Talking Heads

English Literature AS A level Wider Reading

Talking Heads - Alan Bennett (1988)

An Introduction to Talking Heads. For specific play analysis, read below.

Alan Bennett shapes each character's life through monologues as they tell their story living on the fringe of society and in doing so remarks upon both the changing and rigid views of Britain in the late 80s. 

Rather than being faced with a performance of the narrative, we are told by a storyteller in a monologue - each more personable, domestic and utterly British than the last.  As a monologue the audience only witness the story from one point of view: the narrator's. This allows us to visualise each occurrence for ourselves shaped by our own interpretations. Bennett relies on our imagination and our sympathy to the character to mould the scene. 

The characters range from promiscuous women to alcoholic Vicar's wives and repressed homosexuals. Bennett addresses complicated and often harrowing situations with lashings of humour making his work widely accessible as well as enjoyable. Each character feels personable. 

Other Talking Heads

A Chip in the Sugar Analysis

This first monologue is actually performed by Alan Bennett himself. 

Graham is a soft-speaking middle aged man living with his mother. We learn throughout the monologue that Graham is a repressed homosexual with mental health problems. His relationship with his mother is close - perhaps claustrophobic-ally so as the tiny apartment they live in. When Graham's mother starts meeting up with an old flame, he becomes increasingly uneasy and critical of his mother. The play is set around a woman longing for companionship and love and her son, desperately afraid of change. 

We also learn from the that Graham is left wing in his political views "look at my Guardian". Bennett uses this point to his advantage. Britain was a country under the conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher at the time of writing. Graham's political stance give him opportunity to comment upon the vastly conservative views that had been endowed upon our population at the time. Mr Turnbull, Graham's mother's suitor, is an example of one such individual. Discriminatory, right wing remarks pour out of him like water from a colander. 

Sexual Quotes

Graham describes him telling his problem to a discussion group at his care centre."'Had they been having sexual intercourse?' I said I didn't want to think about it. Steve said ' Why?' I said I didn't know. So he said, 'Maybe what we should be talking about is why Graham is being so defensive about sexual intercourse'" 

""'I know what kind of magazines you read' I said 'chess.' she said, 'They never are chess. Chess with no clothes on. Chess in their birthday suits. That kind of chess. Chess men!'" Bennett contrasts the seemingly boring and intellectual "chess" with homosexual pornography. But like chess, it's a game Graham's mother is playing with him - provoking him to make a move and she plays her knowledge of "the secret magazines" like a pawn on a chessboard. 

Discrimination/Alientation

It's clear when Graham returns from a bathroom trip at a cafe that his mother has been discussing his condition with her suitor Frank Turnbull "'when I came back he said 'I don't believe in mental illness. Nine times out of ten it's a case of pulling your socks up.' I didn't say anything.'" 

"Well, we wondered whether you'd prefer to go back to the hostel, You were happy at the hostel. You rubbed shoulders with all sorts.' I said ' Mam. This is my home.' She said 'A man shouldn't be living with his mother at your age, Frank says.'" 

"Mr Turnbull said. 'Do you like these Pakistanis?' 'Well, in moderation,' Mother said 'we have a nice newsagent. Graham thinks we're all the same.' I said, 'I thought you did.' She said, 'Well, I do when you explain it all to me, Graham, but then I forget the explanation and I'm back to square one.' Mother said, 'I smelled curry on Woman's Own. You have to be educated to understand.' I didn't say anything."

"'He was telling me about the economy. You've got it all wrong.' I said 'How?' 'I can't remember but you have. Blaming it on the government. Frank says it's the blacks."

 If "A Chip in the Sugar" teaches us anything, its that influence is often everything. What allows people to make their own views on things is primarily education. If you are educated on a subject and you have a grounding and the facts, you are more likely to be able to make an educated decision on whether you think something is right or wrong. It was part of Margaret Thatcher's viewpoint in the 80s that too many immigrants were being allowed into the country and she publicly stated "less objection to refugees such as Rhodesians, Poles and Hungarians, since they could more easily be assimilated into British society". This was the racial viewpoint of many people in British society. The unknown was the unnatural.

"Steve summed up 'The general feeling of the group is that Graham should be more open.'" Bennett portrays here, again, the power of the pack.

"'I understand, Mam." She said 'How can you understand? You, you're not normal.' I said 'I'm going to bed'". The widely regarded view that if you were disabled or homo-sexual you weren't normal was not an uncommon one in society. It's easy to regard someone different to you as "not normal". Society has taught us this is okay. 

Gender Quotes

"Steve I am not being defensive about sexual intercourse. She is my mother.' Jackie, who's nine parts Lesbian, said, 'Graham. She is also A Woman.'" For the first time a powerful and previously "man's" role had been given to a female with the first woman - the "iron lady" as prime minister, feminism was a hot topic. 

"Mother's sat there. All dolled up. Earrings on, chiffon scarf, lathered in make-up."

A Bed Among the Lentils