Understanding the story

1. What effect does the first line of the story have on you?

2. What shocks you about the opinions expressed in the first paragraph?

3. Describe the boy's family background.

4. Why do you think his father often has "black" moods?

5. What explanations does the boy give for the "black" moods in his family? Can you think of an explanation?

6. Why wasn't there much "fresh air" in the town where the boy lived? What sort of a place do you think "our yard" is?

7. What sort of people live there?

8. How does the boy react to the man's statement that he is going to hang himself? Would you have reacted in the same way?

9. In what way does the boy take a practical part in "the hanging"?

10. What was special about the man's look, and what do you think it signified?

11. How did the boy help the man? What else could he have done - and why didn't he?

12. "A poor bloke can't even hang himself these days". What does this comment mean?

13. What is the boy's attitude towards the policeman? Do you think he thinks the same about all policemen? Give your reasons.

14. What happened to the man after his attempted suicide?

15. Why was the boy glad the man had finally succeeded in killing himself?

16. Has the boy learnt anything from his experience?

Style and language

1. What effect does the fact that the story is told by one of the characters the story have on the information given to the reader?

2. Why does Sillitoe tell the story in Nottingham dialect?

3. Pick out a few examples from the text of the way the author deliberately tries to shock the reader. Does the author expect us to understand boy's motives for doing – or not doing – what he did?

4. Pick out as many examples of grammatically incorrect English a can find (not just slang words or "yer" instead of "you" or dropped “h”s – 'ave = have).

Further discussion

1. The "them" and "us" mentality is very strong among the working-classes in Britain. Discuss why working people might consider thermselves "outside the law" or not bound by the moral scruples that govern of society.

2. In this and many other Sillitoe stories, no sympathy is shown forces of "authority". Who does Sillitoe sympathize with and how justify this sympathy? Do you agree with him?

3. Compare this story with Joyce's "Counterparts". What similarities differences can you see?

4. Is suicide a solution to all life's problems? Give your opinions. man's suicide prove anything?

5. At the time the story was written, suicide was considered a crime Britain, This is no longer the case. What is the position in your country? Do you think the law should be changed and, if so, how?

6. Suicide is an escape from reality. What other types of escape from reality can you think of (one is mentioned in this story, right at the beginning there any alternative to escaping from reality for the people in this story?

7. Give a full stylistic analysis of the text.

Elizabeth Bowen

Elizabeth Bowen was born in Dublin in 1899 and died in London in 1973.

She was a novelist and short-story writer who used fine prose to show poetic truths underlying human relationships. Her characters are, as here, usually upper middle class, and their relationships are often insecure and unfulfilling. Her mother died when she was twelve, hut she had enough money to live independently in London and to spend the winters in Italy. She began writing Short stories in 1919, and the collection from which 'The Demon Lover" is taken was published in 1945.

The story is a masterpiece of insecurity, dealing with the culmination of an unfulfilled relationship that had been broken off during the First World War only to be resumed in the Second, 25 years later, with a man "missing, presumed dead" in 1916.