Material

Question 1

Who is the speaker and what is she talking about?

Answer 1

mother talking about her mother whose died

Question 2

What are the themes

Answer 2

nostalgia and grief

Question 3

What are the handkerchiefs an extended metaphor for?

Answer 3

care

Question 4

‘My mother was a hanky queen’

Answer 4

old form of parenting was a permanent time taking care juxtaposing the speaker modern disposable ‘tissues’ care suggesting there is a deprecation of significance towards parenting

Question 5

‘she’d have one, always, up her sleeve’

Answer 5

emphasises the speaker’s view of her mother as a better parent causing her grief and she critiques herself

Question 6

What is the effect of speaker using names like ‘Viv’, the ‘greengrocer George’ , ‘Mrs White’ in comparison to the ‘closed department stores’

Answer 6

The speaker employs proper nouns when discussing the memory of the past suggesting things were more personal and substantial compared to modern day which is more disposable

Question 7

‘spittled and scrubbed’

Answer 7

sibilance emphatic of hands on parenting and care

Question 8

‘And sometimes more than one [hankerchief] fell out as if she has a farm up there’

Answer 8

simile reemphasises care and nurturing

Question 9

‘She bought her own; I never did’

Answer 9

caesura emphatic of separation and change she is no longer able to return to the past

Question 10

‘presents from distant aunts’

Answer 10

underlying tone surfacing of parenting being a womanly job

Question 11

‘my brothers too… got males ones: serious and grey’

Answer 11

criticism of gender roles through colour imagery suggesting gender roles are outdated

Question 12

‘Hankies… shuttered the doors of family stores’

Answer 12

refernece to family shows the previous care in generations and highlights tradition fading and disappearing

Question 13

Why does the speaker use a regular rhyme scheme?

Answer 13

to portray it as formal and regimented creating a sense of the past

Question 14

‘step-together, step-together, step-together’

Answer 14

repetition highlighting how women had to conform to female roles within society showing a shift in the speaker’s tone form grief to releasing the indication of gender roles within the past

Question 15

‘Nostalgia only makes me old.’

Answer 15

Volta and change in tone as the speaker no longer adapts a praising nostalgic tone and the end stop emphasises the change being final

Question 16

‘eat bought bicuits’

Answer 16

contrast in parenting style as modern one seems more impersonal and detached

Question 17

‘There’s never a hanky up my sleeve. I raised neglected-looking kids,’

Answer 17

extended metaphor of tissues as her parenting is less substantial with less involvement than former parenting

Question 18

‘But it isn’t mine. I’ll let it go’

Answer 18

argument marker creates a sense of healing and forgiving which the caesura emphasises a moment of reflection. The end stop portrays her acceptance of differences in parenting