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Kiss Miss Carol Farrukh Dhondy

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Both the 'Son's Veto' and 'Kiss Miss Carol' examine the relationship between a child and its parent. Compare what Thomas Hardy and Farrukh Dhondy have to say about that relationship and show how the situation in each story is typical of its period and setting. 'Kiss Miss Carol'. Farrukh Dhondy: Farrukh Dhondy was born in 1944 in Bombay, India. After getting an engineering degree in Bombay he travelled to England. Here he achieved a BA and MA from the Cambridge and Leicester university. He became a full time author in 1980 before which he taught English in various schools in London. Most of his books were written for children, for example 'East End at your feet', and 'Poona Company'. He went on to write plays for stage and television. In ''Kiss Miss Carol'' Dhondy shows the problems children from ethnic minorities that live in Britain have to face. The struggle for their identity; adapting to western ways while respecting their parents and maintaining their cultures. Synopsis: 'Kiss Miss Carol' is the story of a young boy Jolil who comes from an eastern background and is living in a western society. When he is given the part of a cripple in his Christmas play he knows his father would disapprove as he would see the offer of the part as racism and prejudice. 'Kiss Miss Carol' follows the mental struggle Jolil must face in order to decide where his loyalties lie. In the east or the west? This, like the 'Son's Veto' is set in a different time era to our own. Even thought the time is more recent the family situation is still different. Set in East End London, Jolil's story takes place at a time when the East End was known for its many ethnic minority residents. It was common for these families to live on a street with only other ethnic minorities and work, as the Miahs did, in a tailoring factory. ...read more.


The 'Son's Veto' is set in a 19th century, middle class home, at a time when society was divided and social status was considered to be very important. When men dominates and women were dominated over. Sophy's situation is special as not many women move up the social ladder. Sophy's situation was rare as well as unfortunate. She wasn't to only widowed but crippled. Sophy must have led an extremely had lonely and sheltered life after marriage. We can tell from the first paragraph that Sophy a lot of time free as she would spend hours every day putting her hair into a 'somewhat barbaric example of ingenious art.' Sophy's somewhat martyr like devotion to Randolph is justified by her loneliness. Randolph was the only family she had. She felt that other than Randolph her only companions were 'the two servants of her own house.' Sophy felt this way because she could relate to them more than her son. We can see from the beginning who is the superior of the two. After we are introduced to the characters, Sophy speaks for the first time, " He have been so comfortable these past few hours..." Randolph immediately pounces on her grammatical mistake and shows his impatient nature. From here onwards we suspect maybe Sophy and Randolph's relationship is not the normal one of a mother and son. From his uniform and greater grammatical knowledge, we can assume that Randolph is probably middle-upper class. The only thing that seems to tie Sophy to that class is her appearance. From her grammatical mistake so early Hardy makes it clear that Sophy is not as educated as Randolph. This lack of knowledge puts her in an inferior position as Randolph uses his education to power over her. This misuse of ability and Sophy's disabilities creates sympathy for Sophy's character. "His mother hastily adopted the correction, and did not resent his making it, or retaliate, as she might well have done, by bidding him to wipe crumbly mouth of his.." ...read more.


Randolph however only ever considers himself showing him up as the self-centred person he is. Religion plays an important part in both the stories but has a different effect in each case. In 'Kiss Miss Carol', it is Mr Mia's religious interpretation that leads to him forbidding Jolil from the play. In the end, when Jolil has already chosen his family over his school he is miraculously, after a strange turn of events able to perform in the play. We are lead to think by his last line 'God Bless Us All,' that maybe some heavenly entity had something to do with how things turned out for Jolil. It shows religion in a positive light. Randolph on the other hand uses religion against his own mother, making her swear on the bible. It is this final action that locks Sophy away, she knows that after this there is no way of ever being able to marry Sam. This shows religion in a negative light. School, in both stories is what creates a distance between parent and child. In 'Kiss Miss Carol' it is because of school that Jolil feels a need to lie to his parents and even contemplates plots to deceive them. In The 'Son's Veto' it is because of Randolph's influence from school that he has turned into he snob he is. Maybe if he hadn't been away from home so often he would have been more understanding and kinder to his mother. Both stories are written to create sympathy for certain characters. Sophy and Jolil may not have been the strongest characters but they are in essence the main characters. Telling the story with them as the main character makes up for their submissions as they are in the light and we can sympathise with them. Both stories have clear notions of dominance. In 'Kiss Miss Carol' it is Mr Miah and in the 'Son's Veto' it is Randolph. Both of these characters are dominating males. Keerthika Sampat GSCE Literature Essay Page 1 ...read more.

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