English response 1.

Jimmy had helped rebuild Sophie's confidence and find happiness by regaining her love for pottery making. Although she is hesitant at first, Jimmy persuades her that if he can find the right equipment to help her start pottery again, she will be able to do it again. '"Listen, if we can get hold of a wheel," he said, "then I reckon I can get access to a kiln." "Really?" I said, now interested.' (p.237). Jimmy helps Sophie go back to making pottery, and with the persuasion of offering to take her to a pottery barn, Sophie slowly starts to make an emotional recovery. This shows that Jimmy wants Sophie to regain her confidence and get back on her feet again.

English practice essay response

Response: Whilst the two sisters were growing up together, Geraldine and Fran have experienced different events in their lives to contribute to them having a bad relationship. Some events are when young Geraldine was rude to young Fran’s new boyfriend and when Geraldine’s wedding had been broken off because the guy had fallen in love with Fran, Geraldine felt so torn. During Amy’s party, Fran had brought along her boyfriend to show Amy and Geraldine, however Geraldine acted rudely to him which caused Fran to get upset. Geraldine didn’t react kindly when Raymond, Fran’s boyfriend, had asked if Amy and Geraldine had wanted to go to a small art exhibition Fran had put on. ‘“He was just telling you about the art, Gerry!” she protested furiously. “There is no need to give a lecture!”’ (p.182). When Geraldine and Amy were talking, they had been thinking about asking Raymond to leave the party. Although Amy wanted him to go, she didn’t want to hurt Fran in the procedure. ‘“The thing is not to hurt Fran in the process,” Amy said loyally. “I don’t care if we do hurt Fran,” Geraldine shot back fiercely.’ (p.188). When Geraldine and Amy walked out into the dining area once their conversation was over, Raymond had said some rude things to them. Shocked, Geraldine harshly replied and rudely asked him to leave otherwise she would get some men to kick him out. ‘“Geraldine!” Fran gasped furiously. “How dare you say that!” “I do dare, Fran,” Geraldine snapped.’ (p.188-189). When everyone had put some pressure on Amy, she started to feel upset and cry. Raymond didn’t feel that he did anything wrong and so he just sat at the table and started to chuckle. Geraldine got really mad at Fran for bring Raymond to Amy’s dinner. ‘“For God’s sake, Fran, can you do one sensible thing in your stupid life and get him out?”’ (p.191). Geraldine and Fran had argued a lot about Raymond during Amy’s birthday dinner, which had been a factor to both of them having a bad relationship with one another. Geraldine was so distraught when her wedding was cancelled just the day before it was supposed to happen, that even though Fran was trying to be supportive, Geraldine didn’t want to see her. When Fran heard the news that Paul, the groom to Geraldine, she immediately felt hatred for him and felt sorry for Geraldine. However, despite the fact that Fran wanted to try and be supportive, Geraldine didn’t really care. ‘“I’m so sorry, Gerry,” Fran whispered eventually…“Where did you come from?” she demanded hoarsely.’ (p.34). When Fran had bumped into Paul a couple of days after the wedding had been cancelled, she had never expected that she was the reason that Paul had decided to not go through with the wedding. ‘“Well,” Paul sighed…“I knew then that I absolutely shouldn’t marry Gerry…I wish I was marrying Fran”’ (p.59) Although Geraldine and Fran should both be blamed on them having a bad relationship, Geraldine is the main contributor to the fact that they have not had a good relationship after the different events that have occurred during their life. It is not fair that Geraldine has been very aggressive with her temper towards Fran for the majority of the book, as Fran is a family orientated person, however having a bad relationship with her sister would make her feel upset. Geraldine should forgive Fran for all the things that have happened because the events that have turned out have not been Fran’s fault entirely, and therefore Geraldine should not hold a grudge against her sister. Geraldine and Fran have come across different events during their lives that have contributed to themselves having a bad relationship with one another. Geraldine is the main person that should be blamed for all the trouble and relationship problems that Geraldine and Fran have come across. The events that have occurred have not helped the relationship of the two sisters, and this is why their relationship has been very rocky from when they were teenagers.

Chain of hearts english questions and answers

1. Which characters speak to us directly in the first-person? Why? The character that speaks to us directly is Sophie. This because the author has used words such as I, me and my and we can see through her perspective by being in her shoes and how she sees things. 2. The backcover blurb suggests that Sophie is the main character of the book. Do you agree? How important is Fran? Is it significant that hers is the only voice we hear directly for almost the first quarter of the book? I feel that Sophie is the main character, because we see things through her eyes, and we get an understanding of what is going through her head, whereas with Fran, we just get that third person view of her, and not actually experiencing what it is like living as Fran. Fran is quite an important character in this book, as Sophie spends a lot of time at Fran's house, as well as finding information about Fran that she would've not known. Yes, it is significant that we hear only Fran's voice in almost the first quarter of the book as we get a sense of what Fran was like when she was younger, who she hung out with and how she had acted when she was roughly the same age as Sophie. 3. Are the voices of Sophie and Fran different? Can you identify language features in Sophie’s narrative that you do not find in Fran’s? No, I don't feel that the voices of Sophie and Fran are different, because when you learn about what Fran had been like in her younger years throughout the different chapters of the book, you get a sense that a younger Fran could be a similar comparison to Sophie when she was 17 years old. Yes, I can identify language that you can't find in Fran's narrative but you can in Sophie's. Sophie's narrative includes some swearing and hatred towards people that you can't really find with Fran's. "The dragon, that b!tch commonly known as my mother, didn't come." (p.64) 4. We are almost three-quarters of the way through the book before we come to a chapter that is from Geraldine’s point of view, even though it is third-person narrative (pages 287-315). Does this chapter change our understanding of Geraldine? If so, how? I haven't read up to this chapter yet, so I am not sure. 5. The climax of the novel – Sophie’s return, Geraldine’s confrontation of Fran and the fire that destroys the house – is narrated in the third-person. What reasons might Maureen McCarthy have had for avoiding first-person at this point? Maureen McCarthy might have written the book in third person because she doesn't just want to just get one person's perspective on it, but wants to show how everyone would be reacting and feeling. Although with first person, you can hear what a person is thinking, you can't overly see what is happing in the scene if that character isn't present. You can show all the different emotions of all the characters in that area when narrated in third person, yet in first person, you can only see and hear so far. The narration of third person gives the reader the overall feeling in the scene, and create a better scene as you can tell if the house would be disintegrating, or if someone is dying or being hurt. 6. The final pages of the novel are first-person narrative. Unlike everything that has gone before, they are also written in the present tense. What is the effect of the use of present tense in this last scene, when Sophie goes to visit the Duong family? The effect of the use of present tense is that the chapter can become unexpected and it can put you into a situation and feel how the character is feeling at that present time, instead of just finding out what the character felt like. You can visualize how the person might be feeling at that moment, and how the mood might be in the room, as well as being able to catch every detail instead of just reading the important memories of what the characters had.