Significant Cigarettes
Summary
o Lev is on a bus from Eastern Europe to London. He is alone in the beginning but then he
starts talking to Lydia, who is sat next to him. Lev tells us about his unemployment and
that he decided to go to London to support his family.
Title
o Symbolises the need for familiarity and comfort of an addiction to cope with anxiety of
migration, cigarettes become an embodiment of familiarity as well as a physical
connection to the life that he has left behind.
Structure and form
o Sentence lengths, listing, dialogue, paragraph lengths, gradually reveals lev’s hardships
throughout, creates growing sense of sympathy for the reader
Beginning: Lev’s journey on the coach and information of his family
o ‘fields of sunflowers scorched by the dry wind’ – ‘scorched’ has violent connotations,
reflects harsh lifestyle, semantic field of nature - hope for future
o ‘even an unlit cigarette was a companion’ – metaphor, comfort, lonely
o ‘He would hold himself apart from other people’ – listing wants isolation, desperation
o ‘cars’ ‘smoke’ ‘stink’ / ‘wooden chair’ ‘sun’ ‘sausage’ – juxtaposition, sacrificing
o ‘in case nature could cure what man had given up for lost’ - model verb ‘could’,
hopeful, sympathy created, contextualises his loneliness and reluctance to make
connections, his wife died and he has had to leave his daughter behind
o ‘If only we were storks’ – short declarative sentence, 1 line paragraph, bird imagery-
symbol of freedom and new life, adverb ‘only’ emphasises his sadness
Middle: Lev interacts with Lydia on the bus
o ‘a clean cotton napkin’ – juxtaposes lev’s ‘old red cotton handkerchief’
o ‘I became very tired of the view’ – short declarative sentences, confident, she
moves for personal gain, Lev moves for others, syndetic listing, monotony,
juxtaposes Lev as he likes familiarity which creates a sense of comfort for him
o ‘I am legal.’ - Broken up dialogue, disconnected short declarative sentences
reflect how disconnected he feels from his home, anticipates hardship, pathos
End: His hopes and his determination for his travel to London to be worth while
o ‘talking and laughing’ – the present participles of the verbs emphasise his hope
o ‘clothes, shoes, books, toys, everything.’ – asyndetic list, objects a child needs,
desperation to provide for her, finally learn why he is going to London
o ‘lungs’ ‘blood’ ‘legs’ – semantic field of body parts evoke his physical discomfort
o ‘a man’ ‘but Capitalism’ – British jargon, doesn’t know, distance from British
culture, isolating, angry tone, this man never experienced the poverty Lev did
o ‘I’m going to make them share it with me: their infernal luck’ – repetition ‘im
going to’ - modal verbs-strength, assertive, shifts to 1st person, future tense,
hopeful + determined, oxymoron, juxtaposing connotations, feelings of envy and
anger towards English people, determined to have the same life they have
Summary
o Lev is on a bus from Eastern Europe to London. He is alone in the beginning but then he
starts talking to Lydia, who is sat next to him. Lev tells us about his unemployment and
that he decided to go to London to support his family.
Title
o Symbolises the need for familiarity and comfort of an addiction to cope with anxiety of
migration, cigarettes become an embodiment of familiarity as well as a physical
connection to the life that he has left behind.
Structure and form
o Sentence lengths, listing, dialogue, paragraph lengths, gradually reveals lev’s hardships
throughout, creates growing sense of sympathy for the reader
Beginning: Lev’s journey on the coach and information of his family
o ‘fields of sunflowers scorched by the dry wind’ – ‘scorched’ has violent connotations,
reflects harsh lifestyle, semantic field of nature - hope for future
o ‘even an unlit cigarette was a companion’ – metaphor, comfort, lonely
o ‘He would hold himself apart from other people’ – listing wants isolation, desperation
o ‘cars’ ‘smoke’ ‘stink’ / ‘wooden chair’ ‘sun’ ‘sausage’ – juxtaposition, sacrificing
o ‘in case nature could cure what man had given up for lost’ - model verb ‘could’,
hopeful, sympathy created, contextualises his loneliness and reluctance to make
connections, his wife died and he has had to leave his daughter behind
o ‘If only we were storks’ – short declarative sentence, 1 line paragraph, bird imagery-
symbol of freedom and new life, adverb ‘only’ emphasises his sadness
Middle: Lev interacts with Lydia on the bus
o ‘a clean cotton napkin’ – juxtaposes lev’s ‘old red cotton handkerchief’
o ‘I became very tired of the view’ – short declarative sentences, confident, she
moves for personal gain, Lev moves for others, syndetic listing, monotony,
juxtaposes Lev as he likes familiarity which creates a sense of comfort for him
o ‘I am legal.’ - Broken up dialogue, disconnected short declarative sentences
reflect how disconnected he feels from his home, anticipates hardship, pathos
End: His hopes and his determination for his travel to London to be worth while
o ‘talking and laughing’ – the present participles of the verbs emphasise his hope
o ‘clothes, shoes, books, toys, everything.’ – asyndetic list, objects a child needs,
desperation to provide for her, finally learn why he is going to London
o ‘lungs’ ‘blood’ ‘legs’ – semantic field of body parts evoke his physical discomfort
o ‘a man’ ‘but Capitalism’ – British jargon, doesn’t know, distance from British
culture, isolating, angry tone, this man never experienced the poverty Lev did
o ‘I’m going to make them share it with me: their infernal luck’ – repetition ‘im
going to’ - modal verbs-strength, assertive, shifts to 1st person, future tense,
hopeful + determined, oxymoron, juxtaposing connotations, feelings of envy and
anger towards English people, determined to have the same life they have
