Our view of the world depends on who we are and where we come from

- Own personal construct of reality, individual perception, the lens through which we see the world, views and values
- demographics, family, personality, experiences

Questions:

• What influences our perception of reality?
• What makes the view our own??
• What, outside of personal demographics, can influence reality?
• Can our reality be moulded by external factors?
• What problems arise when the reality is not of our own creation?
• How does our family influence reality?
• How does our culture influence reality?
• If we therefore change, does that mean our view of the world does as well?
• i.e. with memories: can we perceive the past differently, or ourselves, for we do not stay the same person, thus, the defining factors of our reality also alter. 

Structure of expository:

1. Intro with the idea that multiple perception of the world we live in coincide, as each individual constructs their own interpretation of life, and what they value within it etc. 
2. Our reality as shaped by demographics - whether or not we agree with them, or chose to go against them.
• NGV artwork clearly establishing the way in which a cultural conflict is perceived. Where your loyalties derive from your family. 
• Text: Stephen, as a young boy with limited life experience, sees his reality tinged by his blooming adolescence in the form of Lamorna, as we see an awakening of his young sexuality. He labels those at Trewinnick as 'The Juice'. He and Keith, who cannot comprehend an adult concept such an infidelity, believe that instead of engaging in an affair, their mother is a German spy--placed the reality into a fanciful delusion that suits their needs and desire for adventure amidst The Duration. 
3. Our reality as shaped by external factors, and the negatives of this. No longer becomes a matter of our own identity, but a matter of how exposed and vulnerable we are to outside influence and manipulations. 
• Look at influences in the media, the way in which political cartoons, articles, are designed to sway an audience towards a particular sentiment.
• (Emotional Manipulation to Create Reality) Text- Stephen, through his memories portrays himself as a willing follower to Keith's adventures and musings. He views him in a higher position of power and worth, for he is better educated, has a seemingly perfect family, and therefore, Keith has an element of control over their relationship. When Stephen believes to have seen the man in the tunnel, Keith demands of him answers and acts disinterested. Thus, Stephen, as encouraged by Keith's flippancy towards Stephen's own adventure, belittles it and rationalises, is grasping for justification and, in effect, in reduced to feel, as he commonly asserts in the novel, "unsatisfactory". 
4. However, we as people change, and what once defined us as individuals may no longer apply as we pass from adolescence and into adulthood. Thus, our perception, views and beliefs can change dependant on where we are in life, and what we have experienced. The power of hindsight. 
• Text- to exemplify this very aspect of human nature, Frayn utilises the interplay of two narrators, the young and the old, to demonstrate that one cannot relive childhood in the same way it was first experienced. For the attempt to recount, recapture, and replay the past in often overlaid by hindsight.