English Comparative...

Iceboy

Im doing Billy Elliot, lies of silence and dancing at lughnasa

I need to compare the men,women and religion of these texts.

I have no idea how to start on this, can anyone please help me out would be really appreciated, cheers

wayhey

I suck at the comparative :P but what always worked for me was doing out a grid. So you'd do one out using the headings you have up there. Remember with the comparative, it's not just similarities but also differences between the two texts. I did LoS, DaL and BE last year but I'm a bit rusty at it so make sure you add your own in

Men

BE immediately sticks out. Notice the emphasis in society on "being a man". Billy is called a "poof" by the very piano player. He is expected to be a boxer like his father and his father before him (the handing down of the boxing gloves) certainly not a dancer, which has connotations of homosexuality to others. Men are expected to be men; neither Billy's brother (..Tony?) or father are very in touch with their feelings. They certainly don't talk openly about their feelings (like the Christmas scene).

LoS is a patriarchal (male-dominated) society. Michael makes all the main decisions in the novel; people potentially live/die by his decisions. Also the members of the IRA are disillusioned young men. (I really can't remember anything more on this- their must be more!.. ) Oh in the workplace men occupy the top positions - notice Michael is suceeded by a male deputy manager, Rory and the company CEO is a male too. All top religious figures are also male (Alun Pottinger, Fr. Connolly... like DaL and the priest that has the authority to fire Kate)

LoS and DaL both contain worlds where religion plays a massive role. Religious figures are powerful/authorative, e.g. the Church runs the schools and the parish priest fires Kate. Not so in Billy Elliot. Religion is the major source of conflict in LoS and in DaL there is a clear religious stigma that Michael is an illegitimate child. Religion really isn't as big in BE.

Women

DaL is obviously a massive focus here. The women are marinalised, e.g. when the sisters talk about going to the dance (eh... I think Agnes says "I don't care how drunk, how young, how sweaty they are... I want to dance Kate"). Kate is horrified; she believes in the place women have in society and doesn't want people laughing at them. There is an emphasis for women to have relationships to be fulfilled (they all have old flames they keep referencing, e.g. Maggie = Brian McGuinness, Kate = Arthur Morgan, even Rose = Danny Bradley). This is like Moira in LoS, who seems needy and requires Michael to feel validated.

Marriage is portrayed negatively in LoS (Moira is emotionally unstable and Michael is unhappy) whereas in DaL it is something to be aspired to. In DaL it is the Mundy sisters that keep up the spirit and homeliness of their home despite their "austere" surroundings. In contrast to this, in BE we see what happens in the absence of a motherly figure in the family/home. In the wake of the death of Mrs. Elliot the house is dark and depressing. Her departure hangs over the house.



That's just off the top of my head. It's by no means ideal, I did it last year. If you grid your copy off into a table and handle each text under each heading, picking out examples of each you will have a nice reference for any questions, etc. under that topic.

It's just an idea anyway, hope it points you in the right direction. Obviously it's only rough and some names/details could be completely wrong.. but good luck anyway!

Iceboy

Cheers Way this helped me alot, top man

Iceboy

Clothing and power are our next topics on these novels, can anyone point me in the right direction, I have only read half of BE and Dao due to being out, would be really appreciated

implausible

Iceboy wrote: »

Clothing and power are our next topics on these novels, can anyone point me in the right direction, I have only read half of BE and Dao due to being out, would be really appreciated

If you've been out, the very first thing you need to do is watch Billy Eliot and read D@L. You're wasting your time looking for notes if you don't know the texts.

As for clothing and power, you need to be able to describe the type of clothing worn by the main characters e.g. old-fashioned, modest, gender-specific in D@L, the balaclavas and uniforms in LoS (clothing is a very difficult heading to do for this text) and I suppose the tutus and the miners' dirty worn clothing. What does the clothing say about the characters?

Power: who has the power in each society - men or women (in all three) the individual or society or is there an outside force that holds power over the characters (Catholic church, IRA, the Government). How are people influenced by this power? Do they rebel or conform?