GCSE Keatley | Themes in My Mother Said I Never Should

English Literature Quiz - My Mother Said I Never Should - Themes (Questions)

This GCSE English Literature quiz explores the key themes in My Mother Said I Never Should, including family loyalty, secrets, sacrifice and the pressures of reputation.

Explore the Topic →

(quiz starts below)

Fascinating Fact:

Reputation and respectability matter deeply, especially for Doris and Margaret, and fear of gossip drives choices that limit honesty and happiness.

In GCSE English Literature, you explore themes such as family duty, secrecy and social pressure. In My Mother Said I Never Should, these themes link four generations, showing how private choices are shaped by public expectations and changing attitudes to women’s lives.

Key Terms

Theme: A central idea that runs through a text, such as sacrifice, secrecy, or the importance of reputation.
Generational conflict: Tension between different age groups in a family, often caused by changing values and expectations.
Social pressure: The influence of society, friends and neighbours on how characters behave and the decisions they make.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What are the main themes in My Mother Said I Never Should?

Key themes include motherhood, sacrifice, secrecy, reputation and changing roles for women. The play shows how these themes shape the lives of Doris, Margaret, Jackie and Rosie across different decades.

How does the play explore the theme of reputation?

Doris and Margaret worry about what neighbours will say, so they make choices to protect the family’s “good name”. This focus on reputation often prevents honest conversations and longed-for happiness.

How can I write about themes in my GCSE Literature essay?

Choose one clear theme, select short quotations that link to it, and explain how character actions, dialogue and stage moments develop that theme across the whole play, not just in one scene.

Try These Related Quizzes

Inheritance is one of the themes of the play. This theme is apparent in all but which one of the following?

[ ]	Jack leaves his house and possessions to Jackie
[ ]	Margaret's doll, Suky, is passed down through the generations
[ ]	Rosie decides to enter the same career her great-grandmother followed
[ ]	Each of the women faces the same issues both in life and in their relationships with their mothers and/or daughters

In what sense is "judgement" a theme of the play?

[ ]	The women of the play are frequently critical, but only about men
[ ]	Characters often pass moral judgement both on themselves and on others in the play
[ ]	The play is similar to a trial in a courtroom
[ ]	Judgement does not feature in the play

How does the ordinary feature in the play?

[ ]	Through familial relationships
[ ]	Through domestic settings
[ ]	Through illness and death
[ ]	All of the above

Which of the following does NOT relate to the themes of dishonesty and secrecy in the play?

[ ]	Margaret hides her engagement to Ken
[ ]	Doris simply ignores questions from the young Margaret when she does not wish to answer them
[ ]	Rosie believes Margaret and Ken to be her parents
[ ]	Margaret does not admit the true state of her health to anyone

Whom does Rosie describe as always sounding apologetic on the phone?

[ ]	Doris
[ ]	Margaret
[ ]	Jackie
[ ]	Jack

The play presents career advancement as a trade-off with which of the following?

[ ]	Living a moral life
[ ]	Having friends
[ ]	Being a good wife and mother
[ ]	Economic security

Doris keeps her resentments inside; Rosie openly supports political protests. Which of the following is true of Margaret and Jackie?

[ ]	They are well-adjusted and are able to quietly acknowledge their feelings about issues
[ ]	They often take out their feelings on each other
[ ]	Both make a political stand for their beliefs, like Rosie
[ ]	Both bottle up their feelings like Doris

Objects in the play are shown to be meaningful as triggers for ....

[ ]	Arguments
[ ]	Memory
[ ]	Lies
[ ]	Music

"We need bits of her finger-nail and hair and stuff." To which theme does this line spoken in the Wasteground relate?

[ ]	Judgement
[ ]	Magic
[ ]	The difficulties of balancing family and career
[ ]	The political

10.

Which of the following is correct?

[ ]	The relationship between women and men is explored through the women's perceptions and dialogue
[ ]	The lives of the men, who never appear onstage, are entirely decided by the actions and decisions taken by the women
[ ]	The men, although never appearing onstage, dictate all of the decisions which the women make
[ ]	The relationship between women and men is unimportant to the play

English Literature Quiz - My Mother Said I Never Should - Themes (Answers)

Inheritance is one of the themes of the play. This theme is apparent in all but which one of the following?

[ ]	Jack leaves his house and possessions to Jackie
[ ]	Margaret's doll, Suky, is passed down through the generations
[x]	Rosie decides to enter the same career her great-grandmother followed
[ ]	Each of the women faces the same issues both in life and in their relationships with their mothers and/or daughters

Objects, troubles and character traits are passed down or reappear in each generation

In what sense is "judgement" a theme of the play?

[ ]	The women of the play are frequently critical, but only about men
[x]	Characters often pass moral judgement both on themselves and on others in the play
[ ]	The play is similar to a trial in a courtroom
[ ]	Judgement does not feature in the play

This is one of the reasons that Margaret and Jackie are both considered apologetic by Rosie. They are not, however, imagining the sense of being under judgement, since characters explicitly criticise one another throughout the play

How does the ordinary feature in the play?

[ ]	Through familial relationships
[ ]	Through domestic settings
[ ]	Through illness and death
[x]	All of the above

The play is entirely concerned with the most ordinary of relationships, settings, and experiences. Even birth and death are almost stripped bare, allowing them to be as ordinary as possible. The family's decision to raise Rosie as Jackie's sister is perhaps the least ordinary event in the play, but certainly happened often enough in the past

Which of the following does NOT relate to the themes of dishonesty and secrecy in the play?

[x]	Margaret hides her engagement to Ken
[ ]	Doris simply ignores questions from the young Margaret when she does not wish to answer them
[ ]	Rosie believes Margaret and Ken to be her parents
[ ]	Margaret does not admit the true state of her health to anyone

The circumstances of Rosie's birth are the source of many, but not all, of the secrets in the play

Whom does Rosie describe as always sounding apologetic on the phone?

[ ]	Doris
[x]	Margaret
[ ]	Jackie
[ ]	Jack

Rosie is often able to articulate the issues facing the women in her family. In Rosie's eyes, both Margaret and Jackie feel a perpetual sense of shame, a sense of responsibility for everything that goes wrong and a need to apologise

The play presents career advancement as a trade-off with which of the following?

[ ]	Living a moral life
[ ]	Having friends
[x]	Being a good wife and mother
[ ]	Economic security

While attitudes towards work change (Doris, for example, is expected to give up her work), none of the women successfully manages both home life and work. Margaret appears to do so, raising two daughters and having a job during the second half of her life, but blames the pressure for her husband leaving her

Doris keeps her resentments inside; Rosie openly supports political protests. Which of the following is true of Margaret and Jackie?

[ ]	They are well-adjusted and are able to quietly acknowledge their feelings about issues
[x]	They often take out their feelings on each other
[ ]	Both make a political stand for their beliefs, like Rosie
[ ]	Both bottle up their feelings like Doris

Protest and honesty about feelings are shown to be related; when characters suppress their feelings, they often are revealed in a low-level, but destructive, manner such as the bickering between mother and daughter (or between Ken and Margaret)

Objects in the play are shown to be meaningful as triggers for ....

[ ]	Arguments
[x]	Memory
[ ]	Lies
[ ]	Music

The few objects in the play function as holders of memories; objects such as photos, clothing, a cup and the piano prompt the sharing of memories

"We need bits of her finger-nail and hair and stuff." To which theme does this line spoken in the Wasteground relate?

[ ]	Judgement
[x]	Magic
[ ]	The difficulties of balancing family and career
[ ]	The political

The Wasteground is a semi-magical place. When Jackie tries to create a spell to kill the Mother, her magical practices resemble the types of activities in which children engage on the playground. The child Margaret, however, disappears after the spell is enacted as if the wish to be rid of the Mother really had been responsible for Margaret's death

10.

Which of the following is correct?

[x]	The relationship between women and men is explored through the women's perceptions and dialogue
[ ]	The lives of the men, who never appear onstage, are entirely decided by the actions and decisions taken by the women
[ ]	The men, although never appearing onstage, dictate all of the decisions which the women make
[ ]	The relationship between women and men is unimportant to the play

Men are very much part of this play, despite never appearing onstage. The relationship between women and men is explored through the women's memories and conversations, as well as the structure of the play in which scenes jump between different times, encompassing proposals and deaths

Leave Feedback

English Literature Quiz - My Mother Said I Never Should - Themes (Questions)

Fascinating Fact:

Key Terms

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

Try These Related Quizzes