Extra Exercise - What has happened to Lulu?

1. Who is Lulu?


2. Who wrote the crumpled note in the fire?


3. Based on your thoughts, why does the persona refer her sister as 'Lu'?


4. Why do you think the mother says the persona was only dreaming? Provide 2 reasons.


5. In stanza 1, what remnants of childhood did Lulu leave behind in her bedroom?


6. In stanza 2, which phrase indicates that Lulu has found freedom?


7. Why do you think the mother is crying?


8. Do you think it was right of Lulu to do what she did? Give a reason for your answer.

Exercises - What has happened to Lulu?

Stanza 1

1. Who do you think Lulu is?


2. Give 2 pieces of evidence which indicate that Lulu has disappeared.


3. What does the shortened name of Lulu in line 2 suggest?



Stanza 2

1. How old do you think Lulu is? Give reasons.


2. Is her age important? Why?


3. What do lines 3 and 4 show about Lulu and what she has done?


4. What literary device is used in the first 2 lines?



Stanza 3

1. Why are there only two characters present in this poem?


2. What does the use of the term 'mother' instead of 'mummy' suggest?


3. Based on your thoughts, why is the mother crying? Provide 2 reasons.

What Has Happened to Lulu? Elements - Form 5 literature (Poem) - Part 2

Message

• We should seek help in the face of challenges

Eg. 

Child narrator's mother is depressed over the disappearance of her daughter Lulu. 

Instead of seeking help, she crumples her daughter's note and throws it into the fire, saying 'it is nothing at all'.

• Families should be havens of loves and understanding

Eg.

The relationship between child narrator's mother and her daughter Lulu has been a tense and strained one.

Moral Values

• Love and appreciation
• Obedience and respect
• Honesty
• Freedom and responsibility

Tone and Mood

• Confusion
• Sadness
• Irony

What Has Happened to Lulu? Elements - Form 5 literature (Poem) - Part 1

Setting

Place

• Probably in England as the word "money-box" is a typical British word.
• Lulu's room
• The fireplace

Time

• In the past

Themes

1. The end of childhood and the loss of innocence

• Lulu is probably a young teenager. 
• She ran away based on the note that her mother crumpled.
• She took her savings "money-box" to start a new life with a man who drove her off in a "engine roar".
• She left her childhood behind.

2. Parent-child relationship

• The mother and Lulu relationship could have been a tense and strained one.
• Lulu is a rebellious teenager.
• She dislikes her mother's restrictions on her freedom and emerging interest in the opposite sex.
• She keeps secrets from her mother.
• The mother and narrator relationship is less dramatic.
• The narrator is obedient and respectful to the mother.
• The narrator loves the mother very much and observe her pain and distress.

3. Grief and love

• The mother is grieving over the loss of her child, Lulu.
• The mother clearly loves Lulu.
• The narrator loves the sister as she called her by pet name "Lu".
• The narrator is worried about the sudden disappearance of the elder sister.

What Has Happened to Lulu? Meaning - Form 5 literature (Poem)

by Charles Causley

What is the Poem about?

• It is a story of a mother grieving because her elder daughter, Lulu has run away.
• The child narrator questions her mother about the incident in a series of rhetorical questions.
• The mother is distraught and ends up tells her child a series of lies.

The Poem

What has happened to Lulu, mother? 
What has happened to Lu? 
There's nothing in her bed but an old rag-doll 
And by its side a shoe. 

Why is her window wide, mother, 
The curtain flapping free, 
And only a circle on the dusty shelf 
Where her money-box used to be? 

Why do you turn your head, mother, 
And why do tear drops fall? 
And why do you crumple that note on the fire 
And say it is nothing at all? 

I woke to voices late last night, 
I heard an engine roar. 
Why do you tell me the things I heard 
Were a dream and nothing more? 

I heard somebody cry, mother, 
In anger or in pain, 
But now I ask you why, mother, 
You say it was a gust of rain. 

Why do you wander about as though 
You don't know what to do? 
What has happened to Lulu, mother? 
What has happened to Lu?

Meaning of Lines

Stanza 1

• The persona is questioning her mother about the mysterious and sudden disappearance of Lulu. An old rag doll and a shoe was left behind.

Stanza 2

• The persona saw that the windows are wide opened and the curtains are "flapping free" in the wind. The persona also notice her money-box on the dusty shelf is gone.

Stanza 3

• The persona asks the mother why she is hiding her tears. The mother crumples up a note (most probably from Lulu) and throws it into the fire. Mother then tells her child that it is nothing at all. The persona does not believe her.

Stanza 4

• The persona tells that she was awakened by "voices late last night" and heard the sounds of an "engine roar", probably a car starting up and being driven away. The mother lies that the child was only dreaming.

Stanza 5

• The persona insists that she had heard someone cry "in anger or in pain". The mother says it was just "a gust of rain".

Stanza 6

• Puzzled about the mother's distraught behavior, the narrator wants to know why the mother is pacing about, uncertain what to do. The use of "Lu" is an affectionate shortened form of "Lulu".