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  • The Breadwinner - Commentary

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    The document discusses the short story "The Breadwinner" by Leslie Halward. It analyzes how the author uses the central theme of a young man struggling to establish his own values while facing poverty and domestic violence at home. Through the characters of Billy and his parents, the story depicts the difficult situation of the family and positions the reader to sympathize with Billy's loyalty to his mother and his hiding of money from his abusive father. The author drew from his own experiences growing up in working-class Birmingham to develop the themes of sobriety and loyalty in a realistic portrayal of the effects of poverty in the 20th century. In the end, the document argues the story provides insight into the struggles young men face in establishing their

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    The document discusses the short story "The Breadwinner" by Leslie Halward. It analyzes how the author uses the central theme of a young man struggling to establish his own values while facing poverty and domestic violence at home. Through the characters of Billy and his parents, the story depicts the difficult situation of the family and positions the reader to sympathize with Billy's loyalty to his mother and his hiding of money from his abusive father. The author drew from his own experiences growing up in working-class Birmingham to develop the themes of sobriety and loyalty in a realistic portrayal of the effects of poverty in the 20th century. In the end, the document argues the story provides insight into the struggles young men face in establishing their

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    684 views2 pages

    The Breadwinner - Commentary

    Uploaded by

    api-263480603
    The document discusses the short story "The Breadwinner" by Leslie Halward. It analyzes how the author uses the central theme of a young man struggling to establish his own values while facing poverty and domestic violence at home. Through the characters of Billy and his parents, the story depicts the difficult situation of the family and positions the reader to sympathize with Billy's loyalty to his mother and his hiding of money from his abusive father. The author drew from his own experiences growing up in working-class Birmingham to develop the themes of sobriety and loyalty in a realistic portrayal of the effects of poverty in the 20th century. In the end, the document argues the story provides insight into the struggles young men face in establishing their

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    The Breadwinner

    Writers create worlds in order to explore ideas and values in the wider
    world.
    Different authors have explored ideas and values in the wider world. The
    Breadwinner by Leslie Halward is a short storiy that explore the theme of the
    struggle for young men in different cultures and in different situations to establish
    their own values. I will discuss the central theme, how the authors use characters
    and how their own understanding of values and culture through life experiences has
    affected the theme.
    The central theme of The Breadwinner by Leslie Halward is about a young man
    fighting to establish his own values. The Breadwinner, by Leslie Halward, shows how
    a dire situation can force the protagonist to recognize his values early in his life. The
    short story also demonstrates the struggle it was to establish those values. Billy
    faces the issues of poverty and domestic violence with both parents being
    unemployed and also his having a drunk and abusive father. The mother tries to
    prevent the father from using the money at the public house: "You'll keep your
    hands off the money..." to no avail. As a result of this when the boy returns home he
    decides that his loyalty to his mother is greater than his fear of his father. As a
    consequence of this he tells his father that he lost the money. The father belts the
    boy with "...a wide, thick belt with a heavy brass buckle..." but Billy did not cry out
    in front of his father. Through the boy's struggle his values have been recognized.
    He understands that caring for his mother is important and that alcohol affects the
    family.
    The protagonist in The Breadwinner expose the idea of fighting to establish their
    values through their actions. In The Breadwinner, the reader is positioned to feel
    sympathy for fourteen year old Billy who is responsible for bringing home the
    money. Ordinarily a reader would not feel sympathy towards a young man who lies
    to his father. The author has portrayed the family's circumstances through the
    story's characters, "I know what'll happen to it if you get hold of it..." so the reader
    is positioned to feel sympathy towards the young man for hiding the money. By
    using the characters in their short stories, Archie Weller and Leslie Halward
    successfully portray the struggle for the establishment of values.
    The understanding of values and culture through life experiences is used by Leslie
    Halward, which develops the theme of sobriety and loyalty in The Breadwinner.
    Halward was born in Birmingham, England and brings to the table his own
    understanding of the working class life of his era. The Breadwinner is a superb
    example of poverty and the effects it has on a household in the 20th century,
    "plainly poor... meanly furnished... bread and butter." By using their understanding
    of values and culture, learnt through life experience, both authors position the
    reader to further understand the story because of the authenticity of the text.
    Therefore the reader can sympathise with the protagonists in their pursuit to attain
    values in their dreadful situations.
    In conclusion, we see how the author use a central theme, characters and their own
    understanding of values and culture through life experiences in short stories. The
    author position the reader to feel a deep understand and sympathy towards the
    main protagonist. Thus they can understand of the struggle for young men in

    different cultures and in different situations to establish their own values. I find that
    the short story gave me a vital insight to the struggles of a home struck by
    poverty. I can further my ideas and my own values of the wider world through such
    stories.

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