Free Essay 'The Magic Flute' by Alan Spence

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'The Magic Flute' by Alan Spence

"The Magic Flute" by Alan Spence is set during the 1960's and 70's in Glasgow. The novel follows the lives of four boys Eddie, Brian, George and Tam. Each character has a different personality, which the author brings to life throughout the novel.

The plot chronicles the various ups and downs of the boys from their early teens into adulthood. The novel is written in the third person narrative with the author adopting an omniscient role. Spence adopts this narrative voice to enable him to be an all seeing, all knowing outsider looking in. This helps add to the realism of his main characters and how they cope with the main themes of sectarianism, bigotry, violence, friendship and poverty.

I intend to examine the similarities and differences between the main characters and the techniques used by Spence to create them, which helps make the story so believable. I will focus on how the author cleverly employs dialect, imagery and characterization.

Alan Spence's ability to give his characters a unique identity is clearly evident in the novel. The contrast between classes of people begins to become obvious as you work your way through the novel. Tam meets new people, from more affluent areas of Glasgow and sees a very different view of life:

"Tam had never been in a house with a phone"

This is just one measure of poverty Spence uses to emphasise this feature. None of the boys had experienced the trappings of material wealth. But for George this created a desire to escape from poverty and encouraged him to look at life with a different perspective and go on and find a respectable, well paid job. Not just to dream about it, but to consider life in detail and to discover its potential for him. George works hard towards an apprenticeship, with more than a little help from his father. This part shows that George is motivated by a desire to improve his financial situation and social status:

"It's amazing what a wee handshake can do"

There are many incidents where George's father uses a handshake to gain something for him or his family, which shows how important this secret society was to people in Glasgow at this time and how it was discriminatory. An example of this being when George obtained an apprenticeship for which he had little potential, even though there were qualified Catholic boys looking for a job.

George was not very intelligent as he did not get into the better of the two schools and he was extremely disappointed by this, however, he worked hard and he actually becomes an insurance man. Later George follows his father into freemasonry and finds a better job. Brian continues working hard to achieve something with his life. Tam mixes with a different set of friends and they make an unusual musical called "The Magic Flute". Tam continues playing music and travels the world, finding a passport to the new worlds of psychedelia and drugs. It becomes apparent that the flute plays a significant part in Tam's downfall. It was his passport into a world where using drugs, followed sometimes by addiction was the norm and not the exception.

Eddie is a gang member whose options are reduced to either jail or the army; Brian is the eternal student; Tam the flute playing hippy and George follows in his father's footsteps into freemasonry and a steady job.

Eddie is the roughest and most violent on the four. He takes being called "mental" as a compliment. Eddie is bright, however, he misbehaves all the time and is excluded from school on a number of occasions. He is considered a waste of space. After getting involved with drugs and theft he reluctantly decides to join the army and is then posted to Northern Ireland, while off duty he ends up getting killed in an explosion caused by the IRA.

Brian is the smartest and most committed to being successful in life. He enjoys reading. He buys a bundle of Classics Illustrated such as Ivanhoe, Kidnapped, The black Tulip and Oliver twist. Ever since Brian was a child he wanted to become a teacher and he achieved this ambition, which was not surprising.

Tam was the most musical as he did not give up his musical talent of playing the "flute". Tam actually becomes a successful musician playing in a reggae band. Only Tam and George keep up the flute as Eddie decided to take up the drums. However, Tam and George do not have a flute and Eddie does not even have drumsticks. All are living in a poverty stricken area where these items are extremely expensive. Eddie decides they are worth the risk of stealing them, so he does so:

"Knocked them when the auld guy was talking to Tam"

This shows Eddies casual attitude to theft, it is as if he sees no wrong in it - no big deal.

The boy's education is also affected by religion, as they attend a Protestant school in Glasgow. They were in their last year of primary and were all about to be split up due to their exam results. Brian and Tam are sent to the High School where they receive a bursary and have the opportunity to sit higher exams. This is a much more prestigious school than the other schools they could have attended. With Tam and Brian's background this would be an excellent opportunity for them to improve themselves and make their way in the world:

"And boys from your background, it is a tremendous opportunity"

George and Eddie are sent to the Junior Secondary, which is inferior. It teaches the pupils a trade, which is practical rather than academic. Eddie decides to go into the army to start a new life. He takes his religious beliefs with him and continues being a religious bigot, conveying another main theme, religion to the storyline, but with a sectarian and bias view. The author's use of local West of Scotland dialect adds to the novels realism:

"Oot said Eddie! Where's me Da?"

This is an example of how most Glaswegians talk, dialect plays an important part in the novel as it adds to the realism and helps bring the characters to life.

"Bastard's!" said Eddie, "Dirty fenian bastards!"

This is another example of colloquialism combined with foul language creating authenticity.

Brian continues studying as a student and writes his autobiography. The story Brian writes is of his life with his three friends that he grew up with:

"There are four of us. We all lived in the same street, were in the same class at school - the last year before we moved on to secondary and went our separate ways"

This was Brian's view of life in a poverty stricken area, growing up with his friends. We see all four boys having a very close relationship in primary school but when they were split up to go to secondary school, they each made new friends and eventually all went their separate ways and began to live their own lives.

The imagery of the "flute" plays a very important role in the book, with the four boys unaware of the flute's importance in their lives and the effects of it on them. I think Spence creates the effects of the flute to represent the music and a sense of belonging but perhaps more importantly it leads to Tam's downfall into psychedelia and drugs.

Throughout the novel George and Brian change from na�ve, immature youngsters to hard working, mature adults who achieve important qualities for a person to have in order to survive throughout life. Unfortunately Eddie and Tam, in spite of having alot in common with the other two, fail to cope with the pressures of modern life. The novel shows us the similarities of the four boys whilst at school as children and grown up as adults. It is ironic that in order for the boys to survive poverty, religious bigotry and living in a rough city, like Glasgow, they had to go through such a tough upbringing.