Isolation commonality Q

Question 1

Commonality

Answer 1

• “Aunt Julia”, “Assisi” and “Visiting Hour” by Norman MacCaig all explore ideas of isolation.
• In “Aunt Julia”, the speaker – MacCaig – feels isolated from his aunt due to the language barrier between them – despite this he still feels a lot of affection towards her, emphasising the personal loss felt due to her death.
• In “Assisi”, the beggar is isolated from both the church as they will not help him and society as a whole, this builds up a sense of hypocrisy as the church don’t practice what they preach as rather than help the beggar they ignore him.
• In “Visiting Hour”, the patient is isolated from the speaker due to her intense suffering conveying the idea of the loneliness of illness.

Question 2

Printed text quotes

Answer 2

“I could not answer her - I could not understand her”

“Welcoming me with a seagulls voice”

Question 3

Secondary text quotes

Answer 3

“Outside the three tiers of churches”
“Who had passed the ruined temple outside”
“She lies in a white cave of forgetfulness”
“She smiles a little at this black figure”
“The distance of pain that neither she nor I can cross”
“She nor I”