BLOOD BROTHERS: ACT 2

L.O: TO ANALYSE THE THEMES OF CHILDHOOD,

ADOLESCENCE AND SOCIAL CLASS IN ACT 2

I’M NOT SAYING A WORD• How does this scene create a link between the two brothers?• How does it highlight the differences created by their class and education?•What do we learn about Edward here?•What are his ideas about love?• Annotate – focus on how the language used shapes our interpretation – in

particular repetition of the verb phrase ‘I’m not saying’

CONTRAST

•How does the scene where Mickey and Linda finally get together contrast with Edward’s ideas about love and romance?•What is Russell suggesting about the characters here?

CHILDHOOD, ADOLESCENCE AND GROWING UP• Many works in drama and literature have a theme of ‘growing up’. Russell’s play is

in part just this. Life, for the children, is shown to be a carefree game in Act One. But the pressures of growing up in different backgrounds and educational systems are shown to bring problems later on.• It is the different experience of growing up that ends the friendship between

Edward and Mickey. For example after Mickey loses his job Edward tries to be positive about his situation. But Mickey tells Edward that he cannot understand living on the dole. He says that Edward hasn't had to grow up like him, to face the difficulties of the adult world. He says that they don't have anything in common any more.

•Why has the difference in social class not had an impact on the boys’ friendship up until this point in the play?

ONE DAY IN OCTOBER

•What is the significance of the weather imagery voiced by the narrator?•How does this link to ideas about social class explored

more widely in the play?

KEY QUESTIONS

•How has Russell sealed the fate of the two boys by separating them at this point in the play?•How does this link to the themes of childhood and

nature v nurture?