blood brothers essay questions

Category Archives: Blood Brothers: Past Paper Questions

Blood brothers: past papers.

Blood Brothers is part of your English Literature Paper 2 exam, alongside your study of poetry. For the Blood Brothers section of the exam, you will not be given an extract from the play to start from. instead, you will be given a choice of two essay questions. You will need to choose the essay question you feel most confident about writing a good answer for.

The questions can be about a specific character, a specific theme, or link together a mixture of characters and themes. For more information on how to revise please click on this link:

https://bbaenglish.wordpress.com/2017/02/05/blood-brothers-exam-tips-and-revision/

Here are 10 different essay questions you could revise for and practice:

10 essays I could revise / plan / attempt:

• How does Russell use Edward and Mickey to present ideas about social class?
• How does Russell use the Narrator and other characters to explore ideas about fate and superstition?
• How does Russell use different characters to explore ideas about gender?
• How does Russell use the characters of Mr and Mrs Lyons to present ideas about social class?
• How does Russell use Mickey and Edward to explore ideas about identity?
• How does Russell present ideas about childhood and growing up in Blood Brothers?
• How does Russell present the importance of power and money in Blood Brothers?
• How does Russell use the characters of Mickey and Sammy to present ideas about crime?
• How does Russell use the characters of Linda and Mrs Johnstone to present ideas about gender?
• How does Russell use the characters of Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons to explore ideas about family?

Revision and useful links for BBA students

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Blood Brothers

By willy russell, blood brothers essay questions.

How does money affect Mrs. Johnstone at the beginning of the play?

Mrs. Johnstone's lack of financial resources forces her to give up one of her twins. She cannot support two more children on a single income and needs the money from Mrs. Lyons to make ends meet. She agrees to Mrs. Lyons' deal because she has no other recourse. However, this ends up being a tragic error, as she wants to keep the twins together and is heartbroken by the loss of her son.

What role does violence play in Sammy's storyline?

Sammy's storyline highlights how an early penchant for bullying and childish violence later leads Sammy to a life of crime. Sammy's offenses get progressively worse as he goes from taking sweets from his brother and stealing money to later pulling a knife on a bus driver and murdering a man during a robbery. The musical shows that because his actions are essentially unchecked, he graduates to increasingly disturbing crimes.

What is Mrs. Lyons' character arc in the musical?

Mrs. Lyons goes from being a lonely housewife to a figure of menace and cruelty. Early in the play, she wants a child but physically cannot have one. She strikes a deal with Mrs. Johnstone to take one of her twins, thinking this will magically resolve her problems. Unfortunately, she remains jealous of Mrs. Johnstone's connection to Eddie and feels that he will never truly see her as his mother. This jealousy makes her increasingly angry and paranoid, causing her to fire Mrs. Johnstone and, later, attempt to kill her. Her story ends with her goading Mickey into attacking Eddie, resulting in both of their deaths.

What is the significance of the musical's title?

The musical's title refers to the superstition that if twins separated at birth meet, they will cause each others' deaths. It also carries a double meaning in the events of the story. Mickey and Eddie make a pact to become "blood brothers," as they share a birthday, but are unaware of the fact that they are literally brothers related by blood. In this way, they are blood brothers in two senses of the word.

Why is Mickey enraged when his mother reveals the truth about Eddie?

Mickey becomes furious when his mother reveals that she gave up Eddie to the Lyons family. He is upset because he imagines what his life could have been. He thinks that if he had been the one given up, he could have been free of legal and financial problems. He is upset because his life has been ruined by violence, imprisonment, and prescription drug addiction. The idea that he could have been spared his fate causes him to fully break down.

Blood Brothers Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Blood Brothers is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for Blood Brothers

Blood Brothers study guide contains a biography of Willy Russell, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Blood Brothers
• Blood Brothers Summary
• Character List

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Blood Brothers

Revision booklet on Blood Brothers

• blood-brothers-revision-notes.pdf

Revision and revision questions

'Blood Brothers' Exam Questions- plan them, and write them, using appropriate timings.

• blood brothers firefly exam questions.docx

This small booklet examines some key quotations for 'Blood Brothers'. Add these to your notes, or add more ideas to these quotes.

• Quote explosions - SS Blood Brothers.docx

Below is the audio of a lecture on some complex ideas related to 'Blood Brothers'. Use the presentation next to the audio to keep track of the ideas and quotations that are discussed. Be aware that most of the ideas discussed here are Level 8/9 concepts.

• Blood Brothers Aiming Higher Lecture - SS.pptx

Use these essay questions to practice essay planning (and indeed, writing).

• Blood Brothers Revision Essays.pptx 2mb

Example grade 4/5 response to a Blood Brother's question.

Miss Ryan's GCSE English & Media

Year 11 english revision.

Blood Brothers , English Literature

Blood Brothers essay plans

We spent the last part of Friday’s lesson looking at potential Blood Brothers exam questions. We got into pairs and spent time making plans for a variety of possibilities. Here they are:

How is Edward presented?

How is Mrs Lyons presented? 

How is the relationship between Mickey and Linda presented? 

How is the relationship between Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons presented?

How is the relationship between Mickey and Eddie presented?

How is childhood and growing up presented?

Please use these to revise by adding to or amending them, then write your own full response.

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Blood Brothers Practice Questions

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

16 February 2020

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A simple grid featuring 36 Blood Brothers practice questions for AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 2 Section A: Modern Texts.

The grid contains six questions from the 2017, 2018 and 2019 series, and two from the AQA Sample Set 2014. The remaining questions cover a range of character and theme questions.

Use the grid to:

• Track revision gaps - If this question came up, how prepared would students be?
• Plan and write a range of essays - Which questions could be answered using the same plan?
• Identify main question focuses - What are the fewest categories revision can be reduced to?
• Build confidence - What can students expect from the exam and its questions?

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