AS LangLit: Mother - modelling PETAR

These are the three paragraphs modelling PETAR that we created in class:

POINT
EVIDENCE
TECHNIQUE
ANALYSIS
RETURN TO THE QUESTION

In Mother’s first turn, we see her attitude towards Annie being revealed: ‘The only thing is I think her nose got longer.’ In this declarative, we see her insult Annie, perhaps to try and reduce her status in Chris’ eyes. Mother does not want to acknowledge that Annie is over Larry and creating barriers between Annie and Chris is one way of stopping this from happening.

Miller demonstrates that Mother is capable of manipulating the other characters in the play when she says ‘{directly at him} Like what, for instance?’ In this interrogative, she is trying to make Chris feel uncomfortable, almost daring him to admit that he has feelings for Annie. The paralanguage conveyed through the stage directions above can be seen as a form of intimidation.

In Mother’s penultimate turn, Miller shows us that she is still living in the past – haunted by Larry’s memory: ‘{She suddenly realises something, turns with a reprimanding finger shaking slightly at Keller}’. Here Miller uses paralanguage to demonstrate that Mother blames Keller for accepting too quickly that Larry is dead. This tells us that Mother has still not accepted that Larry is dead and clings to the hope that he may return.