Juno and the Paycock: Themes test questions - CCEA - GCSE English Literature Revision

1

Read this extract:

“The living-room of a two-room tenancy occupied by the Boyle family in a tenement house in Dublin. Left, a door leading to another part of the house; left of door a window looking into the street; at back a dresser; farther to right at back, a window looking into the back of the house. Between the window and the dresser is a picture of the Virgin; below the picture, on a bracket, is a crimson bowl in which a floating votive light is burning. Farther to the right is a small bed partly concealed by cretonne hangings strung on a twine. To the right is the fireplace; near the fireplace is a door leading to the other room. Beside the fireplace is a box containing coal. On the mantelshelf is an alarm clock lying on its face. In a corner near the window looking into the back is a galvanized bath. A table and some chairs. On the table are breakfast things for one. A teapot is on the hob and a frying-pan stands inside the fender.”

Act 1

Which part of this description draws our attention to the poverty of this family?

They can only afford breakfast things for one person.

The votive light shows they are religious and religious people are always poor.

The bath is in the same room as a small bed and the dining table.

2

How does Juno react to Johnny’s pride at losing an arm for the nationalist cause?

She is so proud that he fought during Easter week and praises him for his loyalty to Ireland.

She is angry with Boyle for not protecting Johnny during the fighting.

She thinks his arm was more use than his principles have been.

3

Religion is one of the themes explored by the play.

BOYLE

The two o’ them ud give you a pain in your face, listenin’ to them; Jerry believin’ in nothin’, an’ Bentham believin’ in everythin’. One that says all is God an’ no man; an’ th’ other that says all is man an’ no God!

Act 2

The views of the two men are symbolic of the differing religious views in the play, some characters believing in God and some convinced that there is no God.

But which of the people in her life does Mary agree with?

Mary prays to the Virgin and is a good Catholic like her mother.

She is a follower of the Yogis and the Prawna like Bentham, and believes that nothing really exists but the one Universal Life-Breath.

She agrees with Jerry that there is no God, because of the death of her brother Johnny.

4

Read this extract:

Boyle

Did he hear anythin’? – you talk very queer, Joxer – what could he hear?

Joxer

About you not gettin’ the money, in some way or t’other?

Boyle

An’ what ud prevent me from gettin’ th’ money?

Joxer

That’s jus’ what I was thinkin’ – what ud prevent you from gettin’ the money – nothin’, as far as I can see.

Boyle

[looking round for bottle of stout, with an exclamation]. Aw, holy God!

Joxer

What’s up, Jack?

Boyle

He must have afther lifted the bottle o’ stout that Juno left on the table!

Joxer

[horrified]. Ah no, ah no; he wouldn’t be afther doin’ that now.

Boyle

An’ who done it then? Juno left a bottle o’ stout here, an’ it’s gone – it didn’t walk, did it?

Joxer

Oh, that’s shockin’; ah, man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn!

Act 2

There are three deceptions going on here. What are they?

There was no stout, Mrs Madigan took the suit, and Boyle’s wife is called Jolene.

Joxer took the stout, Joxer has heard a rumour that there is no money coming to Boyle but he isn’t admitting it, Boyle knows there is no money coming but he isn’t admitting it either.

Boyle is pretending not to know where the stout is, Joxer doesn’t even like stout, and Juno never left any stout.

5

How does the play show the destruction caused by war?

The war has caused people in Dublin to be poor.

The war is responsible for the injuries Johnny suffers and his death, and for the death of Robbie Tancred.

The war has made Boyle unable to earn money for the family.

6

The women in the play are more compassionate than the men. This is shown when Juno tells Boyle and Johnny that Mary is pregnant, and Boyle only thinks of himself.

Boyle

Oh, isn’t this a nice thing to come on top o’ me, an’ the state I’m in! A pretty show I’ll be to Joxer an’ to that oul’ wan, Madigan! Amn’t I afther goin’ through enough without havin’ to go through this!

Mrs. Boyle

What you an’ I’ll have to go through’ll be nothin’ to what poor Mary’ll have to go through; for you an’ me is middlin’ old, an’ most of our years is spent; but Mary’ll have maybe forty years to face an’ handle, an’ every wan of them’ll be tainted with a bitther memory.

Act 3

Why is Juno worried about what Mary will go through?

As a mother Juno knows that Mary won’t enjoy having a baby.

A single mother in Catholic Ireland would have been stigmatised and shunned by society. Juno is worried about how hard things will be for Mary, who will be on her own with no husband.

Juno is worried that Mary will have to give up on her socialist ideals because you cannot be a mother and in a trade union.

7

Johnny is haunted by his experience in the fighting in which he was injured.

When the votive light below the picture of the Virgin goes out why is Johnny frightened?

He thinks the electric has gone because they haven’t paid the bill.

He associates the light with his guilt at betraying Robbie Tancred, whose ghost he imagined before the light in an earlier scene.

He thinks the IRA have put the light out to scare him.

8

How do we know that the playwright wants to portray Juno as a strong female character, compared to her husband Captain Boyle?

Juno’s job is far more prestigious than Captain Boyle’s job.

Juno is physically stronger than Boyle as she is able to carry the heavy shovel.

Juno does not fall apart at the death of her son and the tragic circumstances her daughter is in, but makes the strong decision to leave Boyle and go to her sister’s to raise the baby with Mary.

9

Read this extract:

BOYLE

You know the foreman o’ that job that’s goin’ on down in Killesther, don’t you, Joxer?

JOXER

[puzzled] Foreman – Killesther?

BOYLE

[with a meaning look] He’s a butty o’ yours, isn’t he?

JOXER

[the truth dawning on him] The foreman at Killesther – oh, yis, yis. He’s an oul’ butty o’ mine – oh, he’s a darlin’ man, a daaarlin’ man.

BOYLE

Oh, then, it’s a sure thing. It’s a pity we didn’t go down at breakfast first thing this mornin’ – we might ha’ been working now; but you didn’t know it then.

JOXER

[with a shrug] It’s better late than never.

BOYLE

It’s nearly time we got a start, anyhow; I’m fed up knockin’ round, doin’ nothin’. He promised you – gave you the straight up?

JOXER

Yis. ‘Come down on the blow o’ dinner,’ says he, ‘an’ I’ll start you, an’ any friend you like to brin’ with you.’ ‘Ah,’ says I, ‘you’re a darlin’ man, a daaarlin’ man.’

Act 1

Why is this deceptive?

There is no job. Boyle just made it up to get Juno off his back.

Joxer is lying to Boyle because he doesn’t want to share the work with him.

Boyle isn’t admitting that he was fired from the job for being drunk.

10

Mrs Boyle sticks to her religious faith throughout the play, while others vacillate. But in what way does her faith evolve?

She stops thinking that God will look after her family when she finds out that the inheritance isn’t coming to them.

She thought that better attention to religion could improve Ireland, but by the end of the play she realises that God can’t stop men from doing stupid things.

She blames God for the death of her son and refuses to pray anymore.