Hi!
If anyone is willing to take the time to read this and provide some feedback or further insight, that would be greatly appreciated.
(The writing slopes off a bit as I got tired halfway through
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In the many social/historical contexts presented in “Nine Days”, Jordan often celebrates the resilience and survival instincts of her characters. Discuss.In her historical novel “Nine Days”, Toni Jordan takes an impressionistic glimpse at the asperities endured by a multitude of characters in an intractable society within the 1930s, to a more tolerant society over seven decades later. Through the eyes of Jordan’s characters; Kip, Annabel, Alec and Jean Westaway, readers are given insight into the adversities faced by people and how they dealt with them.
Kip Westaway is portrayed to readers as a wilful and imaginative fifteen-year old boy who struggles with the “sudden demise” of his father, Tom, subsequently having to work as a “shit shoveller”. Despite his ordeal, Kip continued to move on by getting a job and working to support his family. Readers are shown his courage when confronted by the “four stooges” with his nonchalant retorts to the callous taunts of Mac and his thuggish friends, delivering a “yawn into [Kip’s] shoulder after mocking Cray’s “elocution”. When queried by his sister Connie about his injuries, Kip shrugs it off saying “it’s nothing”. He also manages to escape by running like “Jack Titus”. His grandson Alec, in contrast, struggled with different hardships due to him being “one man alone in a femocracy”. Unlike Kip, he never had to cope with “somewhat reduced circumstances”, as the Westaways are more financially stable at the time. However, Alec shows resilience and maturity when he declines his friends offer to go for a ride to the beach, despite them calling him a “fucking loser” and disparaging him for it. Ironically, he evaded being caught in a horrible car accident and potential death. While society had progressed to be more tolerant and accepting, Alec’s vignette portrays the perennially pernicious nature of people despite the difference between his and Kip’s time periods growing up.
Jordan conveys the stoical character of Jean Westaway in her ability to cope with her husband Tom’s death and still raise three children despite her state of destitution. Following her husband’s untimely demise, Jean has been burdened with the arduous task of raising her three children, while also preventing the Westaways from being “[dragged] down to the bottom of [the hill]”. Jean swallows her pride as she works “like a slave” to keep her children clothed and fed; showing resilience by not taking the “coward’s way out” as other women had done. When apprised of her daughter Connie’s pregnancy, she handles it pragmatically, always having her good intentions to maintain her family’s position in the world, as well as for Connie’s future. Jean’s character is shown to be strong despite a “few turns of bad luck”, while Charlotte, conversely, does not struggle with the same cumbersome labour that Jean had to as a mother. Despite Jean’s reproachfulness Jordan establishes a hard-working mother determined to bear the burden of her family by herself, overcoming prejudice and her financial quagmire.
The character Annabel is burdened with the responsibility of caring over her father, forfeiting her own liberty and opportunities to do so. She shows resilience in the face if asperity and poverty, cooking “mock sausages” and other cheap foods for her and her father to survive, needing “a few coppers to get [them] through the week”. She lives a life of drudgery to ameliorate her father’s drunken stupors, showing kinship in her character. Annabel tenaciously averts other people’s “horrible little thoughts”, displaying resilience against the malicious gossip and stigma attached to her due to her circumstances with her father. Annabel receives various pejorative insinuations from others; Jos comments that “every time [Annabel] wears it, [Jos] likes it all the more”. This snide remark derided Annabel’s financial disposition; however, the comments do not get through to her, being indicative of resilient nature. Annabel engenders a loyal vigil to look after her father despite the vitriol she receives for it, which showcases her resilience and stoicism.
The ability to overcome adversity is demonstrated through various characters in “Nine Days”, inspiring confidence and individuality. The feature of resilience in times of hardship is a vital part of the narrative and reveals courage and integrity in Jordan’s characters.
(didn't really bother with conclusion)
Thanks for reading if you did!
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