Blood Brothers: Key Quotations (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Key Quotations

Remember, the assessment objectives explicitly state that you should be able to “use textual references, including quotations”. This means summarising, paraphrasing, referencing single words and referencing of plot events are all as valid as quotations in demonstrating that you understand the play. It is important that you remember that you can evidence your knowledge of the text in these two equally valid ways: both through references to it and direct quotations from it. 

Overall, you should aim to secure a strong knowledge of the text, rather than rehearsed quotations, as this will enable you to respond to the question. It is the quality of your knowledge of the text which will enable you to select references effectively.

If you are going to revise quotations, the best way is to group them by character, or theme. Below you will find definitions and analysis of the best quotations, arranged by the following themes:

• Nature versus nurture

• Social class 

• Superstition and fate

• Violence

Nature versus nurture

Nature versus nurture is one of the most prevalent themes within the play and challenges ideas related to personal and social responsibility. Throughout the play, Willy Russell presents the contrasting experiences and consequences relating to Mickey and Edward’s separate childhoods by demonstrating the influences of both genetics and upbringing.

 “As like each other as two new pins/Of one womb born, on the self same day.”

– The Narrator, Act I

Meaning and context

• At the beginning of Act I, the narrator tells audiences that the twins are connected by nature, with the same natural mother

• The narrator uses an idiom to compare shiny and identical new pins with the two baby boys

Analysis

• This line, delivered in the prologue, ensures audiences know the depth of connection between the twins, due to their nature and genetics

• By telling audiences this at the start, it allows them to watch this connection tested as the play unfolds; this challenges the nature versus nurture debate

• The comparison of new pins with the twins is emphasised by the rhyme, highlighting the theme of nature (genetics) 

• Here, Russell emphasises to the audience that the boys are naturally similar

• The idiomatic expression: like two new pins, emphasises the boys’ innocence and similarities: he implies they are unspoilt, foreshadowing the influence of nurture (upbringing)

“You learn filth from them and behave like this, like a, like a horrible little boy, like them. But you are not like them”– Mrs Lyons, Act I

Meaning and context

• This line is delivered in Act I by Mrs Lyons to Edward

• She refers to Edward playing with Mickey, Linda and the other working-class children

• Mrs Lyons is suggesting that if Edward mixes with these children from another class, he will be influenced negatively by them

• She tells him he is different to the working-class children

Analysis

• When Edward is naturally drawn to Mickey, Russell suggests nature is a factor in our identities

• Russell suggests the inevitable connection of family: despite Mrs Lyons’s desperate attempt to keep the twins apart, she is unable to defy nature

• Russell suggests Edward’s upbringing (nurture) is sheltered: Mrs Lyons is anxious to keep him separated, not only from his twin, but from working-class children

• Mrs Lyons’s use of the pronoun, “them”, divides the classes, showing Edward’s upbringing as isolated from his natural family

• The words “filth” and “horrible” suggest Mrs Lyons’s strong negative judgments on the working-class

• Russell shows Mrs Lyons’s attitude to nurture: that she believes in the influence and impact of upbringing, when she tells Edward he will learn from the children

  • Russell shows Mrs Lyons as a mother with hypocritical attitudes about upbringing (nurture), suggesting she is aware of differences between the social classes

  • This challenges Conservative perceptions of the time which suggested anyone, regardless of class, had the ability to succeed

“I wish I could still believe in all that blood brother stuff. But I can’t, because while no one was looking I grew up” - Mickey, Act II

Meaning and context

• The relationship of the twins becomes strained in Act II: when Edward returns from university, confident and secure, Mickey has just lost his job at the factory

• Mickey refers back to the moment they became blood brothers when they were eight years old (unaware they are really twins)

• Mickey tells Edward that his different upbringing made him grow up faster, facing more challenges than Edward had to face

Analysis

• Mickey’s desperate tone highlights his isolation: he feels unsupported and hopeless 

  • Pauses in Mickey’s dialogue suggest a serious tone

  • His language, “I wish” and “But”, suggests the chasm between his dreams and his reality

  • Here, Russell alludes to the way nurture influences outcomes for individuals

• Edward reminds Mickey of their bond as blood brothers, alluding unwittingly to their natural connection and showing his immaturity

• Mickey’s dismissive tone about “blood brother stuff” suggests a bitterness towards Edward stemming from their different upbringings

• Russell suggests that Mickey’s harder upbringing is less sheltered than that of Edward’s middle-class upbringing (nurture), and this creates barriers in relationships

Social class

The musical, Blood Brothers, explores the influence of social class on an individual’s ability to determine their own future. The play presents the twins' tragic lives from birth to death, presenting the influences of both privilege and discrimination on the families’ emotional and physical well-being. 

“Don’t you know what a dictionary is?” – Edward, Act I

Meaning and context  

• This line comes from Act I: Edward asks Mickey a question

• Edward has just met Mickey, aged eight, and is surprised at Mickey’s lack of vocabulary

Analysis

• This line shows the difference between Edward's and Mickey’s social class 

• Edward, in his new middle-class family, expresses surprise at Mickey’s swear words and that he is unfamiliar with a dictionary, depicting Edward’s life as sheltered

• Mickey’s working-class family is depicted as less educated than Edward’s, highlighting the contrasting childhoods

• Russell shows how the twins’ future is influenced, from an early age, due to social class

“It used to be just sweets an’ ciggies he gave me” - Mickey, Act II

Meaning and context

• This line is from Act II, when Mickey is struggling to pay his bills after losing his job

• He is referring to the way Edward has helped him financially since they were young

• Here, Mickey refers to how Edward’s situation is even better now they are adults

Analysis

• Mickey’s low self-esteem after losing his job is expressed through frustration towards Edward: now he needs even more help, not just cheap sweets and cigarettes

• This line alludes to Edward’s better financial position due to his middle-class upbringing

• Although Edward is generous and kind-hearted, Mickey begins to find his help demeaning, contributing to his violent actions which follow in the rest of the play

• Russell criticises, via Mickey’s mental deterioration and low self-esteem, the emotional and psychological effects of the social class system’s inequalities

Superstition and Fate

The narrator reminds audiences of the theme of fate and superstition throughout the play to mirror these ideas with themes focusing on free will and external pressures. Russell depicts his characters making decisions which bring about their own fate, suggesting that the past brings consequences we cannot avoid. As well as this, he asks audiences to consider how far social inequalities have a part to play in an individual’s fate. 

 “There’s shoes on the table an’ a joker in the pack/“Someone broke the lookin’ glass … Now y’ know the devil’s got your number, y’ know he’s gonna find ya” - The Narrator, Act I

Meaning and context

• These rhyming lines are delivered by the narrator in Act I, after the mothers make their fateful deal

• He lists a number of superstitions: this refers to the superstition Mrs Lyons tells Mrs Johnstone to persuade her to give away her son

• The lines suggest that the mothers will not escape the consequences of their evil deal

Analysis

• The narrator delivers a number of rhyming songs throughout the play, reminding audiences of the origin of the tragic events, the superstition

• The narrator uses rhyme to allude to the supernatural qualities of superstition and its fateful consequences:

  • The songs have a chant-like, sinister tone

  • The songs refer to the devil, connoting the supernatural and linking it with evil

  • The narrator delivers the lines from the background, in dark lighting, to create an ominous atmosphere

  • Russell links superstitious beliefs with tragic consequences 

• When the narrator delivers the rhymes, he sounds like the voice of the public

  • He uses contractions, such as “ya”, associated with the dialect of the working-class public

  • Mrs Johnstone, a working-class woman with little education, believes in superstition: she asks Mrs Lyons to remove the shoes from the table

  • Russell suggests a lack of education can be linked to superstitious beliefs

  • Russell criticises this: Mrs Johnstone’s belief in the superstition causes the tragic deaths of the twins

  • Russell uses the narrator to remind audiences that debts will always have to be paid; all actions have consequences

Paired quotations:

“They say…they say that if either twin learns that he once was a pair, that they shall both immediately die” - Mrs Lyons, Act I

“I curse you. Witch!” - Mrs Lyons, Act II

Meaning and context

• In Act I Mrs Lyons makes up a superstition in a bid to persuade Mrs Johnstone to keep the boys apart

• After Mrs Lyons breaks her promise to allow Mrs Johnstone access to Edward and to let them know they are brothers, Mrs Lyons uses this superstition to persuade her to keep the contract in place

• In Act II, Mrs Lyons accuses Mrs Johnstone of being a witch, while putting a curse on her because she is unable to keep the twins apart

Analysis

• In the superstition, Mrs Lyons uses the pronoun “they” to indicate the general public

  • This serves to involve the audience and challenge perceptions 

• Mrs Johnstone, as a superstitious, working-class woman, does not question Mrs Lyons 

  • Here, Russell shows the vulnerability that comes with a lack of education and low self-esteem

• This made-up superstition depicts Mrs Lyons as a deceitful and manipulative character

• By Act II, Russell depicts the mental deterioration of Mrs Lyons, showing her erratic and aggressive behaviour towards Mrs Johnstone when she is challenged 

• This line cements Russell’s aim to show Mrs Lyons as an unsympathetic and  hypocritical character:

  • The irony of Mrs Lyons using superstitious language after mocking and deceiving Mrs Johnstone because of her superstitious nature, illustrates hypocrisy

  • Mrs Lyons’s deceit leads to the tragic deaths of the sons, thus Russell criticises the lack of accountability related to superstitious beliefs

“And do we blame superstition for what came to pass?

Or could it be what we, the English, have come to know as class?” - The Narrator, Act II

Meaning and context

• At the end of the play, the narrator suggests that superstition is a factor in the tragic outcome

• He asks audiences to question the influence of the superstitious deal, as well as  inequalities between the social classes

Analysis

• The narrator, using rhyming lines, summarises Russell’s themes at the end of the play

  • The rhyming lines help emphasise messages about fate and social class

• The narrator uses the pronoun “we” to illustrate his role as one of the public

  • This pronoun helps bond the narrator with the audience, suggesting a social and communal responsibility to address each issue raised in his words

• He uses a rhetorical question to directly address audiences:

  • The use of two rhetorical questions stresses each of Russell’s themes to the audience

Violence

Russell presents the prevalence of violence in young boys’ lives, both from men and women. The violence, at first, is playful and harmless fun. However, as the boys grow up the violence becomes deadly, suggesting its far-reaching power. 

Paired Quotations:

“Till the day they died, when a mother cried/My own dear sons lie slain” - The Narrator Act I

“You won’t tell anyone about this, Mrs. Johnstone, because if you do, you will kill them” - Mrs Lyons, Act I

Meaning and context

• The narrator tells audiences that the play ends in violence: that a mother will mourn her sons’ deaths

• Mrs Lyons persuades Mrs Johnstone to keep a secret, telling her she will be responsible for their deaths if the twins ever know they are brothers

• She is referring to a made-up superstition that requires separated twins to remain apart

Analysis

• Russell has the narrator introduce the theme of violence at the start of the play in order to show its impact in the story: the play will end with the deaths of two sons

• Russell uses emotive imagery to show the grief of a mother crying to convey the tragic consequences of violence

  • Foreshadowing the tragedy this way helps audiences grasp key themes

• The use of the word “slain” refers to murder: this links the mothers to the murder at the end of the play

• When Mrs Lyons suggests Mrs Johnstone will “kill them” if she does not abide by the superstition, Russell hints at their involvement in the murder

• The pauses in Mrs Lyons’s dialogue, give a sinister tone to the line, foreshadowing the violence to come

“Mrs Johnstone has opened the knife drawer, and has a lethal-looking knife in her hand” - Stage Directions, Act II

Meaning and context

• These stage directions show Mrs Lyons becoming violent in Act II

• Mrs Lyons threatens Mrs Johnstone in her kitchen when she learns Mickey and Edward are still friends

Analysis

• Russell uses stage directions to show audiences Mrs Lyons’s actions

• The actions represent a silent pause in the scene, creating tension

• Russell links violence with feelings of powerlessness and mental deterioration

  • Mrs Lyons resorts to violence when she cannot control her situation

  • In this scene, she is called a “mad woman” by the children

  • Mrs Lyons slaps Edward when she feels unable to control him

  • Mickey, too, resorts to violence when he feels powerless and is depressed

• Here, Russell shows the middle-class mother resorting to violence when powerless, while Mrs Johnstone, with challenges far greater, remains calm throughout the play

  • This challenges perceptions which link the working-class to violence

  • Russell could be suggesting violence is related to individual circumstances or nature, rather than social class

  • This challenges stereotypes of a violent working-class

Paired Quotations: 

“You can get up off the ground again / It doesn’t matter / The whole thing’s just a game” - The Narrator, Act I

“I’m gonna get a real gun soon” - Mickey, Act I

Meaning and context

• The narrator delivers these lines in Act I when the children are playing a game in the street: they are pretending to be cowboys shooting Native Americans, a typical game of 1970s England

• The narrator tells audiences that in these childhood games, the children can get up after being shot as it is just pretend 

• Later, Mickey tells audience he is going to get a real gun to impress his friends

Analysis

• Russell separates his play into two distinct acts to contract the difference between childhood and adulthood:

  • In Act I, the narrator tells audiences that the children’s game is not real, and the children will be able to get up after being shot

  • He suggests that the games the children play can lead to attitudes which underplay real violence

  • Here, Russell uses foreshadowing to hint at the real violence of Act II when Mickey commits armed robbery and shoots Edward

• Russell shows the negative male influences of Mickey’s childhood lead to violence:

  • He looks up to his aggressive older brother, Sammy, and tries to impress his friends by telling them he wants a real gun

  • This links the innocence of childhood games with real violence

  • Russell criticises typical childhood games which involve pretend warfare

    • In this scene, Russell’s stage directions reference the children becoming “bored with genocide” when they stop the game

    • He challenges the normalisation of violence, suggesting children grow up to see it as a game