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We were running along this dazzling beach.
My Mother Said I Never Should - Extract 2
In this extract from My Mother Said I Never Should, a difficult choice about Rosie’s future exposes tensions, loyalties and fears that have shaped the family for years.
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MARGARET (pause.): Rosie’s told me, Jackie.
JACKIE (terrified.): I wasn’t going to —
MARGARET: No, I expect you had another date planned when you were going to tell me that you’d like Rosie back. Or perhaps you were just going to tell me over the phone.
JACKIE: . . . You need time, to decide . . . in the summer —
MARGARET: It’s not my decision. It’s Rosie’s. And she’s made her mind up. (Pause.) I knew she’d say it one day. Like one of those fairy tales.
JACKIE: You haven’t told her!
MARGARET: Of course not. She still thinks you’re big sister, that’s why it’s so magical to her.
JACKIE: We were running along this dazzling beach. I thought, is that what I’ve missed?
MARGARET: Years and years and years you’ve lost, Jackie. Birthdays and first snowman and learning to ride a bicycle and new front teeth. You can’t pull them back.
JACKIE: I can make up for it — somehow —
MARGARET: You can’t. Those are my years.
JACKIE: She must remember — I visited!
MARGARET: Treats, she’s had with you. A day here and there. That never fooled her. But I let it fool you. I’m the woman who sat up all night with the sick child, who didn’t mind all her best crockery getting broken over the years.
JACKIE: Mummy . . .
MARGARET (long pause. Cool): What time’s your train?
JACKIE: 9:45 — no — I could get the 10:45.
MARGARET: You mustn’t miss your meeting.
JACKIE: It would give us another hour. I wish we weren’t in your office! (Panics.) Where’s Rosie gone?
MARGARET: Are you going to catch that train, or stay here? You can’t do both.
Pause. Jackie agonises.
MARGARET: I’ll phone you a taxi. (Margaret dials, waits, the line is engaged.)
JACKIE (quietly): You know Mummy, the Gallery and everything, I couldn’t have done it without you. You can’t be a mother and then cancel Christmas to be in New York.
MARGARET: (telephone connects) Taxi to East Croydon station please, immediately. British Microwaves, front entrance. (Puts receiver down.)
JACKIE: Come and stay, show me how you do things, how Rosie would like her room decorated.
MARGARET: No Jackie, I shall just put a label around Rosie’s neck, and send her Red Star. (Doesn’t look at Jackie any more, busies herself with papers.) It’s gone nine. I wonder where Mr Reece is?
Jackie runs out of the room.
Charlotte Keatley, My Mother Said I Never Should (Bloomsbury, 2014)
MARGARET (pause.): Rosie’s told me, Jackie.
JACKIE (terrified.): I wasn’t going to —
MARGARET: No, I expect you had another date planned when you were going to tell me that you’d like Rosie back. Or perhaps you were just going to tell me over the phone.
JACKIE: . . . You need time, to decide . . . in the summer —
MARGARET: It’s not my decision. It’s Rosie’s. And she’s made her mind up. (Pause.) I knew she’d say it one day. Like one of those fairy tales.
JACKIE: You haven’t told her!
MARGARET: Of course not. She still thinks you’re big sister, that’s why it’s so magical to her.
JACKIE: We were running along this dazzling beach. I thought, is that what I’ve missed?
MARGARET: Years and years and years you’ve lost, Jackie. Birthdays and first snowman and learning to ride a bicycle and new front teeth. You can’t pull them back.
JACKIE: I can make up for it — somehow —
MARGARET: You can’t. Those are my years.
JACKIE: She must remember — I visited!
MARGARET: Treats, she’s had with you. A day here and there. That never fooled her. But I let it fool you. I’m the woman who sat up all night with the sick child, who didn’t mind all her best crockery getting broken over the years.
JACKIE: Mummy . . .
MARGARET (long pause. Cool): What time’s your train?
JACKIE: 9:45 — no — I could get the 10:45.
MARGARET: You mustn’t miss your meeting.
JACKIE: It would give us another hour. I wish we weren’t in your office! (Panics.) Where’s Rosie gone?
MARGARET: Are you going to catch that train, or stay here? You can’t do both.
Pause. Jackie agonises.
MARGARET: I’ll phone you a taxi. (Margaret dials, waits, the line is engaged.)
JACKIE (quietly): You know Mummy, the Gallery and everything, I couldn’t have done it without you. You can’t be a mother and then cancel Christmas to be in New York.
MARGARET: (telephone connects) Taxi to East Croydon station please, immediately. British Microwaves, front entrance. (Puts receiver down.)
JACKIE: Come and stay, show me how you do things, how Rosie would like her room decorated.
MARGARET: No Jackie, I shall just put a label around Rosie’s neck, and send her Red Star. (Doesn’t look at Jackie any more, busies herself with papers.) It’s gone nine. I wonder where Mr Reece is?
Jackie runs out of the room.
Charlotte Keatley, My Mother Said I Never Should (Bloomsbury, 2014)
1 .
What is the immediate context for this passage?
It is the eve of Rosie's sixteenth birthday
Rosie and Jackie have just returned from holiday
Margaret has just been discharged from hospital
Ken has just left home
Rosie is hugely excited to tell Margaret about her plans to live with Jackie
2 .
What happens next, chronologically?
Margaret goes to visit Doris
Ken leaves Margaret
Rosie goes to live with Doris
Margaret is admitted to hospital
Even though Jackie specifically asks her about her health, Margaret does not admit anything. Her awareness of how ill she is heightens the emotions she experiences during this exchange. Between this scene and the hospital scene is another set in the Wasteground
3 .
What emotion does Margaret convey with the words, "those are my years"?
Joy
Jealousy
Rage
Hatred
Margaret feels protective and possessive of her relationship with Rosie; she does not wish to share these years with Jackie
4 .
Margaret presents different versions of what it means to have a relationship with a child. Which one of the following is NOT one of these?
A time of magical experiences
Being present for 'firsts', as in first experiences
Always getting along and finding everything easy
Being present during hard and painful times
Margaret wants Jackie to have realistic expectations and tries to warn her that her magical experiences are special because Rosie doesn't view her as a mother. She does, however, present some aspects of caring for a child as magical, such as building a first snowman and being present when the child learns to ride a bike
5 .
Which of the following most accurately describes the emotions in this passage?
Warm and comforting
Excited and joyful
Painfully raw
Dulled
Margaret descends to depths of cruelty when she informs Jackie that she allowed her to be fooled into thinking her visits mattered more than they did
6 .
Why is Jackie terrified at first?
She does not want a confrontation with her mother
She thinks her mother will stop Rosie from visiting
She is afraid she won't make it to her important meeting on time
She is afraid that Rosie no longer loves her
Jackie knows how difficult this conversation will be and how hurt her mother will be. She is also familiar with Margaret's highly personal criticism
7 .
Which lines tell the reader that Jackie understands how Margaret is feeling?
"I can make up for it — somehow — "
"She must remember — I visited!"
"I wish we weren’t in your office!"
"You know Mummy, the Gallery and everything, I couldn’t have done it without you. You can’t be a mother and then cancel Christmas to be in New York"
As terrible as Margaret is making her feel, Jackie can empathise with her mother and tries to show some awareness of how indebted she is to Margaret
8 .
JACKIE: We were running along this dazzling beach. I thought, is that what I’ve missed?
What does this line tell the audience about Jackie?
What does this line tell the audience about Jackie?
Jackie is looking forward to mundane tasks of motherhood
Jackie thinks parenthood is like a long holiday
Jackie has an idealised vision of motherhood
All of the above
Jackie's romanticised version of parenthood enrages Margaret, who then talks about the less enjoyable aspects of caring for a child
9 .
What does Jackie agonise over?
Whether she should stay for a longer talk with her mother or catch the early train
Whether she should ever go back to Manchester and to her gallery, or not
Whether she should tell Rosie immediately about her birth
Whether she should have another child
In this moment, as in Jackie's entire adult life, she cannot decide fully between motherhood and career. Margaret pointedly tells her that she "can't do both"
10 .
What causes Jackie to run from the room?
Her mother's sarcasm
Her mother's refusal to look at her
Her mother's changing of the subject
All of the above
In her own pain at the thought of losing Rosie, Margaret crushes her daughter
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