Iain Crichton Smith

Home
Study Activities
National 5 / Higher
5
 Plot Summary
Mr Jackson and his wife return from South Africa to the Glasgow tenements where they used to live.
10 The story shows the couple visiting their old home and thinking about the past. Keen to show off his
financial success in the working class area, Jackson finds that he does not have much in common
with the old community which has changed beyond recognition. They argue about the past and their
values – Mr Jackson is keen to remember and reminisce, but Mrs Jackson isn’t interested. They are
met with aggression with the ‘locals’ in Glasgow, who treat them like ‘foreigners’. At the end of the
15 story they abandon their trip and head for a posh hotel where they feel much more at home.

Key Points of Interest

 Characterisation – the similarities, contrast, and relationship between the man and the
woman; the depiction of the young aggressive locals
 Setting – Glasgow is described as poor, unwelcoming and dangerous when compared with
20 the areas of South Africa the Jacksons now live in
 Symbolism – the colour of buildings, whisky, animal imagery etc
 Tension – Created through the dialect and threats of the young locals
 Style – use of flashback into the past to show memories and change; use of dialect language
to show place, setting and class.

25 Activity 1: Mr Jackson
Mr Jackson is shown as a successful and confident man – he is pleased with what he has achieved in
his life. He expects people to admire him and show him respect. However, he also seems to require
validation – he wants people to see him, and to acknowledge that he has done well.

Task: provide evidence and explain how Crichton Smith shows Mr Jackson’s appearance, attitudes
30 and his behaviour.

Quotations: Character What it shows about Mr Jackson

 Activity 2: Mrs Jackson
Mrs Jackson is a confident woman, who has done well and improved her life. She seems used to the
finer things in life, and not always confident that her husband is behaving appropriately. She is bored
35 by the trip back to Glasgow – she is uncomfortable here and doesn’t see the point in returning there.

Task: provide evidence and explain how Crichton Smith shows Mrs Jackson’s appearance, attitudes
and her behaviour.

Quotations: Character What it shows about Mrs Jackson

Activity 3: Contrasting Characterisation

Home is a story about contrasts. The two central characters have contrasting perspectives on their
40 past and personal history.

Task: Create a table showing the areas of similarity / dissimilarity between Mr and Mrs Jackson – e.g.
their opinions on things, their appearance, the way they speak, the way they view the past. Provide
evidence showing this contrast or agreement.

Area of contrast / similarity Mr Jackson Mrs Jackson

 Activity 4: Key quotes: identify and explain techniques
45 Look at the following quotations from Home. Identify which techniques are used in the quote, and
explain the effect they produce on the reader. Note, some quotations may have more than one
technique.

Key techniques: word choice, imagery, sentence structure.

Quotation Techniques Effect

1. “Her face had a haggard
brownness like that of a
desiccated gipsy and
seemed to be held
together, like a lacy bag,
by the wrinkles.”

2. “…the close… walls were

brown above and a dirty
blue below, pitted with
scars.”

3. “The flat-faced shops

looked back at them,
blankly…”

4. “[Jamieson] would come

home covered with blood,
his face bruised a fine
Protestant blue, his
clothes dirty and brown.”
5. “…walk like a victorious
gladiator…”

6. “[Jamieson’s wife’s]
repertoire of invention
was endless.”

7. “Thinking back on it now,

he thought: I was treated
like a black. That’s what it
amounted to. By God, like
a black.”

8. “The wee nyaff. The

Scottish words rose
unbidden to his mouth like
bile…”

9. “The interior of the

cinema came back to him
in a warm flood…”

10. ‘Remember it was me who

drove you to the top.’
‘Whit dae ye mean?’ – like
a bull wounded in the
arena.

11. “…his wife, sheltered

behind glass, staring
ahead of her, an empress
surrounded by prairie
dogs.”
12. ‘They’re no daeing
onything to your caur,’
said the voice, which was
like a saw that would cut
through steel for ever.

13. “They reminded him of

some Africans he had
seen, insolent young
toughs, town-bred.”

14. “He’s left us. Daddy’s left

us.”
“The one with the curving
moustache spat and said
quietly ‘Tourist’.”

15. “‘I wish to God we were

home.’ She smiled for the
first time…”

16. “There was no space in

this bloody country.
Everybody crowded
together like rats.”

17. “…red faces and red

necks…”

18. “They had red faces and

red necks, and they stood
there decisively as if they
belonged there.”
19. “…men who ran Scotland,
the backbone of the
nation. People like
himself. By God, less than
him. He had had the guts
to travel.”

20. “To have found one’s

home was important after
all.”
 Activity 5: Key themes
50 Many themes are shown throughout Home. A theme is a ‘key idea’ which underlies the events of a
text. Find examples of each of the themes below, and identify a quote which links to the theme.
Then explain in what ways the quote shows the theme.

Image Quote and Effect

Nostalgia

Shame

Status and Social Class

Prejudice (Race)

Community

Alienation (Lack of
belonging)
 Activity 6: Setting – A Journey Through An Urban Landscape
Read Home again. It shows a man and his wife travelling through the places they grew up. He hopes to revisit his youth; she thinks it is pointless.

55 Task: Provide evidence (quote) from the text, and explain what it shows about these locations. Are they pleasant places?

The Tenement Flats (Outside) The Factor’s Office

The Cinema The Tenement Flats (Inside)

Africa The Hotel

Activity 7: Analysis – Word Choice Questions
Good writers choose their words carefully and have a wide
vocabulary to choose from. As students of English Literature, you 1. Highlighting / quoting the individual
must be able to explain why certain words and phrases have been word / phrase (not whole sentences).
used in a text. 2. Explaining the word’s meaning
You can show your understanding of word choice by (connotations).
3. Analysing why it is effective in this
Crichton Smith creates a clear image of all his characters, their context.
feelings, and the setting. Read the extracts below and use the three
steps above to explain what impression is given of each. Isolate at least three (3) literary techniques (e.g. word
choice) that show character, setting, atmosphere or mood in Home.

Jamieson
She remembered Jamieson all right. Every Friday night he
would dress up in his best blue suit, neat as a ray or razor,
and would wave to his wife who was following his progress
to the road from an open window, her scarf tight round
her head. He would go off to the pub and pick a fight with
a Catholic, or more likely three Catholics. At midnight he
would come home covered with blood, his face bruised a
fine Protestant blue, his clothes dirty and brown. He would
walk like a victorious gladiator up the stair and then start a
fight with his wife, uprooting chairs and wardrobes till the
silence of exhaustion settled over the flats at about one in
the morning. The next day his wife would descend the
stair, her eyes black and blue, and say that she had
stumbled at the sink. Her repertoire of invention was
endless.

Charley and Mickey

A pair of hairy hands slammed the window down again.

Two tall youngsters chewing gum approached.

‘Hey mister, whit are you on about?’ They stared at him, legs
crossed, delicate narrow toes.

‘Nice bus,’ said the one with the long curving moustache.

‘Nice bus, eh Charley?’

They moved forward in concert, a ballet.

‘Look,’ he began, ‘I was just visiting.’ Then he stopped. Should

he tell them that he was a rich man who had made good? It
might not be advisable. One of them absently kicked one of the
front tyres and then suddenly said to his wife, ‘Peek a boo’. She
showed no sign that she had seen him. They reminded him of
some Africans he had seen, insolent young toughs, town-bred.
 Activity 8: Textual Analysis Practice
Read the extract below and then attempt the following questions

an extract from the end of Home by Iain Crichton Smith

‘We’d better find a hotel,’ he said.

His wife’s face brightened.
They stopped at the Admiral and were back home when the boy in the blue uniform with the yellow edgings
60 took their rich brown leather cases. People could be seen drinking in the bar which faced directly onto the
street. They were standing about with globes of whisky in their hands. He recognized who they were. They
had red faces and red necks, and they stood there decisively as if they belonged there. Their wives wore cool
gowns and looked haggard and dissipated.
His own wife put her hand in his as they got out of the car. Now she was smiling and trailing her fur coat. She
65 walked with a certain exaggerated delicacy. It looked as if it might be a good evening after all. He could tell the
boys about his sentimental journey, it would make a good talking point, they would get some laughs from it.
No, on second thoughts perhaps not. He’d say something about Scotland anyway, and not forget to make sure
that they know how well he had done.
The two of them walked in. ‘Waiter,’ he said loudly. ‘Two whiskies with ice.’ Some of them looked at him, then
70 turned away again. That waiter should have his hair cut. After a few whiskies they would gravitate into the
neighbourhood of the others, those men who ran Scotland, the backbone of the nation. People like himself. By
God, less than him. He had had the guts to travel.
Outside it was quite dark. Difficult to get used to this climate. His wife was smiling as if she expected someone
to photograph her.
75 Now she was home. In a place much like Africa, the bar of a first class hotel.
He took out a cigar to show who he was, and began to cut it. In the lights pouring out from the hotel he could
see his car bulging like a black wave.
His placed his hand over his wife’s and said,
‘Well dear, it’s been a tiring day.’
80 With a piercing stab of pain he recalled Africa, the drinkers on the veranda, the sky large and open and
protective, the place where one knew where one was, among Europeans like oneself.
To have found one’s true home was important after all. He sniffed his whisky, swirling it around in the goblet,
golden and clear and thin and burningly pure.

Questions
1. Lines 1-7. How does the author’s use of language emphasise that the hotel represents comfort,
wealth and power? (4)
2. Line 8-18. How does the author’s use of language create a vivid impression of Mrs Jackson’s actions
and appearance? (4)
3. Line 20-27. With close reference to their use of language, describe how the author emphasises Mr
Jackson’s opinion of his own status, and that of the people in the hotel. (2)
4. By referring closely to this story and at least one other you have studied, explain how Iain Crichton
Smith is successful in creating vivid characters. (10)