Death and Nightingales

memberofpublic

Anybody else doing this for their comparative?

I'm doing it with Witness and Silas Marner and I just can't get my head round it. I'm ok with the Cultural Context but I can't write a Theme/Issue essay. If anybody could pick out some key moments from Death and Nightingales, that would be great.

Any help appreciated, cheers.

md99

The best thing on the LC English course....

What would you like to know? Key scenes...

md99

don't have my book with me now, but off hand a few things that stand out in my memory...

-Beths mothers death & Billys reaction ie standing over her grave weeping genuinely, encourages his alcoholism
-Beths memories of her parents' relationship... when she talks to her mother about how Billy beats her.. Billy shouting about how Beth will never inherit, referring to her as 'Romes cup of poison in your belly'
-Beths opening dream of killing Billy with 'oil of bitter almonds'
-Billy offering Beth the Percy French tickets for her birthday, which she declines, then Billy telling the Canon of how its 'not dislike of Percy French, dislike of anything I like'
-Billy consoling Mickey Dolphin who becomes upset at the memory of the death of his family
-The Canon trying to blackmail Billy into evicting Liam Ward, Billy holding him off
-At the Percy French concert... Mickey Dolphin being kicked out and Billy standing up for him, 'He's no hoeboy, he's my friend Mickey Dolphin..' etc
-The VIP assembly after the PF concert, Winters examining the crowd and realising who they all are, and that he has/wants nothing to do with any of them..
-When Billy returns home, intoxicated... the scene where he and Beth discuss things, ie her inheritance etc

Apologies if some feel I'm looking at Winters in too positive a light....!

Deadevil129

heh, I'm doing exactly the same comparitives. Dreadful book if I say so myself but it works for this purpose. I'm preparing the theme of religion on all three of them. It's nice and negative in DN so it's a decent contrast.

Religion divides the entire comunity in DN, phrases such as "our tribe or theirs" litter the entire novel and heighten the sense of division.
Religion effects people's social status.
Religion divides individual people, Cathy and Billy required special dispensation to be married, once married fought over their differences etc.

md99

Deadevil129 wrote:

heh, I'm doing exactly the same comparitives. Dreadful book if I say so myself but it works for this purpose. I'm preparing the theme of religion on all three of them. It's nice and negative in DN so it's a decent contrast.

I dunno why so many dislike the book.... It's not instantly appealing I suppose, I didn't understand a word of it first time round.... Now I think it's just... outstanding

Corruptedmorals

It's just so negative and depressing. Good book, but not special.

My theme is struggle, so I can give the key moments of that if it's your theme too?

memberofpublic

I haven't exactly picked a theme yet so I'll take anything I can get!

This is great, thanks a million everyone.