This post is for my AS class who are comparing this text with Graham Greene's Brighton Rock; anyone else who might find these pointers helpful are welcome to use them, too. I'll post the image, theme and narrative technique tracker sheets that the class already has, next week.
Write notes on the following as you notice them so you can later discuss and write about them in class. Add other points on narrative technique, themes, imagery, etc. that you think are significant for comparing both texts.
What is Michael Dillon paranoid about? (Mostly in the early part of the chapter and towards its end.).
How does his paranoia compare with Pinkie’s from Brighton Rock?
The Oxford English Dictionary's definition of paranoia
1. a mental condition in which a person thinks that they are being persecuted.
2. a person thinks that they are important.
3. unjustified suspicion and the mistrust of others.
Analyse the theme of deception in this Chapter
(The theme of deception is also significant in earlier in the novel.)
How does the deception practised by Michael on Moira compare with Pinkie's on Rose? (AO2)
What does the imagery in this chapter suggest about the characters?
How does the imagery of war, weapons, etc. add to readers' understanding of characters and the situations that they face? (AO2)
Lies of Silence: reading focuses for Chapter 7
Focus on: -
Michael Dillon’s paranoia – and the theme of appearance and reality.
Moira poses as “a witness” on TV.
Compare Moira with Rose as "a witness" from Brighton Rock?
How does Michael and Pinkie react to the threat that each female character poses?
(Think about loyalty to Michael; her own sense of power - Moira seems to be growing stronger as Michael becomes weaker; her perception of their marriage; her confidence to speak because of her education and class, etc.)
Narrative technique:
What is the effect on Michael Dillon and the readers as he and they gradually find out about what Moira said in the her BBC TV interview?
The theme of choice
Moira asks Michael whether he would have told the police about the bomb if Andrea was held hostage instead of her. Do you think he would have telephoned the police given how he feels about Andrea? What are the choices Michael made here?
What are the choices that Pinkie makes by marrying Rose? Compare Michael and Pinkies' choices as dilemmas.
What choices do other significan characters make in each text?
(For instance, consider the choices that Ida, Dallow, Cubitt and Prewitt make in Brighton Rock. What is moral about the choices that Moira and Andrea make in Lies of Silence?)
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