Going Places — Class 12 English

Written by A.R. Barton, this story explores the theme of adolescent fantasising and hero-worship. Sophie, a schoolgirl from a poor working-class family, is a daydreamer who imagines a glamorous future — owning a boutique, becoming an actress or a fashion designer — although she and her friend Jansie are both earmarked for the local biscuit factory. Jansie, more practical and down-to-earth, gently discourages her unrealistic dreams. At home, Sophie's tired father, her stooped, overworked mother and her quiet, motorcycle-loving brother Geoff reveal the family's hard circumstances. Sophie idolises Geoff, who symbolises the unknown, exciting adult world beyond her reach, and longs to share his life. She invents a story that she met Danny Casey, a young Irish football prodigy she admires, in the arcade, and that he has promised to meet her again to give an autograph. Geoff half-believes her, her father dismisses the tale, and Sophie is annoyed when Geoff tells Jansie. On the appointed evening, Sophie waits alone on a bench by the canal for Danny, slowly realising he will not come, and feeling the pangs of doubt and a heavy sadness settle on her — yet she clings to the private fantasy that 'we know how it was, Danny and me'. The story shows how Sophie's dreams and disappointments exist entirely in her own mind, contrasting fantasy with the constraints of her real life.