Task 1.
1) None of the characters in the story are ever described deliberately; but by the end of the story, it is possible to characterise Gemma, Shafi and Rooksby quite closely. Please, describe each of them with as much detail as possible.
Gemma is not a faithful girlfriend I think. When Shafi found out that his car was stolen the first thing Gemma was worried about is that he brought her out to the nightclub and then how was he going to get her home, she didn’ t worry about Shafi’ s feelings. Moreover she agreed to accept her ex-boyfriend’ s offer to drive her home instead of being with her boyfriend or accepting his offer to get home by taxi. I think she is a very selfish person.
As for Shafi I think he is a very dedicated, hard working person. He has specific goals in his life and he’ s trying to do everything to achieve them.
Rooksby is making fun of Shafi a lot. He is not a friendly character, he is even annoyingly rude, cynical and inconsiderate.
2) What details in the story suggest that:
a) Rooksby is a racist.
The three of them had worked together a year ago in a restaurant, until Rooksby was sacked for insulting a group of foreign tourists.
b) Shafi wants to improve his situation in life, but people exploit him.
Ever since he’d taken his first job at the burger bar at the age of 17, he’d been saving up for a nice car; of course, he could have made do with a cheap wreck years ago – but that was not what he wanted. Shafi wanted a good car, a nice car, one that would make him feel as if he had achieved something better in life than serving in a restaurant.
c) Gemma is dishonest.
“That’s brilliant!” said Gemma. “You bring me out here, then the car gets nicked. How’m I goin’ to get home?”
“I’ll call a taxi,” said Shafi.
“I’ll run you home if you like,” said Rooksby. “I’ve just got room for one!”
“You?” said Gemma. “Well I suppose it’s better ‘n nothing.”
Task 2: Complete the story in up to 400 words.
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