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The Theme Of Social Class In Blood Brothers By Willy Russell

893 Words4 Pages

Write about the way the theme of social class is presented in Blood Brothers

The musical tragedy ‘Blood Brothers’, by Willy Russell tells the story of two twin brothers separated at birth, who reside in different social classes, yet are brought together through a friendly pact in their childhood, unaware of their relation or its consequences. Social class, a fundamental backbone theme of the play that heavily influences the text, is a division of society based on social and economic status. Accordingly, Willy Russell successfully expresses the biased nature and stark divide of social class, through the use of colloquial language and contrasting events, as a glance into the hardships and struggles associated with social class, during 1970’s Liverpool.

Firstly, social class is explored through a blatant economic divide between the two social worlds, due to the fact that it is brazenly apparent that both mothers are at opposite ends of the social scale financially. For instance, Mr. Lyons is able to pull out copious amounts of money from his back pocket when Mrs. Lyons simply states, “I need about 50 pounds”, without any hesitation or reluctance. On the other hand, Mrs. Johnstone is so impoverished, that she keeps her “door bolted” for when the “rent man” comes around since she isn’t financially able enough to cover that simple living cost. The varying extremities of their financial statuses, portrays the conspicuous divide between the higher class and lower class, as well as

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