Are there any

clues to suggest
Lev is unhappy to
leave his country?

Do you think
Lev is looking
forward to the
journey?
Support your
answer with
examples.
How does the
description of
the landscape
in the first
paragraph
reflect Lev’s
state of mind?
What is this
technique
called?

What
impressions do
you have of Lev
here and his
past?
What impressions
do you have of
Lydia so far?
Why is the description of the darkness
important? What does it say about Lev and
his feelings about leaving his home country?
What are the
impressions Lev
has of Britain?
What are Lev’s
feelings about
Britain’s history
when he looks at
the twenty-pound
note?

How would you

describe Lev’s
feelings about the
future at the end
of this extract?
 Annotations
• Title: “Significant Cigarettes” → ordinarily we say “significant others” (i.e.
partners, spouses); the title makes us think that cigarettes are a poor substitute…
but what has happened to Lev’s partner? Who will be a new SO?
• opening: ‘at the… at the… at the…’ → long sentence conveys the rush of scenery
past the traveller
• Line 7: ‘He would soon be 43.’ → comes after a long sentence, putting emphasis on
the statement. Does he feel old? Past his prime? We wonder.
• 14: ‘even an unlit cigarette was a companion’ → cf. title
• 18 – 20: pairs of nouns used; everything seems to have a mate except him. His
loneliness is accentuated.
• 24: ‘…the world he was travelling to, a world in which…’ → rep. draws attention to
the metaphor of another country as another world
• 27: ‘his heart remained in his own country’ → the metaphor, personifying his
heart, fits with the vaguely mystical and animistic depiction of the traditional,
rural world of his past that is opposed to the urban, capitalist, civilized world
• 28: ‘There were two coach-drivers.’ → literally, just indicates this will be a long
journey but, again, accentuates his loneliness
• 35: ‘stink of another industrial zone’ → contrasts ‘sudden gleam of a lake’, etc. →
the human world is grim, and seems to be overwhelming any natural beauty
• 44 (para 6): ‘when his wife, Marina, was dying…’ → we finally learn why he is
alone…but the delay
 Annotations - continued
• After para 7: direct speech and brief descriptions contrast the longer paragraphs (narrated
in the 3rd person) which made Lev seem so isolated
• 66: ‘I was a teacher at School 237 in Yarbl…’ → the number instead of a name emphasises
that this is one among hundred, in a small town whose name is unfamiliar and sounds like
babble (or Russian slang)
• 70: his repetition of her phrase (‘School 237 in Yarbl…’ ) sounds mocking, but may simply
replicate the speech of people who see no irony or absurdity in numbering schools thus
• 83: Lev’s few phrases reveal his needs and interests. The third one is ‘I am legal’, which
raises a lot of questions, and is rather saddening. The lack of punctuation (‘How much
please.’) mimics his flat intonation, and suggests how he is doomed to become an almost
robotic, interchangeable, disposable worker.
• 88: Lydia mistakes ‘B&B’ for ‘ “to be, or not to be”’, from Hamlet. This allusion highlights
her interests – she may have wanted to study Literature and Drama, but is now a translator,
helping people achieve a basic level of subsistence, without the luxuries of civilization.
• 95: ‘…in Lev’s heart, darkness would always fall’ → another literary allusion? In a sense, he
is journeying far away from his own home, but unlike Conrad’s Marlowe, he is heading
towards civilization to find darkness, rather than away from it.
• 96: Auror → suggests ‘Aurora’ (the light of dawn); Baryn → suggests ‘barren’; bear in mind,
they literally ran out of trees
• 129: ‘Lydia, immersed in her English book’ recalls Marina being ‘immersed’ in line 52, and
suggests literature may be healing… or a palliative
• 134: ‘all the angel’s radiance’ (and other allusions) contrast his own ‘infernal luck’ (150)
and the present setting which is a ‘sulphur ’ smelling bus (50)
Here are some analytical notes on “Significant
Cigarettes.”
Here are some YouTube videos to help you revise “Significant
Cigarettes”:

Analysis of Significant Cigarettes by Rose Tremain:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Te-5KoFvBM&t=28s

"Significant Cigarettes (from The Road Home)" by Rose Tremain |

Edexcel IGCSE English Revision:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvvvP_QW9S8

IGCSE Significant Cigarettes - Textual Analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esTOquZbv_o