The analysis process you need to follow

for the essay task:

Key Scenes which show distinctively visual images of different forms of conflict in

The Shoehorn Sonata

Definitions of conflict:• military warfare between opposing forces,

especially a prolonged and bitter but sporadic struggle

• a disagreement or clash between ideas, principles, or people

• a psychological state resulting from the often unconscious opposition between simultaneous but incompatible desires, needs, drives, or impulses

“bickering”: to argue in a bad-

tempered way about something

unimportant

• Bantering• Squabbling• Wrangling• Nit-picking• Criticising• Hairsplitting (“splitting hairs”)• Picking-on (“picking at’”)• Quibbling• Being finicky/fussy

Key Scenes

From Shoehorn Sonata which show distinctively visual ideas about various forms of conflict.

Scene 2: quote / image

Techniques Effect (visual or imagined image)

Idea about personal / social / cultural conflict

“Pulling out pages of the Bible for cigarette papers”

• Contrast• Biblical

allusion• alliteratio

n

Creates visual image of the Holy Bible being reduced to nothing more than a cigarette. Sheila and Bridie’s make several references to their respective religions (hymns* – churches - prayers)

The contrasting images of the bible and the cigarette is a source of tension, particularly for Bridie. The audience visualises the wilful destruction of significant cultural beliefs. It shows that – in times of struggle and extreme hardship - the women made decisions which conflicted with their spiritual and cultural principles.

Sheila’s gloves:“______________________________________”

Motel room:“_________________________________”

communal space toshare

Bickering to Unity

Images of “conflict” in key scenes

Scene 4In this scene, the tension in the relationship between Bridie and Sheila is contrasted with the friendship they shared in the face of the atrocities of the POW camp.

Scene 4: quote / image

Techniques

Effect (visual or imagined image)

Idea about personal / social / cultural conflict

“BRIDIE deliberately ignores SHEILA’S rising anger. Indeed, she holds up some little motel coffee sachets and looks at them”

• Body language

• Emotive language

• Symbol

The contrast between Sheila’s heightened emotional state and Bridie’s unemotional interest in a trivial object shows ____________ _______________________ (cont.)

“it was the biggest debacle since the Greeks took Troy. And I bet you at Troy there was some British general’s forbear saying [mimics cruelly] ‘What a smashing wooden horse! I say chaps, wheel her in!”

Bridie’s allusion to the wooden horse of Troy creates an image of the futility of war. The British vernacular and emotive stage direction creates a sarcastic parody of British Imperial foolishness The sarcasm also creates an image of the Australian cultural sense of larrikinism and sarcastic sense of humour. The vitriolic “cruelty” in the stage direction positions the audience to observe the fragile tension between the 2 women.

p. quote Technique and how it creates a “distinctively visual” image

37 “BRIDIE deliberately ignores SHEILA’S rising anger. Indeed, she holds up some little motel coffee sachets and looks at them”

The body language in this stage direction states “________________________”. Bridie ignores Sheila and focuses on small, insignificant details.This shows tension between Sheila and Bridie. It seems they are unable to communicate freely about the intense and looming issues of their experiences since being in the POW.

38 “it was the biggest debacle since the Greeks took Troy. And I bet you at Troy there was some British general’s forbear saying [mimics cruelly] ‘What a smashing wooden horse! I say chaps, wheel her in!”

Bridie’s allusion the wooden horse of Troy creates an image of the futility of war. The British vernacular and emotive stage direction creates a sarcastic parody of British Imperial foolishness. This is a dig at Sheila’s cultural connection to the traditions and power of the British Empire. The sarcasm also creates an image of the Australian cultural sense of larrikinism and sarcastic sense of humour. The vitriolic “cruelty” in the stage direction positions the audience to observe the fragile tension that stems from the different cultural and social attitudes of Bridie and Sheila..

Scene 8

With the revelation of Sheila’s sacrifice in Scene 8, the tension between Sheila and Bridie reaches a

climax,

Scene 14This is the final scene in which we see Sheila and Bridie finally begin to leave the war behind.