Chalk, by Nuala Brennock

An original short story extract set in the twentieth century.

This story is set in a mining village in County Durham in 1946.

Miss Carbery had practised her first sentence all the way from the station, but when she opened the door of Standard Four it left her entirely. Forty-two faces turned towards her. Somebody at the back whistled, a long falling note like a bomb in a newsreel.

She put her bag on the desk, took it off again, and then put it back. ‘Good morning, children,’ she said, and her voice came out smaller than she had meant, like something squeezed through a keyhole.

‘Morning, miss,’ said forty-two voices, in forty-two different tones of mockery.

She had brought a map. She had spent most of Sunday painting it, every river in Britain picked out in blue, and she unrolled it now across the blackboard with hands that would not quite keep still. The top corner sprang free and the whole thing rolled itself back up with a snap. The class roared.

Miss Carbery stood very still. For a moment it seemed she might cry. Then she picked up the map, held it out at arm’s length and said, ‘Well. It seems Britain does not wish to be studied today. Perhaps we should start with Durham instead. Who can tell me where the river goes when it leaves this village?’

Nobody answered. Then a boy in the front row, whose father worked the night shift, said that it went to the sea, everybody knew that, and she asked him how he knew, and he found that he wanted to tell her.

What impressions does the writer create of Miss Carbery?

You must refer to the language used in the text to support your answer, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.