'Nine Days': Chapter 5

‘Nine Days’: Chapter 5. Group members: Marcus Hendrik Duncan, Frederick Andrew Soumilass, Isaac Jake Haynes Meyer..

[Audio] Hi! I'm Francis westaway and this is my chapter. What I've written is set in 1937 and goes from page 143 to 174. Now, let's get to the good stuff..

[Audio] The places and important historical events in this chapter include; Child labour in factories, classism and hill based on social standings. This chapter also features pop culture references relevant to the time period, like Lamont cranston, just an off-brand james bond. The milk bar is also a popular hang out place of the time..

[Audio] This chapter opens from the perspective of Francis and the important event in this chapter is that of the aftermath of his dad's death in the chapter it is noticeable of how young he is as it starts off with him pretending/fantasising himself as a person called Lamont Cranston who we infer is some sort of spy as he sneaks down to the kitchen to get to "the cakes". That have been given to them when their dad died. The death of his dad leads Kip to drop out of school, Connie to drop out of art school and his mother being employed as a maid/cleaning lady to keep the family afloat..

[Audio] Francis joins the fish gang, and steals a necklace and almost gets caught during which he swears "right here and now I make a pledge to Jesus. If I get out of this alive I will shoulder responsibility for this family. I will work hard at school." This leads to Francis becoming the "uptight" "knight in shining armour" he thinks himself to be. Wait DAd??? Ahhh oh wait no that can't be him that guy got back in the tram..

[Audio] Francis' personality is a grating, as he sees himself always as the smartest in the room. This is evident through is escapades as Lamont Cranston who says in reference to Kip "The guard is a stupid weak-willed buffoon." However later in the timeline Francis becomes even more uptight and annoying through Kip's perspective. All this is explained when during this chapter when we see Francis vow to Jesus that he will become incredibly responsible and shoulder the responsibility of his family. There is also the silly way Francis imagines himself in contrast to the way he is portrayed as a serious uptight boy in other chapters..

[Audio] 'If I get out of this alive, I will shoulder the responsibility for this family. I will work hard at school. I will be the most serious, most studious, most hard-working boy and I'll do whatever Ma says and I'll never do another naughty thing, not ever, not if I live to be a hundred.', This shows the determination and grit in the character. 'I've got one second to make up my mind and all I can think about is Dad but then I think about Kip walking out of school and I'm not walking away from anything so I run after them and I jump on too.' This shows he is competitive but also has the ability to reflect on past experiences, the thought of my father still haunts me a bit.

[Audio] There are plenty of Ideas, concerns and conflicts, including Conflict between fish gang and Francis Francis stealing from an old woman Kip and Francis growing apart Second chances Everyone dealing with grief differently harsh reality of innocence. There is also the silly way Francis imagines himself in contrast to the way he is portrayed as a serious uptight boy in other chapters. Gender roles and stigmas as connie has to drop out of art school immediately to do the housework and she doesn't even get a chance to stay..

[Audio] In this chapter we see the origin of the family necklace Francis gave Annabel which ultimately led to Kip marrying Annabel and the necklace being passed on to Charlotte. The necklace is used by Charlotte to determine whether she is pregnant or not. Why Kip and Francis don't eat cake anymore do to it being linked to the memories of their father's death..

[Audio] The message we, as readers, can take away from this is the importance of thinking before you act. This is shown when Francis joins a gang and robs an old lady only to highly regret it later in the chapter and later in life..

[Audio] Symbolism: Toni uses the symbolism of the necklace to represent the intergenerational connections between the characters. Imagery: Toni uses imagery to create mental images that help the audience to picture and experience the magic of the story. Toni also uses the characters inner thoughts to convey a contrast with how others perceive them. E.g Francis is perceived as being uptight for no reason, but in his head, he vowed he would be responsible to care for his family..