LITERATURE FORM 4

1. VIVIEN ALCOCK

2. ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
VIVIEN ALCOCK
•Born in 1924 in Worthing , West Sussex,
England
•Author of children’s book who was gifted
with ability to blend reality and fantasy
•She understood the hidden feelings of
teenagers, especially he shy and the
overlooked.
•Produced over 20 novels with themes of
kindness/pity, the need for friendships and
the complexities of family ties.
•Died in 2003.

3. ELEMENTS OF QWERTYUIOP
SETTING CHARACTER THEMES MORAL MESSAGE
PHYSICAL S *Facing VALUES *it is important to
SETTING challenges •Compassion and have courage,
MAIN optimism and
•Belmont •Learning to kindness
CHARACTERS perseverance
Secretarial College •Discretion and
•Lucy Beck’s let go * Love and
*Lucy Beck consideration for
home * Rejection others understanding can
•Office of Ross & *Harry Darke help to heal
Bannister’s wounds or resolve
*Miss Broome •Do not judge a
conflicts
book by its cover
SOCIAL
SETTING
•Do not give up
MINOR
*lower middle- easily when we
class CHARACTERS are faced with
*Mr Ross, Mrs Beck problems
TIME
, Uncle Bert
20th century
England

4. QWERTYUIOP is an entertaining story about 17-year-
old Lucy Beck, the new secretary at Ross and
Bannister’s, who struggles with her predecessor over
the secretarial position at the firm. Lucy Beck counts
herself lucky to get a job as a secretary but she does
not expect to have a ghost as a rival. The former
secretary, Miss Broome, frightens away all the new
secretaries who come in to replace her. However,
Miss Broome is in for a surprise when she meets her
match in Lucy. Although timid, Lucy manages to
tactfully handle Miss Broome. Communicating
through the typewriter, Lucy tries to convince Miss
Broome to leave. The vivid description of how the
current and former secretary fight is both amusing
and entertaining.

5. Lucy Beck Harry Darke Miss Broome
Belmont
Secretarial Mr Ross
College
CHARACTE
Lucy Beck’s SETTIN RS Mrs Beck
house G
Uncle Bert
Ross &
Bannister’s
office
Facing
QWERTYUIOP Perseverance
Challenges Lesso
THEME n
S Learnt Helping others
Handling Difficult
Task with courage MORAL
VALUES
Determination Discretion and Loyalty Perseverance is Compassion
consideration the key to and kindness
for others success

6. 3.CLIMAX
The spirit, the late Miss Broome, types out
threatening words to Lucy.
Lucy declares war and fights back with rapid
typing and lots of correcting liquids
2. RISING 4.FALLING
ACTION ACTION
A hidden hand causes Lucy discovers Miss
havoc with Lucy’s typing Broome’s background
THE
efforts. QWERTYUIOPs and uses a softer
would be the letters popping approach to console her
up every time Lucy types
PLOT
1. 5.RESOLUTIO
EXPOSITION at
Lucy Beck begins her job
N
Lucy manages to overcome her
problem with the ghost of Miss
Ross and Bannister’s as a Broome, completes her typing on
secretary after graduating from time and error free, and reaches a
Belmont Secretarial College new understanding with her Uncle
Bert

7. THE CHARACTERS
LUCY MISS MR HARRY MRS MR UNCLE
BECK BROOME DARKE BECK ROSS BECK
PICTURE PICTURE PICTURE PICTURE PICTURE PICTURE

8. Shy
Timid Lacked of
confidence
Young
Determine
d
Compassionat
e Courageous
Brave

9. LUCY’S Evidence from text
Character
Traits
Timid * small, mousy-looking and easily overlooked (page 9)
Shy * Looked out of place on her first day at work (page 12)
Lack of • Whoever will want to employ me? (page 9)
Confidence • If I get a job…Trouble was that there were hundreds after
every vacancy, brighter than Lucy, better qualified than
Lucy…(page 10)
Determined • For an hour, she battled with the machine…(page 22)
• “It’s my job now,” she said. “I need it…”(page 26)
• Lucy showed no mercy… reached the end of the letter in
triumph. (page 22)

10. LUCY’S Evidence from text
Character Traits
Compassionate • Lucy instantly feels sorry after saying mean stuff to Uncle
Bert (page 26)
• Assures him that she and her mother needed him (page 28)
• Feels sorry for Miss Broome, which is noticed by Harry
(page 26)
Brave • “…she was not a coward.” (page 20)
Courageous • She went back and sat down in front of the typewriter and
glared at it…it crouched, like a squat, ugly monster, staring
at her with its alphabetical eyes (page 20)
• Even though she is young and shy, she faces Miss
Broome’s spirit bravely (page 20)
• Relentlessly fights the typewriter (pages 20 and 22)

11. Experienced
Helpful
Reassuring
HARRY Mysterious
DARKE
Observant
Loyal

12. HARRY
DARKE’S Evidence From Text
Character
Traits
Experienced • Observes the importance of punctuality
• Wonders how long Lucy will last as a secretary
Helpful • Tells Lucy that she can ask him about anything
(page 12) “Anything you want, just ask old Harry.”
Reassuring
• Stresses to Lucy that she shouldn’t worry if she
Mysterious
makes mistakes when she types (page 14)
• Makes a few under-the –breath comments and
behaves strangely (pages 12-14)

13. HARRY
DARKE’S Evidence From Text
Character
Traits
Observant • Observes that Lucy was scared/ anxious
on her first day (page 13)
• Understood that Miss Broome hated the
younger touch typists without needing to
be told (page 25)
• Quick to notice Lucy’s sympathy for Miss
Broome (page 26)
Loyal • He worked there for thirty years until his
retirement and came back to help out as a
handyman.

14. Hardworking
Efficient
Loyal
MISS
BROOME
Bad-tempered
Persistent

15. MISS Evidence from text
BROOME’S
Character
Traits
Loyal • Been here forty-three years, girl, woman and old misery (page 25)
Lonely • This place was her home, this job was all she lived for (page 25)
• “…didn’t want to go…didn’t have anywhere worth going to…didn’t have
any family who’d own her.” (page 25)
Bad- • It screamed, shaking and snapping its keys like castanets (page 20)
tempered

16. LUCY’S
MOTHER UNCLE BERT
Patient- “…could not help wishing she would
sometimes lose her temper.” (page 9) An alcoholic- he’s not drinking up my pay packet
(pages 9-10)
Compassionate- she asked Uncle Bert to
leave but has asked him to come back Low self-esteem- “you don’t think much of me,
because she feels sorry for him. do you? (page 26)
Caring – “thought I’d have your supper ready…
now you’re a working girl
MR ROSS
MRS PRICE
Lucy’s boss
Sympathetic- she looked at Lucy Beck,
and sighed…”Good luck my dear . (page Concerned- “ Did you have trouble with the
9) machine, Miss Beck?” he asked. (pag3 25)

17. HANDLING DFFICULT TASK WITH
COURAGE
• Lucy finds herself in a difficult position when Miss Broome’s
ghost keeps on disturbing her
• However , she handles the difficulties with courage and
determination
• She does not allow the spirit to scare her away like all the
other secretaries.
• Instead, she communicates with it through the typewriter.
• Finally, through her courage and determination, she
outsmarts the spirit .

18. FACING CHALLENGES
•Lucy faces up to challenging situations when Miss Broome’s spirit
haunts her through the typewriter.
•The secretaries before her all left after just one day of working there.
•Lucy refuses to simply give up and leave.
•So she finds a way to deal with the spirit.
•She wins it and types a goodbye letter to the spirit of Miss Broome.
•The spirit finally leaves and stops haunting the office of Ross and
Bannister’s.

19. •Lucy shows determination in what she does
•She is determined to keep her job and
perseveres
DETERMINATIO •By handling the spirit properly, she not only
N manages to keep her job but does well in it too.
•Harry Darke is a loyal employee at Ross and
Bannister’s
•He had been working there for thirty years and has
retired
LOYALTY
•Being loyal to the company, he comes back to work
even after retirement
•Miss Broome was also a loyal staff at the firm
•After her sudden dismissal, her spirit came back to
haunt the office.

20. •Lucy demonstrates these values when she
was threatened by the presence of the spirit.
Although she is only seventeen, she acts with
maturity.
DISCRETION • Lucy makes the ex-secretary feel wanted
AND and useful, just like she was when she was
CONSIDERATION alive.
FOR OTHERS •The knowledge of Miss Broome’s
circumstances also influences Lucy to change
her attitude towards Uncle Bert. Lucy realizes
that he is just another human being who
needs to feel wanted.

21. •Lucy shows her determined character right
from the start as soon as she graduated from
the Belmont Secretarial College
•She is focused on getting a job , on getting
away from her impoverished and dreary
PESERVERANC daily life
E IS THE KEY •Besides that she also displays
TO SUCCESS perseverance and a fighting spirit as she
battles to prevent losing her job to the ghost
of Miss Broome.
•Undeterred by aggressiveness and threats ,
Lucy learns to think of a practical way to
resolve the problem of Miss Broome’s and
its presence in the office.

22. •Lucy feels compassion for Miss Broome
when she learns the nature of her
circumstances. She kindly helps Miss
Broome to let go of the past and be at
COMPASSION peace. Lucy continues this value at home
when she learns to be sensitive and
AND KINDNESS compassionate to her uncle.
•Lucy’s mother also displays kindness
when she asked Uncle Bert to live with
them again after previously throwing him
out.