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ShameThe wife is ashamed and embarrassed of her past. She doesn’t want to be there and just wants to forget about itShe prefers being upper class and is ashamed of being lower classThe man is ashamed of the area and doesn’t want to be associated with it “I wasn’t born here”“The Scottish rose to his mouth like bile” – shows how ashamed he is of speaking Scots, it is like bile to him (makes him feel sick, acidic and wrong)He is ashamed of what his friends would think if they saw him thereMan says his wife didn’t have proper manners when they metSo ashamed of Scotland after his visit that he does not want to call it home any moreNostalgiaThe cinema reminds him of happy times “warm floods of joy”When Jackson confronts the kids about scraping his car he talk about the area as he grew upHe recalls a date with his wifeTheme within the story as his memories come back “I wonder if the coal house is still here. Come on”Recalls lots of people from his past in a positive light – “The Jamiesons” before his wife reminds him of the savage nature of their realityThinks of dates, romantic things – the late night dance where they met“lovers lane” – another romantic notion has been disregarded and dismantledStatusHe thinks he’s above people – even those people who are meant to be his intellectual and financial equalsHe is disparaging to others with important jobs, showing his superiority, such as doctors and lawyers. He thinks he belongs with those of high status“black polished car” – a symbol of his status. “lock it” portrays that he is upper class in a poorer/unsafe area“treated like blacks” – Black people were downtrodden in society, he believes he is better and above them.The wife sighs with relief when the husband tells her she is returning to comfort“an empress surrounded by prairie dogs” – this imagery shows how highly the wife thinks of herself and she thinks so little of the locals that they are not even humanHe tells people how expensive his car isHe had gone home with the sole purpose of showing everyone how well he had done for himself.PrejudiceRacism – associates black people with being second-class citizensCan see his prejudice towards black people as he said he was “treated like a black”People in the tenement building are prejudiced towards the man as he looks different to themCatholic and protestant tension shownApartheid – his background living in South Africa is made clearCan see prejudice against people from poorer backgrounds as he is eager to show off his bulging walletJudges the people at the hotel and assumes they are higher classJudges the boys at his car – thinks they are going to vandalise instantly and wishes he could control them like he could back in AfricaLack of belongingThe man doesn’t know where he belongsThe woman feels she doesn’t belong in Scotland or anywhere near the tenementsScotland is not his home – neither is Africa. EpiphanyHe wants to belong in Africa even though he won’tBad memories remind him that he doesn’t belong in Scotland any moreDoes not instantly recognise Scottish language, shows his lack of Scottish identity. *CommunityHe tries to fit in with the Scottish community but at the end he decides he does not have a place thereTenement is run down and “brown” and “scarred” – harrowing and uninviting looking“flat faced shops” community has no life leftLack of community left as the area has changed completely since they leftHe starts speaking Scottish suggesting part of him does still belong in Scotland but has been cut offHe suggests that he actually enjoyed living in Scotland, despite him actually denying itThe cinema has been reworked – a place that used to be the heart of the communityThe new community clearly does exist, proven by the woman shouting out of the window and protecting the boys - perhaps the new generation’s Hannah – but he does not belong in it.Hotel elite is a sort of community, although the falsity in it can be seen in the characters’ descriptions. Show how Iain Crichton Smith expresses the theme of shame/social class/prejudice in Mother and Son (Page 174 Lessons to usefulness on P175) and at least one other text (Home) ................
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