Bmc Tbl Notes 1 
Key focus for Analysis:
Ideas, characters, themes
Structures, features, conventions
Interpretation
Social, historical and cultural values
Metalanguage
This Boy’s Life
Fortune
Cues/metalanguage
Notes
Symbolism
Memoir opens with truck accident – “it’s lost its brakes”(p.3 Rosemary)
Symbolism – out of control, unable to change direction/stop
Powerful and foreboding symbol of Rosemary and Jack’s attempt to ‘change the direction’ of their lives. *
The truck being Rosemary and Jack, manoeuvre through the bends in the road until they finally come to a halt, Dwight disembodies the vehicle which keeps Jack and rosemary stationary until it’s fixed.
Toby’s character: Manipulative
Toby – takes advantage (exploits the situation) of mother’s concern for him (after witnessing the accident). “I saw that the time was right to make a play for souvenirs. I knew she had no money…”
Setting/cultural context
America 1950s
The American dream: “get rich” and “change our luck”
(Opportunity and social mobility)
Toby - age
Toby – 10 years old at beginning of memoir
Characterisation – ties in with symbolism
Description of inhabitants of towns Toby and his mother passed through makes them sound wretched and forsaken:
“arthritic slowness”, “strangled tongues”, “idlers”, “rotten teeth”, argued “among themselves”. Another foreboding symbol.
Relationship between Toby and Rosemary
“I was caught up in my mother’s freedom… her dream of transformation”.
Highlights Rosemary’s power to influence Toby and their connection
Rosemary’s character
(Interpretation of the development of her character)
Rosemary’s background – she comes from once wealthy, privileged and well connected family: “Daddy… had been a navy officer and a paper millionaire”
Her upbringing may account for her propensity towards living a fantasy: “She lived a dream life… [her mother and her] played the part of sisters” (p.4)
Rosemary’s naivety: “All you needed was a Geiger counter”.
Jack’s character
(identity)
Toby’s struggle with
Ideas, characters, themes
Structures, features, conventions
Interpretation
Social, historical and cultural values
Metalanguage
This Boy’s Life
Fortune
Cues/metalanguage
Notes
Symbolism
Memoir opens with truck accident – “it’s lost its brakes”(p.3 Rosemary)
Symbolism – out of control, unable to change direction/stop
Powerful and foreboding symbol of Rosemary and Jack’s attempt to ‘change the direction’ of their lives. *
The truck being Rosemary and Jack, manoeuvre through the bends in the road until they finally come to a halt, Dwight disembodies the vehicle which keeps Jack and rosemary stationary until it’s fixed.
Toby’s character: Manipulative
Toby – takes advantage (exploits the situation) of mother’s concern for him (after witnessing the accident). “I saw that the time was right to make a play for souvenirs. I knew she had no money…”
Setting/cultural context
America 1950s
The American dream: “get rich” and “change our luck”
(Opportunity and social mobility)
Toby - age
Toby – 10 years old at beginning of memoir
Characterisation – ties in with symbolism
Description of inhabitants of towns Toby and his mother passed through makes them sound wretched and forsaken:
“arthritic slowness”, “strangled tongues”, “idlers”, “rotten teeth”, argued “among themselves”. Another foreboding symbol.
Relationship between Toby and Rosemary
“I was caught up in my mother’s freedom… her dream of transformation”.
Highlights Rosemary’s power to influence Toby and their connection
Rosemary’s character
(Interpretation of the development of her character)
Rosemary’s background – she comes from once wealthy, privileged and well connected family: “Daddy… had been a navy officer and a paper millionaire”
Her upbringing may account for her propensity towards living a fantasy: “She lived a dream life… [her mother and her] played the part of sisters” (p.4)
Rosemary’s naivety: “All you needed was a Geiger counter”.
Jack’s character
(identity)
Toby’s struggle with