What Each Account Represents
RI.5.6
Read the text, then answer the questions.
The Mill: Mr Whately's Account
I did not close the mill. The mill closed. For eleven years I put my own money in. In 1979 I sold my house and moved into the office above the weaving floor, and nobody knew that but my accountant. People say I should have told them earlier. I have thought about that more than they have. If I had said in January that we might not last the year, half the workforce would have left by February, and then we certainly would not have. I held on until the day I could not pay them. Then I told them. I have been told this was cowardice. I would call it arithmetic.
- 1. Describe how this narrator's point of view shapes what is included.
- 2. How does this account differ from Ivy Sallow's?
- 3. What do both accounts agree on?
The Mill: The Local Paper, June 1980
Whately's Mill closed on Friday with the loss of 214 jobs, the largest single closure in the town since the war. The mill had run since 1868. At its height it employed more than 600. Mr Whately declined to say when he had known the closure was certain. The Chamber of Commerce has called for a public inquiry; the union has called the closure "predictable for two years". The council says a retraining fund will open in September. Four other textile mills within twenty miles have closed since 1975. Nobody the paper spoke to expected the site to be used for textiles again.
- 1. What does this report give that the two personal accounts cannot?
- 2. What do the personal accounts give that this cannot?
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