Essay Questions

What parallel can be drawn between Atkinson’s When Will There Be Good News and Shakespeare’s Macbeth?

The Joanna Hunter’s story is the main story in the book, and its theme is revenge. The author does not give a personal or moral assessment of the heroine's actions, only describes them, so the reader is free to interpret what is happening as he pr she pleases. However, this revenge can literally be connected with Shakespeare's Macbeth, even though the place is the same - Scotland. The chapters give a hint: ‘Today’, ‘Tomorrow’, ‘After tomorrow’ and ‘Then again tomorrow’ - which is a quote from Macbeth that Brodie reproduces: “Yesterday, today, tomorrow, so it is goes, day after day. Tomorrow, after tomorrow, and then again tomorrow". The parallel with Macbeth is felt for the general bloody atmosphere and scene of action. And Andrew Decker, the man who stained his hands with the blood of Joanna's family, in some way, repeats the fate of Lady Macbeth.

How are the characters depicted in the novel?

The chapters are divided into narration from the point of view of different people, and different people think in different ways. The way Reggie is perceived by herself differs from the way how Jackson and Louise look at her. We see the characters from the outside, in their own heads and through the prism of the thoughts of other characters. Thus, they become truly multifaceted and real.

What place does Literature take in the novel?

Reggie’s friend Ms. MacDonald was a teacher of Literature and Reggie herself was fond of reading and spends a lot of her free time with a book. The novel is filled with many allusions to different literature characters and scenes. Ms. Macdonald’s favorite quote was ‘nada y pues nada’ which is Spanish for ‘nothing and just nothingness’ and is mainly associated with Hemingway’s stories. Reggie herself is associated with Catherine Morland, the protagonist of the Jane Austin’s novel Northanger Abbey. The abundance of allusions to Greek mythology, to Homer and English classics bring Kate Atkinson’s work beyond ordinary detective story and make it classic itself.