Explain how Churchill uses language to establish a particular character’s identity, class, or social status. First, decide on a character, then analyze the specific language selected by Churchill for this particular character. Include direct quotes and dramatic techniques. Remember to consider both representation and identity in your response. Respond in paragraph form.

Character: Angie

Angie, Joyce’s daughter, is illustrated to be a very quiet, dim yet odd character. Evidence to this statement includes the fact that Angie’s best friend is 4 years younger than her, she has violent outbursts at times, and she even expressed a desire to kill her mother. All of these examples lead to a personality that is not mentally or emotionally sound and it’s this character turmoil that I believe Churchill uses in order to symbolize his frustration with the values of the traditional society at the time. Values that don’t necessarily benefit the greater good of society but rather, the individualized perspective of each person leading to a self-serving society.

When Angie speaks, her sentences are not usually whole and at times, are seen to be quite disjointed. This is quite indicative of a character that isn’t very bright and has possibly received or is receiving a poor education perhaps illustrating a poorer socioeconomic status compared to most others. This type of speech is also representative of an impatient and easily angered attitude that is quite prevalent when Angie speaks. An example of this type of exchange is on the left.

On the other hand, when Angie is in conversation with her aunt, her speech is still quite fragmented yet her tone is quite different. Here we can see that rather than being dismissive, her tone is more assertive perhaps representing her admiration for her aunt, but at the same time, her fear of being unwanted. She is seen to be doubting herself as well as her aunt’s intentions, and it’s this superstition that she holds which also contributes to her portrayed facade of a mentally unstable/troubled character.

Finally, it’s Angie’s murderous hatred for Joyce that pushes her character to the limit from the reader’s perspective. On the left, we can see Angie’s cold and dark lines. Her tone is blunt and she is straight to the point, almost mimicking what we might expect from a psychopath. Hence, the readers’s perspective of Angie is heavily shaped by this scene to be one of disgust representing how her character is seen to be both mentally unstable and odd.

 

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