Summary

Your first exam question asks you to focus on the summary of the short story “The Christmas Tin” by Amanda Craig.

The short story begins in a schoolyard, where an event for charity has been organised. Robbie asks his mother, Polly, to buy something. She is interested in a red tin, because she thinks she could keep sweets and cakes inside it and wants to replace the old tin at home.

She hears a woman saying that people can buy a tin for charity to benefit the troops in Afghanistan. Polly hesitates because this means she cannot keep the tin for herself, and she notices other people avoiding the stall where the tins are being sold.

Polly does not support the war but sympathises with the soldiers as they remind her of her children, especially of her son.

Polly has a brief discussion with the woman who is promoting the tins. When she gets emotional thinking about the soldiers, her son drags her away and tells her she always says stupid things.

The narrator then describes the relationsh...