The childhoods portrayed in My Left Foot and Blue Remembered Hills are different in terms of the experiences and the dilemmas that they encounter in their early life. However each child, Christy Brown and the children of the play by Dennis Potter, each have their own obstacles and issues that are affecting them. My Left Foot is a book written by Christy Brown and his childhood growing up with cerebral palsy in a large, poor family in Dublin during the 1930’s. Christy discusses and shares his difficult childhood trying to come to terms with an illness that at the time no one could fully understand and the difficulties he faced trying to express himself in a body that would not work. Blue Remembered Hills is a play written during the second World War about seven seven year olds in the West Country. The children are playing in the woods on a summers day and are enjoying playing together, however the war is constantly overshadowing their innocent play. The play has a darker side to the story as one of the children Donald is suffering from bullying and abuse at home that Potter uses to expose the darker side of childhood. This essay will discuss the damaged childhoods displayed in Christy Browns and Dennis Potter's works and how that the struggles and pain that these children experience becomes a crucial part to their work by showing that childhood is not without it’s problems.
Christy Brown was born in Dublin, in 1932, to a large poor family of fifteen. He was born with cerebral palsy a disability that at the time had not been much studied and the doctors were unable to offer any help or support to him or his family at the time of his birth in terms of understanding and coping with his condition. His mother plays a cruci...
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...efore them. Also My Left Foot and Blue Remembered Hills are both set in periods of hardship, My Left Foot is based in the 1930’s onwards while Blue Remembered Hills is set in 1943. Both are set in periods of hardship, Christy Brown is born into poverty of a large family who struggle to make ends meet while the children of Dennis Potter's play are troubled by the war that is invading their community and the rest of the world. Both portray difficult and damaged childhoods yet Christy Brown is more fortunate than Donald in terms of family and the community around him that accept Christy for who he is, while Donald is abused by his mother and the community ignore the violence that is before them.
Works Cited
Brown.C. (1990) My Left Foot. Minerva. Pg 10, 11, 37, 47, 52, 74, 139.
Potter. D. (1984) Blue Remembered Hills. Samuel French Ltd. Pg 4, 6, 9, 11, 26, 27, 28.
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