A Cream Cracker Under the Settee
How does Alan Bennett create a character that it both comical and sad? Explain why he wrote this monologue.
‘A Cream Cracker under the Settee’ is a monologue of a character named Doris, who is in her 70’s and is coming to the end of her life. She fell whilst cleaning a picture of her and her deceased husband Wilfred on their wedding day, in her living room where most of the play is set.
The writer Alan Bennett , reveals allot about old aged pensioners through Doris, She portrays the typical old lady, who uses speech that we wouldn’t normally use in this day and age. Many old people have petty concerns that they obsess over; Doris’s petty concerns are cleanliness and hygiene which in most ways makes the audience laugh throughout the play. The writer hints at Doris’s obsession and about how nothing is up to her standards, and that some old people often disapprove of how things happen these days. Doris’s character consists of laughter and dejection. Doris’s sadness mostly comes from her horrific past, such as the death of her unborn baby boy John, by the way that the nurse wrapped him up in a newspaper and shoving him in the bin like a filthy dead dog. A couple of years after the death of John, her husband Wilfred suggested that they could get a dog, but just like the baby it never came true. Many years later and the unworthy promises he sadly passed away, with that he left Doris all alone with nothing to live for. No baby. No dog. No family. No friends. Nothing.
Zulema is the useless house cleaner, paid for Doris’s benefit. Zulema tries to scare Doris by saying to her “What you don’t understand, Doris, is that I am the only person that stands between you and Stafford house”, Doris just finds this rather immature more than threatening. She hates the idea of being put in a cramped horrendous hellhole; she makes it out to be a repulsive, stinky place “They all smell of pee. And daft half of them, you go daft there. Wearing someone else’s frock. They even mix up
‘A Cream Cracker under the Settee’ is a monologue of a character named Doris, who is in her 70’s and is coming to the end of her life. She fell whilst cleaning a picture of her and her deceased husband Wilfred on their wedding day, in her living room where most of the play is set.
The writer Alan Bennett , reveals allot about old aged pensioners through Doris, She portrays the typical old lady, who uses speech that we wouldn’t normally use in this day and age. Many old people have petty concerns that they obsess over; Doris’s petty concerns are cleanliness and hygiene which in most ways makes the audience laugh throughout the play. The writer hints at Doris’s obsession and about how nothing is up to her standards, and that some old people often disapprove of how things happen these days. Doris’s character consists of laughter and dejection. Doris’s sadness mostly comes from her horrific past, such as the death of her unborn baby boy John, by the way that the nurse wrapped him up in a newspaper and shoving him in the bin like a filthy dead dog. A couple of years after the death of John, her husband Wilfred suggested that they could get a dog, but just like the baby it never came true. Many years later and the unworthy promises he sadly passed away, with that he left Doris all alone with nothing to live for. No baby. No dog. No family. No friends. Nothing.
Zulema is the useless house cleaner, paid for Doris’s benefit. Zulema tries to scare Doris by saying to her “What you don’t understand, Doris, is that I am the only person that stands between you and Stafford house”, Doris just finds this rather immature more than threatening. She hates the idea of being put in a cramped horrendous hellhole; she makes it out to be a repulsive, stinky place “They all smell of pee. And daft half of them, you go daft there. Wearing someone else’s frock. They even mix up