Going Places By A.K.Barton

Going places

A.K.Barton

Sophie and Jansie were classmates and friends. What were the differences between them that show up in the story?

-classmates and friends-lived in the same lower-income neighbourhood but the differences in their personalities were stark

-Jansie-down to earth, accepted the limitations of their social status-knew they were earmarked to work in a biscuit factory-tried to make Sophie see reality. Sophie’s dreams worried her.

-Sophie- an incorrigible romantic - tried to escape reality through her fantasies -dreamt of owning a designer boutique, becoming a manager or actress or someone as rosy

-In her imaginative flights she often overstepped reality - though Geoff was only an apprentice mechanic, she imagined her brother met exotic people at his workplace and how she would ride with him into the glamorous world like a celebrity.

-A typical teenager who hero-worships stars, she imagined that she had met Danny Casey the football star, who had even asked her for a date- but did not wish to share this with Jansie whom she considered mundane and dull.

How would you describe the character and temperament of Sophie’s father?

-Typical working class, practical man, toughened by poverty and hardships-Tells Sophie sarcastically that she’d rather work to build a decent roof over their heads than dream of opening boutiques.

-Portly, coarse, heavy breathing man – his life was as humble as the minced pie he was pushing down his mouth. His face grubby and sweaty after a day’s hard work, his sitting around in a vest, all sum up the story of his life

-Resented Sophie’s flights of fantasy, showed open disdain for her stories like meeting Danny Casey and warns her that her wild stories would get her into deep trouble

-A typically protective father, he forbade Sophie from going out with Geoff as she was too young

-led a common life - watched television, on weekends went to football matches and then cycled to the pub.  There is no place for dreams in his mundane life.

Why did Sophie like her brother Geoff?

-Geoff  was gullible and believed her – he was always the first one she confided in. To impress him and share an exclusive friendship with him, she tells him that she had met Danny Casey.

- Found his good looks appealing in a family where others were so coarse and romanticized his silence- wished he would share his secrets with her.  He worked at the other end of the town – it made her fantasize about it as it was unknown to her

- imagined it to be an exotic world and longed to be part of it

-Only a few years older-she felt he understood her. This was important as her father’s scathing criticism and Jansie’s mundane advice was distasteful

-He became an integral part of her fantasies- saw herself riding behind him, wearing a yellow dress with a cape and him in his shining black leather – the world rising to greet them with applause.

How does the story bring out the social status of the family?

-Lower middle class background- drudgery of earning a living kept all dreams at bay

- Jansie tells Sophie that they were fated to work in a biscuit factory and that her dreams of exotic jobs were out of their reach

-Did not have a decent roof over their heads – the small room was untidy and steamy, shoes and things were strewn around and washing lay in a corner

-Sophie’s mother, worn and tired, bent over piles of dishes in the kitchen sink- presents a picture of a woman burdened with chores in a household running on meager income

-her father sweaty and grimy after the day’s work, sitting in his vest and eating a poor man’s mince pie was coarse and disgruntled

-Geoff in his shapeless jacket was only an apprentice mechanic at a garage

-Sophie’s father rode a cycle and the family went to football matches in a bus – clearly depicting their lower middle-class status.

Sophie’s dreams and disappointments are all in the mind.

-Sophie-a romantic adolescent was given to fantasizing. Her dream of owning a boutique, her meeting with Danny Casey and Geoff’s exotic world were her wishful thinking to escape the grim reality of her lower middle class existence she hated.

-hero worshipped her brother because he was good looking and out of school and longed to be part of his world.  He was only an apprentice mechanic who worked at the other end of the town which she did not know about. She imagined it to be glamorous and dreamt of riding behind him wearing a yellow frock with a cape flying behind and him in shiny leather, people rising to welcome them as celebrities.

-imagined a meeting with the football star Danny Casey outside Royce’s. She had only seen him at the matches but convinced Geoff with details about Danny’s appearance and impressed Geoff by telling him that he had asked her for a date

-such was her passionate belief in her fantasies that she actually went to meet Danny at the romantic canal, hoping he would really come. She even imagined that he was coming and then told herself how disappointed she was. She realized no one would believe her, but an incorrigible romantic, she continued to dream.