female prime minister Thatcher had stopped giving out the free milk as the country was struggling economically. Hence, she was also widely known as the "Milk snatcher". So there might be a link between the two and perhaps Russell might be highlighting that fact and how the working class was severely affected by it?:s-smilie:

Wow how on earth did I get through BB knowing tonnes of context and never notice this? That's a really valuable point!

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“they say that if either twin learns that he once was a pair, they shall both immediately die.” - Mrs Lyons

Mrs Lyons uses her knowledge that Mrs Johnstone is superstitious and naïve to create a superstition that will give her control.

This is also a self-fulfilling prophecy that foreshadows the end of the play.
"An' listen Mickey, if y' dead, there's no school, is there?" Linda to Mickey when Mickey is upset about being caught swearing without having crossed his fingers
This shows childhood innocence in two ways. Firstly, they believe swearing without crossing your fingers will mean you go to hell which is most likely a superstition learnt from their mothers. Secondly, the fact they prioritise no school upon death as their comfort is innocent as that is their biggest concern in their life. This moment also is foreboding as it suggests they are later going to have much greater matters on their hands, and ultimately be dealing with death.
"Mam, how come I'm on free dinners?" kid to Mrs J
This displays Mrs Johnstone's class clearly, as free dinners were seen by the kids as shameful. As people were proud and only accepted help if they had no option (like how Mrs J. refused Mrs L.'s redundancy money) they were really at the bottom of the barrel.
"We are leaving this mess for our new address 65 Skelmersdale lane" Mrs J
The noun "mess" implies that their previous place was chaotic and polluted. This reflects on the poor quality of housing which was provided for the lower class in the old towns such as Liverpool. The rhyme presented by "mess" and "lane" sets a happier atmosphere. It foreshadows a change in their fate?:s-smilie: (as everything goes well after this point for some time)
"Life has no ending when you're sweet sixteen" said by the narrator
This is foreboding as it implies that while they will not die at 16, there is something in the near future that will cause death :rip:
“The house is your domain.” - Mr Lyons to Mrs Lyons.

This displays the roles which Mr Lyons forces upon his wife, showing the sexism even among the affluent. His attitude, as well as society’s, may have been what drove Mrs Lyons to want a child so desperately.
"'Gis a sweet" said by Mickey to Eddie when they first meet aged 7.
This clearly shows a difference of class, as Mickey demands one, whereas Eddie has clearly been brought up to share so is clearly happy to do so.
Original post by Lemur14
"An' listen Mickey, if y' dead, there's no school, is there?" Linda to Mickey when Mickey is upset about being caught swearing without having crossed his fingers
This shows childhood innocence in two ways. Firstly, they believe swearing without crossing your fingers will mean you go to hell which is most likely a superstition learnt from their mothers. Secondly, the fact they prioritise no school upon death as their comfort is innocent as that is their biggest concern in their life. This moment also is foreboding as it suggests they are later going to have much greater matters on their hands, and ultimately be dealing with death.
Could talk a lot about the links between class and attitudes to education here.:smile:

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