Question

Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:

‘You can’t order one to a pattern like that. You’re just heading for trouble’

1. What is the speaker reacting to?
2. How was he proved right?
3. What ‘trouble’ did the other person face?

Answer 1

1. Anne’s husband is reacting to her imagined picture of the daughter she hoped to have: a beautiful, confident “golden girl” with a lovely voice.
2. He was proved right because Marian was not the child Anne had imagined; she was deaf and could not speak, and she was shy around other children.
3. Anne’s unmet expectations caused her disappointment, and Marian sensed that her mother might have preferred a different child. This hurt Marian and made her feel inadequate.