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English Revision Programme

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Ruwani Jayasinghe
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19 views9 pages

English Revision Programme

Uploaded by

Ruwani Jayasinghe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MONITOR LIZARD

PRODUCTIONS

THE THEME, THE STYLE AND THE


LITERARY DEVICES OF THE
HIGHMASTER AND LITTLE BILLY
CLOUGH- BY JOHN WADDINGTON
FEATHER.

By: Methuka, Sasiru and Nehan


MONITOR LIZARD

A SUMMARY OF THE
PRODUCTIONS

STORYLINE.
 In *"The High Master and Little Billy Clough,"* Clifford
Clough, a successful Yorkshire businessman, and his wife
Edna have different aspirations for their son, Billy. Clifford is
proud of their Yorkshire heritage, while Edna, with her
refined upbringing, believes Billy needs a polished accent to
succeed in society. Concerned that Billy’s broad Yorkshire
dialect may hinder his social mobility, Edna persuades
Clifford to send Billy to an elite boarding school in Southern
England, where he’ll learn to “speak proper.”

 Clifford emphasizes to the school's headmaster that his


primary goal is for Billy to refine his speech. The headmaster,
with a posh accent, fails to change Billy into a posh speaking
child. In fact, the headmaster also start s speaking Yorkshire
because he associated Billy.
MONITOR LIZARD
PRODUCTIONS

THE THEMES.
MONITOR LIZARD

A FEW LANGUAGE
PRODUCTIONS

TECHNIQUES.
MONITOR LIZARD
PRODUCTIONS

OVERALL LANGUAGE STRUCTURE


AND STYLE IN THE STORYLINE.
 The writer, John Waddington Feather starts off with an
introduction to the situation of Yorkshire accent in Britain.
He links this to the way how Clifford speaks. He says
“There’s no doubt about it. It’s his flat, short vowels and
clean-cut consonants which mark out a Yorkshire man from
his fellow Brits” Feather emphasises the difference and
how the Yorkshire accent clearly stands out when Clifford
speaks.
 “Of course, they didn’t all speak the same dialect
throughout Yorkshire. The dialects of the farmlands in the
North and East of the country are derived from the Angle
and Danish-Viking settlers…” Here, the writer explains the
situation of accents in Britain, making the reader ready for
the rest of the story, by giving factual and extra
information.
MONITOR LIZARD
PRODUCTIONS

The writer then explains the background of


Clifford, one of the main characters in the
story, which helps him later on, to build up a
great storyline, linking it to Billy Clough. Ex:
“He’d had the usual education at the council
school…” and “But he knew little about arts,
literature and all that…”
MONITOR LIZARD
PRODUCTIONS

 The writer then shows a lot of contrast between Edna


(Billy’s mother) and Clifford, showing the difference
between their backgrounds, and mentioning about
the difference in each others’ accents. Ex: “As a
result, she became upper-crustian and there was no
trace of a Yorkshire accent in her speech. In brief,
she spoke posh.”
 The writer also uses some colloquial language when
he says, “ It didn’t bother Clifford one jot; in fact, he
was rather proud that his son was growing up
speaking broad Yorkshire.” The informal word ‘jot’
emphasises how Clifford doesn’t care about his son
speaking Yorkshire.
MONITOR LIZARD
PRODUCTIONS

John Waddington Feather uses implicit language


to make the story interesting by making the
reader think. Ex: “The crunch came one lunch-
time” THE WORD ‘CRUNCH’ IMPLIES THAT
EDNA STARTED TO WORRY ABOUT BILLY’S
ACCENT.
The writer shows characters speaking in
Yorkshire accent so that the reader can visualize
and understand the story in full detail.
Finally, the writer ends the story in a humorous
happening, telling how even the headmaster
started to speak posh.
MONITOR LIZARD
PRODUCTIONS

THANK YOU FOR


LISTENING!

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