Context –
Stone Cold
was written by Robert Swindells and was published in 1993.
Chapter-by-Chapter Summary – Alongside key quotations.
Robert Swindells – Robert Swindells is an English
writer who was born in Bradford on March 20th
1939. He served in the Royal Air Force, before
becoming a primary school teacher. It was at this
time that he began writing novels, which he later took up full
time. Swindells has stated that he feels ‘constantly aware of
the presence of injustice in the world’, and that he tries to
‘point out various manifestations of injustice…which exist in
our society.’ He draws upon these ideas in
Stone Cold.
London – The majority of
Stone Cold
is set in
London in the United Kingdom. London is the
capital and largest city in the UK, and is
populated by approximately 14 million people.
Swindells makes reference to a number of areas in London,
and in particular the London Borough of Camden, in the
north west of inner London. Camden is an important location
on the London canal network, as well as being an important
street market and tourism venue.
Chapters 1-2
Link describes himself as one of the ‘invisible people’, and explains how
little people care about the homeless. He discusses how he descended
into homelessness, beginning with his dad running off with a receptionist
a couple of years before. Link doesn’t blame his father for his problems
though - Link blames his abusive stepfather: Vince. He explains the
awkwardness of seeing someone you know when you are begging for
money. In Shelter’s first ominous message, he talks of how he will clean
the streets of dossers, turning them into men. He states that he sick of the
‘scruffy blighters’ and has a ‘plot’ to clear the streets of them.
“We were a
family you
know as
happy as most,
till Dad ran off
with a
receptionist in
1991, when I
was fourteen”.
Homelessness – Even in the 21st Century, and in
a relatively wealthy country like the United
Kingdom, homelessness is all too frequent. The
latest data (2016) shows that on any given night, there were
an average of 4,134 people sleeping rough in the UK. This has
risen every year since 2011. Remember this is on any given
night, so the number who slept rough over the course of a
year is likely to be many times more. A study by the Evening
Standard showed that more than 7,500 people slept rough in
London at some point in 2015. This included 880 under 25s.
The Armed Forces – The British Armed Forces
are the military services responsible for the
defence of the United Kingdom. They include the
British Army, the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines,
and the Royal Air Force. Service members can be discharged
from service for a variety of reasons. A dishonorable discharge
(DD – language more often used in the US military) is
handed down for an offence that the military considers to be
exceptionally poor conduct. Some members are also
discharged on physical/ mental health grounds.
Chapters 3-5
Link realises that his ragged appearance is making him more and more
unemployable. He goes to his sister’s house for Christmas, but is called a
disgrace and a scrounger by Vince, and is bought a sleeping bag by his
mum and sister. Link decides to use the money that he has left to move
to London and make a fresh start. However, after renting a basic room
from ‘Rat-face’, he realises that he has two weeks to find work, or he will
be homeless again. Rat-face comes for the rent 3 days early, which Link
cannot pay. He is forced to move out, and realises he is now homeless.
Meanwhile, Shelter hunts for recruits, pleased by how easily he gets them
to follow him. He kills his first victim: ‘I put him out of his misery.’
“You’re going to find yourself
living among
hard, violent
people, some
of whom are
deranged.
You’re going to be at risk every
minute, day and night…
There’s nowhere you can run
to, because nobody cares.”
Chapters 6-8
Link has a terrible first night on the streets-he is punched by a toilet
attendant, has his place in a doorway stolen by another homeless person,
and is then robbed of his last meaningful possession – a watch that his
mum bought him. After a few uncomfortable nights, Link meets Ginger.
Ginger begins to show Link the ropes. Link describes to the reader the
horrors of being a homeless person. Meanwhile, Shelter’s mental
instability is further revealed as he explains that he has stored the body
under the floorboards. He then kills a 2nd victim, a young homeless girl.
“You won’t sleep unless you’re
dead drunk or zonked on
downers. And if you are, and
do, you’re going to wake up
with bruises on hips, shoulders,
elbows, ankles and knees –
especially if you’re a bit thin
from not eating properly.”
Main Characters – Consider what Swindells intended through his characterisation of each of the below…
Link – Link is the lead protagonist in
Stone Cold
, although
Link is not actually his real name – he coined the nickname
after seeing a sign for
Thameslink
on his way down to London
from Bradford. Link is forced to leave home aged 16, after
being mistreated by his mother’s partner: Vince. He becomes
homeless after his sister is also unable to support him. Link is
generally a kind and sensitive character, although he is not
very streetwise and makes some poor decisions.
Shelter – Shelter is the antagonist in Stone Cold. He is a
former army sergeant-major, who it is assumed been
discharged on some sort of mental health grounds. He
embarks on a mission to rid the country of homeless people,
which he calls ‘dossers’ and ‘garbage.’ His failure to accept his
removal from his army role leads him to believe that he is
doing his country a service, and is signing them up as ‘recruits’
for his own army – ‘The Camden Horizontals.’
Chapters 9-11
Ginger and Link spend the last of their change on a bed for the night at
‘Captain Hook’s.’ Link is introduced to Ginger’s friends, who he feels
strangely jealous of. Link feels extremely isolated and disappointed when
Ginger leaves him to meet more friends. Ginger fails to return, and a Big
Issue vendor tells Link that Ginger was seen talking to a man. Link then
meets Gail, who he plans to leave, but she persuades him to help her.
Shelter explains how he targetted Link and Ginger: Laughing Boy 1 and
2. He waited for them to separate, before convincing Ginger that Link
had been hurt in an accident. Back at the flat, he kills, Ginger.
“I never forget a face, and our
next meeting will prove far
more amusing for me than
them.”
Quote:
“I was now one of them now – poised at the top of
that downward spiral.”
Quote: “
I never forget a face, and our next meeting will
prove far more amusing for me than for them’”
Ginger – After a few awful nights on the streets, Link meets
Ginger, who is streetwise and friendly towards Link. He
provides companionship for Link, which is something that
many homeless people do not have. When Ginger disappears,
Link immediately begins to question Ginger’s loyalty and
suggests that it was a bad idea to get too close to someone –
this emphasises the loneliness and isolation of being homeless.
Ginger’s disappearance also shows how little people care
about the homeless – Link has to persevere to find answers.
Gail – Gail walks into Link’s life immediately after Ginger
departs it. From Link’s description, Gail is depicted as pretty,
intelligent, yet vulnerable. Although Link promises that he
will never allow himself to become close to someone again, he
soon finds himself sticking close to Gail and sharing his
knowledge of life on the streets. His strong desire for
companionship once again highlights how desperately
isolating life on the streets is. It eventually emerges that she is
an undercover reporter, shattering Link’s hopes once more.
Chapters 12-13
Link begins to fall for Gail, even momentarily stops noticing the cold and
the hunger. Link decides that he wants to find a job to help give a house
to Gail. Shelter redoubles his efforts to get ‘Laughing Boy 2:’ Link. He
knows that Link is now with Gail, so waits for them to separate.
“The Camden
Horizontals I’ve
christened them”
Chapters 14-15
Shelter explains how fools two prying police officers into believing that he is
harmless. However, Link persists in trying to find out what happened to Ginger –
the police do not seem interested. With Gail, he watches Shelter’s house. When
Gail is gone, Shelter invites him in. Link’s initial complacency dissolves when
Shelter tries to kill him. He is saved at the last moment by the police and Gail.
Gail reveals that she is in fact a TV reporter researching homelessness. Link
laments how, even in prison, Shelter will receive better treatment than him.
“Yeah but like – justice was
done, right? Was it, though?
Shelter gets life, which means
he gets a roof, a bed and three
square meals a day. I don’t”.
Quote:
“I should’ve known it was being with Ginger that was
making things easy for me, but I didn’t.”
Quote:
“Gail was in tears by now, and so was I. It ended
with her shoving a wad of banknotes in my hand.”
Themes – A theme is an idea or message that runs throughout a text.
Swindells’ Literary Devices
Features of Thriller Novels
Invisiblity – Link opens the novel by describing himself as one of the ‘invisible’ people, and this is a theme that
runs throughout. It is clear in the behaviour of his family (who each assume that the other members of the family
will help Link out) of the general public (almost all of whom do nothing to help Link, and the vast majority of
whom ignore his presence altogether) and even of the police (the police do very little initially to help find Ginger
and the other victims of Shelter, assuming that they have just simply ‘moved on.’
Dual Narrative
Telling the story from the viewpoints of both Link
and Shelter creates a comparison and tension.
Suspense,
Surprise and
Anxiety
The two seemingly
distinct narratives
in Stone Cold
draw closer, and
closer together,
making the
reader feel
anxiety for poor
Link!
Climax
Thrillers generally
build towards a
key moment, in
which all of the
suspense built
over the narrative
are released in
one scene. This is
the case when
Shelter attempts
to murder Link.
Plot Twists and
Cliffhangers
A plot twist is
when the
narrative changes
from what the
reader would
expect (e.g.
Ginger’s murder).
Cliffhangers are
also used to keep
the reader
interested.
Similes
‘"Here was a hard, streetwise kid, cagey as they
come, and he followed me home like a 3 year
old.”
Cruelty and Exploitation– Link’s already bleak situation is significantly worsened by the cruelty and
exploitative actions of others. For example, when he first moves to London, he is exploited by the landlord
‘Ratface’, who provides him with poor living conditions in exchange for high rent and inflexible payment dates.
He is then robbed by a fellow homeless person, under the threat of violence. The squalid conditions in Captain
Hook’s barge (that he makes a great deal of money from) is another example of exploitation.
Colloquial
Language
‘
Y
ou might be spotted by a gang of lager louts on
the lookout for someone to maim.’
Short, sharp
sentences
“So, you lie listening. You bet you do. Footsteps.
Voices. Breathing, even. Doesn’t help you sleep.”