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full lit charts analysis,summary,and techniques of A minor role
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Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.comA Minor Role
have a few speaking lines, but they mostly just say “Yes, sir,” and
SUMMARY “O no, sir.” The speaker isn’t bitter, however, because they know
that one doesn’t need to play “the star part” to appreciate the
The best place to see me in action is on a stage, where I might
blessing of simply being alive. What’s more, the speaker implies
be holding up someone's spear or playing a servant, constantly
that supporting roles are vital to the metaphorical show of life
coming and going, chattering, "Yes, sir," or "No, sir." Of course, if
as a whole: one mistake, and “the monstrous fabric” of everyday
I mess up one of these measly little lines, the cruel laughter of
life would fall apart.
the whole theater seems to come crashing down on me.
The poem then reveals that the speaker is in fact dealing with a
But I care a lot about the little, inconspicuous things, and I put
serious illness. It's unclear if the speaker is sick or if they're
effort into the humble tasks I call my "waiting-room roles."
caring for someone else. Either way, this illness has pushed the
These include getting to the hospital and then clasping hands
speaker into a “minor role” in their own life, becoming the “star”
beneath old magazines while trying to understand all the stuff
of the show while the speaker themselves becomes a
these medical specialists tell me. I ask questions directly but
“servant[]” essentially doing the illness’s bidding. The “show”
politely, keep track of prescriptions, and become friendly with
isn’t about the speaker, then, but the speaker doesn’t believe
the receptionists. Basically, I help keep normal life humming
that it’s not worth playing a part.
along.
Indeed, the speaker takes pride in the way they play their
You might spot me hurrying down the street at home, trying to
marginal “waiting-room roles,” even making a kind of art of
avoid getting stopped. Whenever well-intentioned but nosy
them. They dutifully follow through on ordinary, everyday
people ask how I'm doing, I always say that I'm fine.
activities like driving to doctor's appointments, trying to follow
I think about the future when I'm back at home. How about medical recommendations, “asking pointed / Questions
going to bed, I ask myself? That usually makes me feel better. I'll politely,” double-checking information, and making friendly
pick up the phone when it rings but I'm careful not to say too conversation with receptionists. They’re anxious to avoid
much, although I'm always gracious. Sometimes I come up with disrupting the rhythms of everyday life (for instance, they walk
elaborate meals to tempt someone on a hunger strike. I read quickly back home “in case anyone stops” to ask how they're
comforting, light-hearted books; go looking for my cat (which doing) and suggest that even these little measures are
weirdly always makes me feel better); cancel plans, clean up important for “[s]ustaining the background music of civility.”
around the house; act like everything's fine while
This way of living might seem a little isolating and sad, but
acknowledging to myself that everything actually isn't fine.
there’s also something heroic about the speaker’s commitment
I've figured out all the different ways of being miserable: there's to the unassuming motions that keep life humming along.
grief and sadness, lethargy, fatigue. There's the misery of Although the speaker shuns “the star part” (“And who would
wishing for an illness that was more easily treatable, like a want it?” they ask) they’re still fervently grateful to be
broken leg; of dealing with endless delays, being sent from one alive—and urge “you,” the reader, to “believe in life,” too. In a
medical practice to another, specialists going on vacation. But I powerful turn, they refuse to give into the conventions of
always say "Thank you" for everything, to everyone not in a tragedy, asserting that even a minor role is worth playing
starring role. because life has tremendous value.
Who would want that star part, anyway? I throw away the
spear, toss aside the servant's tray, while the play's Chorus Where this theme appears in the poem:
intones that it would be better just to die. That's a lie!
• Lines 1-18
I want to show you how valuable life is. • Lines 34-39
THEMES THE ISOLATION AND TEDIUM OF ILLNESS
“A Minor Role” paints a picture of what it’s like to be
THE ORDINARY AND UNASSUMING LIFE seriously ill. The poem illustrates the mundane and
isolating reality of chronic or terminal illness, including the
The speaker of “A Minor Role” suggests that they are
work that goes into managing everyone else’s feelings in
“best” understood as an actor cast in a supporting
addition to your own.
role in a play. You might see them “Propping a spear, or making
endless / Exits and entrances with my servant’s / patter”; they Fanthorpe’s speaker doesn’t present a serious illness as a big,
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dramatic event. Instead, their experience as a patient (or, about their health and anxiously avoid “well-meant
perhaps, caregiver for someone else who is sick) is made up of intrusiveness.” The speaker seems to have a sense that, when
lots of little, tedious moments in waiting rooms and doctor's people ask how they’re doing, they don’t really want to know
offices. Everyday life goes on even in the midst of personal the truth. It’s easier to just tell people what they want to hear
crisis, the poem implies, and the speaker even finds a kind of than to deal with their shock and pity.
normalcy “[s]ustaining the background music of civility.” That is, Similarly, the speaker is always nice and polite to doctors and
there’s something comforting about business chugging along as hospital staff, and they go out of their way not to make a fuss.
usual even after receiving a life-altering diagnosis. No one around them can acknowledge that they’re deflecting
And yet, although they “pretend all’s well,” the speaker often or avoiding the reality of their situation—instead, friends and
feels miserable and isolated. Part of that isolation stems from doctors just play along, because it’s more comfortable for
having to manage other people’s feelings—remaining gracious everyone that way. Even the speaker reaches for distractions
and “thankful” even as they navigate “all the genres of misery” like “Whimsical soft-centered happy-all-the-way-through
that come with being sick. In the process of dealing with their novels” and looking for their cat, an activity they find
illness, the speaker puts up with the indignities of being “mysteriously reassuring.” Nobody, including the speaker,
shuffled from doctor to doctor. Even though they can’t seem to seems prepared to confront the reality of what they’re going
get an easy or straightforward answer, they make an effort to through, because of a deep-seating discomfort with death and
be polite and understanding. To avoid attracting pity, the dying.
speaker rarely acknowledges to others how bad things are. And yet, in the poem’s final moments, the speaker’s facade
They’re intent on “getting on, getting better,” and anxiously cracks. Everything is not all right! The speaker is finally able to
want to keep things moving along. As a result, few people seem express just how terrifying the prospect of dying is and reveals
to know what the speaker is going through. a desperate desire to live. In the end, the speaker admits that it
In private, though, the speaker can “admit” that everything is would not actually be “better to die” than continue to live with
not all right. Only when they’re alone are they free to this illness. They’re not willing to give up on life—or to totally
acknowledge what they’re really feeling: “[t]ears, torpor, accept that their own life may be ending.
boredom, lassitude.” Nevertheless, they refuse to view themself
as the main character in a tragedy and dismiss big, dramatic Where this theme appears in the poem:
gestures in favor of a commitment to keep living—as best they
can—a dignified and ordinary life. • Lines 9-33
• Line 39
Where this theme appears in the poem:
• Lines 8-33 LINE-BY
LINE-BY-LINE
-LINE ANAL
ANALYSIS
YSIS
LINES 1-6
SOCIETAL DISCOMFORT WITH DEATH
I'm best observed ...
In addition to illustrating the speaker’s personal
... to unwanted sniggers.
experience with a serious illness, “A Minor Role” also
holds the mirror up to society in general and reveals how "A Minor Role" begins with the poem's first-person speaker
uncomfortable the realities of sickness and death can be. Even declaring that they are "best observed on stage." This is the
as the speaker grapples with a difficult diagnosis, they feel beginning of an extended metaphor that the speaker will build
responsible for sparing others from discomfort and anxiety by out over the first stanza and then return to again at the very
maintaining the illusion that everything is fine. end of the poem.
The speaker’s illness is frightening and draining. They say that The speaker isn't really a professional actor, and you wouldn't
they’ve had to “Learn to conjugate all the genres of misery.” In catch them performing on Broadway. All the same, the speaker
other words, they’ve experienced a whole spectrum of difficult asks the reader to imagine them cast in "a minor role" in some
feelings, from grief to boredom. Yet even as they confront the great classical drama—maybe something by Shak Shakespeare
espeare, or
physical and emotional challenges of being ill (or caring for Sophocles (whose play Oedipus Re Rexx gets quoted towards the
someone who is ill), they also have to navigate social taboos end of Fanthorpe's poem). The speaker suggests that they're
around the topic of death and dying. The speaker feels it’s probably playing a servant, a comical or farcical character who
necessary to put on a brave face for those around them and spends most of their time shuffling on and off the stage, holding
deny or downplay the seriousness of their illness. other characters' stuff ("propping a spear"), and making silly,
meaningless chatter (their lines mostly consist of replies like,
They have a system, a “formula,” for dealing with questions
"Yes, sir," or "O no, sir").
©2023 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 2
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