The Owl Service Themes

The Owl Service Themes

Prejudice & Discrimination

The themes of Prejudice & Discrimination play throughout the book, as the English and Welsh character's interact and their different cultural backgrounds are thrown into contrast against each other.

Set in Wales, a region with a strong national identity and a rich cultural identity, the English family of Clive, Margaret, Roger and Alison find it difficult to lose their wealthy class distinction when they deal with the Welsh family and retainers that are looking after their house, notably Nancy the house cook and cleaner, her son Gwyn and the grounds keeper Huw Halfbacon. It becomes apparent that Clive and Margaret are used to 'life being easy' for them as they come from an upper-middle class household, which expects to have hired help in the form of cleaners and workers that do all of the odd jobs for them. This attitude carries over to how they deal with the staff in...
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