Higher
English
‘Refugee Mother and Child’
Study Pack
“...when we are comfortable
and inattentive, we run the risk
of committing grave injustices
absentmindedly.”
- Chinua Achebe
Contents:
1. ‘Refugee Mother and Child’ text
2. Initial Response, Overview & Annotation Tasks
3. Textual Analysis
4. Critical Essay Questions
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Arran High School
Refugee Mother and Child
by Chinua Achebe
No Madonna and Child could touch
that picture of a mother's tenderness
for a son she soon will have to forget.
The air was heavy with odors
5
of diarrhea of unwashed children
with washed-out ribs and dried-up
bottoms struggling in labored
steps behind blown empty bellies.
Most mothers there had long ceased
10
to care but not this one; she held
a ghost smile between her teeth
and in her eyes the ghost of a mother's
pride as she combed the rust-colored
hair left on his skull and then -
15
singing in her eyes - began carefully
to part it... In another life
this would have been a little daily
act of no consequence before his
breakfast and school; now she
20
did it like putting flowers
on a tiny grave.
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Task 1 – Initial Response
 Answer the following questions on your own before sharing your ideas with others
o Consider the title of the poem – what expectations does it create? What sort of poem
do you expect this to be? Why?
o Which parts of the poem do you find particularly striking / memorable / effective?
Explain why this is the case.
o Do you think that Achebe is trying to achieve anything in particular with this poem?
Does it seem to be aimed at a particular group? Explain your answer clearly.
Task 2 – Overview
 Answer the following questions about the poem
o What happens in the poem? (events)
o What is the poem about? (themes)
Task 3 – Annotation
 Annotate your A3 copy of the poem, highlighting examples of literary techniques
employed by the poet
 Add as much analysis to your annotations as you can (and remember to continually
add to this as you learn more about the poem)
o Think about the effects of the various techniques that you have found, especially in
relation to the poem’s themes
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Task 3 – Textual Analysis
1. Comment fully on the opening line of the poem
(2)
2. In your own words explain the importance of line 3.
(2)
3. What tone is created in the opening stanza and how is this achieved?
(2)
4.
(a) What is the poet describing in the second stanza? Use your own words.
(2)
(b) Comment on how his use of language makes this description more effective.
(6)
5. In your own words explain what makes the mother in this poem different from those
around her.
(2)
6. Explain clearly how the use of any two poetic techniques helps to make clear the tragedy
facing the mother. Look at lines 10-16 for your answer.
(4)
7. Look at lines 16-19. In your own words, explain the point that the poet is making here.
(2)
8. How effective do you find the final lines of the poem as a conclusion to the text?
(2)
9. Overall, how well do you feel that this poem explores the following:
(a) The pain that love can cause
(3)
(b) The plight of the victims of conflict
(3)
Total 30 marks
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Critical Essay Questions
 The questions below are taken from Higher past papers and specimen papers and
show you the type of questions that are suitable for ‘Refugee Mother and Child’
 You should be able to prepare an essay plan for each of these questions
1. Choose a poem in which the poet explores one of the following emotions: grief, happiness,
love, alienation, anguish, regret, loss.
Discuss how the poet’s exploration of the emotion has deepened your understanding of it.
2. Choose a poem which features a relationship.
Discuss how the poet’s presentation of this relationship adds to your understanding of the
central concern(s) of the poem.
3. Choose a poem which explores the pain of love or the pleasure of love or the power of love.
Show how the poet’s exploration deepens your understanding of the pain or the pleasure
or the power of love.
4. Choose a poem in which the tone is sinister or seductive or cynical.
Show how the poem creates this tone and discuss its relative importance in your
appreciation of the poem.
5. Choose a poem in which the central concern(s) is/are clarified for you in the closing lines.
Show how these closing lines provide an effective clarification of the central concern(s) of
the poem.
6. Choose a poem in which the creation of mood or atmosphere is an important feature.
Show how the poet creates the mood or atmosphere, and discuss its importance in your
appreciation of the poem as a whole.
NB – Questions 1 and 2 were taken from the New Higher Specimen Paper
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