Question

a) Read the following conversation :
Henry and Mrs. Slater : Hush! Quiet, Elizabeth!
Mrs. Jordan
: I'll not be stopped. After you were dead, I say.
Abel
: After who was dead?
Mrs. Jordan
: You.
Abel
: But I'm not dead!
Now, describe the feelings and thoughts of Abel when he heard that he was dead.​

Answer 1

Answer:

Abel feels kinda confused because:

Explanation:

In the play The Dear Departed, Stanley Houghton satirises the degradation of moral values in the British middle class. In trying to grab the things belonging to their father, the children completely disregard modesty, decency and obligation towards their family.

In the beginning of the play,Mrs. Slater goes to offer something to her father Abel Merryweather and finds him quite cold, not responding at all. He is motionless. So, she declares that her father is no more. Accordingly, her sister and her husband, the Jordans are informed about the sudden demise of their father. Mrs. Slater and her husband are busy making arrangements for the mourning. They are expecting the Jordans to join them. They start using the various belongings of their father. Victoria, daughter of Mrs.Slater does not like all this but reluctantly she is helping her parents in these matters.

Victoria is asked to keep a watch on the main door to inform her mother about the arrival of the Jordans. Mrs. Slater is not willing to share her father's belongings with Mrs. Jordan. When the articles are being shifted, the Jordans arrive. The family members start a detailed conversation on the deeds of their deceased father, planning the details of the obituary announcement in the papers and the insurance premium payment. They start a discussion over the distribution of their father's belongings among them

and the simple fact that Mrs..Jordan says After you were dead i say