Im sure i've made it worse now than it already was !
Things Fall Apart
By Chinua Achebe
The novel “Things Fall Apart” by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe follows the life of Okonkwo and his family in their village in Lower Nigeria. The book is set in the 1890’s and the novel depicts the colonisation of Africa by the European Settlers and it focuses on individual members of Okonkwo’s tribe. Throughout the book we see Okonkwo’s life follow its path and we see the things happening around him. Is Okonkwo destined to his fate or was his inevitable downfall in his own hands? This essay will try and answer this question by examining the characters the author has created and the theme of the text.
Some of the major characters created by Achebe are Okonkwo, Nwoye; Okonkwo’s eldest son and Mr Brown/Reverend Smith. Okonkwo is plays a major role in the novel and is a very powerful man. He achieved fame in his and the surrounding villages by throwing Amalinze ‘the Cat’ in a wrestling match. He achieved this fame, as Amalinze had not been beaten for several years. Okonkwo’s greatest fears are that he will end up like his lazy father and he also fears that his son Nwoye will end up like him as well. Throughout the novel Okonkwo pursues achievements to make up for the shame that his father brought on him and on the village. He achieves great success becoming a warrior, a farmer, a Clansman, a husband to three wives and a father to several children. However Okonkwo is not the man he wants to be as he has his weaknesses and it is these weaknesses that destroy everything he has created for himself. He is determined not be seen as weak and internal and external forces drive this determination. His behaviour is often rash and impulsive usually involving violence and it is this behaviour that makes him break the ‘Week of Peace’ by beating his wife, which is sacred in his village. “The evil you have done can ruin the whole clan. The earth goddess whom you have insulted may refuse to give us her increase, and we shall all perish.” A priest who is angry with Okonkwo for breaking the sacred week of peace says this quote. It lets us know that what Okonkwo did was wrong and that in his village everything is fair. It is his carelessness that results in his banishment from his village for seven years, and it is his fiery temper which makes him kill a white man and then pushes him into taking his own life. Okonkwo is a ‘tragic hero’ whom is superior to other characters however his temper and his actions lead him to destroy himself. Okonkwo’s life is intertwined with fate. Was it fate that his gun went of killing the dead man’s son or was it just a careless error by Okonkwo? This incident could be classed as fate as it happens right after Okonkwo helps in the killing of Ikefuma despite being warned not to.
Okonkwo’s eldest son is called Nwoye and he lives in the shadow of Okonkwo. Okonkwo has high hopes for Nwoye as he hopes that when he dies Nwoye will be a strong man who will be able to run his father’s household when Okonkwo is dead. Nwoye however has different ideas and his interests are more similar to his grandfather’s than his fathers. This earns him many beating from Okonkwo, as he is adamant that he will grow up to be a strong man. When Ikefuma arrives in Okonkwo’s house Nwoye takes a liking to him and treats him as an older brother who he looks up to. With the influence of Ikefuma, Nwoye much to his father’s delight begins to become more masculine. Okonkwo backs off Nwoye not beating him and Nwoye begins to win Okonkwo’s approval. Even with this masculine influence Nwoye Is still in conflict with himself. He makes a point of scorning feminine things to please his father however secretly Nwoye misses his mother’s stories. When Ikefuma is killed Nwoye misses him and retreats into himself becoming more and more alienated and wrapped up in his own thoughts. He begins to question some of the tribe’s customs and when the missionaries arrive he finds himself drawn to them despite his father’s hatred towards them. Nwoye’s joining of the Christians could be seen as a rebellion towards his father as he seems to find peace once he has left his father. Okonkwo disowns him and curses himself for giving birth to such an ‘effeminate’ son. He blames himself for not being tough enough on the boy even though Nwoye receives several beatings. Was Nwoye destined to leave his father or was it due to the heavy hand and lack of respect that Okonkwo showed him? It could be said that Nwoye left because due to Okonkwo’s actions, which were his own actions and not that of fate.
Mr Brown is the author’s attempt to create a balanced colonial presence in Okonkwo’s country. Mr Brown is a friendly white man who listen to the villagers stories, beliefs and he listens most importantly to their opinions. This is how he succeeds in winning a large number of converts. Mr Brown accepts any coverts unconditionally and this shows his sympathetic nature towards the inhabitants of the villages. Mr Browns name hints at the fact that he can successfully navigate between the racial differences between the white people and the villagers. Mr Brown however is replaced with Reverend Smith who despises the villagers thinking that they are inferior to him and the coverts. Reverend Smith is the complete opposite to Mr Brown and he lets the coverts do whatever they please to annoy the villagers. Reverend Smith is a small-minded character and some of the things he says about Mr Brown after Mr Browns leaving illustrate the colonial’s intolerance towards any sympathy shown towards the villagers. The strictness of Reverend Smith brings around the downfall of Okonkwo so Mr Brown’s leaving could be regarded as fate.
The text has two major themes, which are ‘the struggle between tradition and change’ and ‘varying interpretations of masculinity’. These play an important role in the novel.
The main theme of the novel is the struggle between change and tradition and throughout the novel we see how the change from their old ways of life to the new life of Christianity affects the characters. The new regime angers Okonkwo who is afraid in a way of losing her personal status that he has earned also he believes that the new religion is not manly. Many of the clan’s outcasts find that if they join Christianity they will have a new-elevated status and will not be placed below everyone else. Throughout the book the villagers are caught between resisting and welcoming this new religion. Many are against this change like Okonkwo however many are for it. “Does the white man understand our custom about land?” “How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” This quote appears in a conversation between Obierika and Okonkwo when they are discussing the white men. Obierika is another who believes that the new religion is bad and he talks about the impossibility’s of the Umuofian’s leaving their traditional methods of doing things for the unfamiliar customs of the white man. The new influence that the white men bring threatens to extinguish skills needed for the survival of Okonkwo’s tribe such as traditional methods of farming, harvesting, cooking and building. These skills were essential for the survival of Okonkwo’s people but now they are being eradicated by the influences of the white men.
A minor theme of the book is varying interpretations of masculinity. Much of Okonkwo’s violence came from him trying to be the opposite of his weak father. He see’s views such as his fathers to be weak and therefore he calls them feminine. Okonkwo’s clans society is very much sexist. The word for a man who has taken no titles in the clan is ‘agbala’, we as the reader are told that this also means woman. Okonkwo is so violent as he believes that anger is the only emotion a man should show and that any other emotions are feminine which is why he frequently beats his wives and occasionally threatens to kill them. We also see this in Okonkwo when he accompanies the men on the trip to kill Ikefuma, when the boy runs to him for help he cuts him down as he is afraid of looking weak. When Okonkwo is exiled he flee’s to his motherland where his mothers kin live. This is a chance for him to get in touch with his feminine side however throughout the exile he reinforces his ideology that men are better than women. Okonkwo’s feeling is that anything weak is feminine. Okonkwo is always seen as a violent character that loses his temper often. This is not the action of fate but it is Okonkwo’s own free will.
The characters and the themes of the book help the reader to decide whether they think that Okonkwo is in charge of his own life or whether they believe that his downfall was inevitable due to fate. At various points in the book we are left to decide whether it was fate or Okonkwo’s actions that caused the results. For example did the killing of Ikefuma by Okonkwo lead to his exile later on in the book?
Was Okonkwo’s destined to his fate or was his downfall in his own hands? This essay has looked at some of the main characters and at the themes of the novel. Okonkwo was in my opinion in control of his own life and if his temper and anger had not got the better of him or his desire to be the best then his life would have turned out differently. His fear of looking weak led to his own undoing.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
redraft specialist study: Danielle Locke
Specialist Study
A Critical Review of
“Butcher Boy”
By Patrick McCabe
The novel “Butcher Boy” by Patrick McCabe is a novel which revolves around the central character Fancie Brady. The study will discuss the importance of the flaw in Francie’s character in our understanding of Francie. We will be looking closely at the text and at least two of the key incidents. His story is one of a series of unfortunate events which lead to the complete and utter break down of the character Francie Brady and eventually to his insanity. We will look at whether there was already a flaw in his character waiting to surface or whether he only became mad because of these events. The key events that we will be looking at are; the suicide of his mother, being sent to a borstal and subsequently being sexually abused there and his best friend disowning him.
Firstly, we will look at his life before the events. He lived in a small town in Ireland at the beginning of the Second World War. He had an alcoholic father “ …what else would you expect from a house where the father’s never in, lying about the pubs from morning to night…”said Mrs Nugent when talking to Francie’s mother. This bought shame to the whole family as the whole town knew it. His mother was very depressed “Francie you would never let me down would you?... that was all there was in this world people who let you down.” She puts a lot of responsibility onto a little boy who should never be given that kind of responsibility. His mother blames his father for the way she feels “she meant you wouldn’t let me down like da did” and Francie’s father blames his own Father for leaving him and his brother “he was off into the speech about his father leaving them when he was seven and how nobody understood him…” His family was already troubled and Francie was already showing signs of being mentally ill by obsessing over what Mrs Nugent (a school mate’s mother) had called them, “Pigs”. He is always fantasising or imagining what Mrs Nugent is saying about him and his family or what she said to him “Please Francie, I’ll give you anything! She’d say.” He longs to have some sort of power over her. In his family he feels powerless, he has no order he can’t even protect his mother from his father this is essentially why he longs for the power.
When Francie is first told about his mother’s death he doesn’t even take it in. He is to busy looking at Mrs Nugent’s appearance he doesn’t even listen to what she is saying and when he did, he didn’t want to believe it.
she was so close I could see the wiry hairs on her chin and the pink make-up and powder on her cheeks. The smell of it turned my stomach .I could barely hear what she said she dropped her voice so low.
She was staring at me to see what I would do. I did nothing. I tried not to look at the stringy mouth or smell the powder. I said to myself; do nothing Francie…It’s ok. Everything’s ok now.
He did not believe his mum was dead as he reassures himself its ok. However he did hear Mrs Nugent tell him as he says he could “barely” hear her but didn’t say he couldn’t. It also says “She was staring at me to see what I would do.” He felt paranoid that it was maybe a cruel joke to see his reaction, earlier on it said “to see was there anyone else with her some trick she was playing” this show he was paranoid at the beginning of the situation. When he is told the second time from his father there’s no avoiding her death.
O didn’t you hear? He says with a bitter smile. Then he told me they had dredged the lake near the garage and found her at the bottom of it,”
Francie was now in contact with feelings of blame from his father. His father cruelly enjoyed telling his son that his mother was dead because his father wanted to hurt Francie because his father was in so much pain and blamed it all on Francie. Francie was never consoled or comforted for the death of his mother. In fact his only source of love that he had ever had was from his mother and now she was gone and he was blaming himself for it. Instead of grieving for his mother he began to become obsessed and terrorised the Nugents family. The first thing he did when he had the news of his mother’s death was go round to the Nugents house. He attempted his first murder the day after with Philip Nugent (his school mate) it seemed like it was premeditated. He stayed very calm and chatted away nicely to Philip before hand. He becomes extremely jealous of Mrs Nugent and Philip’s mother son relationship. We know he feels guilty for leaving his mum as while he had ran a way he imagined talking to her
“I don’t know what made me do it ma, I said. An old fellow stop and says to me are you alright your shaking all over. Then ma smiled and said she understood, she knew it wasn’t my fault. Come home Francie she said. I’m sorry ma, I said again then she said it again ,come on home, I’m waiting for you.”
He wanted to tell his mother he was sorry. He relates his mum to being understanding, warm and loving. This also shows Francie’s state of mind was unstable at the time before his mother’s had died. He was hallucinating and he believed he could talk to his mother when he was in a different town. This is proof that there is already signs of madness before his mother had died.
He is sent to a borstal, to begin with he feels guilty towards Joe his, old best friend, as he had promised before to Joe that he would leave the Nugents alone and the reason he was at the borstal was for breaking into their house and vandalising their property. “There was a gapping hole in my stomach for I knew Joe would have heard all about the Nugents by now. I had let him down.” He also says “I had nobody now that was for sure and it was all my own fault.” This could be Francie admitting that the death of his mother was also his fault. He begins to feel completely powerless again and so tries to commit suicide because at least he will have that power yet that doesn’t even work, he can regain no power. “I tried to get at my wrist with the jaggy bit of the statue.” When he receives a letter from Joe so he decides he will be good. He begins to fantasise about the saints and instead of the priests seeing this as a sign of him being delusional they encourage him to believe he can see the saints and treated like he had some sort of special gift. One priest in particular takes a big liking to Francie. This is when the “Tiddly Show” started to happen. He called the Priest ‘Tiddly’ and he would make Francie play parts in Tiddly’s sick fantasies. Tiddly claimed he loved Francie. Eventually Tiddly was found out, nobody talked to Francie about it and so Francie became more and more in his own head. “…all I could see was ma smiling and saying to me over and over again saying don’t worry Francie no matter what she says about you I’ll never believe it I’ll never disown you ever…” he hallucinates. This also shows how the death of his mother is still affecting Francie and he feels that he still needs to feel that his mother has forgiven him and still loves him.
When he is released from the borstal he returns home to his father, who was slowly drinking himself to death. He drops out of school because he does not want to have to do school with a whole year group younger than him. His best friend Joe was very close with Philip Nugent when Francie returned. Francie tried to talk to Joe about what happened in the borstal he changed it into a joke “I fairly fooled you there Joe. Tiddly! Imagine someone doing the like of that. Tiddly!” he felt embarrassed, alone and he had noone to confide in. Joe was also a metaphor for his childhood and when Francie started loosing Joe he was saying goodbye to his childhood. It was never going to be the same as it had been.
“I wanted to talk about the hide and the old days…” Francie feels Joe has moved on and completely left him behind. He wishes he was back in those days when he was completely innocent and he still has his mother and before he was ever a “pig”. He relates Joe to when everything was as good as his life gets. He does everything to try and be his friend again “I was going to go right in and say hello to Joe and them all sitting there and if they wanted me to sit beside them then all the better…” he imagined what it would be like being able to be friends with Joe again.
I believe that Francie had a flaw in his character waiting to surface and these unfortunate events provoked this flaw to come to surface. Yet each event made Francie more isolated and more in his own head. His mother dying, he blamed himself for the most part, he also hated his father and believed he was also to blame. He lost his only source of love also. Being sent to the borstal and being abused, he lost his innocence, his childhood and he did not talk to people about it. Finally, he lost his best friend, his last sense of sanity. By loosing his friend, he looses the remaining part of his life that was good and that he related his old life with.
A Critical Review of
“Butcher Boy”
By Patrick McCabe
The novel “Butcher Boy” by Patrick McCabe is a novel which revolves around the central character Fancie Brady. The study will discuss the importance of the flaw in Francie’s character in our understanding of Francie. We will be looking closely at the text and at least two of the key incidents. His story is one of a series of unfortunate events which lead to the complete and utter break down of the character Francie Brady and eventually to his insanity. We will look at whether there was already a flaw in his character waiting to surface or whether he only became mad because of these events. The key events that we will be looking at are; the suicide of his mother, being sent to a borstal and subsequently being sexually abused there and his best friend disowning him.
Firstly, we will look at his life before the events. He lived in a small town in Ireland at the beginning of the Second World War. He had an alcoholic father “ …what else would you expect from a house where the father’s never in, lying about the pubs from morning to night…”said Mrs Nugent when talking to Francie’s mother. This bought shame to the whole family as the whole town knew it. His mother was very depressed “Francie you would never let me down would you?... that was all there was in this world people who let you down.” She puts a lot of responsibility onto a little boy who should never be given that kind of responsibility. His mother blames his father for the way she feels “she meant you wouldn’t let me down like da did” and Francie’s father blames his own Father for leaving him and his brother “he was off into the speech about his father leaving them when he was seven and how nobody understood him…” His family was already troubled and Francie was already showing signs of being mentally ill by obsessing over what Mrs Nugent (a school mate’s mother) had called them, “Pigs”. He is always fantasising or imagining what Mrs Nugent is saying about him and his family or what she said to him “Please Francie, I’ll give you anything! She’d say.” He longs to have some sort of power over her. In his family he feels powerless, he has no order he can’t even protect his mother from his father this is essentially why he longs for the power.
When Francie is first told about his mother’s death he doesn’t even take it in. He is to busy looking at Mrs Nugent’s appearance he doesn’t even listen to what she is saying and when he did, he didn’t want to believe it.
she was so close I could see the wiry hairs on her chin and the pink make-up and powder on her cheeks. The smell of it turned my stomach .I could barely hear what she said she dropped her voice so low.
She was staring at me to see what I would do. I did nothing. I tried not to look at the stringy mouth or smell the powder. I said to myself; do nothing Francie…It’s ok. Everything’s ok now.
He did not believe his mum was dead as he reassures himself its ok. However he did hear Mrs Nugent tell him as he says he could “barely” hear her but didn’t say he couldn’t. It also says “She was staring at me to see what I would do.” He felt paranoid that it was maybe a cruel joke to see his reaction, earlier on it said “to see was there anyone else with her some trick she was playing” this show he was paranoid at the beginning of the situation. When he is told the second time from his father there’s no avoiding her death.
O didn’t you hear? He says with a bitter smile. Then he told me they had dredged the lake near the garage and found her at the bottom of it,”
Francie was now in contact with feelings of blame from his father. His father cruelly enjoyed telling his son that his mother was dead because his father wanted to hurt Francie because his father was in so much pain and blamed it all on Francie. Francie was never consoled or comforted for the death of his mother. In fact his only source of love that he had ever had was from his mother and now she was gone and he was blaming himself for it. Instead of grieving for his mother he began to become obsessed and terrorised the Nugents family. The first thing he did when he had the news of his mother’s death was go round to the Nugents house. He attempted his first murder the day after with Philip Nugent (his school mate) it seemed like it was premeditated. He stayed very calm and chatted away nicely to Philip before hand. He becomes extremely jealous of Mrs Nugent and Philip’s mother son relationship. We know he feels guilty for leaving his mum as while he had ran a way he imagined talking to her
“I don’t know what made me do it ma, I said. An old fellow stop and says to me are you alright your shaking all over. Then ma smiled and said she understood, she knew it wasn’t my fault. Come home Francie she said. I’m sorry ma, I said again then she said it again ,come on home, I’m waiting for you.”
He wanted to tell his mother he was sorry. He relates his mum to being understanding, warm and loving. This also shows Francie’s state of mind was unstable at the time before his mother’s had died. He was hallucinating and he believed he could talk to his mother when he was in a different town. This is proof that there is already signs of madness before his mother had died.
He is sent to a borstal, to begin with he feels guilty towards Joe his, old best friend, as he had promised before to Joe that he would leave the Nugents alone and the reason he was at the borstal was for breaking into their house and vandalising their property. “There was a gapping hole in my stomach for I knew Joe would have heard all about the Nugents by now. I had let him down.” He also says “I had nobody now that was for sure and it was all my own fault.” This could be Francie admitting that the death of his mother was also his fault. He begins to feel completely powerless again and so tries to commit suicide because at least he will have that power yet that doesn’t even work, he can regain no power. “I tried to get at my wrist with the jaggy bit of the statue.” When he receives a letter from Joe so he decides he will be good. He begins to fantasise about the saints and instead of the priests seeing this as a sign of him being delusional they encourage him to believe he can see the saints and treated like he had some sort of special gift. One priest in particular takes a big liking to Francie. This is when the “Tiddly Show” started to happen. He called the Priest ‘Tiddly’ and he would make Francie play parts in Tiddly’s sick fantasies. Tiddly claimed he loved Francie. Eventually Tiddly was found out, nobody talked to Francie about it and so Francie became more and more in his own head. “…all I could see was ma smiling and saying to me over and over again saying don’t worry Francie no matter what she says about you I’ll never believe it I’ll never disown you ever…” he hallucinates. This also shows how the death of his mother is still affecting Francie and he feels that he still needs to feel that his mother has forgiven him and still loves him.
When he is released from the borstal he returns home to his father, who was slowly drinking himself to death. He drops out of school because he does not want to have to do school with a whole year group younger than him. His best friend Joe was very close with Philip Nugent when Francie returned. Francie tried to talk to Joe about what happened in the borstal he changed it into a joke “I fairly fooled you there Joe. Tiddly! Imagine someone doing the like of that. Tiddly!” he felt embarrassed, alone and he had noone to confide in. Joe was also a metaphor for his childhood and when Francie started loosing Joe he was saying goodbye to his childhood. It was never going to be the same as it had been.
“I wanted to talk about the hide and the old days…” Francie feels Joe has moved on and completely left him behind. He wishes he was back in those days when he was completely innocent and he still has his mother and before he was ever a “pig”. He relates Joe to when everything was as good as his life gets. He does everything to try and be his friend again “I was going to go right in and say hello to Joe and them all sitting there and if they wanted me to sit beside them then all the better…” he imagined what it would be like being able to be friends with Joe again.
I believe that Francie had a flaw in his character waiting to surface and these unfortunate events provoked this flaw to come to surface. Yet each event made Francie more isolated and more in his own head. His mother dying, he blamed himself for the most part, he also hated his father and believed he was also to blame. He lost his only source of love also. Being sent to the borstal and being abused, he lost his innocence, his childhood and he did not talk to people about it. Finally, he lost his best friend, his last sense of sanity. By loosing his friend, he looses the remaining part of his life that was good and that he related his old life with.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Graham's Redraft
Here's my spec study redraft. I need to add more to the bit about Beelzebub, but not really sure what else to write just now....
“Lord of the Flies” by William Golding centers around a conflict between two of the main characters, Jack and Ralph. This essay will look at how the conflict eventually ends in tragedy for most of the people on the island, using the writer’s use of symbolism and the characterisation of the two characters.
Ralph, one of the first characters we meet, is a kind, fair-minded character, who immediately appears to the reader as an ideal leader for the group. “We’re having a meeting. Come and join in.” The fact that he is the one who calls the first group meeting shows that he knows that if they are going to be stuck on the island for a long time, there will need to be some order and authority. “We ought to have more rules.” This shows he is doing all he can to retain peace and keep everything running smoothly. He is also the one who comes up with the idea of building a fire, which does eventually get the boys saved. “There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire.”
Jack is quite the opposite of Ralph. He is arrogant and violent and it would seem that Golding has created Jack with the intention of making the reader dislike the character. Golding has done this so that from the start, the reader gets the impression that there will be conflict between these two boys, and takes the side of Ralph. Jack is the leader of anarchy on the island, and the leader of the savage tribe which hunts the pigs. “He swung back his right arm and hurled it with all his strength.” This shows he is really determined to make his first kill. At the first meeting, he wants to be leader, but when Ralph is elected, “the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification.” This suggest he is probably used to being a leader, as he is head boy at his school, and does not like it when someone has more power than him. The fact the he feels power when he has a weapon in his hand shows that he a violent character. “Slammed his knife into the trunk and looked around him challengingly.”
At the start of the novel, Jack and Ralph seem to get along quite well, and work as a team. “Jack and Ralph smiled at each other with shy liking.” However, as the story goes on, the difference in personality becomes apparent. The first sign of conflict between the two comes when Ralph and Simon are building shelters at the beach, and Jack is out hunting pigs. Ralph is annoyed that nobody is helping them with the huts and confronts Jack in a very civilised manner. “You wouldn’t mind helping with the shelters, I suppose?” Jack however, replies in a very violent aggressive manner. “Suddenly Jack shouted in rage “Are you accusing me-?”
Golding uses lots of symbolism in the novel, and many of these symbolic objects are related to the conflict. Firstly, the conch is the shell that Ralph uses to call meetings. At these meetings, only the person holding the conch can speak, so it symbolises order, democracy and leadership. “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.” Jack and Ralph are fighting for leadership in the novel, fighting for control of the conch. We see this at one of the group meetings, when Jack claims that Ralph has insulted one of his hunters, and then holds a vote in an attempt to overthrow Ralph as leader. This attempt fails, when even his choir vote against him. This conflict is the starting point for the chaos which leads to the tragedies.
Piggy’s glasses are used to start the fire. “His specs – use them as burning glasses!” Without these, there would be no fire, meaning no food and no rescue, therefore meaning survival. The fire is what cause the first death on the island; the death of the boy with the birthmark. After the boys split in two, Piggy’s glasses are stolen by Jack’s group so they can use them to light fires. This leads to Piggy’s death when he tries to retrieve them. His glasses therefore symbolise life and death.
The “beast” and the pig’s head – or Lord of the Flies – both symbolise power and the evil that is present in all of us. The Lord Of The Flies refers to Beelzebub, which is another name for the devil. Simon talks with the Pig’s head as if it understands him and talks back to him, and realises that the boys are scared of the beast because it exists in all of them. “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the beast. Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt down and kill! You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you?” This very sinister quote backs up Simon’s thoughts earlier on in the novel that the beast is actually the boys themselves. It also shows just how evil this creature is, as it is taunting Simon in a similar way to which the boys taunt each other.
Possibly one of the main symbols in this novel is the island itself. The island is a microcosm representing the world, and of the good and evil that is produced in the world. Golding has placed these characters on an island because an island is alone and isolated, and the boys have no contact with any adults or anyone outside the island. This also conveys the theme of conflict, by showing that if a large group of people are stranded in the same place, without any way of leaving, there will always be arguments due to personality clashes. At the start of the novel, the island is described as a peaceful, tranquil place, but as the story unfolds, it turns into a very sinister place. This is because of the evil events that have happened on the island since the boy’s arrival; the forest fire, the death of the small boy with the birthmark, the killing of Piggy and the killing of Simon.
Golding uses symbolism and characterisation to great effect in “Lord Of The Flies,” to convey the main theme of conflict and also to show how this conflict ended in tragedy, and even death, for some of the boys on the island.
Graham
“Lord of the Flies” by William Golding centers around a conflict between two of the main characters, Jack and Ralph. This essay will look at how the conflict eventually ends in tragedy for most of the people on the island, using the writer’s use of symbolism and the characterisation of the two characters.
Ralph, one of the first characters we meet, is a kind, fair-minded character, who immediately appears to the reader as an ideal leader for the group. “We’re having a meeting. Come and join in.” The fact that he is the one who calls the first group meeting shows that he knows that if they are going to be stuck on the island for a long time, there will need to be some order and authority. “We ought to have more rules.” This shows he is doing all he can to retain peace and keep everything running smoothly. He is also the one who comes up with the idea of building a fire, which does eventually get the boys saved. “There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire.”
Jack is quite the opposite of Ralph. He is arrogant and violent and it would seem that Golding has created Jack with the intention of making the reader dislike the character. Golding has done this so that from the start, the reader gets the impression that there will be conflict between these two boys, and takes the side of Ralph. Jack is the leader of anarchy on the island, and the leader of the savage tribe which hunts the pigs. “He swung back his right arm and hurled it with all his strength.” This shows he is really determined to make his first kill. At the first meeting, he wants to be leader, but when Ralph is elected, “the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification.” This suggest he is probably used to being a leader, as he is head boy at his school, and does not like it when someone has more power than him. The fact the he feels power when he has a weapon in his hand shows that he a violent character. “Slammed his knife into the trunk and looked around him challengingly.”
At the start of the novel, Jack and Ralph seem to get along quite well, and work as a team. “Jack and Ralph smiled at each other with shy liking.” However, as the story goes on, the difference in personality becomes apparent. The first sign of conflict between the two comes when Ralph and Simon are building shelters at the beach, and Jack is out hunting pigs. Ralph is annoyed that nobody is helping them with the huts and confronts Jack in a very civilised manner. “You wouldn’t mind helping with the shelters, I suppose?” Jack however, replies in a very violent aggressive manner. “Suddenly Jack shouted in rage “Are you accusing me-?”
Golding uses lots of symbolism in the novel, and many of these symbolic objects are related to the conflict. Firstly, the conch is the shell that Ralph uses to call meetings. At these meetings, only the person holding the conch can speak, so it symbolises order, democracy and leadership. “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.” Jack and Ralph are fighting for leadership in the novel, fighting for control of the conch. We see this at one of the group meetings, when Jack claims that Ralph has insulted one of his hunters, and then holds a vote in an attempt to overthrow Ralph as leader. This attempt fails, when even his choir vote against him. This conflict is the starting point for the chaos which leads to the tragedies.
Piggy’s glasses are used to start the fire. “His specs – use them as burning glasses!” Without these, there would be no fire, meaning no food and no rescue, therefore meaning survival. The fire is what cause the first death on the island; the death of the boy with the birthmark. After the boys split in two, Piggy’s glasses are stolen by Jack’s group so they can use them to light fires. This leads to Piggy’s death when he tries to retrieve them. His glasses therefore symbolise life and death.
The “beast” and the pig’s head – or Lord of the Flies – both symbolise power and the evil that is present in all of us. The Lord Of The Flies refers to Beelzebub, which is another name for the devil. Simon talks with the Pig’s head as if it understands him and talks back to him, and realises that the boys are scared of the beast because it exists in all of them. “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the beast. Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt down and kill! You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you?” This very sinister quote backs up Simon’s thoughts earlier on in the novel that the beast is actually the boys themselves. It also shows just how evil this creature is, as it is taunting Simon in a similar way to which the boys taunt each other.
Possibly one of the main symbols in this novel is the island itself. The island is a microcosm representing the world, and of the good and evil that is produced in the world. Golding has placed these characters on an island because an island is alone and isolated, and the boys have no contact with any adults or anyone outside the island. This also conveys the theme of conflict, by showing that if a large group of people are stranded in the same place, without any way of leaving, there will always be arguments due to personality clashes. At the start of the novel, the island is described as a peaceful, tranquil place, but as the story unfolds, it turns into a very sinister place. This is because of the evil events that have happened on the island since the boy’s arrival; the forest fire, the death of the small boy with the birthmark, the killing of Piggy and the killing of Simon.
Golding uses symbolism and characterisation to great effect in “Lord Of The Flies,” to convey the main theme of conflict and also to show how this conflict ended in tragedy, and even death, for some of the boys on the island.
Graham
redraft of le specialist study x
Specialist Study
“The Acid House” by Irvine Welsh is a collection of short stories which plays with the reader’s expectations and typical stereotypes of particular characters. This study will examine two of these stories “Grannies Old Junk” and “Where The Debris Meets The Sea” and show how Irvine Welsh breaks down these stereotypes using characterisation and language.
“Grannies Old Junk” is about a heroin addicted man who is going to visit his grandmother. He is planning to steal her money savings, which she keeps hidden in an old biscuit tin, to buy more heroin. From the title “Grannies Old Junk” the reader would expect it to be about him finding some old antique rubbish she keeps or relate to some sort of old keep sake she has, it is a play on the words, a pun. However in the end the grandson finds a stash of drugs in the tin where she kept the money. “Git away fae thair! Git away! Fukin thief!” before he opens the tin she catches him and begins to get very aggressive and swears (not what you would expect from an elderly woman.) It becomes apparent to the reader she is hiding something through her sudden change of character. However the idea of her having drugs and potentially being a drug dealer somewhat differs from the typical stereotype of a granny. Irvine Welsh uses her character to play against the typical stereotype through her use of slag language “Cook up a shot then, make yourself useful.” Stereotypically you wouldn’t expect an old woman to understand much about taking drugs never mind encourage their Grandson to stay on them. Also the way she reacts to her grandson finding her stash, she suggests that it’s a good thing and that they can work together basically, all this plays with the reader’s mind to realise just how strange the whole situation is. Welsh works hard at the beginning to portray her as a typical old woman to then later surprise us. He does this by making her seem very concerned that her grandson may be involved with drugs and that she feels very strongly against drugs. It’s also ironic that all throughout the text she keeps saying to him that he is an “Abercrombie” and reminding him he is family then at the end when it turns out he is on drugs and she is a dealer she again says “Yir an Abercrombie right enough.” Suggesting because of the drugs he really is one of the family.
“Where The Debris Meets The Sea” is a similar text to “Grannies Old Junk” in that the reader is questioning is there any reality in these unique characters Welsh creates? This text brings across the idea of a group of celebrities, including Madonna and Kylie, reading magazines together and talking about who in the magazines they would “shag”. Irvine Welsh is swapping the characters into different lives, he has the celebrities talking about going to Leith to see this man “Deek Pretice fi Gilmerton.” When usually it would be men from the likes of Leith dreaming of meeting the celebrities. The language used contributes greatly to the insanity, Welsh uses Scots dialect which contributes to the role reversal as they sound like typical Leither. “Phoah! Ah’d shag the erse oafy that anyway.” And “Total fukin ride. Ah bet eh’s hung like a hoarse.” This is totally goes against expectations the reader has of the celebrities would act and talk. The stereotypical celebrity is rich and has everything they want, they may not all be posh however their language in interviews etc isn’t anything like that. So to suggest the idea of people as famous as Madonna and Kylie, who are themselves usually in the magazines, lusting after some nobody from Leith, Welsh is totally crossing all lines of reality. Today’s celebrities have everything in the world they could want from their money, as if they would need or possibly want someone from the magazines Welsh has them reading when they usually have footballer, movie star or some other form of major famous guys anyway. He is creating these totally unique characters. Again like in “Grannies Old Junk” the title is fairly significant, it suggests its where the less important, “Debris”, meets with the so called upper class which would be “The sea”. It is suggesting where different people from different classes in society meet.
In each of the short stories Irvine Welsh uses the language to break down typical stereotypes. Mainly through swearing, usually people don’t associate that with a granny, and the talk of sex from the celebrities is so crude, it’s not what you’d expect to hear the likes of Madonna say about someone from Leith. “Ah thoat, fuck me, ah’d gie ma eye teeth tae get ma gums around that.” It is however to some perhaps how they would expect someone from Leith to talk which is how Irvine Welsh has almost swapped the characters role in “Where the Debris Meets the Sea.” Again it’s the typical stereotypes of class.
Irvine Welsh creates unique characters in each text, “Grannies Old Junk” and “Where the Debris Meets the Sea.” His word choice and language used creates a scene that the reader wouldn’t realistically imagine with characters which jump out against there typical stereotypes. The chosen language is perhaps even offensive to some which emphasises even more to what extreme Welsh is breaking down the stereotypical characters. Each text’s characters challenge the typical stereotypes of today by suggesting things that most people would see as very unrealistic and impossible. Welsh has un underlying message in each story, we perhaps stereotype people to much and cant see past the false impressions we have of them from listing them off as “just an old woman” .Overall through the disbelief of the characters each of Irvine Welsh’s stories are very comical and carries a deeper message of how little we actually know about others.
Steph
“The Acid House” by Irvine Welsh is a collection of short stories which plays with the reader’s expectations and typical stereotypes of particular characters. This study will examine two of these stories “Grannies Old Junk” and “Where The Debris Meets The Sea” and show how Irvine Welsh breaks down these stereotypes using characterisation and language.
“Grannies Old Junk” is about a heroin addicted man who is going to visit his grandmother. He is planning to steal her money savings, which she keeps hidden in an old biscuit tin, to buy more heroin. From the title “Grannies Old Junk” the reader would expect it to be about him finding some old antique rubbish she keeps or relate to some sort of old keep sake she has, it is a play on the words, a pun. However in the end the grandson finds a stash of drugs in the tin where she kept the money. “Git away fae thair! Git away! Fukin thief!” before he opens the tin she catches him and begins to get very aggressive and swears (not what you would expect from an elderly woman.) It becomes apparent to the reader she is hiding something through her sudden change of character. However the idea of her having drugs and potentially being a drug dealer somewhat differs from the typical stereotype of a granny. Irvine Welsh uses her character to play against the typical stereotype through her use of slag language “Cook up a shot then, make yourself useful.” Stereotypically you wouldn’t expect an old woman to understand much about taking drugs never mind encourage their Grandson to stay on them. Also the way she reacts to her grandson finding her stash, she suggests that it’s a good thing and that they can work together basically, all this plays with the reader’s mind to realise just how strange the whole situation is. Welsh works hard at the beginning to portray her as a typical old woman to then later surprise us. He does this by making her seem very concerned that her grandson may be involved with drugs and that she feels very strongly against drugs. It’s also ironic that all throughout the text she keeps saying to him that he is an “Abercrombie” and reminding him he is family then at the end when it turns out he is on drugs and she is a dealer she again says “Yir an Abercrombie right enough.” Suggesting because of the drugs he really is one of the family.
“Where The Debris Meets The Sea” is a similar text to “Grannies Old Junk” in that the reader is questioning is there any reality in these unique characters Welsh creates? This text brings across the idea of a group of celebrities, including Madonna and Kylie, reading magazines together and talking about who in the magazines they would “shag”. Irvine Welsh is swapping the characters into different lives, he has the celebrities talking about going to Leith to see this man “Deek Pretice fi Gilmerton.” When usually it would be men from the likes of Leith dreaming of meeting the celebrities. The language used contributes greatly to the insanity, Welsh uses Scots dialect which contributes to the role reversal as they sound like typical Leither. “Phoah! Ah’d shag the erse oafy that anyway.” And “Total fukin ride. Ah bet eh’s hung like a hoarse.” This is totally goes against expectations the reader has of the celebrities would act and talk. The stereotypical celebrity is rich and has everything they want, they may not all be posh however their language in interviews etc isn’t anything like that. So to suggest the idea of people as famous as Madonna and Kylie, who are themselves usually in the magazines, lusting after some nobody from Leith, Welsh is totally crossing all lines of reality. Today’s celebrities have everything in the world they could want from their money, as if they would need or possibly want someone from the magazines Welsh has them reading when they usually have footballer, movie star or some other form of major famous guys anyway. He is creating these totally unique characters. Again like in “Grannies Old Junk” the title is fairly significant, it suggests its where the less important, “Debris”, meets with the so called upper class which would be “The sea”. It is suggesting where different people from different classes in society meet.
In each of the short stories Irvine Welsh uses the language to break down typical stereotypes. Mainly through swearing, usually people don’t associate that with a granny, and the talk of sex from the celebrities is so crude, it’s not what you’d expect to hear the likes of Madonna say about someone from Leith. “Ah thoat, fuck me, ah’d gie ma eye teeth tae get ma gums around that.” It is however to some perhaps how they would expect someone from Leith to talk which is how Irvine Welsh has almost swapped the characters role in “Where the Debris Meets the Sea.” Again it’s the typical stereotypes of class.
Irvine Welsh creates unique characters in each text, “Grannies Old Junk” and “Where the Debris Meets the Sea.” His word choice and language used creates a scene that the reader wouldn’t realistically imagine with characters which jump out against there typical stereotypes. The chosen language is perhaps even offensive to some which emphasises even more to what extreme Welsh is breaking down the stereotypical characters. Each text’s characters challenge the typical stereotypes of today by suggesting things that most people would see as very unrealistic and impossible. Welsh has un underlying message in each story, we perhaps stereotype people to much and cant see past the false impressions we have of them from listing them off as “just an old woman” .Overall through the disbelief of the characters each of Irvine Welsh’s stories are very comical and carries a deeper message of how little we actually know about others.
Steph
Higher English
miss i've tried reeeeeeeeealy hard and i can't get it any shorter :(
“The Changeling” Samantha
“The Changeling” by Robin Jenkins is a novel which centres on the theme of the importance of people’s roots and different peoples attitudes towards them. Robin Jenkins effectively portrays the idea of deprivation through his use of symbolism and characterisation. This essay will aim to show how these two techniques enhance my appreciation of the novel.
It depicts the story of a young boy, Tom Curdie who is taken on holiday with his teacher, Charlie Forbes. Tom is raised in a slum in the east end of Glasgow called Donaldson’s Court. Many of the inhabitants of this slum are either mentally ill or have learning difficulties, very few people who live there make a success of their life and inevitably end up spending their life in Donaldson’s Court. However, Tom is very intelligent and many of his teachers recognise this but they believe because he lives in Donaldson’s Court he will end up like every other product of the slum. Charlie realises this and believes that if he takes Tom away from this environment and into a more supportive home he will flourish and gain enough encouragement and kindness to motivate him to rise above his upbringing. Nevertheless, throughout the novel the reader begins to realise that for Charlie, there is an ulterior motive. He thinks he will gain respect from his colleagues if this succeeds, he is using Tom as an experiment.
The most important use of symbolism is the concept of the changeling. The title of the novel is fitting because this “the changeling” stems from an ancient myth which said that a child of a family was replaced by a fairy known as the changeling. This symbolises how Charlie favours Tom over his other children and is effectively “replacing” his own children for Tom. This theme is established early in the novel when Tom’s younger sister is crying, “humming a song about a baby stolen by fairies in the Highlands”. Charlie has treated him as if he were his own child, not only that but has been proud of him although he has had no achievements. It also shows that his newly formed relationship with Tom has been noticed by others around him. Another significant moment is when Tom finds a library in Dunroth and decides to look up “changeling” in the dictionary. It says that the “creature” left by the fairies “often applied to ill-favoured person or animal spreading an evil influence”. Once Tom has read this he rereads it because he begins to realise how this is reflected in their situation, “seeing more and more why Mr. Forbes had applied it to him and why Mrs. Forbes had looked at him with such loathing”. After he has read it and come to the realisation he describes feeling “a strangeness” and the reader sympathises with Tom as they know how he truly feels about the family and how distraught he must be that when he finally feels loved no one can forget where Tom comes from.
Another use of symbolism is early in the book when Tom discovers a cat cowering on the staircase in Donaldson’s Court. This represents Tom’s relationship with Charlie. He recognises the anguish of the cat and the suffering it has had to endure in the slum. He then offers the cat the apple he has earlier stolen for his younger brother, Alec. The cat, however does not accept the gift because it is wary that Tom is still there watching him. “Suspicious of kindness, it mewed in misery”, Tom knows that the cat does not want to eat the apple because it will make him susceptible to anything Tom may do to him if he lets down his guard. This represents Tom’s relationship with Charlie. Tom has learnt that you never survive Donaldson’s Court unless you let nobody see your true emotions. “to let no one, not even yourself, know how near to giving in you were, these were the principles by which he lived”. He does not want to let his guard down around Charlie, even though he is offering Tom a helping hand, for fear that he may become attached and sooner or later he will be let down by Charlie.
Characterisation is effectively used in the novel to depict different characters inner thoughts and feelings. The main character the theme of roots is portrayed through is Tom. From the beginning the reader knows the reason behind his actions but they do not really sympathise with him until the end of the holiday. One of the first examples which evoke our understanding of Tom is when he is in a lesson and a teacher tells him to step away from his desk because Tom is very dirty. “‘Drop it on the desk and then keep your distance’… Many in the class laughed. He neither blushed nor sulked.” This shows that Tom is used to being treated like vermin and that as part of his act he can handle people treating him like this. Another quote which helps build up his persona is “he knew that if he ever were to be grateful to anybody, his confidence in himself would be destroyed”. This is another insight into the mind of Tom as it conveys how important it is to Tom to survive Donaldson's Court as being “grateful” is another way of letting someone get close to him. Another key point is when the headmaster of the school, Mr. Todd says that despite Tom’s circumstances “‘no child in this school, in this whole city, seeks pity less’”. This shows that Tom is able to accept the life he was born into and does not want others to feel sorry for him because he is perfectly contented with what he has and is.
The character of Charlie is well portrayed because in the beginning of the novel the reader thinks Charlie is extremely kind and sensitive to realise that Tom is not just an insolent thief. However, this respect for Charlie begins to waver during the holiday when the reader realises that Charlie may recognise Tom’s intelligence but he does not truly understand or want to understand what Tom really feels. When Mrs. Forbes says that Tom must go home, Charlie replies with “I’ll take him the whole way home”. This shows the reader that Charlie realises his experiment has failed and admits defeat but does not think of how this will affect Tom He cannot see that taking Tom away from Donaldson's Court means that, to him, he can never return because Charlie and his family have influenced him so much that he will not survive if he has to go back to the slum. In contrast to this in the beginning of the novel when he reads a story description Tom has made of the sea he sees that it is truly wonderful and understands that Tom himself may never be able to go to the sea and therefore feels pity. When he turns to Tom he sees him smiling and thinks to himself, “it was, they said the smile of the certified delinquent, of misanthropy in bud, of future criminality, of inevitable degradation. Forbes refused to accept it as such”. This shows that Charlie can see that Tom is not trying to be impudent, he was smiling because he is aware of how others view him yet they could not be further from the truth. Charlie does not know the true meaning behind this smile and we see that Charlie does not know as much about Tom as he thinks throughout the novel.
Another important character is Gillian, Charlie’s daughter. We see how the roles are reversed and how at the beginning of the novel Gillian appeared to be prejudiced towards Tom and by the end of the novel she is the only person who truly understands him. This first happens when Gillian catches Tom stealing from Woolworths “it did not make her clear of him, rather did it bind her to him in a way she could not avoid or understand”. This portrays the idea that even at an early stage of the holiday, Gillian has an attachment to Tom in that she knows Tom just not just steal as petty crime but there is a much deeper motive she cannot figure out. One of the most important points where she sympathises for Tom and when she first starts to change her opinion of him is when “she began to realise that this armour, of calmness and patience, forged somehow in the dreadful slum where he had been born, must be heavy and painful to wear”. This is where she realises that Tom’s persona or shield he has built around himself to cage his true emotions he’s built up to survive his life in Donaldson's Court is just an act and that having to do this must be hard for him. However she decides to ignore this feeling and continue to annoy Tom but the reader can see that she is doing it in order to understand Tom further Towards the end of the novel when Tom’s family arrive followed by the police wishing to question him about a robbery his friend carried out Gillian panics and runs to help Tom While they are hiding she says “did you steal those things in Woolworths because – because you didn’t want – to get – too fond of us?” this shows the reader that she has finally been able to understand what Tom really feels and she does not resent him for his attachment to her family and does not look down on his actions. This is a pivotal moment as Tom replies with a smile of “gratitude”. This shows that he has finally broken his barrier but also appreciates that she really does know his motives.
At this point the reader begins to think that Tom is happy that someone finally understands what he has hidden for so many years but as we can see by the tragic ending Tom may not fully be able to deal with that.
The reader can see Tom’s anguish as he is due to leave the holiday he knows he has come too far with the Forbes’ and cannot return to Donaldson's Court because he has experienced true love and loyalty which has broken his shield of protection and it is now unable to be fixed. This helps to build to the climatic ending where Tom ends his life. This climax is built up through the thoughts and feelings of Tom throughout the novel and we can feel the frustration at not being able to tell anyone about what he feels inside for fear it may cause him to become like another “product” of the slum. While in the barn with Gillian, Jenkins says “she felt only pity and love for him in his terrible predicament, but also complicity with him”. The reader believes at this point that there may be a happy ending for Tom because deep down all he has ever longed for was someone not to sympathise, but just to care enough that they take time to understand the complexity of his nature.
In conclusion, Jenkins manages to portray to the reader the idea of the importance of roots and deprivation through how use of symbolism and characterisation in a sophisticated manor. He is able to let the reader know what Tom and fellow characters really think and feel using these techniques.
“The Changeling” Samantha
“The Changeling” by Robin Jenkins is a novel which centres on the theme of the importance of people’s roots and different peoples attitudes towards them. Robin Jenkins effectively portrays the idea of deprivation through his use of symbolism and characterisation. This essay will aim to show how these two techniques enhance my appreciation of the novel.
It depicts the story of a young boy, Tom Curdie who is taken on holiday with his teacher, Charlie Forbes. Tom is raised in a slum in the east end of Glasgow called Donaldson’s Court. Many of the inhabitants of this slum are either mentally ill or have learning difficulties, very few people who live there make a success of their life and inevitably end up spending their life in Donaldson’s Court. However, Tom is very intelligent and many of his teachers recognise this but they believe because he lives in Donaldson’s Court he will end up like every other product of the slum. Charlie realises this and believes that if he takes Tom away from this environment and into a more supportive home he will flourish and gain enough encouragement and kindness to motivate him to rise above his upbringing. Nevertheless, throughout the novel the reader begins to realise that for Charlie, there is an ulterior motive. He thinks he will gain respect from his colleagues if this succeeds, he is using Tom as an experiment.
The most important use of symbolism is the concept of the changeling. The title of the novel is fitting because this “the changeling” stems from an ancient myth which said that a child of a family was replaced by a fairy known as the changeling. This symbolises how Charlie favours Tom over his other children and is effectively “replacing” his own children for Tom. This theme is established early in the novel when Tom’s younger sister is crying, “humming a song about a baby stolen by fairies in the Highlands”. Charlie has treated him as if he were his own child, not only that but has been proud of him although he has had no achievements. It also shows that his newly formed relationship with Tom has been noticed by others around him. Another significant moment is when Tom finds a library in Dunroth and decides to look up “changeling” in the dictionary. It says that the “creature” left by the fairies “often applied to ill-favoured person or animal spreading an evil influence”. Once Tom has read this he rereads it because he begins to realise how this is reflected in their situation, “seeing more and more why Mr. Forbes had applied it to him and why Mrs. Forbes had looked at him with such loathing”. After he has read it and come to the realisation he describes feeling “a strangeness” and the reader sympathises with Tom as they know how he truly feels about the family and how distraught he must be that when he finally feels loved no one can forget where Tom comes from.
Another use of symbolism is early in the book when Tom discovers a cat cowering on the staircase in Donaldson’s Court. This represents Tom’s relationship with Charlie. He recognises the anguish of the cat and the suffering it has had to endure in the slum. He then offers the cat the apple he has earlier stolen for his younger brother, Alec. The cat, however does not accept the gift because it is wary that Tom is still there watching him. “Suspicious of kindness, it mewed in misery”, Tom knows that the cat does not want to eat the apple because it will make him susceptible to anything Tom may do to him if he lets down his guard. This represents Tom’s relationship with Charlie. Tom has learnt that you never survive Donaldson’s Court unless you let nobody see your true emotions. “to let no one, not even yourself, know how near to giving in you were, these were the principles by which he lived”. He does not want to let his guard down around Charlie, even though he is offering Tom a helping hand, for fear that he may become attached and sooner or later he will be let down by Charlie.
Characterisation is effectively used in the novel to depict different characters inner thoughts and feelings. The main character the theme of roots is portrayed through is Tom. From the beginning the reader knows the reason behind his actions but they do not really sympathise with him until the end of the holiday. One of the first examples which evoke our understanding of Tom is when he is in a lesson and a teacher tells him to step away from his desk because Tom is very dirty. “‘Drop it on the desk and then keep your distance’… Many in the class laughed. He neither blushed nor sulked.” This shows that Tom is used to being treated like vermin and that as part of his act he can handle people treating him like this. Another quote which helps build up his persona is “he knew that if he ever were to be grateful to anybody, his confidence in himself would be destroyed”. This is another insight into the mind of Tom as it conveys how important it is to Tom to survive Donaldson's Court as being “grateful” is another way of letting someone get close to him. Another key point is when the headmaster of the school, Mr. Todd says that despite Tom’s circumstances “‘no child in this school, in this whole city, seeks pity less’”. This shows that Tom is able to accept the life he was born into and does not want others to feel sorry for him because he is perfectly contented with what he has and is.
The character of Charlie is well portrayed because in the beginning of the novel the reader thinks Charlie is extremely kind and sensitive to realise that Tom is not just an insolent thief. However, this respect for Charlie begins to waver during the holiday when the reader realises that Charlie may recognise Tom’s intelligence but he does not truly understand or want to understand what Tom really feels. When Mrs. Forbes says that Tom must go home, Charlie replies with “I’ll take him the whole way home”. This shows the reader that Charlie realises his experiment has failed and admits defeat but does not think of how this will affect Tom He cannot see that taking Tom away from Donaldson's Court means that, to him, he can never return because Charlie and his family have influenced him so much that he will not survive if he has to go back to the slum. In contrast to this in the beginning of the novel when he reads a story description Tom has made of the sea he sees that it is truly wonderful and understands that Tom himself may never be able to go to the sea and therefore feels pity. When he turns to Tom he sees him smiling and thinks to himself, “it was, they said the smile of the certified delinquent, of misanthropy in bud, of future criminality, of inevitable degradation. Forbes refused to accept it as such”. This shows that Charlie can see that Tom is not trying to be impudent, he was smiling because he is aware of how others view him yet they could not be further from the truth. Charlie does not know the true meaning behind this smile and we see that Charlie does not know as much about Tom as he thinks throughout the novel.
Another important character is Gillian, Charlie’s daughter. We see how the roles are reversed and how at the beginning of the novel Gillian appeared to be prejudiced towards Tom and by the end of the novel she is the only person who truly understands him. This first happens when Gillian catches Tom stealing from Woolworths “it did not make her clear of him, rather did it bind her to him in a way she could not avoid or understand”. This portrays the idea that even at an early stage of the holiday, Gillian has an attachment to Tom in that she knows Tom just not just steal as petty crime but there is a much deeper motive she cannot figure out. One of the most important points where she sympathises for Tom and when she first starts to change her opinion of him is when “she began to realise that this armour, of calmness and patience, forged somehow in the dreadful slum where he had been born, must be heavy and painful to wear”. This is where she realises that Tom’s persona or shield he has built around himself to cage his true emotions he’s built up to survive his life in Donaldson's Court is just an act and that having to do this must be hard for him. However she decides to ignore this feeling and continue to annoy Tom but the reader can see that she is doing it in order to understand Tom further Towards the end of the novel when Tom’s family arrive followed by the police wishing to question him about a robbery his friend carried out Gillian panics and runs to help Tom While they are hiding she says “did you steal those things in Woolworths because – because you didn’t want – to get – too fond of us?” this shows the reader that she has finally been able to understand what Tom really feels and she does not resent him for his attachment to her family and does not look down on his actions. This is a pivotal moment as Tom replies with a smile of “gratitude”. This shows that he has finally broken his barrier but also appreciates that she really does know his motives.
At this point the reader begins to think that Tom is happy that someone finally understands what he has hidden for so many years but as we can see by the tragic ending Tom may not fully be able to deal with that.
The reader can see Tom’s anguish as he is due to leave the holiday he knows he has come too far with the Forbes’ and cannot return to Donaldson's Court because he has experienced true love and loyalty which has broken his shield of protection and it is now unable to be fixed. This helps to build to the climatic ending where Tom ends his life. This climax is built up through the thoughts and feelings of Tom throughout the novel and we can feel the frustration at not being able to tell anyone about what he feels inside for fear it may cause him to become like another “product” of the slum. While in the barn with Gillian, Jenkins says “she felt only pity and love for him in his terrible predicament, but also complicity with him”. The reader believes at this point that there may be a happy ending for Tom because deep down all he has ever longed for was someone not to sympathise, but just to care enough that they take time to understand the complexity of his nature.
In conclusion, Jenkins manages to portray to the reader the idea of the importance of roots and deprivation through how use of symbolism and characterisation in a sophisticated manor. He is able to let the reader know what Tom and fellow characters really think and feel using these techniques.
This is quite worrying
I don't know about you but I found this article quite worrying. I would like to hear what your views are on this.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1948695,00.html
http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1948695,00.html
Thursday, November 16, 2006
kris spec stud redraft
Specialist Study
‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ is the sixth book in J.K Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ collection. This book is sculpted around the idea of how you should not judge a book by its cover. The ‘Half Blood-Prince’ focuses on the presentation of the anti-hero/villain as much as it does around Harry. From the first book in Rowling’s collection we have been given a stereotypical villain which is Draco Malfoy. From the first to the fifth book Draco has been presented in the same way. A strong, competitive juvenile who has no respect for the rules of the school or for any of the teachers apart from one, Snape. Draco’s upbringing has influenced him into believing in superiority of pure wizards (like himself) over mud-bloods (wizards with human parents). He is always racist toward mud-bloods when the opportunity arises and he only ever shows his strong, superior side. However, in the ‘Half Blood-Prince’ we see who Draco and Snape really are past the view they show us.
From book one we have seen Draco as a trouble making, racist juvenile who sees himself better than everyone else. The first sign that Draco is like this is the very first time Harry and Draco speak “You’ll soon find that some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter”. This view of Draco is kept right through to the third book were Draco scares one of Hagrids creatures which ends up scratching him but Draco acts like he is dying and because of his fathers influence within the wizarding government the creature is sentenced to death “I’m afraid he won’t be a teacher much longer, father’s not very happy about my injury”. Draco is clearly fine after this incident but because of his hate for Harry he decides to try and get Hagrid (a good friend of Harry’s) sacked and his favourite creature executed for his own personal joy. This shows the sick, twisted side to Draco that killing does not bother him because it is only a filthy creature which he also thinks of the mud-bloods.
‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood-Prince’ is a more mature and advanced book than the previous five as it has a lot of hidden messages and the language of the book has also advanced to a higher level which reflects how Harry and the other characters have grown up and also become more mature. As a result of this the presentation of Draco is very complex and in-depth. The first few chapters of the book show Draco in the same view; a wicked, boasting juvenile. On the train to Hogwarts (wizard school) Draco boasts to his friends about how the Dark Lord has set him a task to complete knowing it will impress them and make them idolise him “Clearly relishing the effect he had created”. As the train arrives at its destination we see the first encounter between Draco and Harry in this book. Draco has Harry immobilised and at his mercy “You didn’t hear anything I care about, Potter. But while I’ve got you here…” taking advantage of the situation Draco fiercely stamps on Harry’s face spurting blood everywhere which shows he does not believe in what’s right and wrong he only thinks of what will benefit him and that he also does not feel guilty for hurting a defenceless human being. After the battle the reader is left thinking that Draco will be presented in the same stereotypical manner through the rest of the book.
However, as the book progresses we see a change in Draco. Whilst at a Christmas party, Harry, for the first time in ages sees Draco close up “He now saw that Malfoy had dark shadows under his eyes and a distinctly greyish tinge to his skin”. This is the first time in all of the books that Draco has looked genuinely unwell but doesn’t make a fuss out of it like usual. In a confrontation later we see the biggest change in Draco so far as the teacher he has always respected and sucked up to, Snape, requests a word with him. As Harry eavesdrops on the conversation we learn that Draco has been avoiding Snape for some reason and even shouts at Snape for the first time “I know what you’re up to! You want to steal my glory!” Draco also denies the offer of help from Snape who he has always had utmost respect for in accomplishing his mission for the Dark Lord and finally walks away from Snape as a sign of total disrespect. This is the first real change in Draco's presentation. Usually Draco would be trying to get Harry into trouble for silly offences but Draco has kept away from Harry and everybody else at Hogwarts so he can complete his mission. His deteriorating health and confrontation with snape are the first signs that Rowling has changed Draco’s intentions and Draco even seems more mature now that he realises the consequences of his failure would be death from the Dark Lord as punishment if he does not complete his task.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince does not just focus on the changing of Draco but also Severus Snape. Snape is a Hogwarts teacher who worked for the Dark Lord during his regime but after the defeat of the Lord, Snape convinced Dumbledore he had converted to the good side and was being brain washed by the forces of darkness. From the day Snape converted many have wondered whether he really was brain washed and if he really had turned good. From the first time Harry meets Snape he automatically dislikes him and also Snape dislikes Harry. For six years Snape treats Harry badly, bullies him and tries to make his life a misery as much as possible. “But he seemed to really hate me”. This treatment leaves the reader to wonder whether Snape does this because Harry destroyed the Dark Lord but in book three we realise it could be because Harry’s father tormented and bullied Snape when he was a pupil. This is further developed in the fifth book when Harry relives a memory of snapes from his school days. “Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape’s mouth at once, choking him”. Sirius and James (Harry’s dad and godfather) both made Snape’s school days horrible with constant teasing and fights. Snape’s treatment of Harry could therefore be personal revenge for the way he was treated as a boy.
Through the six books the reader makes a view of Snape whether he is good or evil but even though Snape treats Harry incredibly bad he also tries to save Harry’s life on many occasions. Snape mutters a counter curse in the first book when Harry is in mortal danger. In the third book he goes to Harry’s rescue when he sees him enter the wompingwillow. He tries to educate Harry in mind powers in the fifth book to help Harry block out the Dark Lord. This shows Snape does have a human side to him and his treatment of Harry could just be a false image he wishes to convey to Harry and others to keep his real intentions undercover.
Up until the last six chapters of the book Draco’s presentation has been different. As his health gets worse he does not go to the nurse and make sure everybody knows he is not well. Also he stays away from Snape and even stops playing Quidditch for his house. But the real change in Draco is not seen until the end of the book. As harry and Dumbledore depart on a dangerous mission Dumbledore is severely hurt and left ineffective as protection for Harry. As they make there way back to the school they spot the dark mark (sign the Dark Lord has killed) over the Astronomy Tower. Dumbledore quickly regains control of himself and he and Harry quickly fly to the tower to investigate. The door to the tower flies open and Harry falls back against the wall. As Harry ponders on how he has been frozen it finally hits him that Dumbledore had wordlessly immobilised Harry, but by doing so Dumbledore had lost the ability to defend himself as the attacker disarmed Dumbledore. Without panic or distress Dumbledore casually addresses his disarmer “Good evening Draco”. A conversation between the two follows as Draco boasts about how he completed his task and was able to smuggle the Dark Lords henchmen into the school. As Dumbledore calmly speaks Draco’s hands shake, he begins to sweat but tries to maintain the fact that he has the advantage over a wandless old wizard. As time goes on four of the henchmen get to the tower were they are met by the image of Dumbledore helpless. After another conversation Draco still cannot find it in him to kill Dumbledore. After all the work and effort he put in all year to kill him he just can’t murmur the words. His feelings get in the way and he realises he is not a killer after all the threats he gave Dumbledore. Finally Snape enters the scene. With the knowledge that Draco cannot complete his task snape points his wand at Dumbledore and announces the dreadful words of the killing curse. Dumbledore’s body flies over the edge and the henchmen flee the scene.
Through the book Draco is presented in the same way as the he always has been at some points but as the book progresses his old presentation deteriorates and we see a completely new person. A fragile little boy with emotional difficulty instead of the strong superior outer shell that Draco has always shown. We finally see Draco as a human being with emotions and even the ability to cry. Snape is finally seen in his true colours. After many years of pretended we finally see he is still on the side of evil. This is a total twist to the books and gives the reader a sense that the final book could contain anything as Harry has lost the last person that he cared about and is an angry young man with extraordinary powers. Rowling’s presentation of good versus evil in this book is far more complex than black and white. It is the struggle between those who are not afraid of showing weakness against those who are disgusted with emotions and feelings. Draco has an inner conflict between good and evil in this book as we see him in both views; able to show emotion at some points but avoiding them at others. This effect makes the reader sympathise with Draco and in the end even pity him as he is still just a fragile child trying to grow up to quickly. Snape conveys the idea people aren’t always as they seem to be. After all the trust Dumbledore had in Snape, Snape turns around and stabs him in the back which creates a very powerful scene and the biggest twist possible in the Harry Potter collection. The book is therefore sculpted around the idea of not judging a book by its cover. On the outside we see Draco as a strong-minded juvenile with no care for others feelings and forever wishing to hurt people. On the inside however Draco is just a little boy with the same emotions as everyone else. The only problem is he just can’t show them as easily which leads back to his inner conflict. Snape is shown as an evil man wishing to get revenge for the torment he was subjected to as a child but in the end he is really a murderous lyre with a higher purpose than making Harry’s life miserable. The story shows us that people are complex and everybody has emotions but some find it easier to show them and others conceal theirs like Draco and also that people can lie and hurt those who have risked everything for them without a second thought.
‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ is the sixth book in J.K Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ collection. This book is sculpted around the idea of how you should not judge a book by its cover. The ‘Half Blood-Prince’ focuses on the presentation of the anti-hero/villain as much as it does around Harry. From the first book in Rowling’s collection we have been given a stereotypical villain which is Draco Malfoy. From the first to the fifth book Draco has been presented in the same way. A strong, competitive juvenile who has no respect for the rules of the school or for any of the teachers apart from one, Snape. Draco’s upbringing has influenced him into believing in superiority of pure wizards (like himself) over mud-bloods (wizards with human parents). He is always racist toward mud-bloods when the opportunity arises and he only ever shows his strong, superior side. However, in the ‘Half Blood-Prince’ we see who Draco and Snape really are past the view they show us.
From book one we have seen Draco as a trouble making, racist juvenile who sees himself better than everyone else. The first sign that Draco is like this is the very first time Harry and Draco speak “You’ll soon find that some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter”. This view of Draco is kept right through to the third book were Draco scares one of Hagrids creatures which ends up scratching him but Draco acts like he is dying and because of his fathers influence within the wizarding government the creature is sentenced to death “I’m afraid he won’t be a teacher much longer, father’s not very happy about my injury”. Draco is clearly fine after this incident but because of his hate for Harry he decides to try and get Hagrid (a good friend of Harry’s) sacked and his favourite creature executed for his own personal joy. This shows the sick, twisted side to Draco that killing does not bother him because it is only a filthy creature which he also thinks of the mud-bloods.
‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood-Prince’ is a more mature and advanced book than the previous five as it has a lot of hidden messages and the language of the book has also advanced to a higher level which reflects how Harry and the other characters have grown up and also become more mature. As a result of this the presentation of Draco is very complex and in-depth. The first few chapters of the book show Draco in the same view; a wicked, boasting juvenile. On the train to Hogwarts (wizard school) Draco boasts to his friends about how the Dark Lord has set him a task to complete knowing it will impress them and make them idolise him “Clearly relishing the effect he had created”. As the train arrives at its destination we see the first encounter between Draco and Harry in this book. Draco has Harry immobilised and at his mercy “You didn’t hear anything I care about, Potter. But while I’ve got you here…” taking advantage of the situation Draco fiercely stamps on Harry’s face spurting blood everywhere which shows he does not believe in what’s right and wrong he only thinks of what will benefit him and that he also does not feel guilty for hurting a defenceless human being. After the battle the reader is left thinking that Draco will be presented in the same stereotypical manner through the rest of the book.
However, as the book progresses we see a change in Draco. Whilst at a Christmas party, Harry, for the first time in ages sees Draco close up “He now saw that Malfoy had dark shadows under his eyes and a distinctly greyish tinge to his skin”. This is the first time in all of the books that Draco has looked genuinely unwell but doesn’t make a fuss out of it like usual. In a confrontation later we see the biggest change in Draco so far as the teacher he has always respected and sucked up to, Snape, requests a word with him. As Harry eavesdrops on the conversation we learn that Draco has been avoiding Snape for some reason and even shouts at Snape for the first time “I know what you’re up to! You want to steal my glory!” Draco also denies the offer of help from Snape who he has always had utmost respect for in accomplishing his mission for the Dark Lord and finally walks away from Snape as a sign of total disrespect. This is the first real change in Draco's presentation. Usually Draco would be trying to get Harry into trouble for silly offences but Draco has kept away from Harry and everybody else at Hogwarts so he can complete his mission. His deteriorating health and confrontation with snape are the first signs that Rowling has changed Draco’s intentions and Draco even seems more mature now that he realises the consequences of his failure would be death from the Dark Lord as punishment if he does not complete his task.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince does not just focus on the changing of Draco but also Severus Snape. Snape is a Hogwarts teacher who worked for the Dark Lord during his regime but after the defeat of the Lord, Snape convinced Dumbledore he had converted to the good side and was being brain washed by the forces of darkness. From the day Snape converted many have wondered whether he really was brain washed and if he really had turned good. From the first time Harry meets Snape he automatically dislikes him and also Snape dislikes Harry. For six years Snape treats Harry badly, bullies him and tries to make his life a misery as much as possible. “But he seemed to really hate me”. This treatment leaves the reader to wonder whether Snape does this because Harry destroyed the Dark Lord but in book three we realise it could be because Harry’s father tormented and bullied Snape when he was a pupil. This is further developed in the fifth book when Harry relives a memory of snapes from his school days. “Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape’s mouth at once, choking him”. Sirius and James (Harry’s dad and godfather) both made Snape’s school days horrible with constant teasing and fights. Snape’s treatment of Harry could therefore be personal revenge for the way he was treated as a boy.
Through the six books the reader makes a view of Snape whether he is good or evil but even though Snape treats Harry incredibly bad he also tries to save Harry’s life on many occasions. Snape mutters a counter curse in the first book when Harry is in mortal danger. In the third book he goes to Harry’s rescue when he sees him enter the wompingwillow. He tries to educate Harry in mind powers in the fifth book to help Harry block out the Dark Lord. This shows Snape does have a human side to him and his treatment of Harry could just be a false image he wishes to convey to Harry and others to keep his real intentions undercover.
Up until the last six chapters of the book Draco’s presentation has been different. As his health gets worse he does not go to the nurse and make sure everybody knows he is not well. Also he stays away from Snape and even stops playing Quidditch for his house. But the real change in Draco is not seen until the end of the book. As harry and Dumbledore depart on a dangerous mission Dumbledore is severely hurt and left ineffective as protection for Harry. As they make there way back to the school they spot the dark mark (sign the Dark Lord has killed) over the Astronomy Tower. Dumbledore quickly regains control of himself and he and Harry quickly fly to the tower to investigate. The door to the tower flies open and Harry falls back against the wall. As Harry ponders on how he has been frozen it finally hits him that Dumbledore had wordlessly immobilised Harry, but by doing so Dumbledore had lost the ability to defend himself as the attacker disarmed Dumbledore. Without panic or distress Dumbledore casually addresses his disarmer “Good evening Draco”. A conversation between the two follows as Draco boasts about how he completed his task and was able to smuggle the Dark Lords henchmen into the school. As Dumbledore calmly speaks Draco’s hands shake, he begins to sweat but tries to maintain the fact that he has the advantage over a wandless old wizard. As time goes on four of the henchmen get to the tower were they are met by the image of Dumbledore helpless. After another conversation Draco still cannot find it in him to kill Dumbledore. After all the work and effort he put in all year to kill him he just can’t murmur the words. His feelings get in the way and he realises he is not a killer after all the threats he gave Dumbledore. Finally Snape enters the scene. With the knowledge that Draco cannot complete his task snape points his wand at Dumbledore and announces the dreadful words of the killing curse. Dumbledore’s body flies over the edge and the henchmen flee the scene.
Through the book Draco is presented in the same way as the he always has been at some points but as the book progresses his old presentation deteriorates and we see a completely new person. A fragile little boy with emotional difficulty instead of the strong superior outer shell that Draco has always shown. We finally see Draco as a human being with emotions and even the ability to cry. Snape is finally seen in his true colours. After many years of pretended we finally see he is still on the side of evil. This is a total twist to the books and gives the reader a sense that the final book could contain anything as Harry has lost the last person that he cared about and is an angry young man with extraordinary powers. Rowling’s presentation of good versus evil in this book is far more complex than black and white. It is the struggle between those who are not afraid of showing weakness against those who are disgusted with emotions and feelings. Draco has an inner conflict between good and evil in this book as we see him in both views; able to show emotion at some points but avoiding them at others. This effect makes the reader sympathise with Draco and in the end even pity him as he is still just a fragile child trying to grow up to quickly. Snape conveys the idea people aren’t always as they seem to be. After all the trust Dumbledore had in Snape, Snape turns around and stabs him in the back which creates a very powerful scene and the biggest twist possible in the Harry Potter collection. The book is therefore sculpted around the idea of not judging a book by its cover. On the outside we see Draco as a strong-minded juvenile with no care for others feelings and forever wishing to hurt people. On the inside however Draco is just a little boy with the same emotions as everyone else. The only problem is he just can’t show them as easily which leads back to his inner conflict. Snape is shown as an evil man wishing to get revenge for the torment he was subjected to as a child but in the end he is really a murderous lyre with a higher purpose than making Harry’s life miserable. The story shows us that people are complex and everybody has emotions but some find it easier to show them and others conceal theirs like Draco and also that people can lie and hurt those who have risked everything for them without a second thought.
This might be useful
I stumbled across these. You might find them useful. You might not. It is not as though many of you seem to care these days anyway.
Close Reading:
http://www.perth.ac.uk/stream/docs/close%20reading%20handout.doc
Exam Techniques:
http://www.perth.ac.uk/stream/docs/examtips.doc
Close Reading:
http://www.perth.ac.uk/stream/docs/close%20reading%20handout.doc
Exam Techniques:
http://www.perth.ac.uk/stream/docs/examtips.doc
Monday, November 13, 2006
Want Some Extra Help??
For those of you who are working hard on your own to learn your texts and practicing with past papers you may be pleased to hear that there is another text you can get your hands on with lots of advice on passing the course. It is called "How to Pass Higher English" and is published by Hodder Gibson. It is about £8.99 but is a worthwhile investment. The people who bought it last year found it very helpful.
Just an idea.
Just an idea.
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