How Many Miles to Babylon?
“How many miles to Babylon?”
Alec Moore - Narrator
Frederick Moore - Father to Alec
Mrs. Moore - Mother to Alec
Jerry Crowe - Friend to Alec
Mrs. Crowe - Mother to Jerry
Major Glendinning - Commending Officer to Jerry and Alec in the army.
General Points -
§ Main Theme: Love vs. Hatred
§ Reflects different stages of Narrator Development
- There’s a continuous stream of consciousness, no chapters
§ Ireland
§ France
§ Love - of country
- passionless love of duty
- of power and wealth
- narcisstic love (love of self)
Theme and Issues:
Setting the Scene –
§ Alec Narrates his tale of a loveless child, leaving him emotionless and scarred cruel mother, manipulative and hateful
§ He was always goaded by his “beautiful mother”
§ Mrs. Moore’s beauty contrasted to her vindictive personality. She’s swift and dismissive (passionless)
§ Home with no affefction
“The dining room in the daytime was unwelcoming”
Relationship with his mother –
§ Described through an experience when he seen his mother feeding the swans, thinking she was another woman for a split second, and felt love for her. This shows us that he doesn’t know his mother that well, mistaking her for another person but also that he only feels love for her when she is perceived as someone else. Compared to Christy’s love with his mother in “My left foot” – he has a continuous plutonic love for her.
§ Mrs. Moore’s human relationships are meaning less and without power.
§ She feels she is not capable of love as they are never aloud the freedom to experience it themselves.
§ She has been taught only the proper etiquette of the wealthy at the experience of wealthy needs. The mother is jealous of Alec’s father and their relationship.
§ She is again jealous of Alec’s developing relationships, such with Jerry, but also is worried what other people may think of a higher class boy, being friends with a lower class boy. Therefore, she wants to destroy it.
§ She removes Alec from
Alec Moore - Narrator
Frederick Moore - Father to Alec
Mrs. Moore - Mother to Alec
Jerry Crowe - Friend to Alec
Mrs. Crowe - Mother to Jerry
Major Glendinning - Commending Officer to Jerry and Alec in the army.
General Points -
§ Main Theme: Love vs. Hatred
§ Reflects different stages of Narrator Development
- There’s a continuous stream of consciousness, no chapters
§ Ireland
§ France
§ Love - of country
- passionless love of duty
- of power and wealth
- narcisstic love (love of self)
Theme and Issues:
Setting the Scene –
§ Alec Narrates his tale of a loveless child, leaving him emotionless and scarred cruel mother, manipulative and hateful
§ He was always goaded by his “beautiful mother”
§ Mrs. Moore’s beauty contrasted to her vindictive personality. She’s swift and dismissive (passionless)
§ Home with no affefction
“The dining room in the daytime was unwelcoming”
Relationship with his mother –
§ Described through an experience when he seen his mother feeding the swans, thinking she was another woman for a split second, and felt love for her. This shows us that he doesn’t know his mother that well, mistaking her for another person but also that he only feels love for her when she is perceived as someone else. Compared to Christy’s love with his mother in “My left foot” – he has a continuous plutonic love for her.
§ Mrs. Moore’s human relationships are meaning less and without power.
§ She feels she is not capable of love as they are never aloud the freedom to experience it themselves.
§ She has been taught only the proper etiquette of the wealthy at the experience of wealthy needs. The mother is jealous of Alec’s father and their relationship.
§ She is again jealous of Alec’s developing relationships, such with Jerry, but also is worried what other people may think of a higher class boy, being friends with a lower class boy. Therefore, she wants to destroy it.
§ She removes Alec from