CSEC English B - Paper 2 - Prose Fiction - Question 7 (May 2019) Emma and The Man of the House

In the stories ‘Emma’ and ‘The Man of the House’ the mothers face many challenges in their attempts to manage their households.”
Write an essay in which you focus on this theme in these TWO stories. For EACH story, describe the challenge faced. You must also discuss ONE effect of that challenge on any character. Finally, for EACH story, you must examine ONE technique used by EACH writer to portray these challenges.
In the stories “Emma” and “The Man of the House”, the mothers face many challenges in their attempts to manage their households. “Emma” explores the mother’s emotional challenges while the mother in “The Man of the House” faces economic and physical challenges. The challenges have a different effect on each mother and other characters in the stories. In addition, the writer of each story uses certain techniques to portray these challenges.
In “Emma”, it is clear that the mother is experiencing emotional challenges as she attempts to manage her household. There is evidence that Emma is insecure about her relationship with her husband as she asks him if he loves her alone. She also stays awake, watching the clock when he returns home very late each night. Emma’s husband is constantly late on evenings but she pretends like nothing is wrong when he comes home. It is revealed that he is indeed unfaithful when Emma sees him kissing another woman at the train station. In “The Man of the House”, the mother faces economic and physical challenges. She lives alone in poverty with her son Flurry. The financial challenge is emphasized when Minnie Ryan asks Flurry to get the doctor and he says “I had first to go to the house of a Poor Law Guardian, for a ticket to show we couldn’t pay.” Flurry’s mother also faces physical challenges as she is unable to perform her household duties due to her illness. She has to depend on her young son for tasks like cooking, cleaning and fetching the medicine. At the tender age of ten, he takes full responsibility for his household.
The financial and physical challenges in “The Man of the House” have caused ten-year-old Flurry to feel like he is forced to grow up before his time. He is faced with very mature responsibilities which he sometimes cannot handle. Although he tries his best to act like an adult, he is still a child who faces temptations like spending money on sweets instead of a candle.
One technique used in “Emma” to portray the challenges faced by the mother is repetition. The writer refers to Jack’s mistress as “the lady at the train station” and this woman is mentioned five times in the first two pages of the story. One technique used in “The Man of the House” to portray the mother’s challenges is irony. Irony is used to reveal the opposite of what words say therefore the title of the story “The Man of the House” shows that although Flurry tries so hard to be a man, he is only a little boy who fails at mostly every task. There is no man of the house - just a sick mother and a child.
Both stories demonstrate the challenges experienced by two different mothers. Although the challenges are different ones, they affect the main characters significantly. The writers’ use of various techniques help to create a clearer picture of these challenges.

[@faithadonis1439]

Thanks, Miss, this was truly helpful.

[@tamekasimms2481]

Don't you have to write the name of the author for both stories?

[@englishb]

If you are able to remember the names of all 10 authors and 20 poets that's wonderful and you can add them. However, there is no part of the mark scheme that indicates that you will be penalized for not mentioning their names.