Stories of Ourselves Volume 2 (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE English Literature): Flashcards
Exam code: 0475 & 0992
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- FrontNo.3 Nick
Fill in the gap: "one blue ＿＿＿＿＿"
Narrator (of Nick as fire)
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Cards in this collection (100)
Fill in the gap: "one blue ＿＿＿＿＿"
Narrator (of Nick as fire)
Answer: "one blue flame"
Fill in the gap: "In this wish he ＿＿＿＿＿ out"
Narrator
Answer: "In this wish he burned out"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ and snuggest in all the place"
Narrator (of Nick's home)
Answer: "prettiest and snuggest in all the place"
Fill in the gap: "Nick was never again heard to utter a ＿＿＿＿＿"
Narrator
Answer: "Nick was never again heard to utter a wish"
Key quote: "It was in vain that his apples were the largest for miles around"
Narrator
Analysis
'In vain' shows that Nick's abundance is wasted. His envy means he cannot enjoy even the finest harvest.
Key quote: "He would sit grumbling and bemoaning himself as if every other man's riches were his poverty"
Narrator
Analysis
The verbs 'grumbling and bemoaning' present envy as a self-inflicted poverty. Nick treats others' riches as though they rob him.
Key quote: "It was provocation enough to be burned; but to contribute by his misfortune to the well-being of his tormentors was still more aggravating"
Narrator
Analysis
The darkly comic tone shows Nick resenting others' comfort even while he suffers. It presents his envy as completely irrational.
Key quote: "There dwelt in a small village, not a thousand miles from Fairyland"
Narrator
Analysis
The classic fairy-tale opening frames the story as an allegory, delivering a clear moral about the dangers of envy.
Key quote: "Then she gave him a slap in the face, which made his cheek tingle as if a bee had stung him"
Narrator (of the fairy)
Analysis
The simile likens the slap to a bee sting. This painful shock begins the process of awakening Nick to his faults.
Key quote: "And now entertained only one wish — that he were himself again"
Narrator (of Nick)
Analysis
Wishing to be 'himself again' completes Nick's cyclical journey. He has learned humility and finally values what he had.
Fill in the gap: "I have in it a ＿＿＿＿＿"
Narrator
Answer: "I have in it a rose"
Fill in the gap: "I ＿＿＿＿＿ them"
Narrator
Answer: "I despised them"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ cannot fail us"
Narrator
Answer: "spring cannot fail us"
Fill in the gap: "consisted mainly of ＿＿＿＿＿"
Narrator (of the town)
Answer: "consisted mainly of men"
Key quote: "Other women also have such boxes where they keep such trifles, but no one has my rose"
Narrator
Analysis
This builds suspense and marks the rose as uniquely significant before its story is even told. It hints at a precious memory.
Key quote: "simply a fashion, which one man had set and the rest followed unreasoningly"
Narrator
Analysis
The word 'fashion' presents men's affections as shallow and herd-like. They value women only as a passing novelty.
Key quote: "But I was vital, and I was new, and she was old — they all forsook her and followed me"
Narrator
Analysis
The contrast of 'new' and 'old' exposes how quickly women are judged on appearance. This breeds unwanted rivalry between them.
Key quote: "one bud. It was white"
Narrator
Analysis
The short sentence spotlights the white rose as a symbol of a pure, rare and genuine bond between the two women.
Key quote: "bright hair glittering in the candle-light"
Narrator (of the other woman)
Analysis
The light imagery makes the other woman seem almost angelic. It contrasts with the narrator's dark hair and 'old black dress'.
Key quote: "the scent of that dead rose, withered for twelve years, comes back to me"
Narrator
Analysis
The sensory imagery of scent shows the lasting power of memory. Even the 'dead' rose still revives strength and hope.
Fill in the gap: "behind the ＿＿＿＿＿ ball"
Mr Berry (to John)
Answer: "behind the black ball"
Fill in the gap: "drive a ＿＿＿＿＿"
John's son
Answer: "drive a truck"
Fill in the gap: "A ＿＿＿＿＿ couldn't change things between my kind and his"
John
Answer: "A smile couldn't change things between my kind and his"
Fill in the gap: "Maybe there was a color other than ＿＿＿＿＿ on the old ball"
John
Answer: "Maybe there was a color other than white on the old ball"
Key quote: "Some people think so. But American is better than both, son"
John (to his son)
Analysis
John is presented as patriotic despite the injustice he faces. He argues that being American — citizenship — should not depend on race.
Key quote: "gazing into the brass like the wicked queen into her looking glass"
John (of his boss, Mr Berry)
Analysis
The fairytale simile casts the boss as a wicked villain. It voices John's distrust and his sense of injustice.
Key quote: "What ever caused you to give a damn about a Negro anyway? Why should you try to organize Negroes?"
John (to the union man)
Analysis
The bitter questions and the stressed 'you' indict white men for their past complicity in segregation. John's suspicion runs deep.
Key quote: "You always kid, don't you, Daddy?"
John's son
Analysis
The child's innocent dialogue gives the story a tenderness amid the hardship. His hope contrasts with his father's bitterness.
Key quote: "Those hands were on my brain, and I couldn't forget that fellow"
John
Analysis
The metaphor of hands 'on my brain' shows the union man haunting John. It foreshadows his shift towards hope and action.
Key quote: "You mean some unions don't. It used to be that way, but things have changed"
The union man
Analysis
The union man's correction, 'some unions', counters John's pessimism. He represents the possibility of change in America.
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ driver"
Narrator (of Mr Acton)
Answer: "slave driver"
Fill in the gap: "These words ＿＿＿＿＿ Sharma"
Narrator
Answer: "These words hypnotised Sharma"
Fill in the gap: "time just stood ＿＿＿＿＿"
Narrator (of Sharma's retirement)
Answer: "time just stood still"
Fill in the gap: "There was no other explanation. His ＿＿＿＿＿ was sealed"
Narrator (Sharma's thoughts)
Answer: "There was no other explanation. His doom was sealed"
Key quote: "The poor old dispatch clerk could not surmise the real meaning of the General Manager's remark"
Narrator (of Sharma)
Analysis
Sharma is introduced sympathetically. His inability to trust any kindness reveals how badly workers are usually treated.
Key quote: "great Marmalade Empire of Henry King & Co."
Narrator
Analysis
The word 'Empire' connotes grandeur and power. It alludes to the British Empire and its control over India.
Key quote: "He withdrew in the abject manner of his ancestors"
Narrator (of Sharma)
Analysis
The words 'abject' and 'ancestors' link Sharma's submission to generations of colonial obedience. His servitude feels inherited.
Key quote: "Srijut Sharma tried to voice his inner protest in words which would convey his meaning without seeming to be disloyal"
Narrator (of Sharma)
Analysis
This shows Sharma's powerlessness. He cannot refuse the gift or his forced retirement for fear of seeming disloyal.
Key quote: "trembling with trepidation, pale and completely unsure of himself"
Narrator (of Sharma)
Analysis
The emotive list and alliteration ('trembling with trepidation') build pathos for Sharma's fear and self-doubt.
Key quote: "He felt a pull at his heart"
Narrator (of Sharma)
Analysis
The physical reaction, a 'pull at his heart', shows the emotional toll. The narrator tracks Sharma's gradual loss of hope.
Fill in the gap: "air of ＿＿＿＿＿"
Narrator (of the townspeople)
Answer: "air of helplessness"
Fill in the gap: "It doesn't make her feel ＿＿＿＿＿ any more"
Narrator (of Mrs Burridge)
Answer: "It doesn't make her feel safe any more"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿, smoke coming up from the horizon"
Narrator (Mrs Burridge's vision)
Answer: "burning, smoke coming up from the horizon"
Fill in the gap: "Mrs. Burridge is putting up green tomato ＿＿＿＿＿"
Narrator
Answer: "Mrs. Burridge is putting up green tomato pickles"
Key quote: "She feels beleaguered, isolated, like someone shut up inside a fortress"
Narrator (of Mrs Burridge)
Analysis
The simile of a 'fortress' presents the home as both protection and prison. It captures Mrs Burridge's sense of isolation and entrapment.
Key quote: "She is gazing around the kitchen, looking at all the things she will have to leave behind when she goes"
Narrator (of Mrs Burridge)
Analysis
The cosy kitchen symbolises a settled, happy life. It is juxtaposed with her certainty that she will lose it all.
Key quote: "They have spotted her gun, their eyes have fastened on it, they want it"
Narrator (Mrs Burridge's imagined future)
Analysis
The clipped, listed actions convey Mrs Burridge's vulnerability. They imagine a lawless, violent dystopian future.
Key quote: "What if she is wrong and Frank comes back after all, what if nothing, really, is the matter?"
Narrator (Mrs Burridge's thoughts)
Analysis
The rhetorical questions expose Mrs Burridge's uncertainty. They reveal the fear of the unknown that drives the whole story.
Key quote: "She thinks of her girls now and hopes they will not have babies; it is no longer the right time for it"
Narrator (of Mrs Burridge)
Analysis
The blunt narration shows Mrs Burridge's pragmatism. Her fear of a bleak future overrides any hope or nostalgia.
Key quote: "Maybe you'll go off somewhere when it happens"
Mrs Burridge
Analysis
The repeated 'when' rather than 'if' signals Mrs Burridge's certainty that catastrophe is coming. Disaster feels inevitable to her.
Fill in the gap: "I, too, was once an ＿＿＿＿＿"
Narrator (opening line)
Answer: "I, too, was once an astronaut"
Fill in the gap: "Their ＿＿＿＿＿ became invisible"
Narrator
Answer: "Their faces became invisible"
Fill in the gap: "He and I were the only ＿＿＿＿＿ inhabitants of the city"
Narrator
Answer: "He and I were the only real inhabitants of the city"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ air"
Narrator
Answer: "loosening air"
Key quote: "the million faces of the city"
Narrator
Analysis
The imagery of a 'million faces' captures the city's anonymity. It leaves the narrator unseen and alone in the crowd.
Key quote: "Then an over-curious reporter exploded the whole pretence"
Narrator (of Scranton)
Analysis
The violent verb 'exploded' shatters Scranton's fraud. Yet the narrator still sides with the lie over the reality.
Key quote: "crop-duster"
Narrator (of Scranton)
Analysis
The word 'crop-duster' creates bathos: the glamorous 'astronaut' is really a failed pilot. The gap between image and reality is exposed.
Key quote: "Yes, I am the astronaut"
Narrator (closing line)
Analysis
The closing line cyclically echoes the opening. The narrator has fully taken on the delusion, becoming Scranton himself.
Key quote: "I gazed down corridors of light that ran between them like the aisles of an open-air cathedral"
Narrator
Analysis
The simile comparing the aisles to a 'cathedral' gives a sense of religious epiphany. It marks the narrator's detachment from ordinary life.
Key quote: "I, too, had walked on the moon"
Narrator
Analysis
The metaphor of walking 'on the moon' stands for the escape and specialness that the fantasy gives the narrator.
Fill in the gap: "shoulder to ＿＿＿＿＿"
Annie
Answer: "shoulder to shoulder"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ from London"
Annie
Answer: "imported from London"
Fill in the gap: "I never wanted to lie in my ＿＿＿＿＿ again"
Annie
Answer: "I never wanted to lie in my bed again"
Fill in the gap: "I felt that someone was tearing me up into little ＿＿＿＿＿"
Annie
Answer: "I felt that someone was tearing me up into little pieces"
Key quote: "Everywhere I looked stood something that had meant a lot to me"
Annie
Analysis
The past tense 'had meant' shows that childhood things no longer matter to Annie. It reveals her emotional detachment as she prepares to leave.
Key quote: "All the things I used to feel are as false as the teeth in my father's head"
Annie
Analysis
The simile presents Annie's old beliefs as 'false' as her father's false teeth. She rejects her past identity.
Key quote: "The road for me now went only in one direction: away from my home, away from my mother, away from my father, away from the everlasting blue sky"
Annie
Analysis
The anaphora of 'away from' stresses Annie's determined, painful separation from her family and home.
Key quote: "a dot in the matchbox-size launch swallowed up in the big blue sea"
Annie (of her mother)
Analysis
The diminishing image shrinks her mother to a 'dot' as the distance grows. It captures the widening separation between them.
Key quote: "I placed a mark against obeah women, jewelry, and white underclothes"
Annie
Analysis
Annie 'marks against' obeah tradition, distancing herself from her mother's spiritual world. She turns away from her cultural roots.
Key quote: "herbs and barks that he boils in water"
Annie (of her father)
Analysis
The native 'herbs and barks' are chosen over colonial medicine. Her father embodies the creole culture and tradition Annie is leaving.
Fill in the gap: "keep private their ＿＿＿＿＿ thoughts"
Philip
Answer: "keep private their secret thoughts"
Fill in the gap: "There is a point when every child sees through his ＿＿＿＿＿"
Miss Pym
Answer: "There is a point when every child sees through his parents"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ his shoes like a two-year-old"
Narrator (of Philip)
Answer: "scuffing his shoes like a two-year-old"
Fill in the gap: "Look at Treasure Island. You can get on without your ＿＿＿＿＿"
Narrator (Philip's voice)
Answer: "Look at Treasure Island. You can get on without your mother"
Key quote: "How stupid. How stupid of his mother. Why hadn't she sewed the Union Jack on his raincoat in the first place?"
Narrator (Philip's voice)
Analysis
The repetition of 'stupid' shows Philip turning his separation anxiety into blame against his mother.
Key quote: "She did not love him, want him, know him and she never had... She wanted him lost"
Philip
Analysis
The stream of consciousness captures Philip's childlike misreading of his mother's love. He wrongly believes she wants him lost.
Key quote: "fussing"
Gwen (her note)
Analysis
Gwen's note apologises for 'fussing', but this is really the loving care Philip overlooks. The gap between them is a misunderstanding.
Key quote: "Children — it's all renunciation. Having them is just learning to give them up"
Gwen
Analysis
The blunt phrasing frames the boarding-school custom as painful 'renunciation', not rejection. Letting go is presented as an act of love.
Key quote: "I hope their French is not patriotic. If so there is very little point in Philip going"
Miss Pym
Analysis
The wry irony shows learning French abroad as a marker of English middle-class status, rather than genuine interest in another culture.
Key quote: "endure"
Miss Pym
Analysis
The single word 'endure' frames suffering as an English custom. Children are expected to learn stoicism rather than complain.
Fill in the gap: "On this ＿＿＿＿＿ hope he hung his heart"
Narrator
Answer: "On this slender hope he hung his heart"
Fill in the gap: "Shall we do another ＿＿＿＿＿, Attila?"
Rosie
Answer: "Shall we do another turn, Attila?"
Fill in the gap: "Malcolm X ＿＿＿＿＿"
Narrator (of Attila)
Answer: "Malcolm X goatee"
Fill in the gap: "At the desk he asked for her by her ＿＿＿＿＿ name"
Narrator
Answer: "At the desk he asked for her by her maiden name"
Key quote: "...exhaled all the breath in his lungs at the sound of her name"
Narrator
Analysis
The physical reaction of exhaling at her name shows that, decades on, Rosie still leaves Attila breathless. His old love endures.
Key quote: "But he went back to his country anyway, full of ideas of himself, of the future"
Narrator (of Attila)
Analysis
This marks the fateful choice of career over Rosie. His ambition and sense of his own identity pulled him back home.
Key quote: "She reached out to touch the drops or rain on the leaves"
Narrator (of Rosie)
Analysis
The sensory imagery captures Rosie's childlike delight in nature. Her essential identity remains, undimmed by her dementia.
Key quote: "Attila felt light-headed and — somewhat bizarrely — youthful"
Narrator
Analysis
With Rosie, Attila feels 'youthful' again. The dashes slow the line as the past is briefly revived in the present.
Key quote: "Jaguar"
Narrator
Analysis
The 'Jaguar' symbolises the materially successful life Attila built far from Rosie. It measures the distance between his past and present.
Key quote: "new generation"
Narrator
Analysis
The phrase 'new generation' marks Attila's alienation and sense of ageing. He feels left behind by a changing world.
Fill in the gap: "Big, big ＿＿＿＿＿"
Mr Weerakoon
Answer: "Big, big disaster"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ leather"
Narrator (of Mr Weerakoon's briefcase)
Answer: "pretend leather"
Fill in the gap: "making ＿＿＿＿＿ with the trees"
Narrator
Answer: "making music with the trees"
Fill in the gap: "These days it is so hard to spot a ＿＿＿＿＿"
Vasantha
Answer: "These days it is so hard to spot a fake"
Key quote: "I do whatever my customer wants me to do. That's the key. It is no big secret"
Vasantha
Analysis
The blunt short sentences convey Vasantha's humble, self-assured values about life and business. He is content with who he is.
Key quote: "what I love"
Vasantha
Analysis
Vasantha runs his modest business doing 'what I love'. This shows he values contentment over wealth or status.
Key quote: "the navy's latest secret weapon for commercial supremacy"
Vasantha (of Lucky)
Analysis
The witty, exaggerated phrase mocks the grandiose ambitions of modern entrepreneurs, contrasting them with Vasantha's simple values.
Key quote: "I wondered what the whales out there in their sea lanes knew of us and our schemes"
Vasantha
Analysis
The word 'schemes' suggests human greed. The whales and the natural world remain indifferent to our plans and ambitions.
Key quote: "sea keep[s] the same soft time"
Narrator
Analysis
The sibilance of 'same soft time' presents the sea as timeless and slow, contrasting with the frantic pace of the conference.
Key quote: "Like he is bursting with energy, which I imagine impresses his clients who are in need of gurus with vitality"
Narrator (of Mr Weerakoon)
Analysis
There is irony here: Mr Weerakoon's show of 'energy' and confidence masks a lack of real expertise. Appearance hides the truth.
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