English Standard the Shoe Horn Sonata Notes

English ( Standard ) The Shoe Horn Sonata Notes

Friendship

Point:Friendship grows out of adversity allows each person to see each other at their most vulnerable, this creates a closeness that can not be broken:

Dramatic Technique

Example/Quote Effect: What does the viewer understand know about the distinctly visual?

Sacrifice for each other

Direct speech Line delivery Sound affects

Sheila- You were screaming. And he went and got the quinine. For you. He showed the tablets to me- and pointed to the barracks- where his mates were waitingIn the background there is a noise of crickets

The reader comes to understand that Sheila made a huge sacrifice for Bridie. The two women care for each other and Bridie constantly mothers Sheila, yet it is Sheila that makes the grown up sacrifice that Bridie is not capable of making.

Unlikely friends, yet they know each other very well

Direct speech Line delivery

Sheila- Cartwrite is an Irish name. Mother wouldnt have approved.Bridie- another stuck up pom I thought. But I talked to her

The two women are from different backgrounds and cultures as well as having completely different

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anyway. personalities. Despite this they learn to get along

Hurt, after 50 years of silence

Stage directions

Stage directions: SHEILA looks and BRIDIE with surprising intensity- but not with affection It is clear that there something is still going on between these two women- even after fifty years seperation.

Bridie is hut after being ignored from Sheila for fifty years and wants to know why. There is tension between the two women that has stretched their friendship

Closeness and understanding

Direct speech Line delivery Stage

directions Question

Birdie- sighing) All right (fondly). Excuse me Miss Richards. I have heard a somewhat convincing rumour that the Japanese army has surrounded to the Allies. (With sincerity). Which means- I believe- that the war is over. And you and I are free would you care to join me in celebrating peace?

Despite the hardship that they have been through the two remain friends, they both know and understand each other very well and are very close.

Birdie mothers Sheila

Direct speech Line delivery dash

Birdie- She kicked a fuss, believe me. Said she wanted to flat with some school chums. Thats when I put my foot down. A child like her- unsupervised- with Japanese all around. She fought at first but he soon leaned

Birdie acted like a mother to Sheila as her own mother was not there and she had no one else to look after her. Sheila at first resisted this but later accepted Bridie as her friend


who was in charge

Survives the hardship

Direct speech Line delivery Stage

directions Question

Sheila- I was thinking- at Christmas- I might come and feed your chooks.Bridie- (surprised) You mean- visit?

Despite everything they have been through they are still friends, they manage to remain close even after fifty years of separation


Attitudes to Women

Point Dramatic Technique


The English attitude to women:The women are innocent and harmless and need to be protected and left out of the war.

Line delivery Direct speech Exclamation

mark

Get up! Stand up! Let the Japanese see youre just women and children

The British believe that women should be left alone. They saw them as insignificant and weak, they believed the Japanese would have the same perspective.

Ellipsis Direct speech Line delivery

Sheilas mum- Sheila, you and I are English women. We do not run away from a few Orientals

English women saw themselves as superior to other races, as they were part of an empire

The Japanese attitude to women:The Japanese saw women as weak. They treated them badly, putting them to work (not the same as the mens work), wanted sexual favours, starved them and left them to die.

Direct speech Line delivery elipses

Bridie- Twelve army nurses were ordered to attend the opening night of this glorified brothel. We had no choice but to go.

The Japanese expected sexual favours from the women who had no choice but to comply. The Japanese saw them merely as objects.

Rhetorical question

Directs speech Line delivery elipsis

Bridie- Die? Many women did and quite a few went out of their minds- so the Japs took them of and killed them.

The Japanese had no problem killing the women. They saw them as inferior to them.


Histories attitude to women:History ignored their plight- their story has not been told properly or given respect. The government did not properly acknowledge what they went through or help them (e.g. they only got one shilling for each day in the camp and could not ask for more), compared to the men injured at war who got a pension.


Bridie- the Japs began raiding our huts. Ransacking everything- searching for diaries. They wanted no record of what theyd been doing

Any evidence of their struggle was removed so that no one would know how they struggled

Line delivery Direct speech

Sheila- They removed the remains of the army nurses but they left the women and children behind. There are more than 300 of them buried in that jungle. Not a headstone or memorial anywhere. Not even a cross survived the war.

To this day the women and children have still not received recognition for their ordeal during the war. They have not been given the respect they deserve.


Survival



Mutual support through bonds of friendship:


Bridie- And on our four wobbly legs we went down to the village. Sometimes I dragged Sheila. Sometimes Sheila dragged me. The main thing is we got there. And we could have never done that alone

By keeping to together they are able to get through the war. They both support each other and make sure each of them survives.


Sheila- fifty voices set us free

The singing religious songs as a group provides them with hope through religion as well as uniting them in a group. It allows them to rise above their captivity

Direct Speech Line delivery Ellipsis Stage directions Voice over

Sheila- And then- one wonderful morning Lipstick Larry comes strutting out to tenko- wearing some of our handiwork beneath his baggy shortsStage directions/voice over- On the soundtrack we hear lipstick Larry yelling from a stab

Through acts of defiance and rebellion the women were able to keep moral high and hide their fear. These rebellious acts helped them to survive through their harsh treatment


of excruciating pain. BRIDIE and SHEILA laugh


Sheila quoting Japanese- your emporer Mr Curtin sends his greetings. And orders you all to keep smilingSheila- Well they smiled all right. They laughed to much they couldnt control it there was even laughter after bed time- instead of the usual sobbing and quarrels

The women use humour to lift moral and get them through the war. They use laughter to prevent themselves from sobbing and loosing hope.

Direct speech Line delivery Stage directions Conversation

Sheila- I couldnt bring myself to throw it away.Bridie- (fondly) Wed chew on this every night before bed. We called it Old Reliable

They both survived the war through positions that were symbols of hope. The chop-bone reminded them of their old life and they hoped that they might return to it.

Strength of character:Resourceful CourageousHeroic (Misto describes them as heroic)

Line delivery Direct Speech Voice over

Birdie- if she fell asleep, shed have slipped away and drownedThe interviewer then asked how Birdie kept Sheila awakeSheila- She hit me. Thats how

The audience sees the significance of the show horn and as a result come to appreciate its symbolic worth. They also become more aware of how resourceful Birdie was and


how strong her character was.

Direct speech Line delivery Elipses

Sheila- She kept on saying that we werent animals and that shed rather die than be treated like one. It was the bravest act I have ever seen

Acts of bravery and courage played a major part in their survival. If not for acts of courage like this many more would have died.

Their survival depended on their ability to survive the harsh war crimes that the Japanese inflicted upon them

Direct speech Line delivery Quoting

Sheila- Captain Siki stood on a box and shouted-The Geneva conference says: All prisoners must have culture. You womens have just had yours.

Nearing the end of the war the Japanese had realised that they were loosing. They were concerned of what would happen at the end of the war if the allies realised how cruelly they had treated their women and children in direct violation of the Geneva convention. As a result they decided to either wipe them all out so no one could ever find out what would happen or to treat them better.


Loss of Innocence


Example/Quote

Effect: What does the viewer understand know about the distinctly visual?

Sheila was just a teenager when she had to evacuate Singapore. She lost:

Her teenage years

Direct speech

Line delivery

Dash Descrip

tion Symbol

ism

Sheila- I remember these toys came drifting by- tiny boats that really sailed and dolls with eyes that opened and stared

The toys drifting by symbolise her childhood drifting away. She is not able to have the childhood that she could have as she spent these years in a POW camp.

Her English values and pretentious attitudes

Direct speech

Line delivery

Dash

Sheila- It was Friday night and there I was- drenched, without gloves, and alone on the sea.

Sheila is in a dire, life threatening position yet she is still concerned about not having her gloves. This indicates how thermally she believed in the values entrenched in her by her parents and her upbringing

Her sexual innocence

Direct speech

Line delivery

Stage directions

Dash

Sheila- (haunted) Every night when I fall asleep, Lipstick Larrys waiting. He calls me and I go to him- and no one can

Sheila was scared by her loss of sexual innocence in the POW camp. This has affected her for the rest of her life and she was unable to move on.


change that

She was haunted the rest of her life and was unable to more on for the net 50 years

Stage directions

Symbolism

SHEILA reaches for the suitcase in time to help BRIDIE

Sheila was unable to move on and get on with her life after the war. With the help of Bridie and the cathartic experience of going on the TV show she is able to move on. Her and Bridie lifting up the suitcase is symbolic of the way that together they are able to get rid of their baggage, but on their own this is not possible.

Bridie willingly joined the nurse corp/army. Yet she was unprepared for the experience of being a prisnor of war. Birdie:

Had not seen much of the world before

Direct speech

Line delivery

Elipsis

Bridie- Id never been outside of Australia before. Id never been further than Woy Woy.

Bridie had not experienced the world before this, she did not know what to expect. Through this experience she lost her incense and became less nave

Sees a side of war that she was not expecting

Direct speech

Line delivery

Ellipsis

Bridie- For the first time in months I started to long for quiet little

Bridie was not expecting to be in actual danger in the war. Although she had seen the wounded


Chatswood

and dead she was just expecting to care for them, not become a prisoner of war.


Imperialism/Colonialism


Example/Quote

Effect: What does the viewer understand know about the distinctly visual?

British colonialism They were unprepared for and unwilling to accept that Japan would invade

Direct speech

Line delivery

Bridie- No one thought the Japs would get within a coo-ee of us. So the English didnt bother to fortify the shorelines. They said barbed wire would spoil their beaches. All of Singapores lights were fully ablaze when the Japanese bombers came

The British did not see the Japanese as a threat at all. They decided that the appearance of there beaches and other superficial things were more important than the threat of the Japanese

British were arrogant etiquette in their attitude to Australians

Direct speech

Line delivery

Re telling of racist comment from a British officer

Bridie- My dear, he said. They have got slanty eyes. If they cant see properly, how can they shoot

The British had a racist and pretentious view of the Japanese. They saw them as inferior and incompetent. An image is created of a snobbish British officer with snobbish attitudes


British handled the evacuation of their women and children badly

Direct speech

Line delivery

Bridie- The British had refused to evacuate civilians. They just couldnt believe that the far east would fall. So they waited till the last- till the Japs had landed in Singapore. Then they threw their wives and children onto anything that would float

The British refused to admit threat the Japanese were a threat. They waited until the last moment to evacuate everyone. They did not ask the women and children what they wanted to do as they saw them as inferior.

The Japanese imperialism

They were a rising power that had the power and resources to invade Singapore

Stage directions

Slide show

Stage Directions: As the chorus is sung, the Japanese flag fades and we see photographs of the Japanese invasion of SingaporeIt is a most disturbing sight. For this photo has captured the very moment when the British empire teetered

The Japanese had a large and powerful empire that was capable of defeating the British. They were a rising power.


and fell

Powerful fleet that sank the British fleet, executed allied forces, they set up prisoner of war camps

Direct speech

Line delivery

Dash

Bridie- I can still see those Zeros flying over, hundreds of them- in V formation- their engines rattling our hospital windows.

The Japanese were far more powerful than anyone suspected. They had the power to attack the British, execute their forces and set up POW camps.

Attitude/cultural philosophy that looked down on anyone who allowed themselves to be captured, they saw it as shameful. This lead to war crimes

Direct speech

Line delivery

Exclamation mark

Quote from Japanese

Sheila- theyd look at us and say Mati! Marti- Dead! Dead!

The Japanese saw the women as inferior because they had surrender. They believed that the women should have killed themselves rather than become prisoners


Documents

English Standard the Shoe Horn Sonata Notes