2. Uncle Jimmy is integral to Sophie’s emotional recovery. What does he do that helps her rebuild her confidence and find happiness?

Jimmy is integral to Sophie’s emotional recovery because he helps her find happiness and gain her confidence. The first thing he does is give her confidence in herself by giving her a bit of a push in the right direction and gets her to open up and start being herself again. The interaction between Jimmy and Sophie helps her to come out of her shell as he shows her he does care and gets to her realise her true talent for pottery. He nurtures that talent and encourages Sophie to use it in a positive way overall making her feel good about herself and boosting her confidence and happiness in her life.

SA Question: Geraldine and Fran had events from their past that ruined their relationship as sisters. Explain what unfolded between these two women that led to their hatred of each other (include direct quotations). In your essay response, you should also consider whether only one character was in the wrong or both were to blame. You should also think about whether Geraldine should forgive Fran or whether it is right that she has held a grudge for all these years.

re-written version: Past events has ruined Geraldine and Fran’s relationship. What happened to cause this? Is one character in the wrong or are they both a fault? Should Geraldine have forgiven Fran by now?

Response: In the novel, Chain of Hearts written by Maureen McCarthy, Geraldine and Fran’s relationship has been ruined by their past together as sisters. At the beginning of the Novel Sophie gives us an insight of the fact that her mother Geraldine does not have a very good relationship with her aunt, Fran.  Sophie believes that her mother is just jealous of Fran’s success as a writer, but is it deeper than that? We are given an insight into both Fran’s perspective and Geraldine’s perspective.

From Fran’s perspective, Geraldine and Fran’s past has been ruined by what went on in their past. The first quarter of the book is in Fran’s perspective. It goes back to 1968 when Geraldine was engaged to her fiancée Paul. At this point in time you understand that Fran truly loves Geraldine, however she believes that they are complete opposites. Fran loves her sister very much and her reaction to Paul leaving Geraldine is an example of this love, “But dad! How could he so this to Gerry?”(Pg. 32).  This is a major time in their pasts that effects their relationship as you soon find out that the reason Paul left Geraldine is because he loves Fran, “our eyes met…at that point I knew I absolutely shouldn’t marry Gerry…Fran’s the one I really love…the one I want to marry.”(Pg. 59).  Fran and Geraldine’s relationship does not cope well with the news of Paul’s love for Fran, as Geraldine blames Fran. From Fran’s perspective you can see that Geraldine is in the wrong for blaming Fran even though she didn’t do anything wrong.  When this situation unfolded it put too much pressure on Fran and Geraldine’s relationship therefore their past is the main reason for their ruined relationship as sisters.

From Geraldine’s perspective, her relationship with Fran was ruined by something that happened in the past. Towards the end of the book, there is a chapter written in Geraldine’s perspective. From the very beginning you can already see that she had/has a low opinion of Fran, “…Like Fran to drink too much and fly off the handle for no good reason. That was Fran, always Impulsive, always reckless…” (Pg. 288).  Geraldine did not approve of Fran’s vagueness and was always annoyed at how she could get away with such a bad temper. On the night of Fran’s return home, Paul has changed his mind about marrying Geraldine. Fran try’s to comfort her but Geraldine comes back with a mean attitude, which Fran puts down to being upset. Geraldine’s relationship with Fran was a little rocky from the beginning; the thing that broke that relationship was in their pasts when Geraldine blames Fran for Paul leaving her.

In the Novel you are given an Insight into both Fran’s and Geraldine’s perspectives. After reading both of these perspectives it becomes clear that their relationship as sisters was ruined along time ago when Geraldine’s fiancé, Paul, breaks it off with Geraldine the night before the wedding because he realizes he has feeling for Fran. Geraldine takes this the wrong way and starts to blame Fran for everything. Geraldine already is jealous of Fran even though Fran has done nothing but comfort her and stick up for her in her time of need. Therefore Geraldine and Fran’s hatred for each other was cause by Geraldine’s inability to forgive and step back a look at a situation in someone else’s shoes. It was wrong for Geraldine to hold a grudge for all these years and she was in the wrong.

Chain of Hearts

The narrative structure

1.    Which characters speak to us directly in the first-person? Why?

Sophie speaks to us directly in first person. She does this to give a greater understanding of what is happening in the story. At the beginning if Sophie were to not speak in first person it would become very hard for the reader to understand what she is feeling towards her mother and father on a more personal level ‘I enjoyed rubbing Mum’s nose in her sister’s success whenever I could. My mother was just a nurse who married well.’ By Sophie talking in first person it shows that she does not think highly of her mother and like to annoy her mother.

2.    The back cover blurb suggests that Sophie is the main character of the book. Do you agree? Is it significant that hers is the only voice we hear directly for almost the first quarter of the book? How important is Fran?

I do agree that the back cover blurb suggests that Sophie is the main character. I agree because the blurb starts off with a quote from Sophie’s perspective and she is viewing the paining that Fran created. It is significant that we are in Fran’s perspective for almost the first quarter of the book, however I just think this is to give the readers an outsiders view on what has happened previously in the book to get Sophie into the position that she is in today and an outsiders prospective on Sophie herself.

3.    Are the voices of Sophie and Fran different? Can you identify language features in Sophie’s narrative that you do not find in Fran’s?

Sophie and Fran’s narrative is different but not that noticeably. I can’t seem to find much that would support this however.

4.    We are almost three-quarters of the way through the book before we come to a chapter that is from Geraldine’s point of view, even though it is third-person narrative (pages 287-315). Does this chapter change our understanding of Geraldine? If so, how?

This chapter in Geraldine’s point of view does change your understanding of Geraldine. Before this chapter our understanding of Geraldine is that she is a very self centered person who just dumps Sophie at her sisters house. However after reading this chapter you start to understand why Geraldine comes across like this and her character is explained more.

5.    The climax of the novel – Sophie’s return, Geraldine’s confrontation of Fran and the fire that destroys the house – is narrated in the third-person. What reasons might Maureen McCarthy have had for avoiding first-person at this point?

This is the climax of the novel and there are three characters involved (Geraldine, Fran and Sophie). By narrating in 3^rd person it does not narrow it down to one persons perspective it sort of gives you’re a bit of what is happening to everyone and how they are all feeling.

6.    The final pages of the novel are first-person narrative. Unlike everything that has gone before, they are also written in the present tense. What is the effect of the use of present tense in this last scene, when Sophie goes to visit the Duong family?

The effect of present tense in the last scene is that is ties back in with the very beginning of the book. It gives a very personal view of things.