No.40 Showing the Flag (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE English Literature): Revision Note

Showing the Flag analysis

In the exam, you will be asked to answer one question from two options. Both questions will be on a different text from the selection of ten texts in Stories of Ourselves Volume 2. 

Because there are so many text options, make sure you read through the exam instructions carefully, and look for the questions on Stories of Ourselves.

The following guide to Showing the Flag by Jane Gardam contains:

• Plot summary

• Themes, ideas and perspectives

• Writer’s methods

• Key quotations

Plot summary of Showing the Flag

Jane Gardam’s short story Showing the Flag depicts a young teenage boy, Philip, leaving his mother, Gwen, and his English home to travel to France. His mother is sad to see him go again (she says he has been going to boarding schools since he was six years old). Gwen’s friend Miss Pym reminds her that this is the “custom” in England and children must learn to “endure”.  

Philip waves goodbye and spends some time looking at the seagulls as he hangs over the ship’s railings. He starts thinking about food, and what it will be like in France, and then about the Union Jack flag that he has in a little tin. His mother has packed him the small flag to pin to his coat when he arrives in France. This is to identify him to Major Foster, a French-Canadian, who is to meet Philip when he arrives. Philip wants to look at the flag, so he takes it out of the tin, but it blows away. 

Once in France, Philip finds himself in a crowd of French-speaking people on the quay. In the rush, someone tries to steal his suitcase but he is able to kick him off. 

Finally, on the train, he finds a seat, has to defend his suitcase from another “ruffian”, and then looks out the window at the strange unfamiliar landscape. He notices the people outside the train. They are full of “confidence” and “daring”, unlike the people he knows in England. 

He begins to worry about how Major Foster will find him if he has not got the flag on his coat. His thoughts turn to his mother (who always “kept everything right”) and overheard comments from her friend Miss Pym. He remembers a night when Miss Pym was unkind to his father who had been singing drinking songs.

As Philip’s anxiety grows, he begins to question his mother’s love. He remembers that she was in “bed” during his father’s funeral, and that she did not cry when Philip boarded the ship. He decides that she is “stupid” not to have sewn the flag onto his coat before he left, or to have packed him a spare one. When the people around him begin to eat, he finds the neatly packed sandwiches his mother has given him. He opens the packaging and finds a spare Union Jack flag with a loving note from his mother apologising for “fussing” over him.

Themes, ideas and perspectives in Showing the Flag

For top marks, you need to form a critical understanding of the text’s themes and ideas. This is best when it includes personal judgements and evaluations of the themes, ideas, and perspectives of the text. Here are some of the key ideas you will need to understand in Jane Gardam’s Showing the Flag. 

What are the key themes in Showing the Flag?

Writer's methods in Showing the Flag

In her short story Showing the Flag, Jane Gardam raises questions about the emotional and psychological impact of a young boy’s cultural identity as he leaves his mother for a new country.

Showing the Flag key quotations

The mark scheme for the CIE IGCSE Literature in English Paper 1, Section B asks you to showcase your knowledge of the story in the question. To do this, you should refer to the text through references and quotations. You will not be required to remember direct quotations, though. Summarising, paraphrasing, referencing single words, and referring to plot events are all considered valid supporting evidence for your points. 

The best way to revise quotations is in connection to a theme. Below you will find explanations and analysis of some key quotations from Jane Gardam’s Showing the Flag, arranged by the following themes:

• Family relationships 

• Cultural identity

• Independence 

Family relationships   

Meaning and context

• Philip thinks that his mother is to blame for his father’s death because he heard “them” (perhaps Miss Pym and his mother’s friends) say that she was involved

• He is not sure what they meant when they said his father died because his mother was “perfect”

Analysis

• Gardam shows a young boy’s confusion about his parent’s relationship, and his unresolved grief over his father’s death

• Through Philip’s vague memories, Gardam implies that his reserved English upbringing has left him with misunderstandings and doubt about his parents

• Gardam alludes to an imbalanced relationship between Gwen, Philip’s mother, and his father, and, importantly, the way things have been hidden from Philip

Meaning and context

• Philip is annoyed that he has lost the flag that will identify him to Major Foster when he arrives in Paris

• He thinks his mother should have thought to sew the flag on his coat instead of packing it in a tin

Analysis

• Gardam’s omniscient narrator takes on Philip’s voice to convey his emotional turmoil about leaving home:

  • Philip’s anxiety about losing his flag is transferred to his mother, whom he blames because she has never let him down before

• Gardam implies, though, that this is Philip’s way to cope with his forced separation 

Cultural identity  

Meaning and context

• Gwen, Philip’s mother says that parenthood is all about abandoning children and learning to lose them

• She is upset that her son has spent so much of his childhood at boarding schools

Analysis

• Gardam presents the English “custom” of sending children to boarding school negatively by presenting a distressed mother who feels she is losing her son

• Gwen’s distress about her son’s constant absence is conveyed in short sentences

• Gwen’s use of the word “renunciation” highlights her painful sense of resignation to English middle-class customs of sending children away, which Philip misinterprets as rejection

Meaning and context

• Miss Pym makes a witty comment about the French-Canadians who are taking care of Philip in France:

  • Gwen says they are patriotic to France and England and are “very English”

• Miss Pym suggests that she hopes they are more “patriotic” to France, or their French may not be of good quality

• She says if Philip does not learn to speak French well, he may as well not go

Analysis

• Gardam highlights the English tradition of going to France, or sending one’s children there, to learn the language, often an indication of status and class 

• She wryly suggests that if the Fosters are too “English”, they will not speak French very well, and this will make the trip pointless

Independence  

Meaning and context

• Miss Pym warns Philip that he will one day understand his parents better and see them for who they really are

Analysis

• Gardam’s character Miss Pym raises ideas about feminism and family tradition:

  • She is described as “plain-spoken”, discusses “politics”, and she tells Gwen she is “wasted now as a mere mother”

• While Philip dislikes her intensely, calling her “Stinkerpym”, she speaks plainly to him

Meaning and context

• Philip is determined to stay strong on his journey to France without his mother

• He reminds himself of young heroes in a children’s story to encourage himself

Analysis

• Gardam’s sympathetic portrayal of Philip reveals the complexities of growing up and finding independence

• Ironically, Philip looks to children’s adventure stories as inspiration for how to manage as an adult in his new life alone

Sources

Wilmer, M (ed.), 2018, Stories of Ourselves: Cambridge Assessment International Education Anthology of Stories in English Volume 2, Cambridge University Press.