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“Sailmaker” by Alan Spence was written with a strong theme. Spence conveys effectively the theme of hope turning to disillusionment. He does this with sensitive characterisation, an effective structure and powerful symbolism. The story is set in Glasgow around the 1960s when the ship building industry was declining. It is about a boy who lives wit his parents in a tenement flat. His dad is a “tic man” but used to be a sailmaker. The …

…their possessions we see sad emotion in the father. The father said “Seems a shame tae break it up”. This adds to the depressing mood at the end because we feel sorry for him because he is finding it hard to sacrifice everything. Through out the story Alan Spence changes the mood continuously from hope to disillusionment to create the theme. He effectively conveys these moods using sensitive characterisation, a clear structure and many symbols.