Understanding the story

1. What image of the world do we get from the first paragraph of the story? Is it a true picture of life?

2. Why do the mothers grin at each other?

3. When does Naomi begin to worry, and why?

4. Wouldn't things be easier if she had a shopping-list?

5. Why does she begin to collect things she perhaps does not want instead of going on to another aisle and coming back later?

6. Why do you think she would have boycotted South African goods at the time this story was written? Would she still do so today?

7. Why is Lucy not worried by the changes in the supermarket?

8. Are the other women behaving in the same way as Naomi?

9. What is so worrying about what is happening at the back of the super-market?

10. When does Lucy's attitude towards the "game" of shopping change?

11. How does the "riot" start?

12. What part does Lucy play?

13. Can you find a medical term for the "cloud of answering laughter" which Naomi feels?

14. Is the reaction of the woman behind Naomi "normal"? What would she normally do?

15. Who are the "pate men in dark blue", and why are they pale?

16. What do you think the women in the supermarket are really celebrating?

Give a brief written or oral summary of the story in your own words.

Style and language

1. Pick out any unusual descriptive adjectives or nouns which you can find ("the open maw of the fridge" and the "sleeping raspberries" are two examples) and discuss the effect they have on the reader.

2. What are the "white snakes with purple figures" mentioned when Naomi reaches the cash tills? Are there any other worrying animal images in the story?

Points for discussion

1. "True fiction" normally deals with something which - though it did not actually happen - might easily have happened in reality. Is the same true of this story? Would you classify it as "true fiction" or could you find some other description for this type of literature?

2. Contrast the world of "motherhood" as shown on the TV screens and the actual world of the young mother in the supermarket.

3. "I could do the shopping with my eyes shut." What is the significance of Naomi's thought in the context of what happens later?

4. Rearranging the shelves in a supermarket should not provoke panic. Why does this sudden change in routine cause such a reaction?

5. Is Naomi's behaviour rational? Can you believe that something like this might actually happen?

6. Naomi actually manages to collect the things she needs, but they are in the wrong order. Does this really matter? Discuss the significance of order in the world shown in this story.

7. The story expresses something which people living in our present-day world might like to do. What normally stops them from behaving like this?

8. Until the police arrive at the end of the story, we are dealing with an exclusively women's world. Do you see any potential conflict between the sexes building up at the end of the story?

9. Is what is described here a specifically female experience, or can you imagine a male version of the story? What situations might it involve?

10. Have you ever felt that you would like to behave like this? Give reasons why or why not.

11. What is the effect of bringing back the "sixteen dark-haired mothers" on the TV screens at the end of the story?

12. Give a full stylistic analysis of the text.