Critical Commentary on Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee

Critical Commentary on a passage from Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee

This passage starts with the words 'as time goes on' which suggests to the reader that something happened prior to this, but doesn't explain what. Its goes on to explain that as the children grew up and left home, their mothers little habits got worse and worse. The writer gives good descriptions producing a visual imagery of these habits: 'plant pots and newspapers left throughout the house, reading more and sleeping upright in a chair.' This to me portrays an image of a lonely person; she could sleep for an hour, rise and scrub the floor or go looking for wood in the middle of the night. Sleeping and scrubbing floors are a relatively normal thing for anyone to be doing but going searching for wood in the middle of the night is not. The writer states 'Like Granny Trill' this informs us that his mother's mother must have been similar and acted in the same fashion. By telling us this he is justifying her behaviour. However the writer goes on to state 'even so, whenever we returned for a visit, she was ready, fires burning to greet us......' By using the words even so, the writer is telling us that no matter how strange his mother's behaviour was whenever they went home she was ready and waiting for them. By ending this sentence ... its urges the writer to read on, something important is going to occur next. The atmosphere of this passage is of expectancy, I feel the writer is trying to convey an idea that if you read on everything will become clearer and I can sense a deep affection for his mother. It is very vague up to this point, why is he explaining his mother's behaviour?

The ... at the end of the first paragraph informs us that the writer has more to say on this matter, and starts with the words 'I remember' so the writer is beginning to reminisce. In this paragraph the writer conveys a fond memory of his mother, he is reverting to the past to explain this. He goes on to explain that he arrived home at two in the morning in the middle of world war one, his mother was sitting up reading a book when you would imagine her to be in bed asleep. She said, "Ah son, come here, take a look at this..." By adding the words 'she didn't know I was coming' in the middle of the sentence he is stating what an unusual greeting from a mother who isn't expecting you and possibly hasn't seen you in some time. The writer's mother appears to have no concept of time, she may not remember how long it is since she last seen him. This tone of this paragraph seems sadness; the writer is trying to convey to us how strangely his mother behaved. He further explains how bad her concept of time is by telling us how she brought him up his dinner and it is actually morning. The writer is also telling us that although his mother's state of mind is great she does still act like a 'normal' mother would. Her son has returned home and not only has she made him dinner, but vegetable soup, a big stew and a pudding. The writer uses a good description to inform us that his mother, in war time, didn't just make him something to eat but a good three course meal.

In the third paragraph the writer brings us back to the present, 'So with the family gone,' he continues his explanation of his mother's actions, she is living alone and acting how she wants. She was happy, easily pleased but appeared to be living a very full life. The writer gives good clear descriptions of her everyday life, it appears busy and relatively normal, visiting friends, bus rides and