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Top Girls revisited - with politeness in mind
Task A – Reminding yourself of the extract
Note: you can find a link the text using under
'useful links' section of the menu on the left
Re-read the extract and/or re-watch the video-clip
to remind yourself of it. As you do so, jot down anything you notice in
general terms about how politeness and/or impoliteness contributes to
your understanding of the passage and the effects it has on you.
What is Win’s goal in the interview, and what
consequences would you expect her pursuit of her goal to have in terms
of politeness?
 View 'Top Girls' video clip
[Context: Win works as an adviser at the Top Girls employment agency,
helping people find employment. Louise has come to the agency for help,
and this is the first meeting between the two women.]
| 1. WIN: |
Now, Louise, hello. I have your details here. You've been very
loyal to the one job I see. |
| 2. LOUISE: |
Yes I have. |
| 3. WIN: |
Twenty years is a long time in one place. |
| 4. LOUISE: |
I feel it is. I feel it's time to move on. |
| 5. WIN: |
And you are what age now? |
| 6. LOUISE: |
I'm in my early forties. |
| 7. WIN: |
Exactly? |
| 8. LOUISE: |
Forty-six. |
| 9. WIN: |
It's not necessarily a handicap. Well it is of course, we have
to face that. But it's not necessarily a disabling handicap. Experience
does count for something. |
| 10. LOUISE: |
I hope so. |
| 11. WIN: |
Now between ourselves is there any trouble, any reason why you're
leaving that wouldn't appear on the form? |
| 12. LOUISE: |
Nothing like that. |
| 13. WIN: |
Like what? |
| 14. LOUISE: |
Nothing at all. |
| 15. WIN: |
No long term understandings come to a sudden end, making for
an insupportable atmosphere? |
| 16. LOUISE: |
I've always completely avoided anything like that at all. |
| 17. WIN: |
No personality clashes with your immediate superiors or inferiors? |
| 18. LOUISE: |
I've always taken care to get on very well with everyone. |
| 19. WIN: |
I only ask because it can affect the reference and it also affects
your motivation. I want to be quite clear why you're moving on.
So I take it the job itself no longer satisfies you. Is it the money? |
| 20. LOUISE: |
It's partly the money. It's not so much the money. |
| 21. WIN: |
Nine thousand is very respectable. Have you dependants? |
| 22. LOUISE: |
No, no dependants. My mother died. |
| 23. WIN: |
So why are you making a change? |
| 24. LOUISE: |
Other people make changes. |
| 25. WIN: |
But why are you, now, after spending most of your life in one
place? |
(Top Girls, by Caryl Churchill, Act 2, Scene 3 -
an interview at the employment agency)
Our answer
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