Unit 8

Different Lives
8.1 The aeroplane

Answers to the textbook questions:

1 b. Relevance of the setting

Answers:
The set design splits the stage into two, showing poor housing and wealthy housing. This reflects the
divide between people due to poverty and wealth where the amount of money you have changes
everything about your life. They are different worlds but exist alongside one another.

3.
a. What do Yinka and Mankwinji’s physical actions suggest about their personalities and
experiences?

b. How does the set design establish the main theme of social inequality? What does the playwright
suggest about life in Zimbabwe?

c. How do the title of the play and the fight reflect Yinka's ambitions?

Answers:

a. Yinka is young and naïve, so she is full of hope which is reflected in her open movements such as
flying like a bird. She has a dream and still believes that dreams can come true. She looks over at the
wealthy setting believing that it is attainable for her too. She is stubborn and refuses to accept her
mother’s negativity. She fiercely protects her dream when her mother throws her aeroplane away and she
rushes to get it. Her mother, Mankwinji, is more cynical. She walks with a limp as though the hardships of
her life have literally broken her. She shakes her head because she is negative and doesn’t believe that
dreams can ever come true. Her pacing shows her frustration and anxiety because she cannot get her
daughter to understand that she cannot have dreams without being disappointed. Their relationship is very
strained because of their different attitudes to life.

b. The writer suggests that life in Zimbabwe is unfair. The divide between rich and poor is very great as
symbolised in the stage settings. It also implies that they live side by side yet separately.
c, Flight is symbolising escaping from poverty and the limitations it places on those born into it. Yinka
wants to fly literally but also metaphorically, as she wants to escape from the world that she has been born
into and achieve great things. The I want to . . . is representative of her determination.

4. Write an analysis of how language is used to present different types of conflict in the extract from
‘I Want to Fly’

Answers:

● Lifestyles implied by the set design: In ‘the poor area’ the materials described are basic such as a reed
mat and a torn blanket implying that there are no luxuries in their lives. The huts are made of mud
and we are told the poor rural folks build their homes themselves. In contrast the wealthy homes have
furniture and are described as modern indicating that they are built using proper materials.

● Yinka’s ambitions and the world she lives in: Yinka lives in poverty which her mother describes as a
trap that is already laid. This shows that her mother believes that you cannot escape from poverty
whatever you do. She says she is destined to remain in this village as though any other life is
completely unattainable for Yinka. Yinka is ambitious and believes that she can ‘fly’ both literally
and metaphorically. She wants to escape poverty and achieve her dreams. She believes that passion is
necessary to do this.

● Yinka and Mankwinji: The daughter and mother are in conflict because the mother is trying to force
her daughter to accept the limitations of her life: her trap and to plough back your fruits to this village
and not to any other. This means she believes that Yinka should physically work all her life to
support the community she lives in and forego any personal ambitions for a better life. Yinka wants to
‘fly’, which is in direct contrast to ‘plough’. She doesn’t want to be rooted to one area and poverty:
she wants to explore and see the world.
8.2 Mrs. Manzi

Answers to the textbook questions:

2.
a. Make note on the level of formality shown in the dialogue. What does this reveal about the
characters’ relationship.
b. Using examples from the scene, explain how the writer shows that Mrs Manzi can be seen as a
role model for Yinka.

Answer:

a. The dialogue is very formal. Yinka addresses her teacher as Ma’am, which is a formal mode of
address for a professional woman. She clearly has a great deal of respect for her. Mrs Manzi
addresses Yinka as My dear, which is less formal as she is the superior one in the relationship. It is a form
of address that shows warmth as she cares about Yinka and values her as a good student who
does well academically. Both speak in full sentences and use formal vocabulary.

b. Mrs Manzi can be seen as a good role model because she is an educated woman who knows that
hard work and intelligence will be rewarded. She understands the value of education in opening
doorways, such as suggesting the STEM bursary. It is clear that she wants to help Yinka fulfil her
potential and escape poverty.

3. Discuss the following questions

a. What similarities and differences are there between the characters, Mrs Manzi and Mankwinji?
b. Why might writer have included the characters - what themes emerge from their contrasting lives
and experiences?
c. To what extent do you think the writer is criticising Yinka’s mother and her attitudes?

Answers:
a. Both Mrs Manzi and Mankwinji want the best for Yinka but have different ideas about her future
based on their own life experiences. Mrs Manzi knows that education can lift her out of poverty,
but her mother does not believe that it is possible to achieve anything because life will hold you back. She
does not want Yinka to waste her time on useless dreams, whereas Mrs Manzi knows that they can come
true with the correct guidance. Mrs Manzi is more educated than Mrs Mankwinji so is more open to the
idea of change and things being possible. Mrs Mankwinji has had a much harder life so is cynical and
negative.

b. These characters show how unfair life is because being born into poverty makes it harder to find
opportunities. It is a trap that makes people lack ambition for their children because they are so worn
down that they no longer believe that things can ever get better. Mrs Manzi shows the audience that
Yinka’s mother is wrong, but we can understand why she thinks as she does because she is a victim of an
unfair society

4. Discuss these character descriptions. Consider:

● what the description of Shumba implies about rich people

● the suggested contrast between Shumbha’s values and those of Aunt Sihle
● what storylines might emerge from the details given about these two characters

Answers:
● The description of Shumba seems to imply that he is greedy and materialistic. It also says directly
that he is a hypocrite but does not say why. It may be inferredthat he is not very helpful to Yinka and
her mother as clearly he has not helped them in their poverty. This may suggest that all wealthy
people are like this but that is not completely clear.

● It is suggested that Aunt Sihle has better values than Shumba because she is kind hearted and tries to
help Yinka’s father. The fact that she has to do it in secret makes Shimba seem worse as she may be
scared of his reaction.

● Storylines such as Aunt Sihle being caught helping their poor relatives and getting admonished by
Shumba are possible. Also, Aunt Sihle may decide to help Yinka realise her dreams and get into
trouble with her mother too because she doesn’t want them encouraged.
8.3 A different voice

Answers to the textbook questions:

2. Make notes on:

● the challenges Rosaleen Moriarty-Simmonds faced and how she overcame them
● the different emotions she describes during the article

● Challenges: Due to her physical disabilities as her legs are deformed and she has no arms. She has
been like that since birth so has adapted to overcome her disabilities and leads a normal family and
working life. As a child, she faced her challenges with the support of her mother and was always
taken everywhere with her rather than hidden away. She went to a school for disabled children and
had a good education. As an adult, she faces challenges head on rather than avoiding them. A good
example of this is her going in to speak to her son’s school friends so they could ask her questions
rather than not understand and tease him.

● Emotions: These are mostly happy ones. She describes herself as totally content and only focuses on
positive things. As a child, she talks about her bond with her mother. She is proud of her
achievements in education and work and clearly has a very happy family life. When discussing her
lack of children, she immediately moves on to the moment where she found out she was pregnant and
how ecstatic she and her husband were. Even when her son was being questioned about his mother’s
disabilities at school, she stresses what a wonderful occasion it was when she went in to talk to the
children for an afternoon.

3. Discuss the way the article is written:

● Describe the voice of the writer.

● What is the effect of the first person perspective? How does it help it help the reader understand
issues about disability and disabled people?
● What is the impact of the opening sentence and the chronological account of Rosaleen’s life?
● What is the overall effect of the article?

● The writer’s voice is powerful. She is positive and proud of her achievements. She comes across as
someone who wants to tell her own story in her own words. She tends to pass over the negatives and
stress the positives so the article is optimistic and uplifting. It is a very personal account.

● The first-person narrative makes it a raw and honest account of disability, which makes it more
powerful. It allows a disabled person to tell the reader about their experiences on their own terms.

● The opening sentence sets a positive tone because it emphasizes how great her life is and how happy
and fulfilled she is with both her work and home life. There is no mention of disability in the opening
 paragraph, so the reader forms an image of her as someone who is able-bodied before she tells you
about her legs and arms. The chronological account works well, as you can see how her whole life
has been influenced by the determination to do everything as normally as possible.

● The article is very uplifting and portrays disability in a positive light. It shows that there is no reason
for disabilities to hold you back and that disabled people have the right to expect the same things
from life as anyone else.

8.4 He for she

Answers to the textbook questions:

1. Make a list of main points Watson makes - what are the strands of her argument?
● Boys and men need to campaign for gender equality, not just girls and women; males are also victims
of inequality related to parenting and emotional health; both genders should be free to be who they
want; unless we do something, gender inequality will be around for a long time to come.

2. Persuasive techniques used in the speech:

● Using an actress from the Harry Potter movies is likely to appeal to a younger audience.

● She denigrates herself and makes it clear that people are powerful. That is a good persuasive
technique as it makes people feel that they can make a real difference.

● She is polite so will not alienate the audience or make them angry. She does not try to blame men, as
she says that they are victims too.

● She gives examples of unfairness that affect both men and women. The women’s issues are more
serious ones though.

● She does not say much in detail about the benefits of change – mostly that if things change for men
they will also change for women. I find this less convincing as the speech seems to focus more on the
benefits of gender equality for men,saying that when they change, things will automatically get better
for women. It seems to imply that they need to lead (once again) when women face the worst issues.
● She does not use metaphorical language in this speech. It is written in quite plain language. She is not
trying to be a great orator, just a normal person making a simple appeal.

● There is some use of emotive language, such as prejudice, vulnerable, and imprisoned. She
deliberately talks about the importance of her father in order to raise men’s status in parenting.

● She applauds those who believe in equality already and is appealing to them to change things.

● The last paragraph invites the audience to make a change and seeks to empower them. She also
challenges them so they have to face up to it now.

3. Write a 150-word analysis of the use, variation and impact of pronouns in Emma Watson’s speech.

● The use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ makes the speech very personal, as it is clearly a subject she feels
passionately about.

● It also allows her to include personal experiences such as her father’s role as a parent being less
valued than her mother’s.

● She also uses the pronoun ‘we’ to set a tone of togetherness and unity with the audience. Initially the
‘we’ seems to refer to women and is suggesting that the invitation being extended to men is from
women as a collective powerful group: we want to try and galvanise as many men and boys as
possible.

● The we in if we do nothing stands for everyone – men and women together and suggests positive
unity through action.

● The use of ‘you’ is a call to action where she directly appeals to each audience member individually.
8.5
Answers to the textbook questions:

1. Reread the extract.

a. Note down the aspects of the story that seem unusual and those that seem normal or recognisable.
b. Discuss the effect of this combination.
Answer:

A. Unusual aspects: A young person owning a ‘transporter’ – it is not entirely clear what it is but it
seems to carry luggage; the fact that she is leaving her planet; the thin metal rings around her ankles.
Normal aspects: A young person being secretive and defying their parents by being the first sibling to do
something they disapprove of; gossiping family members.

B. The situation seems quite familiar but the setting seems very unusual and sparks our interest.Why
is she doing this despite their disapproval, and why are they so disapproving that they would banish her
from the family? It makes us wonder about the future world being depicted.

2. Make notes on
● How each character feels about their situation
● The attitude of their families
● Whether you view them as sympathetic characters

Answer:
● Yinka and Binti are similar in that they both want to escape from their present lives: Yinka wants to
fly literally and Binti is planning to fly across the galaxy to a different planet; both of them want to
educate themselves (though with Binti we only know this from the introduction); Yinka lives in
poverty in an unfair society where there is a big divide between the poor and the wealthy – it is not
clear whether this is the case for Binti although her transporter is cheap so she may come from a poor
background.

● In both stories, the family disapproves of their dreams. Yinka’s mother tells her to accept her fate and
work on the land to support her village. Binti’s family clearly disapprove of her leaving as she is
running away secretly in the middle of the night. In both stories, their extended family seem destined
to get involved but Yinka’s aunt may help her whereas Binti’s aunts will just stir up the situation by
gossiping.

● At the moment Yinka comes across as a more sympathetic character than Binti. Binti seems close to
realising her dream of leaving but Yinka still has battles to face. Binti has a transporter and a ticket
for the shuttle whereas at the moment Yinka has nothing but a supportive teacher and a sympathetic
aunt. However, Binti seems to have to go very far away, to a different planet, to realise her dream
whereas Yinka may be able to do so closer to home.

3. Write a comparison of the ways the experiences of the young people are presented in ‘Binti’ and ‘I
Want to Fly’
Answer:
In both stories, young people are presented as having dreams and ambitions that their parents disapprove
of. In ‘Binti’, the main character is a girl who is going to leave her planet to attend a university across the
galaxy. Her family disapprove as she is the first one of ten children to leave, but she is determined to leave
anyway in the middle of the night. In ‘I Want to Fly’ Yinka is desperate to get a good education and
become a pilot but her mother thinks that it is impossible to escape the poverty they live in and doesn’t
want her to waste her time on impossible dreams.
Both children seem set to defy their parents. Binti is running away in the middle of the night and knows
that the outcome will probably be her parents disowning her for shaming the family line. She clearly
thinks it is worth it. Yinka has the support of her teacher and possibly her wealthy aunt so may be able to
get to her flying training without her mother’s approval. In ‘I Want to Fly’ we see the friction and tension
between Yinka and her mother, but in ‘Binti’ we never see her interact with her parents. Yinka’s mother
limps and has clearly had a hard life. She seems too worn down to accept that things could be different for
her daughter. She seems to have given up but Yinka hasn’t.

8.6 A strange ship

Answers to the textbook questions:

1. Discuss how effectively the writer creates conflict, mystery and tension in this extract.

● Binti’s interaction with the security guard

Answer:
Binti’s interaction with the security guard is quite mysterious as it is not clear to the reader whether she is
allowed on to the ship or not. The edan is an object of mystery too as we do not know what it is or why
the guard is interested in it. It seems as though Binti is lying about something here but it is not clear what
or why. We are told that Binit is a harmoniser who builds astrolabes so it seems strange that she is poor
and needs to go to university as she sounds very educated already.

● the technology mentioned in the extract

Answer:
The technology sounds very advanced and is quite challenging for the reader to understand. The edan is
mysterious as it is not clear what it is or what it does. The ship is living but we do not know what this
means.

● any relevant uses of language

Answer:
There is a lot of language linked to madeup, futuristic technology, which creates mystery. Binti seems
afraid of the guard and we learn that she is a poor Himba girl so presumably there is some sort of
hierarchy of planets in this future world.
2. Discuss whether you would classify ‘Binti’ as a science fiction or a fantasy story. Use references
from both extracts to support your ideas
Binti seems more science fiction than fantasy because it is heavily focused on technology as opposed to
magic. Although things happen that are impossible in real life, the writer attempts to explain them through
technology and science. The fact that it is set in space and is about a strange journey also suggests it is
science fiction.

3. Write two paragraphs explaining:

● what the interactions between Binti and the guard reveals about her background and personality
● how the presentation of the guard increases sympathy for Binti

Answers:
● We learn that Binti is poor and part of a people who are considered inferior. She is also very clever
and accomplished and capable of lying to get what she wants.

● The guard is presented as quite threatening. This suggests that people are not very free in this world
and that he could get Binti into trouble if he discovers things about her. This increases sympathy for
her as she is clearly desperate to get on to the ship so needs to get past him.