Reader: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (1956) Overview of all Chapters

CHAPTER 0 The Migration (pp. 7-12)

1. This chapter ‘The Migration’ contains the following six ‘sections’. Number them in the order in which they
are related in the chapter:
• Larry suggests moving to a sunny country (3)
• approaching the island of Corfu (6)
• dreadful English ‘summer’ weather (1)
• the family members’ luggage (4)
• train and ferry through continental Europe (5)
• what the family looked like that July (1935) (2)

2. Who are the members of the Durrell family from oldest to youngest? And how old roughly must they each be?
▪ Mother (Louisa Durrell) 49 (b. 1886)
▪ Larry (Lawrence) 23 (b. 1912)
▪ Leslie 18 (b. 1917)
▪ Margo (Margaret) 16 (b. 1919) (‘eighteen’ on p. 2 can’t be correct!)
▪ Gerald (the author) 10 (b. 1926)

3. What is your understanding of the description of Larry on p. 8: ‘Larry was designed by Providence … blame
for the consequences’? What supports this description of him in this chapter? It seemed to be Larry’s
‘vocation’ (Bestimmung) in life to say things to or about people that ‘blew their minds’ (What?!!!) and
possibly really upset them, but that was their problem, not his! / The highly disrespectful and ‘bullying’ way
he addresses Mother and gets her to agree to his idea of moving somewhere sunny. / aufbrausend (explosive)

4. Why does Larry say of his two brothers (p. 9): “One brother can’t hear what you say, and the other can’t be
understood”? Leslie (one brother) had an ear infection, while Gerald (the other brother) had a lot of catarrh so
that he sounded like he was snoring (‘sterterously’)

5. The best actor / actress in your group should demonstrate to the others how Larry looked at his mother when it
says (p. 10 top): ‘Larry gave her a withering look’.

No written answer – Acting required! (herablassend / vernichtend)

6. What does the luggage the family members took with them tell us about them (pp. 10-11). Each person in the
group should talk about a different family member.
No written answer - Just discuss this question orally.

• Margo: fine, elegant clothes / books on slimming / creams for acne → a 16-year-old girl!
• Leslie: warm clothes / two revolvers / air pistol / book on guns / oil → gun-crazy young man
• Larry: two trunks of books (!) / minimal number of clothes → erudite bookworm
• Mother: clothes / cookery and gardening books → sensible & practical adult
• Gerald: books on natural history / butterfly net & glass jars / dog → nature-loving young boy

7. The best artist in the group should draw – with the help of the others – the island as the family saw it from
‘Rounding the cape …’ to ‘… butterfly blue’ (p. 12)

Drawing should show:

mountains (on the right) / land sloping down (to the left) with silver + green olive trees / tall black cypress trees / blue sea
Reader: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (1956) Overview of all Chapters

CHAPTER 1 The unsuspected Isle (pp. 13-26)

1. Who is Roger (p. 13 bottom) and what was he like (p. 16)? (2 points)
The Durrell’s dog (1)
black and heavy and effeminate (1)

2. What was Margo talking about and what did she mean when she tried to use the saying ‘Six of one and half a
dozen of the other’? (p. 14) (2 points)
About Larry and Roger (the dog’s) upset stomachs (1)
Margo employs the saying to show Larry that he has been a nuisance just as much as Roger as they have both
had stomach problems which have delayed the family on their journey to Corfu (1).

3. Who or what did Larry strike with the cab-driver’s whip? (pp. 16-17) (2 points) The herd of dogs / Leslie
(back of his neck) / the dogs / Mother (her hat) / the dogs again (outside the Pension Suisse)

4. Why was Mother horrified (p. 18) when talking to Margo about the lavatories in the hotel? (1 point) Margo
had taken the used toilet paper for fresh toilet paper!

5. Why was it ‘unfortunate for Mother’s peace of mind’ that the hotel was near the town cemetery? (p. 19)
(2 points)
Mother is already convinced that standards of hygiene on the island of Corfu are dangerously low (1)
The proximity of the town cemetery to the hotel will only make her think all the more of what the
consequences of poor hygiene can be – death! (1).

6. What did Mr Beeler mean when he said to Mother, “… have you not got the sea”? (p. 21) (2 points)
He meant that everyone on the island ‘bathed’ in the sea (1)
So why did one need a bathroom (for ‘bathing’) in one’s home? (1)

7. What culture shock does the family experience at the taxi rank in the main square of Corfu Town (p. 22)
(1 point)
The tone of voice and physical gestures used to ‘persuade’ someone to use your taxi.

8. The artist in your group should draw here Spiro when the family first saw him sitting in his Dodge taxi (p. 23
top) (2 points):

The drawing must show:

• Spiro sat / seated in a large American car
• Spiro with short but barrel-like upper body
• large hands
• cap at an angle on his large head

9. What seems to be Spiro’s main mistake when speaking English and what aspect of his English shows that he
has learnt English in an English-speaking country? (p. 23 – end) (2 points)

• Main mistake: Adds -s to almost every word!

• Native-speaker like aspect: Expressions like ‘If you will excuse the words’ / ‘Honest to Gods’

10. Translate the last sentence of the chapter (from ‘The cypress trees undulated …’ to the end) into German.

Die Zypressen wogten sanft im Wind, als würden sie zu unserer Begrüssung fleissig (oder emsig) den Himmel mit
einem noch kräftigeren (leuchtenderen) Blau ausmalen.

Plus +
Have you ever experienced culture shock?
Reader: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (1956) Overview of all Chapters

CHAPTER 2 The strawberry-pink villa (pp. 26-40)

1. Why did Spiro always haggle (markten / handeln) with shopkeepers / sellers? (p. 27) (2 points)
• ‘the principle of the thing’ Spiro refused to accept the asking price / He must be the one to
determine the price because the customer is king & all shopkeepers try to rip you off.
• He was Greek, so he enjoyed haggling!

2. Why does Spiro get so angry with the Customs official? (p. 29) (2 points)
• The Customs official treats the Durrell family like smugglers (criminals)
• The Customs officials are – in Spiro’s eyes and experience (dynamiting fish) – the criminals
• His general dislike of Government ‘red tape’.

3. Why does Spiro refer to Christaki (the Customs official) as a criminal? (p. 29) (1 point)
• Because Christaki dynaminted fish (must have been illegal).

4. What shows us that Spiro held Mother in the highest respect? (pp. 30-31) (1 point)
• He regularly ‘sang her praises’ (which embarrassed her).
• “…I’d gos downs every mornings and kisses her feets”.
• He defends her in the Customs Shed / refuses to allow the Customs official to open her
suitcase.

5. Say in your own words what the following members of the family spent a lot of their day doing?
(pp. 31-33) (4 points)

• Margo sunbathes in a scanty swimsuit in the olive groves

• Larry sits for hours at his typewriter in his book-castle bedroom

• Leslie practices shooting with his guns

• Mother spends hours cooking in the kitchen

6. Express in your own words what the young Gerald received from the peasant girls who passed by on
their donkeys, and what he in time was able to ‘give’ to them in return (p. 38) (2 points)

• The peasant girls gave Gerald fruit (grapes, figs and watermelon) and smiles and greetings.
• The young Gerald in time was able to ‘give’ them his first fumbling (nach etwas tastend)
attempts to speak Greek / ‘honoured’ them by visiting their simple homes.
Reader: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (1956) Overview of all Chapters

CHAPTER 3 The rose-beetle Man (pp. 26-40)

1. Why did Mother tell Gerald that there was ‘no hurry’, and why does Gerald then tell us (the readers)
‘No hurry?’ (p. 41) (2 points) Young Gerald has been ‘gulping and slushing’ his breakfast / How
could his mother ask him not to hurry when there was the whole island of Corfu waiting out there for
him and Roger to discover?!

2. Why would Gerald ‘suggest to Roger (the dog) that perhaps it wasn’t worth going out today’?
(pp. 41-2) (1 point) Because Gerald was teasing Roger – Of course the young Gerald wanted to race
out and explore the island! (See p. 42 lines 7 and 9-10)

3. Draw here the mentally defective youth as he is described on p. 43: (3 points)

Drawing should show:

• round face
• tattered shirt and blue jeans rolled up to the knee
• brimless bowler hat

4. Say in your own words what the three folk songs that Gerald used to sing with Agathi were about:
(3 points)

• Vangelio: a mountain river making the land fertile

• Falsehood: a girl who had falsely told a boy that she loved him

• Why are you leaving me: (an obviously very moving song about) the end of love

5. Draw here the old shepherd Yani, as he is described on p. 45:

(3 points)

Drawing should show:

• a tall, slouching man leaning on a stick

• hooked nose and moustaches
• little black eyes and shaggy brows (eyebrows)

6. Express in your own words what Yani told young Gerald about the cypress trees (pp. 45-6)
(2 points)
That it was alright to sit under cypress trees, but not to go to sleep underneath them as their roots
would grow into your brains and steal your intelligence – head ‘empty as a whistle’!

7. In which order are we introduced to: Quasimodo 3 / The Rose-beetle Man 1/4 / Achilles 2?

8. Draw here the Rose-beetle Man, as he is described on pages 47-48.6:

(5 points)

Drawing should show:

• short thin man
• fox-like face with dark slanting eyes
• grey shirt and blue cravat
• patched coat
• bulging pockets with wares spilling out
Reader: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (1956) Overview of all Chapters

• floppy hat with feathers in band

• scarlet (bright red) charouhias (shoes)
• shepherd’s pipe
• bamboo cages on his back
• chickens, sacks and leeks in the cages
• golden-green rose-beetles on strings whizzing around his head!

9. Give two reasons for the behaviour of the Rose-beetle Man when he sees young Gerald and Roger
the dog (pp. 48.6-49.6)

• He cannot speak, so he has to mime (use gestures, body language and facial expression)
• He earns a living as a troubadour (travelling entertainer), so his theatrical behaviour is part of
him.

10. What explanation can you think of for the Rose-beetle Man’s ‘curious nasal voice’, as described in
the second half of p. 49? Because he couldn’t speak, he had learned to direct his breath up through
his nose rather than out through his mouth.

11. What, from the context, must ‘I remained implacable’ (p. 51.4) mean? Justify your answer. Gerald
refused to offer the Rose-beetle Man more than five drachmas.

12. In your own words, describe two things that Achilles the tortoise did that Gerald Durrell has never
seen another tortoise emulate. (p. 53)

• He learnt his name in a very short time.

• Carry a large strawberry off to a safe spot to enjoy it undisturbed.
• Seek close physical contact to people, whatever they were doing.

13. What was inappropriate about Roger’s behaviour at Achilles’ burial ceremony? (p. 54) He wagged
his tail throughout the burial service!

14. In your own words describe three unusual characteristics of Quasimodo the pigeon’s. (pp. 55-6)

• Had a sprig of yellow down feathers on his head.

• He refused to fly.
• He joined in human activities.
• He insisted on sleeping in the house, in fact on Margo’s bed.
• He enjoyed listening to and performing actions to music, especially marches.

15. Why does the author tell us (p. 56.7) that ‘Quasimodo had duped us all’? Quasimodo reverted to
being a normal bird when a mate appeared on the scene / Quasimodo turned out to be a female, not a
male, pigeon.

16. The ending of the chapter is beautifully crafted (schön handgefertigt) – how? Gerald Durrell seems
to merge (verschmelzen) the Rose-beetle Man into the pale lavender evening sky – of a hue similar to
that of his beetles – in which the silver moon spears like a feather (another connection). This
remarkable figure thus disappears into the landscape from which he came and to which he ‘returns’.