L Moss Nov 2011

Men Should Weepby Ena Lamont Stewart

L Moss Nov 2011

Useful Links

• National Theatre production, London, 2010

• National Theatre of Scotland, 2011

• Glasgow Child Delinquency video

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Glasgow, 1930s• Bad Reputations

Unemployment, sub-standard housing and poor levels of health had a dramatic effect on the national character of Scotland. Glasgow took the brunt of the depression in the 1930s and acquired many negative stereotypes which it is still trying desperately to lose as it maps out its future for the 21st century. During the inter-war years Glasgow was the corpse of an industrial city, devoid of the spirit of industry, with slums and razor gangs becoming the enduring images of the age. These images were perpetuated in the novel No Mean City and countless other literary imitations over the years which focused on Glasgow's 'hard man' character. It was a mentality which became entrenched over the years, but which reflected the economic and social problems which Glasgow was experiencing for much of the century.

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Glasgow 1930s (cont.)

L Moss Nov 2011

Glasgow, 1930s (cont.)• Religious sectarianism was rife throughout Scotland for much of the

century, but was again concentrated in Glasgow. Although the country had been predominantly Protestant since the Reformation, an influx of Irish immigrants, drawn to the industry on Clydeside throughout the 19th and early 20th century, had established a large Catholic community. Irish immigration actually had slowed considerably during the Depression compared to earlier decades, however, huge levels of unemployment and fierce competition in the labour market inflamed an already volatile situation. Unemployed, skilled labourers from the Protestant community complained bitterly about Irish immigrants taking 'their jobs' and this brought ruthless discrimination in the labour market, with Orange and Masonic Lodges often influencing the allocation of jobs within Clydeside Industry in favour of Protestant workers.

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Glasgow 1930s (cont.)

L Moss Nov 2011

Glasgow, 1930s (cont.)The Church of Scotland and other Protestant institutions positively encouraged this anti-Catholic feeling at the time, and sectarianism was entrenched in many of Scotland's most basic institutions. Children generally went to either Catholic or Protestant schools, they lived in different streets and areas of the city, and the rivalry was played out on the football field between Rangers in the west of the city and Celtic in the east. In the early 1930s the Scottish Protestant League became a strong political force in Glasgow, especially amongst the skilled working classes in Govanhill, Kinning park and other areas in the West of Glasgow. It did seem for a while that these organisations could command a lot of political support, which undoubtedly worried both Labour and the Tories, however, these groups were, in general, considered to be extremist by the mainstream press and the middle classes, and had no real political future.

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Glasgow 1930s (cont.)

L Moss Nov 2011

Glasgow, 1930s (cont.)DepressionGlasgow's economy dominated political debate from the 1920s as unpredictable international markets precipitated a downswing in the shipbuilding industry. This, in turn, affected other key sectors such as steel. The world depression from 1929 cut across hopes of recovery as output collapsed and unemployment levels soared. By 1931, in contrast with buoyant attitudes immediately before the war, one official civic publication was decrying the negativity that undermined industrial confidence. However, motivational encouragement to proclaim Glasgow's "value and virtues" was not enough to halt the crisis. At the height of the depression, in 1933, some 30 per cent of the city's insured population was out of work. By this time practical measures of regeneration were identified as beyond local solutions, with state intervention and economic planning actively promoted to help investment in new industries.

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Glasgow 1930s (cont.)

L Moss Nov 2011

Glasgow 1930s (cont.)Social ProblemsInevitably the depression exacerbated social problems, especially housing shortages and overcrowding. Certain communities experienced the disproportionate weight of congestion, the most notorious being Hutchesontown and the Gorbals, to the south of the River Clyde. In 1931 almost 85,000 people inhabited the area, which covered only 2 per cent of the city's total territory. It had long been a magnet for immigrants, particularly from Ireland and eastern Europe, and thus demonstrated an unusual cosmopolitan quality for Glasgow. Yet sensationalist journalism embellished the "facts" of inter-war slum life and perpetuated an unsavoury image of the city that survived for decades. A favourite literary device was the metaphor of infestation, whether by rats, street gangs, immigrants or socialists, to illustrate Glasgow's crowded and corrosive slum environment.

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Glasgow 1930s (cont.)

L Moss Nov 2011

Glasgow 1930s (cont.)HousingDespite the media fixation with the slums, there were sustained efforts to improve living standards, especially in the politically sensitive sphere of housing. Post-war legislation provided state subsidies for building, leading directly to the creation of a municipal housing department in 1919. A target of 57,000 new dwellings was identified, to relieve congestion and provide for future needs. The quest to find suitable land for housing had a major impact on the city's territorial expansion. Between 1926 and 1938 Glasgow more than doubled in size, from 5,251 to 12,159 hectares. The Corporation acquired green-field sites in Castlemilk, Drumchapel and Easterhouse, although it was not until after 1945 that these were fully developed. By this time the 1919 building objectives were met, although not without difficulty, as inter-war economic crises had persistently restricted available funding.

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Glasgow 1930s (cont.)

L Moss Nov 2011

Glasgow 1930s (cont.)Of course, the slum districts and new residential estates represented only part of Glasgow's diverse landscape. The substantial terraces and villas of west-end and south-side communities like Kelvingrove and Pollokshields were still impressive examples of Victorian opulence. The influence of the past remained pervasive, but Glaswegians also embraced modernity during the inter-war years. For instance, electronic technology stimulated the rise of new recreational activities, notably the radio, which came to Glasgow in 1923. While enthusiasm for social dancing was nothing new, the popular dancehalls were made all the more glamorous by their sophisticated (and seductive) lighting systems. Moving pictures became a mass social phenomenon; by 1939 there were 114 cinemas in the city, with a total seating capacity of 175,000.

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Themes

• Female Roles• Male Roles• Community Spirit• Poverty• Health & Hygiene• The Elderly• Unemployment

• Religion• Political Reforms• Government

Intervention• Progress

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FEMALE ROLES

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Female Roles• The Wife and Mother – Maggie dutifully looks after her 7 children and her mother-in-law. She works a part time job cleaning other people’s homes in order to earn enough to sustain her family in the absence of a job for John. (Lily) “ ye have nae had a life fit for a dog”“aw look at they dishes still sittin..” “ the kids has tae come first..”“It’s no fair! Nobody lifts a hand tae help me!”

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Female Roles• The Wife and Mother –(Maggie cont.)“It’s only rich folks can keep theirselves tae theirselves. Folks like us huv tae depend on their neighbours when they’re needin help.”“It’s because things have aye been right atween you an me that I can struggle on.”“Who earned that money? You or me?”(John) “Yer mammy’s just tired. She’s been oot a day cleanin ither folks’ hooses, and mebbe we ought tae hae helped mak things a bit easier for her.”

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Female Roles• The Spinster – Lily lives alone and works in a pub. She feels she does not need the extra hassle of a man and “weans” as she sees Maggie as an example of a hard, unrewarding life. Lily also helps Maggie out because of a sense of duty.(Maggie) “Oh Lily, ye dae plenty”“Livin in a slum an slavin efter a useless man an his greetin weans.”“If I wis you, Alec, I’d wallop that impudent wife o yours till she wis black an blue.”“And ye can tell yon precious Alec o yours that the next time he maks enough at the dugs, tae get fleein drunk in the middle o Argyle Street, he can pay me back ma ten shilingy note.” “Servin durty hulkin brutes of men in a Coocaddens pub.”

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Female Roles• The Daughter –Jenny desperately wants to ensure that her life does not end up like Maggie’s. So like most young women at the time, she seizes the opportunities placed in front of her to leave, to move on, to find a new way of life.“I had enough o Ma waitin at the shop door every Friday closing time….askin for chipped apples an bashed tomatoes an disgracing me afore the hale shop.”“Mammy seems tae think they’re letting Bertie hame; but they’re not. No here. No tae this, Mammy.”“It’s rotten, this hoose. Rotten. Damp. Ye ken yersel. It’s a midden looking oot on ither middens. It’s got rats, bugs”“The kitchen’s aye like a pig-sty…there’s never ony decent food, an if there wis, ye’d hae nae appetite for it…an sleepin in a bed-closet in aside a snoring aul wife. Naw I’ve had enough. Im gonna live ma ain life.”

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Female Roles• The Strumpet – Isa is definitely an opportunist and probably at first, she would have seen Alec as a way out of a difficult life. Now that he has shown that he is actually very dependent on his mother and father, she has lost respect for him and wants out.“You keep yer insultin names tae yersel, ye dirty aul bitch!”“He’ll dae whit I tell him, that’s mair than you can say. I can twist him roon ma little finger.”"You're a man as well's ma faither-in-law”

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MALE ROLES

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Male Roles• The father/provider –John tries so hard to provide for his family and chastises (beats himself up) himself for not being able to bring home regular or substantial income. He knows fine well that Maggie is the one sustaining the family and this makes him feel emasculated (weak – less effective) and pathetic: hence MEN SHOULD WEEP.“Every time I’ve had tae say “no” tae you an the weans it’s doubled me up like a kick in the stomach. Christ Almighty! A we’ve din wrong is tae be born intae poverty! Whit dae they think this kind o life dis tae a man? Whiles it turns ye intae a wild animal. Whiles ye’re a human question mark, aye askin why? Why? Why? There’s nae answer. Ye end up a bent back and a heid hanging in shame for whit ye canna help.”

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Male Roles• The father – (John cont.)“Hundred o us, Maggie, beggin for the chance tae earn enough for food and a roof ower our heids.”“A man’s got nae right tae bring weans intae the world if he canna provide for them.”“Things’ll no aye be like this, Jenny. I ken it’s no the hame for you yer mammy an me would like, but it’s no oor fault…it’s the way things are.”(Maggie) “If onythin wis tae happen tae ony o the weans, John would tak it bad. They canna staun up tae things like a wumman. They loss the heid and shout.”

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Male Roles• The Layabout –Alec being the firstborn son, is obviously Maggie’s “pet” as he continuously gets away with being a drunken, gambling, scrounging layabout. However, because he has been doted on for most of his life he has also become quite sensitive – an obvious weakness for Isa to exploit.(John) “You couldna knock doon an empty midden-bin”“There ye are! That’s whit ma feyther thinks o me. Ye’ve aye been the same tae me. Despisin…Despisin.”(Isa) “Mammy’s bit tumphy! G’on ye big lump o dough!”(Isa)“Goad! Yon wis rough, Alec! That’s mair like a man!”

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Male Roles• The Layabout–(Alec cont.)(Isa) “He’ll dae whit I tell him, that’s mair than you can say. I can twist him roon ma little finger.”(Lily) “Ye mind yon tempers? Mind the time he jist missed me wi the breid knife?”“If I chucked masel intae the Clyde naebody’d care. I wisht I could! But she’s right – I hevnae the guts!”“Mark ye? Whit makes ye think I’d stop at spoilin yer face for ye?”

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Community Spirit

L Moss Nov 2011

Community Spirit

In Men Should Weep the importance of the Community is shown through the people who visit the Morrison’s home. • Mrs Wilson, Mrs Harris and Mrs Bone take great

interest in what goes on in the Morrison household.• Alec and Isa depend on Maggie’s hospitality when

they are left without a home.• Lily visits Maggie to help with the housework and

and provides food and support when she can.• When Jenny turns up late at night in the close, both

John and Maggie worry about what the neighbours will think.

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NeighboursMrs Harris hears Mrs Bone being beaten by her husband and the next day, without holding back she asks “Hoo’s yer keeker the day? Och, it’s no near as bad as the last yin ye had. Whit did ye bump intae this time?”Maggie admits how much she relies on her neighbours “It’s only rich folks can keep theirselves tae theirselves. Folks like us huv tae depend on their neighbours when they’re needin help.”Mrs Wilson gossips to the others about Granny’s situation“It’s pathetic, so it is, the way Granny comes wi yon aul bed o hers and taks it wi her when she goes. Olf folks is an awfu problem.”

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NeighboursMrs Bone almost admits explicitly that she is being abused by her husband – she obviously trusts them enough.“Will ye tell me how ye can close the door on yer man? Mines would just batter it down.”Maggie and Mrs Harris argue about the presence of lice on their children’s heads, and also about the turns on the “dunny stairs” as women in the close would take turns to clean the tenement stairs.Mrs Wilson also watches Granny and the children while Maggie takes Bertie to the hospital.

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Alec and IsaAlec and Isa are forced to come back to live with John and Maggie after their house collapses due to the poor building practises of the period. Alec is frequently receiving financial support from his family and relies not just on Maggie but on Lily also.

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Alec and Isa (cont.)

“Your Alec’s street. The hooses has collapsed.”

“And ye can tell yon precious Alec o yours that the next time he maks enough at the dugs, tae get fleein drunk in the middle o Argyle Street, he can pay me back ma ten shilingy note.”

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Poverty

L Moss Nov 2011

Poverty• In Men Should Weep poverty is described not

just by the characters themselves but by the stage directions. For example, after the introduction of Alec and Isa into the domestic arrangement, Lamont Stewart states:

“A space has been cleared, centre, for a mattress on the floor with pillows, blankets and old coats.”