Author Archives: Margaret

About Margaret

Qualified English Teacher, BA/BT UNE, Registered with VIT, located in Berwick Victoria 3806. Contact 0418 440 277, email contact@englishtutorlessons.com.au

The Life of Galileo Play by Bertolt Brecht

Posted on by
Reply

In his notes, Bertolt Brecht says of this play, “But it would be highly dangerous, particularly nowadays, to treat a matter like Galileo’s fight for freedom of research as a religious one; for thereby attention would be most unhappily deflected from present-day reactionary authorities of a totally unecclesiastical kind.”

With this comment, Brecht demands that his audience sees this play as more than a battle between science and religion.  It is, as he says:

  1.  a conflict between progressive and conservative thinking
  2.  a conflict between political activism and political indifference
  3.  a conflict between freedom and oppression
  4.  a conflict between the individual and authority

Underlying all these is the central tenet of inquiry.  Without inquiry, without “hypothesis” or “doubt”, we are merely “goggling”, [or “gawping”] and “Goggling isn’t seeing”.  The Life of Galileo suggests that it is only through the process of questioning – and engaging that society can learn and grow.  How much success we have depends on our preparedness to “have a look for ourselves”.

In terms of conflict in the play students should consider: 

  1. Conflict between Science and Religion – While Galileo is ultimately defeated by the triumph of faith and superstition over knowledge and reason, Andrea’s escape to Reformation Holland with the ‘Discorsi’ is a step toward resolving the conflict in favour of science.
  2. Conflict with the Self – Brecht’s characters demonstrate how easily the individual evades moral responsibility by submitting to a higher authority, be it church, state, community, and so on, but also shows that moral compromise can create deeper inner conflict, which is not so easily dismissed.
  3. Individual vs. the State – Brecht suggests that when the freedom of the individual to expose a fallacy and reveal the truth is denied, the ensuing conflict will always be resolved in favour of the state.
  4. Conflict within the Community – In The Life of Galileo, Brecht represents the Church as offering stability, but in a way that leads only to stagnation.  The play demonstrates that conflict is essential in effecting change for the better.  As with all serious conflict, the effects are always damaging and nobody escapes unscathed.

The Life of Galileo is like a Chameleon

Brecht’s play The Life of Galileo is always going to be like the chameleon.  There was constant adaptation by Brecht during the twenty years he worked on the play and the play reflected the changes that he witnessed in Europe over that period.  Brecht had watched with the rest of the world the often horrifying events of the first half of the twentieth century and he had moved from the old world to the new during the latter part of his life.  All these influences were to be reflected in the final form taken by The Life of Galileo and audiences continue to adapt the ideas of the play to their own perceptions of current events.

Questions Explored in Brecht’s Play

There will continue to be new situations in which questions explored in Brecht’s play will be raised.  There will be situations involving the relationship between the individual and authority; there will be questions about the problems of remaining true to one’s opinions and beliefs or questions about the need for old ideas to give way to new.  As these situations arise the play will change its alignment and it will be able to be applied to those new situations.  Over its life the play has been read as the story of the conflict between Galileo and the Roman Catholic Church in the 17th century, it has been read as the struggle between the Nazi politicians and industrialists and the Communist workers of Germany in the 1930s.  It has been read as the struggle between McCarthyism and the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the American writers and artists of the late 1940s.

Brecht’s plays are important because Brecht was an innovator in the theatre.  He was both a theorist with a carefully detailed rationale about the purpose of dramatic performance and a playwright who was experienced in stagecraft.  He knew the techniques he wanted to use to achieve his desired outcome.  Like his character Galileo, Brecht was able to see new possibilities and he persevered with them even when many, particularly those experienced in the American theatre, were critical of the content of his plays or advised him that they would not be successful.

Looking at the Big Issues Raised by this Play

I suggest that students studying The Life of Galileo will need to look at some of the big issues that have always confronted people and which are raised by this play.  They will need to explore the notion of freedom for the individual in relation to various forms of authority, they will be challenged to discuss the idea of “things worth fighting for”, they will be challenged to look at the past and the present to see if there are new ideas that are struggling to find acceptance.  When they look at the issue of Galileo’s recantation, they may never reach a conclusion in the inevitable discussions that will take place about what Galileo should have done.

For many people, The Life of Galileo is not really successful as theatre because it is too didactic.  For them it is “a play for reading”.  To just “read it” is to ignore the fact that it is drama.  It should be experienced as drama, drama of a particular kind.  Then it is possible to come to grips with the question of whether Brecht’s play is successful.  It is also possible to determine if the success is in spite of Brecht’s theories rather than because of them.

Different Perspectives on Galileo

Rather than presenting one interpretation of the text, I suggest that students use these outlines below as a framework for developing a number of different, detailed responses to Brecht’s work.

1.        Power

One view of the text is that it is about power and the struggle for power.  Brecht presents his conflict by having the Church as the holder of power using its energies to maintain that power.  In this situation someone like Galileo who has new ideas is a threat.  Furthermore, Galileo, by the nature of his scientific discoveries, becomes allied to those people in society who can make use of the discoveries to improve their commercial enterprises.  The prelates of the Church fear that these merchants being receptive to one set of new ideas might embrace any new ideas including those which undermine the authority of the Church.

Using this perspective on the text it is easy to read the story as a metaphor for the class struggle.  While Brecht’s own position as a communist was subjected to modification, his sympathies remained with political structures that involved a centrally controlled economy even if he was repelled by the later excesses of totalitarian communism.

The position of Virginia in this perspective is interesting since she is caught up in the power struggle but she is unable to exert any influence over events that affect her.  Mrs Sarti is also worth looking at as a character who is both powerful and powerless.

2.     An ethical perspective

The Life of Galileo can be viewed from an ethical perspective.  Such a perspective involves analysing the action of the main characters in the light of what they ought to have done.  Should Galileo have recanted?  Should Barberini have supported Galileo against the Inquisitor?  What justification does the Inquisitor have for silencing Galileo?  Should Andrea have turned his back on Galileo?  Ought Andrea have been reconciled to Galileo because of the secret writing of the Discorsi?  Should Andrea have lied to the guards so that he could successfully smuggle the Discorsi over the border?  Did Galileo betray his profession?

These questions challenge the values that are being presented in the text by particular characters.  Brecht’s own discussion of the ramifications of Galileo’s recantation is important (pp 10-11)  The broader questions (What things are worth fighting for?  Is there anything that a person should be prepared to die for?) could also arise when looking at the text from this perspective.

3.    A philosophical approach

Someone taking a philosophical approach to the text will possibly see it as the exploration of the nature of truth, the paramount importance of seeking the truth regardless of all other considerations and the relationship of scientific inquiry to questions of morality.  The philosophical perspective also sees the The Life of Galileo as a play about the nature of authority and the consequences of a challenge to authority by the individual.

There is also the interest by Brecht in the notion of “new times”, the sense that there are periods in history when new attitudes and new understandings are developing.  A possible result of this is that a breakthrough in one area will cause a rethinking of assumptions in other areas.  Galileo calls Andrea to be aware that “this is a new time”, (p. 6).  The “new time” idea is revisited in scene 14 when Andrea asks Galileo, “So you no longer believe a new age has started?” (p. 109)

4.            Historical views

An historical perspective on the The Life of Galileo would examine the story of Galileo and his work against the changes in science and religion that were occurring at the time.  It might see the play as a presentation of the conflict over the respective roles of the individual and the Church in salvation.  When Galileo says, in response to Sagredo’s question “So where is God?”, that God is “Within ourselves or nowhere” (p. 28), he is entering the debate about these roles.  The question and its answer also raises the theological question of how to hold God’s transcendence and immanence in tension.  These are questions which have continued beyond the historical period covered by the play.  The matter of the use of vernacular languages in liturgy and theological disputation and the importance of the growing commercial classes and their reluctant acceptance of ecclesiastical constraints are part of the story of the Church and its relationship with its adherents.

The historical perspective can also see The Life of Galileo as providing a view of the relationship between science and religion, particularly the Christian religion.  Bellarmin claims that “Science is the rightful and much-loved daughter of the Church” (pp. 60 – 61). This point of view is echoed by contemporary writers such as John Polkinghorne who holds that the Christian doctrine of creation “provided an essential matrix for the coming into being of the scientific enterprise” (One World : The Interaction of Science and Theology, 1986, page 1)

5.            A psychological perspective

Ordinarily this kind of perspective would be the one most commonly used.  However because of Brecht’s stated intention in writing his plays it is a perspective that works almost by default.  The concern in the play is not with the revelation or development of character or the understanding of or identifying with the characters.  It is Brecht’s expectation that the members of the audience will try to grapple with the ideas and complexities of the central issues.

As a result of this, character studies would show the characters “standing for” ideas and theories.  In the case of Galileo and possibly Andrea there is arguably a much more conventional presentation of character.  Emotions are evoked even if that was not the intention and the sympathy of the audience is engaged.

Online Tutoring of English using Zoom

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

Posted on by
Reply

In applying the theme of conflict to an analysis on Graham Greene’s mid-1950s novel The Quiet American, we cannot avoid the constant, juxtaposed pairing of motifs that create the plot basis of the narrative: non-involvement versus action, neutrality versus commitment, ‘‘dégagé’’ versus ‘‘engagé’’.  The idea of conflict is both explicitly and implicitly explored in the text at a societal as well as a personal level.  Being set in Vietnam before the defeat and subsequent withdrawal of the French, provides a backdrop to a clash between personal and political ideologies.  Throughout the novel there is a running debate on the issue of foreign intervention in Indochina.  In terms of political symbolism, it is Fowler and Pyle’s rival attempts to possess Phuong that reflect the West’s attempts to possess and control Vietnam itself.

The Crux of this Novel and the Central Dilemma

The text raises key questions of its protagonist Thomas Fowler.  How long can a non-participating observer — a cynical, middle-aged British journalist paid to report only the facts of conflict — stand on the sidelines until he is compelled to pass a personal and moral judgment upon another, and to become involved?  Fowler clearly points out to Pyle “I don’t know what I’m talking politics for.  They don’t interest me and I’m a reporter.  I’m not engagé’’… “I don’t take sides.  I’ll be still reporting, whoever wins” (p.88).  We are forced to question whether there is any such thing as the moral high ground.  Sooner or later Fowler finds out what Captain Trouin tells him is the truth “One has to take sides.  If one is to remain human” (p.166).

A Moral Choice

Does Fowler have Pyle killed as a result of his jealousy over Phuong’s desertion of him for the American?  Or is he asserting his humanity and taking sides?  He sacrifices his friend to prevent further needless civilian deaths but Greene is ambiguous on how far Fowler’s motives are honest.  Greene in fact makes Fowler deal with a moral choice but he is left with a guilt that is reluctant to let him go.  Human life according to Greene is muddied, even chaotic with dark and contradictory elements in Fowler that leave the reader with more questions than answers at the end of the novel.

The Exposition of Conflict

The exposition of conflict is played out through the relationship between Fowler the journalist, who is also the first-person, confessional narrator of the novel, and Pyle, a young American governmental representative.  Pyle, described by Fowler as a “quiet American”, (p. 9) is inoculated with a textbook education — little more than an academic and ideological theory — on how the creation of a political and military ‘‘Third Force’’ might bring the values of American-style democracy to a Vietnam being destroyed by a war waged between French colonialism and the insurgency of nationalist communism during the early 1950s.

Personal Conflict

Complicating and intensifying matters is the more personal conflict arising in Saigon between the two characters when Pyle falls in love with Fowler’s mistress, Phuong; behind the scenes, with the collusion of a ‘‘third force’’ in Phuong’s grasping older sister, Pyle succeeds in winning her.  Embittered, and a man accustomed to deserting wives and girlfriends rather than them leaving him, Fowler breaks down in the toilet, symbolically, of the American Legation building: ‘‘… with my head against the cold wall I cried.  I hadn’t cried until now.  Even their lavatories were air-conditioned, and presently the temperate tempered air dried my tears as it dries the spit in your mouth and the seed in your body’’ (p.139).

Interconnected Conflicts and Love, Personal Relationships and War

This is black comedy rather than tragic drama.  It is also one example in the novel of where the wider, large-scale conflict of war and ideology, as viewed from Fowler’s stance, intersects and coalesces with the personal.  For Phuong may also be interpreted in a wider sense as representative of the culture, nature and beauty of a ‘‘feminised’’, perhaps idealised image of traditional Vietnam being fought over by an old, tired, cynical Europe and a thoroughly modern, optimistic, yet unworldly United States.

Through Fowler, Greene’s ferocious contempt for the popularity and insidious spread of American values, affluence, behaviour and antiseptic cleanliness is obvious.  He even associates the name ‘‘Pyle’’ with constipation and haemorrhoids in one sequence.

For example, although the novel is narrated by Fowler, Greene ensures an alternative — and accurate — point of view through two sequences in which the British journalist receives a letter and a telegram from his deserted and badly hurt wife, in which she refers to Phuong and to his serial emotional insecurity and weakness: ‘‘You pick up women like your coat picks up dust … I suppose like the rest of us you are getting old and don’t like living alone … You say that we’ve always tried to tell the truth to each other, but, Thomas, your truth is always so temporary’’ (p.108-110 ).

Engagé  – Commitment

Engagé is foretold in a scene in which Fowler accompanies Trouin, a French air force pilot, on an aerial bombing mission, in which a sampan and its crew are casually obliterated.  Who should feel responsible for this, and for the dropping of napalm on villages?  The pilot only, carrying out his nation’s orders?  Trouin insists that at some point everyone, including Fowler, will be forced to take sides, because you cannot stand aside and be dispassionate: ‘‘It’s not a matter of reason or justice. We all get involved in a moment of emotion and then we cannot get out. War and Love — they have always been compared’’ (p.144).

Fowler’s moment is the realisation that Pyle’s covert activities in organising a ‘‘democratic’’ Third Force have brought bloodshed to the streets of Saigon.  Yet it is more complex than this.  It is also a moment that deeply involves the personal — ‘‘War and Love’’ (p.144) — for Fowler’s immediate reaction is that Phuong has been caught up in the bombing, and that Pyle is directly responsible.  Phuong is safe, but Fowler is fully engagé for the first time: ‘‘I thought, ‘What’s the good?  He’ll always be innocent, you can’t blame the innocent, they are always guiltless.  All you can do is control them or eliminate them.  Innocence is a kind of insanity’ ’’ (p.155).

Dégagé – Professional Neutrality

Ironically, Pyle’s ‘‘elimination’’ at the hands of the local communists can be traced back to Fowler’s non-partisan, dégagé newspaper coverage of the war, and the fact that the communists trust him. ‘‘Mr Fowler, you are British.  You are neutral.  You have been fair to all of us,’’ (p.120) says one of their sympathisers, Mr Heng.  This reputation of professional neutrality from conflict, and the consequent insider knowledge supplied to him by the communists, is precisely the factor that has awoken Fowler to Pyle’s quiet ‘‘insanity’’, and drawn him into engagement.

Is Fowler a Murderer by Proxy?

Regardless of cause, motive and justification, is Fowler, by proxy and at arm’s length, a murderer?  At the end of the narrative, with his estranged wife willing to divorce him, he tells Phuong, ‘‘Here’s your happy ending’’ (p.180).  But the words are charged with cynicism and self-recrimination.  For according to Graham Greene — the unhappy country in which the author’s moral and emotional compass swings and points — there is secrecy, guilt, sorrow, and an aftermath in which peace, a quiet resting place of the soul, will never be realised.

By the conclusion of The Quiet American, the interconnected conflicts of love, personal relationships and war have reached some sense of relief and resolution through the agency of Pyle’s death.  In one moment Fowler, whose constant refrain throughout the narrative has been, ‘‘Let them fight, let them love, let them murder, I would not be involved,’’ (p.20) now becomes fully engaged and complicit.  Fowler’s usual response to the conflict that surrounds him has been to sit on the sidelines.  However, when the conflict comes closer, threatening to undo his carefully cultivated equilibrium, his cynicism does not protect him from the horrors of war.

No Definitive Sense of Personal Redemption for Fowler

At Phat Diem, Fowler is confronted with a canal “full of bodies” (p.43) and at this time his own values are unexpectedly challenged by Pyle’s actions.  He is reminded of the truth in what Captain Trouin said that “One day something will happen.  You will take a side” (p.143).  However, it is the bombing in Place Garnier that is the turning point for the hardened journalist.  Haunted by images of the carnage he has witnessed, he realises that inaction can also have lasting consequences.  Fowler’s moral conflict is stark.  Does he betray the man who saved his life?  Does he become complicit in the assassination of another human being?  Does he allow Pyle to continue to “… play with plastics” (p.125) unchecked and kill more innocent people?

Yet when he does engagé, Fowler ends up with a hollow victory.  While Fowler may have gained in humanity by becoming ‘involved’, inevitably he feels guilt for his role in Pyle’s murder.  Paradoxically, he has become like Pyle “… I had betrayed my own principles; I had become engagé as Pyle, and it seemed to me that no decision would ever be simple again” (p.175).  Nonetheless, Fowler expresses remorse for the part he played in Pyle’s death.  He remarks at the end of the novel “Everything has gone right with me since he had died, but how I wished there existed someone to whom I could say that I was sorry” (p.180).  In the end I believe Fowler is fully engagé and complicit.

Online Tutoring of English using Zoom

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Posted on by
Reply

Synopsis of Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks

Background and Historical Context of  ‘The Great Plague’

The Great Plague of London (1665–1666) was a massive outbreak of bubonic plague that is estimated to have killed 100,000 people, or around 20 percent of London’s population.  Also simply known as ‘the plague’, the infection was caused by the bacterium yersinia pestis which was carried by the fleas of black rats.  The rich largely abandoned the poor by fleeing London.  Many of the nobility and gentry escaped London soon after the first outbreak of the plague and were followed by lawyers, merchants, clergy and surgeons.  Such events make the true story of the village of Eyam all the more heroic.  Just as in Year of Wonders, the local rector convinced the village to quarantine themselves.  Local histories suggest that the plague is thought to have originated in cloth received from London, just as it does in Brooks’ novel.  Some accounts of the Eyam ‘Plague Village’ put the number of dead as high as 259 of the 292 villagers.

Year of Wonders is narrated from the first person perspective of an 18-year-old woman, Anna Frith.

Widowed as the result of her husband’s tragic mining accident two years prior to the commencement of the story, Anna is left to support herself and her two young sons, Tom and Jamie, with her modest income from tending her own flock of sheep and working as the housemaid for the local rector Michael Mompellion and his wife Elinor.  While Anna has already endured great hardship and heartbreak in her young life, she and the other inhabitants of Eyam live largely peaceful lives until the outbreak of the plague in the autumn of 1665.

The Plague’s Origins In Eyam

The plague’s origins in Eyam lie in a seemingly innocuous piece of cloth sent from London to Anna’s boarder, the tailor George Viccars.  Shortly after receiving the cloth, Viccars begins to exhibit the gruesome tell-tale symptoms of the plague: fever, pus-filled and exploding lymph nodes, aching joints, bloody vomiting and decaying flesh.  Not long after Viccars’ death, the plague claims the lives of Anna’s two young sons Jamie and Tom and most of the neighbouring family, the Hadfields.  It is not long before the plague has engulfed Eyam and it eventually claims the lives of more than half of its population.

The Rector Michael Mompellion

The charismatic and evangelical rector Michael Mompellion convinces the villagers that they must quarantine themselves to prevent the spread of the plague to surrounding areas.  While the villagers are initially galvanised by their faith and local spirit, it is not long before they turn on one another as a result of the devastation wrought by the disease and the claustrophobic atmosphere of the self-imposed quarantine.

Death in Eyam

Death visits nearly every household in Eyam and as the villagers seek answers and justification for their plight, many are consumed by fear, anger and desperation.  There appears to be no cure for the plague and many villagers abandon their faith and turn to superstition and witchcraft in an attempt to deliver themselves from the horror.  In some cases, the siege mentality brought on by the scourge sees the townspeople direct their fears towards marginalised and misunderstood characters who become easy targets for accusations of witchcraft.  This irrational apportioning of blame leads to senseless acts of violence and even murder.  Others seek to appease God through flagellation and extreme self-deprivation in the belief that they are appeasing God’s wrath for their innate sin.  Unfortunately, the plague also brings out the darker side in some characters’ human nature as they seek to benefit from others’ misfortune during a time of crisis.

A Story of Courage, Compassion and Rebirth

Nevertheless, Year of Wonders is also a story of courage, compassion and rebirth. Despite great suffering, Anna and other characters such as Michael and Elinor Mompellion demonstrate that humanity can triumph over adversity through self-sacrifice, friendship, love and a belief in the preservation of human dignity.

Anna is Transformed at the End

By the end of the novel, the plague has abated in Eyam and Anna has been transformed.  Through the necessity of circumstance, the encouragement from Elinor Mompellion and her own courage, Anna becomes the local midwife and healer. Readers witness Anna’s emotional and intellectual growth throughout the novel as a result of her relationship with the Mompellions and her exposure to the extremities of the plague.  She is no longer subservient to anyone.  She has thrown off the manacles of her abusive childhood, the spectre of the plague, religious dogma and even the patriarchy of the time.  She has had to flee Eyam to ensure her own safety and that of an illegitimate child marked for death.  The child’s father, a member of the local gentry, is enraged at having being betrayed by an unfaithful wife and seeks to destroy the evidence of his wife’s betrayal.  Anna escapes from England and begins a new life in Oran (modern day Algeria), the home of the Andalus Arabs.  At the conclusion of the novel Anna has become a doctor, scholar and mother whose compassion and talents mark her as woman of independence and strength.

Structure of Year of Wonders

Year of Wonders commences about two-thirds of the way through the chronological sequence of events covered in the novel.  A narrative structure such as this is known as starting the novel’s events in medias res, which is Latin for ‘in the midst of things’.

The Novel Opens

The novel opens in autumn 1666 with Anna’s recollection of how she ‘… used to love this season’ (p.3).  Her fond memories of apple harvesting and its accompanying sensory delights have been forever tarnished by the carnage wreaked by the plague over the previous year.  Readers learn only vague details of the tragedies that have befallen the town of Eyam.  The opening chapter also focuses on the broken and fallen state of the previously charismatic Michael Mompellion.  Anna describes him as one of the living dead, and his words and actions are those of a bitter and haunted man (p.4). When Anna tries to wake him from his grief-induced torpor, he inflicts physical pain upon her by forcefully grabbing her wrist while trying to impress upon her the bleak nature of existence (p.19).  Anna reveals that she only serves Mompellion out of her love for his recently deceased wife, Elinor.  We also witness his cold and harsh treatment of Elizabeth Bradford along with his apparent lack of faith and his contempt for the idea of a compassionate God (pp.16–19).

The opening chapter also hints that Anna has undergone a transformation during the past year.  When going to confront Elizabeth Bradford she reveals that, “It was as if there were two of me, walking down those stairs.  One of them was the timid girl who had worked for the Bradfords in a state of dread, fearing their hard looks and harsh words.  The other was Anna Frith, a woman who had faced more terrors than many warriors.  Elizabeth Bradford was a coward.  She was the daughter of cowards.  As I entered the parlour and faced her thunderous countenance, I knew I had nothing more to fear from her” (p.15).

Brooks’ choice to start the novel in medias res is a deliberate attempt to provoke curiosity in readers as to why the characters find themselves in their current states.  It encourages readers to contemplate the enormity of the force that has caused such devastation in the town of Eyam during the previous year.

Significance of the Title ‘Year of Wonders’

While at first it may seem odd to have Year of Wonders as the title of a novel that catalogues the horrors of a village beset by the plague, it is the transformation of Anna Frith that provides the title with its multiple meanings.  On one level the novel documents the tales of human suffering, depravity and heroism that could only leave readers in a state of wonderment.  Nevertheless, the true wonder of the novel is the way in which Anna is transformed from an illiterate, god-fearing handmaid, who displays flashes of courage and natural intelligence, to a midwife, scholar, doctor and mother of two who frees herself from the shackles of domineering males and religious dogma.  By the conclusion of the novel she is a woman truly in control of her own destiny. Furthermore, it is the journey she undergoes in this transformation that makes her an individual of special qualities.  As Elinor realises, Anna’s transformation “… is the one good, perhaps, to come out of this terrible year” (p.235).

Transformation and Rebirth in Year of Wonders

While Year of Wonders documents the horrors of the plague, it also explores how such an ordeal has the capacity to test individuals.  Some characters never completely recover from the hardships, but despite extreme suffering and heartbreak others are strengthened and transformed by their experience.  As such, the novel examines humanity’s capacity for regeneration after catastrophic events.  It also celebrates those characters that possess the necessary fortitude to emerge reborn from the devastation, and it honours the friendship, guidance and sacrifice of those characters who allow others to move beyond the station that they were seemingly destined to occupy.

Anna’s Journey

Anna’s journey from illiterate housemaid to scholar, doctor and independent woman is such a remarkable transformation that it provides the novel’s title with much of its significance.  It is worth emphasising that Year of Wonders suggests that such transformations do not occur simply by chance.

Anna’s Transformation

Much of Anna’s transformation occurs as a result of the compassion and guidance of Elinor Mompellion.  Through Anna and Elinor’s relationship, the novel suggests that loving and nurturing friendships have the ability to transform lives and provide individuals with new opportunities.  Nevertheless, Year of Wonders also suggests that an individual must possess special characteristics if they are to emerge reborn from a devastating event such as the plague.  For example, it is Anna’s immense courage and compassion that continually allow to her to make the best of extremely harrowing circumstances and also to look beyond the prejudices and misconceptions of the time to follow what she regards as the most appropriate course of action.

Towards the end of the book there are two significant events that clearly symbolise Anna’s growing awareness of her own transformation.  Firstly, she tames Michael Mompellion’s horse, Anteros, and rides him past the Boundary Stone (pp.272–4).  Such an action symbolises her desire to leave the devastation of the plague behind. Furthermore, she knows that she has emerged from the plague reborn when she says:

“We live, we live, we live, said the hoofbeats, and the drumming of my pulse answered them. I was alive, and I was young, and I would go on until I found some reason for it. As I rode that morning, smelling the scent of the hoof-crushed heather, feeling the wind needle my face until it tingled, I understood that where Michael Mompellion had been broken by our shared ordeal, in equal measure I had been tempered and made strong” (pp.273–4).

Secondly, it is Anna’s growing sense of self-determination that sees her rescue Mrs. Bradford’s newborn child from death.  While her actions are borne out of maternal instinct and the need to protect the defenceless, the rescue also represents a moment of rebirth for Anna.  By adopting the baby girl in order to ‘….raise her with love’ (p.289), Anna challenges the dominant patriarchy of the period, becomes a mother once more and inadvertently forces herself to move beyond the confines of Eyam into the world of the unknown.  Moreover, it is this event that sets her on the path to Oran where she becomes a scholar and doctor.

Analysing a Sample Essay Topic on Year of Wonders

‘Year of Wonders demonstrates that a time of crisis brings out the darker side of human nature.’ Discuss.

The first thing to do with any essay topic is to identify the key phrases and define them so that they have meaning relevant to the context of the novel. In this essay topic the phrases that need to be defined are ‘time of crisis’ and ‘darker side of human nature’. ‘Time of crisis’ could refer directly to the devastation and confusion caused by a plague that appears to have no apparent cure.  The term ‘darker side of human nature’ could take on a number of meanings in the context of the novel.  It might refer to people’s capacity to exploit others for their own benefit; humanity’s capacity to revert to barbarity during times of fear; the need to control or exert power over others or the refusal to accept responsibility when faced with danger.

After defining key terms you must then judge whether you agree, disagree, or partially agree with the essay topic. In most cases, the better text responses are those that attempt to address the ‘grey areas’ of the topic rather than completely agreeing or disagreeing with the proposition.  For example, in some situations the horrors of the plague do cause individuals to act abhorrently.  Nevertheless, there are a number of instances where characters act out of a true sense of altruism and the need to maintain order and human dignity.

After defining key terms you now need to develop a contention that contains the defined key terms and responds to all parts of the essay topic.

An appropriate essay contention in this case might be:

Although the devastation and climate of fear brought about by the plague results in some abhorrent and repugnant human behaviour in Geraldine Brooks’ Year of Wonders, the novel also affirms humanity’s capacity for compassion, bravery and dignity during times of suffering and confusion.

Having written the contention for the essay, the next stage is to construct three to four supporting arguments that explore all aspects of your main argument.

Some appropriate supporting arguments here might be:

  1. The climate of uncertainty brought about by the plague results in some individuals directing their anger and misplaced fear against other villagers.
  2. The confusion and devastation caused by the pestilence allows some individuals to exploit others for their own selfish needs.
  3. Despite the great suffering resulting from the plague, many characters display great selflessness and compassion towards their fellow humans.
  4. Even though the plague decimates the village’s population, strong bonds of love and friendship survive.

The next thing to do is to briefly identify the relationships, events or quotes that you will use to develop each of your supporting arguments.  Once you have done this you should have a sound essay plan to follow when writing your text response essay.

Private Online Tutoring of English using Zoom

Persuasive Writing Sentence Openers and Connectives for Primary Level Students

Posted on by
Reply

Why use sentence openers and connectives that persuade when writing persuasive language texts at Primary Level?

It is important to use sequence words and phrases as sentence openers and connectives that persuade when writing persuasive language texts at primary level to link or connect your sentences, ideas and whole paragraphs together.  Connectives (linking words) should be carefully chosen in persuasive writing to make sure your paragraphs are linked logically.

Below is a table of persuasive writing sentence openers and connectives that you can use for primary level English:

Persuasive Writing Sentence Openers: Sequence Words and Phrases: In the first place…, Secondly…, Also…,

Finally…,

In conclusion

Persuasive Writing Sentence Openers That Persuade:

The fact is…,

Most agree that…,

One reason is…,

It is important to…,

Furthermore…,

It would be better if…,  

Another reason is…

 
Persuasive Writing Connectives that   Persuade: Connectives on Emphasis: clearly, above all, especially,

indeed,

in fact,

surely,

significantly,

naturally,

more important(ly),

of course,

undoubtedly,

obviously,

(un)fortunately,

 Connectives on Opinion:

it would seem,

it appears,

supposedly,

on the strength of,

some people believe,

 in   my opinion,

on the other hand,

however,

even so,

despite this

 Connectives that Illustrate:

for example,

for instance,

such as,

in other words,

as shown by,

to show that,

this can be seen in,

except for,

unless

Private Online Tutoring of English using Zoom

Minimum of Two by Tim Winton A Brief Analysis

Posted on by
Reply

Minimum of Two is an Anthology [collection of works] of 14 Short Stories

Winton set the stories in post WWII Perth, WA.  The basis of the stories deals with relationships under stress and hardship.  Winton’s style is minimalist with a concern about the metaphysics of life itself.  What unites Winton’s characters is their common humanity.  The degree to which the characters succeed in responding to challenges varies considerably across the 14 stories.  Winton’s characters are ordinary people who do not use a sophisticated vocabulary.  The narrative often refers to characters in generic terms as ‘the boy’, ‘the girl’ or ‘the Man’ which shifts the focus away from the individual and more on the universal dimensions of their experiences.  Winton’s style withholds details that remain unsaid forcing the reader to guess at a character’s deeper reasons for acting in such a way.  Tensions and conflicts are not resolved but manipulated by Winton suggesting that the characters have an ongoing struggle for survival and contentment.

The Title

Is from the story “Minimum of Two” which refers to the insultingly short sentence Blakey receives for raping Greta.  His sentence was 5 years with a minimum of 2 years before parole.  The irony is that while Blakey does not suffer in prison as the perpetrator of sexual assault; Greta the victim ends up with a life sentence after the rape.

The Meaning of the Epigraph [an inscription or quote at the beginning of a book]

The Epigraph points to the central preoccupation of the stories.  Winton shows the contradiction that adding one and one should be two not leading back to one.  The stories point to the constant need and struggle of people to form relationships that effectively make a ‘minimum of two’.  However, in many of the stories the characters are unable to come together with partners, families or friends and often remain isolated from one another, hence still one.

The Stories suggest that we must not be alone

That life, not mere survival, is dependent on our ability to operate as part of a relationship with other people.  We live our lives as wives, husbands, sons, daughters, best friends and parents.  Those who think of themselves as “islands” do not survive.

Key Issues

  1. Experience of Loss – Winton explores the destructive effects of loss on people’s lives and their reaction to that loss.  Many characters internalise loss making them isolated and unable to communicate effectively with others.
  2. The past and persistence of memory – The past haunts characters because of their persistent memory.  Their past prohibits and burdens them so they have difficulty moving forward.
  3. Movement of time through life – The characters experience markers of their childhood, puberty, adulthood, marriage, fatherhood, death and mortality.
  4. Buoyancy of water – The capacity to float in water functions as a metaphor for emotional resilience.
  5. Negotiating gender roles – The text questions the role of men in the home and workplace and its feelings of dislocation.
  6. A sense of place versus desire to travel – Many characters have a strong sense of place especially where they have grown up which often is near water.
  7. Moments of revelation and acceptance – Some stories end in despair while others find moments of understanding and acceptance of their situation.
  8. Sources of moral truth – The central character of the “Everyman” is summoned by death but the text suggests it is up to the individual to make their own moral choices in life.
  9. The other world within this world – Some characters gain a glimpse of religious awakening.

Key Imagery

  1. Blood
  2. Water
  3. Fire
  4. Air
  5. Earth

Private Online Tutoring of English using Zoom

6 Thinking Hats Strategy in Teaching English Literature

Posted on by
Reply

For Teachers : Using 6 Thinking Hats Strategy in Teaching English Literature

If you ask students to think about something, they are often at a loss to do so, however, the 6 Thinking Hats method can allow students to explore a subject using the framework of the hats so that their perceptual powers are quickly expanded.  The students are able to think more richly and more comprehensively about their subjects and forces them to move outside of their habitual thinking styles while obtaining a more rounded view of a situation.

Problems within a subject can be solved using all approaches of the 6 Thinking Hats opening up the opportunity for creativity, especially in students who are persistently pessimistic.  It enables rational students to look at problems from a more emotional, intuitive and creative point of view or from a negative point of view.  Conversely it enables emotional students to look at decisions more calmly and rationally.

 6 Thinking Hats strategy can be put into practice for teaching English Literature by asking the students to analyse a novel using the different styles of thinking as follows:

6 THINKING HATS

     ANALYSIS OF A NOVEL
White Hat

Information & Facts
  •   List the facts you learned from the book
  •   Describe the characters, setting & plot
Yellow Hat

Good Points
  •   What were the interesting parts of the story?
  •   What are the positive aspects of the story?
Black Hat

Negative Points
  •   List what is wrong with plans made by a character in a book
  •   What were some of the main problems encountered by the main characters?
  •   How/why did these occur?
Green Hat

Creativity
  •   Design something new for a character from your book
  •   Solve a problem a character has
  •   Read a new book to the students but don’t show the title.
  •  Get the students to brainstorm a list of new titles for the book.
Red Hat

Emotions
  •   How did the feelings of the main character change throughout the story?
  •   How do you feel about the story?
  •   Keep a red hat reading record of all books read on the same topic
Blue Hat

Planning Reflection
  •   How has reading this novel contributed to your understanding of the subject?
  •   If  you had written the novel, what would you have done differently?

Private Online Tutoring of Mainstream English Using Zoom 

Creative Writing Ideas

Posted on by
Reply

Creative Writing Ideas: Firstly, Where do you get your ideas from?

Does this ever happen to you?  You have to write something for school.  You sit down to write it, and you just can’t get a word on the paper.  You’re stuck.  You have writer’s block.

You wonder “where do writers get their ideas from?

The answer is not that difficult because ideas can come from everything we see and hear and find in the world around us.  If you break the ideas into three departments you can see that there are stories waiting to be told by looking into:

  1. The Experience Department = Do you travel a lot with your family?  The airport is a great place to watch people arrive and depart.  Ask yourself, why are these people here, what are they wearing and how do they look?  Are they leaving to start a new life somewhere else?  The questions are endless.  If you use your imagination you can think up characters and events based on the people you have seen.
  2. The Memory Department = Your memories are terrific ideas to use for your writing.  They are based on a fantastic character – you!  They are easy to remember as they always have a beginning, a middle and an end.  Can you remember when you first started school, went on a holiday, joined a new team for sport or may be got lost in a large department store?  Do you keep a diary?  You’re lucky if you do because you have all the journal entries there waiting for your new story to begin.  The memories are all locked away in your mind just waiting to emerge as a story.
  3. The What if Department =  What would it be like to have a clone of yourself, someone who looked like you, talked liked you and may be he/she is you and you are really the clone!!  What if you hypnotized your sister and you couldn’t snap her out of it?  What if you could hear your dog’s thoughts?  Think about it and have fun writing.

Concentrate on gathering as many details as you can see but don’t forget smells and tastes in five minutes.  (Even set a timer if you have one to make you think and write faster)

What I do is to think about the senses ie. sight, smell, hearing and taste because they are all part of the world that you inhabit.  Don’t forget feelings, they are just as important in your story as the characters themselves .  If you write down your ideas about a story in a list or notes as fast as you can without making the writing sound perfect, then you have already started your creative story.  Just put the words down, you can always go back and put them in the right order later.

Try putting ideas down using a concept map or fishbone diagram.

If you still can’t write down anything, try this:  Tell the story out loud.

Pretend you’re on the phone, telling a story to your best friend.  Once you’ve told it out loud, it will be easy to get it down on paper.

Private Online Tutoring of English using Zoom

Common Themes and Issues in Texts

Posted on by
Reply

Image result for pictures of the themes in texts

Common themes and issues in texts are central to the purpose of any text and relate to the author’s values and point of view.

A text may have one or several themes and issues.  An author selects and deliberately arranges material (characters, setting and plot) in a text to explore, support and develop their themes and issues.  These common themes and issues are open to different interpretations by the audience depending on their own context and perspective.

See the common themes bank below that will help you to identify common themes and issues in set texts so you can track their development as the text progresses:

Religion
  •   Power of religious faith
  •   Cultural and religious influences
  •   Restrictive nature of some societies, religions and cultures

Justice
  •   Social, family, peer group and legal

Love
  •   Enduring nature of love
  •   Loyalty and betrayal
  •   Betrayal of love
  •   Betrayal of self
  •   Friends
  •   Workplace
  •   Institutions
  •   Family responsibility/loyalty/love
  •   Power of love
  •   Grief and loss of love

Gender
  •   Gender roles (traditional vs modern)
  •   Gender conflict

Self awareness

Personal journey
  •   Individuality versus conformity
  •   Loss of innocence
  •   Quest for perfection
  •   Loss of self
  •   Importance of place/identity in society
  •   Power of dreams and ambition
  •   Sense of identity and belonging

Conflict
  •   Courage in the face of racial or gender discrimination
  •   Destruction of war
  •   Workplace conflict
  •   Cultural conflict
  •   Racial conflict/prejudice
  •   Family conflict
  •   Global conflict

Shakespearean   Themes
  •   Love versus betrayal
  •   Divine rights of kings
  •   Ambition and power
  •   Evil versus goodness
  •   Image versus reality

Private Online Tutoring of English using Zoom

Learning Outside the Fish Bowl

Posted on by
Reply

‘Learning Outside the Fish Bowl’

Have you heard this term before?  The fish bowl analogy is related to the term many people say these days as “seeing the big picture”.  What does it mean?  What requires you to see the big picture and take that leap beyond your current fish bowl?

The fish bowl analogy means that we are all immersed in a paradigm and reality, much like a fish in the water it swims in.  A fish can’t distinguish itself from his water, just as most of us don’t distinguish ourselves from our thoughts about the way we learn.  We don’t know that there is a new learning reality outside the fish bowl within which we are immersed.

The challenge is to pop out of your current fish bowl or context  in order to see the “big picture” to strive ahead far more effectively at school and beyond .  Like a man on the flying trapese, we all have to let go of a known way of viewing our learning  for the unknown.  Everyone of us who aspires to something greater than our current fish bowl or our current grades at school, has to risk this moment of vulnerability.  What makes a clever person is their willingness to confidently jump out of the fish bowl in order to see the bigger picture from which to strive ahead far more effectively.

It takes commitment and a capacity to expand one’s reality.   In order to let go of the trapeze bar of one level of functioning, in order to swing to and grasp another, you have to be committed enough to let go of what no longer serves your learning.  One distinction of a clever person is their willingness to risk failures and their own vulnerability to expand their knowledge to see their potential.

As an English Teacher I can help to hold the bigger picture for my students to leap into.  I will endeavour to empower my students to make the leap into learning outside the fish bowl in order to see and act from the Big Picture.  I will allow my students to get the big AH-HA moment to shift their paradigm to include this next level of the Big Picture of learning by giving them the tools to write well and achieve academic success.

Private Online Tutoring of English using Zoom

‘The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif ‘ Themes

Posted on by
Reply

The Themes in The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif includes the importance of the relationship between culture and identity

You have to ask yourself the question, “What becomes of a person in our world if political developments made it impossible for him to live in his own country?”  The politics of displacement creates an identity crisis.  Thinking outside the square about the issue of identity; “Is ‘identity’ portable?”

Conflict has Far-reaching Consequences

The text articulates the many and varied ways conflict affects individuals and communities.  The immediate and personal costs of war are often obvious.  Gorg Ali and Rosal Ali are killed.  Najaf is injured when a bomb explodes above his house and he suffers financial hardship and shame as a result of this injury.  Ultimately, Najaf is forced to flee Afghanistan when the Taliban take control of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Long Lasting Trauma from Violent Events

The text also captures the long-lasting emotional trauma that accompanies these violent events.  Consider Najaf’s emotional state while recovering from his injured leg.  He is uncharacteristically despondent, angry and jealous.  His inability to contribute to the family income and, worse, calling on his brother’s charity, make him feel “sick with shame” (p.137).  While these feelings subside when Najaf is finally cured, other key incidents show that single events have lifelong ramifications.  Najaf’s grief for Gorg Ali, for instance, does not diminish and he sheds disconsolate tears in his interview at Woomera 18 years later.  Najaf’s mother, too, endures lifelong grief.  Just before the rocket attack, Najaf comments, “her heart was still broken after the death of Gorg Ali a year before, and would stay broken for the rest of her life” (p.13).

Indirect Consequences of Living with Conflict

Long-term consequences of conflict also arise indirectly.  Living with conflict makes Najaf perpetually fearful.  He is so accustomed to being threatened that he inanely worries that the Australian authorities have been fed misinformation.  To avoid forcible recruitment into either the communist or mujahedin forces, Najaf has to keep his “eyes peeled” and “one part of [his] brain … always on alert” (pp.152-3).  He is tense, vigilant and constantly “ready to respond” to seemingly imperceptible signals (p.153).  Najaf’s safety and security are constantly undermined.

Insecurity Leads to a Sense of Powerlessness

Najaf sums up this state of mind when he realises, early in his rug-making apprenticeship, that “this future of learning and gaining greater and greater skill all depended on things that I couldn’t control” (p.154).  To cope, Najaf trains himself “not to think too far into the future” (p.154).  This demonstrates a terrible and often hidden consequence of war: people lose hope.

Private Online Tutoring of English using Zoom