Prologue and Chapters 1 to 4
Plot
You must be able to: understand how Gavin introduces characters, themes and settings in the Prologue and first four chapters.
How does the Prologue suggest themes? A ‘fine lady’ is told by a gypsy she will have seven babies. When this prediction proves true, the lady asks the midwife to drown six of them, but their father saves them. On their seventh birthday, the six reappear and the lady dies of shock. This introduces the themes of fate, abandoned children, children saved by kindness and the price paid for deception.
How are Otis Gardiner and his son Meshak introduced? The first three chapters introduce the unscrupulous Otis Gardiner and his unworldly and vulnerable 14-year-old son Meshak. Otis regards Meshak as a curse, and often uses his whip on him. He is a cruel but charming man, and good at pretending to be caring. He makes a living as a pedlar, travelling as far as Gloucester and London. It is gradually revealed that he also gets paid to take unwanted children and then sells them to the navy or army, or to provide cheap labour. Worse, he accepts money to ensure that illegitimate babies are looked after, and then buries them in ditches – sometimes still alive. Meshak hates having to help him. Meshak is excited when their wagon arrives in Gloucester. Here Otis womanises and drinks in the Black Dog inn, and discusses immoral money-making schemes with the landlady, Mrs Peebles. He also bumps into Mrs Lynch, who ‘flirtatiously’ invites him to visit Ashbrook. In Chapter 3, when ‘the brats’ are disposed of, Meshak has time to go to the cathedral, where he loves to look at stained-glass saints and angels. He regards one angel as his own, and sometimes she ‘takes’ him to ‘see’ his dead mother.
How are Thomas and Alexander introduced? In Chapter 4, Otis’s corrupt world is contrasted with that of Gloucester Cathedral’s choir school and two choirboys who become loyal friends: Alexander Ashbrook, from a wealthy aristocratic family, and Thomas Ledbury, son of a ship’s carpenter. As a new boy at the school, Thomas is tormented by other boys until Alexander tells him that this will stop if Thomas can make them laugh. This works and Thomas becomes very popular. Both boys are musical, but whereas Thomas is light-hearted and amusing, Alexander is usually serious, and is deeply devoted to music. When Thomas goes to spend August with Alexander’s family, he at first wonders how he will fit in, but he becomes popular there too, though Mrs Milcote is disdainful towards him. On the way to Ashbrook, Alexander and Thomas encounter Otis and Meshak, which links their two worlds and hints at the danger presented by Otis.
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Plot
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