Friday, May 4, 2018

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 14 (May 3)

Greetings!

We are on our final book, the 1915 espionage/thriller The 39 Steps by John Buchan.  The class seems to like the book.  Not only is it shorter, it has an engaging plot and feels more contemporary in its style.  In class we discussed the the questions that each student brought to class.

If students are interested, they might want to watch excerpts from a 2008 BBC version of the book or a scene from a stage play.  The movies made from this book follow the serious, dangerous tone found in the book while the plays are more farcical.   We will finish the book for the last week in class.

This week, our final week together, we will finish our discussion of The 39 Steps and will also have a final exam. This exam will look more like a game of Jeopardy.  No studying will be required; on the other hand, students have mentioned that treat would be nice, so they may bring something to share with the class.

Finally, I have one writing assignment for this class.  I've so enjoyed our discussions and love the dynamic of thinking as a group about a piece of literature and haven't assigned any writing connected to our reading.  However, I do want them to take some time and reflect back on the semester and write a short Reflection Paper.  This doesn't need to be long, or perfectly written, but I want them to take some time and think about what and how they have learned this year.  (I wrote a blog post a few years ago, "The Value of Reflection Papers" that might be helpful to read.)  For these papers, students should include the following
Paragraph #1 -- Answer the question, "What have you learned this year?"  (They can do this with a mix of sentences and lists.)
Paragraph #2 -- Answer the question, "What have you learned about yourself as a student/writer this year?"
Paragraph #3 -- Answer the question, "What did you like or not like in the class?  What worked well for you and what didn't?"
Extra Credit -- Draw a picture of anything that will remind me of the class or of you!


Assignments for this week:
-- Finish The 39 Steps
-- Reflection Paper

Links for this week:
Class Notes
Background to 39 Steps 


Looking forward to our class,
Mrs. Prichard

Thursday, April 26, 2018

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 26)

Greetings!

We enjoyed another good discussion about our literature this week.  We've reached the end of a classic from the turn of the century, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.  As we read  quality works, we not only discuss themes, character development, and plots as they appear in the literature, but we also talk about the same ideas and how we see them reflected in our own lives.

I appreciate the discussion questions that they bring to class.  Every week, each one of them has a good set of insightful questions that promotes our lively discussions and helps us unpack our reading selection.

We are beginning our final book for this class:  The Thirty-Nine Steps.  This adventure novel written by Scottish author, John Buchan, is one of the first espionage thrillers.  His main character, Richard Hannay, has been described as a cross between Sherlock Holmes and James Bond.  It first appeared in 1915 as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine.  According to one commentary, this book would not have been a success "without Buchan's brisk characterization, loving evocation of Scottish landscape and his switchblade prose."    

I forgot to mention in class that for the last week I will be assigning the students a reflection paper.  This is their only writing assignment for the semester.  Also, we will have a final test on the last day.  But no worries, it will be in the form of a game!

Assignment for Next Week:
-- Read p. 1 - 42
-- Write 3 Discussion Questions

Links for this week:
Class Notes


Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Prichard

Thursday, April 19, 2018

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 12 (April 19)

Greetings!

We are once again in the realm of drama, reading George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.  The title of the play is taken from the Greek myth about the Pygmalion, a man who hated women.  However, he found himself lonely, so he carved a statue of a woman.  Then, he fell in love with the statue and whined to Venus to give the statue life.  Venus did, and Pygmalion and his lady statue lived happily ever after.

For this week we read the first three acts of the drama.  Unlike Shakespeare, Shaw includes lots of stage directions and editorial commentary.  Our discussion questions had us talking about what changes might happen to Eliza and what Higgins was like.  We read aloud a number of passages.  For next week, we'll read the the rest of the play.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read Acts IV and V
-- Read the ending, p. 72 - 82.
-- Write 3 Discussion Questions

Friday, April 13, 2018

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 11 (April 12)

Greetings!

This week in British Literature is one of my favorites for a number of reasons:  I love talking about poetry, we talk about one of my favorite poems, "The Lady of Shalott," and students spend part of the class time illustrating the poem, coming up with their own unique renditions.

Tennyson's poem, "The Lady of Shalott" is about a woman confined to a tower on a small island in a river that runs towards Camelot.  She can't directly look out of the window, but she watches the world go by via a mirror.  She weaves what she sees into a tapestry.  Finally, she "tires of shadows" and looks out the window.  (You'll have the read the poem or ask your student to find out what happens.)

For our class period, each student took a  portion of the poem to illustrate.  

     

   
This marks the end of our poetry section, and we are on to our next book, George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.  If you are familiar with the musical My Fair Lady, then you will know this story.  They are to read the first half of the play for next week.

Assignments for next week:
-- Read Acts I, II, and III
-- Bring 3 discussion questions to class

Links for this week:
-- Class Notes
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Prichard

Sunday, April 8, 2018

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 10 (April 5)

Greetings!

We had a good class discussion this week.  Every week, the ability to analyze the literature (prose and poetry) and the comfort level in the class increases, resulting in great insights and discussions.

This week students read poetry from the Romantic period, and in class we focused on four poems:  "The Chimney-Sweeper" from Songs of Innocence and "The Chimney-Sweeper" from Songs of Experience (both by William Blake); "She Walks in Beauty" (Lord Byron); and "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (John Keats). 

I love talking about the Keats poem because it has some good visual images but it also challenges the readers to contemplate
art within art
real time vs. slow'frozen time
the consequences of an action the never stops or never happens
What is art?  the urn, the poem, or our imagination?

Next week, we will be discussing Victorian poetry.  As with last week, studnets should read all of the poems but concentrate on the following ones:  
The Lady of Shalott (Tennyson)
My Last Duchess (Browning)
God's Grandeur (Hopkins)

Links this Week
Class Notes

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

Friday, March 23, 2018

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 9 (March 22)

Greetings!

Well, we've done it.  We've finished Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.  Everyone should always pat themselves on the back when they finish a Dickens book.  These books are long and complicated, and readers need to be committed and work hard to get to the end.  We started our conversation with a discussion of the themes.  I've included a picture of the board with our list and comments.  (Note:  Every week we fill the white board with our discussion questions and make notes of our answers and comments.)

Now that we've finished this thick piece of fiction, we're on to writing that intentionally uses fewer words to express ideas -- poetry.  Our first poetry readings are from the Romantic period.  No, this does not mean that all of the poems are love poems.  The Romantic period literature was more idealistic and took a more sensory view of life. 

I don't have a book for this section but have instead put together a collection of poems that I feel are representative.  Attached is the handout, in addition to some information about reading poetry and about Romantic poetry. 

Students can read all of the poetry, but the ones I've selected to discuss are as follows:
Blake's 2 Chimney Sweeper poems
Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"
Byron's "She Walks in Beauty"
Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn"

A note about discussion questions:  Because this is a discussion-based class, not a lecture-based class, these questions serve as the basis of our class time.  They help us think about and analyze the literature.  Make sure you come to class with questions prepared.


Assignments for April 5
-- Read the poems listed above
-- Read the information about poetry and the Romantic Period
-- Write 1 discussion question per poem


Links for This Week
Class Notes

Have a WONDERFUL Spring Break!
Mrs. Prichard

Monday, March 12, 2018

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 7 (March 8)

Greetings!
Hopefully by this time in the week students have been plugging away with their reading.  Because Great Expectations is such a long book and the pages are fairly dense reading, it's best to do a little every day.  Sitting down and reading almost a hundred pages in a day would be very overwhelming
Last week our reading took us from Pip as a young boy to a Pip as a young man who has suddenly come into some money, his "great expectations."  We figuratively traveled with him from the forge to the city of London.  While our discussion last week centered a lot on the unusual family of the Pockets, we also noted Pip's attitude towards Joe and Biddy and met some new characters:  Mr. Jaggers, Mr. Wemmick, Bentley Drummle, and Herbert Pocket.  This week's reading will continue to add more information about these characters.  (Mr. Wemmick is one of my favorites!)
For those who have been including some audio versions of the book into their reading, continue to do so. 
Our discussion leader for next week is Caleb.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read pages 191 to 286
-- Write 3 discussion questions

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

Friday, March 2, 2018

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 6 (March 1)

Greetings!

A week off from class was a nice break, but it is also good to be back to our CHAT classes.  

We've started on our longest book of the semester, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.  This is not only a long book, it is a rich book of colorful characters and a unique plot that twists and turns.  We took time today to read aloud some portions and to discuss the qualities of Pip, Mrs. Joe, Joe Gargery, Miss Havisham, and Uncle Pumblechook.    

In class I mentioned some media sources, which I will include here, but I would like to caution students to NOT watch any videos as a substitute for reading the text.  A number of the current films do not remain true to the original novel.

Another helpful option is a free recording of Great Expectations on iTunes.  Even though I've read the book several times, listening to it caused various sections to "pop out."  It seemed as if my brain responded differently when listening than it did while reading.  You can go to the Librivox website to find the same version that I've been listening to.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read Great Expectations, p. 96 - 191
-- Bring 3 Discussion Questions
-- Next Week's Discussion Leader -- Daniel

Links for this week:
Class Notes


Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Prichard

Friday, February 16, 2018

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 5 (February 15)

Greetings!

We had a great discussion this week as we finished up Much Ado About Nothing.  Many of the topics covered the previous week re-emerged as the plot unfolded.  We watched some scenes from the 1993 film version with Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Robert Sean Leonard, and Denzel Washington.  (This is my favorite version of the play!)  We discussed honor & virtue, double standards between men and women, deceit, love, and communication.  It should be noted that most contemporary romantic comedies follow the pattern set down by Shakespeare:  boy meets girl; boy and girl can't stand each other; boy and girl eventually fall in love.

This week we also had our first student discussion leader, Daniel.  He did a great job, and I am looking forward to future classes in which students take a more active role in our discussions.

Our next piece of literature is going to be our hardest, primarily because it's the longest.  We will take the next four weeks to read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.  Students will need to read at least 90 pages a week.  To do this, I recommend they read a little bit each day.  They won't want to leave it until the day before class.  If it helps, they can listen to audio versions of the book.

I handed out to the students some background information about our book and about Charles Dickens.  I also gave them some explanations about the Victorian era of literature.

We don't have class next week.  Our next class is on March 2.

Assignments for March 3:
-- Read p. 1 - 96 of Great Expectations
-- 3 Discussion Questions

Links for this week:

Have a great weekend and a good break!
Mrs. Prichard

Great Expectations at a Glance

Charles Dickens's Great Expectations tells the story of Pip, an English orphan who rises to wealth, deserts his true friends, and becomes humbled by his own arrogance. It also introduces one of the more colorful characters in literature: Miss Havisham. Charles Dickens set Great Expectations during the time that England was becoming a wealthy world power. Machines were making factories more productive, yet people lived in awful conditions, and such themes carry into the story.

Written by: Charles Dickens
Type of Work: serial story turned novel
Genres: bildungsroman; Victorian Literature; social commentary
First Published: December 1860–April 1861 in weekly installments to a magazine; July 1861 as a novel in 3 volumes; November 1862 as a whole novel
Setting: Early 1800s; London, England, and around the marshes of Kent
Major Thematic Topics: good versus evil; moral redemption from sin; wealth and its equal power to help or corrupt; personal responsibility; awareness and acceptance of consequences from one's choices; abandonment; guilt; shame; desire; secrecy; gratitude; ambition; obsession/emotional manipulation versus real love; class structure and social rules; snobbery; child exploitation; the corruption and problems of the educational and legal systems; the need for prison reform; religious attitudes of the time; the effect of the increasing trade and industrialization on people's lives; the Victorian work ethic (or lack thereof)
Motifs: sense of location; criminals; social expectations
Major Symbols: Miss Havisham's house; money

The three most important aspects of Great Expectations:
Great Expectations is a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel. Other examples of this form include Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Great Expectations is unusual in that its main character, Pip, is often hard to sympathize with because of his snobbery and the resulting bad behavior he exhibits toward some of the other characters, like Joe Gargery.
Like much of Charles Dickens's work, Great Expectations was first published in a popular magazine, in regular installments of a few chapters each. Many of the novel's chapters end with a lack of dramatic resolution, which was intended to encourage readers to buy the next installment.
Over the years since the novel's publication, many critics have objected to its happy ending, with its implication that Pip and Estella will marry; these critics have said that such a conclusion is inconsistent with the characters as we have come to know them. In fact, Dickens originally wrote an ending in which Pip and Estella meet and then part forever after a few conciliatory words.


Ways into Great Expectations
Once you have read through the novel, you should identify subjects for study. We can arrange these in categories.
·         One would be characters and their relationships. In this novel many of the characters are best considered in pairs, as they resemble or are mirror images of others. Try and arrange them into pairs or small groups.
·         Another category is themes. Themes are important ideas, which recur through the novel; often they are connected with particular characters. What, in your view, are the important ideas in this novel?
·         The third category is perhaps the hardest of the three to consider: this is the author's technique, how the story is told. Technique includes:
o   the plot and structure;
o   the style of narrative and dialogue;
o   the viewpoint of the narrative;

o   symbolism and imagery, and other decorative or "poetic" features. 

Charles Dickens -- Biography

Early Years
In spite of humble beginnings, little education, and the sometimes-critical literary reviewers, Charles Dickens was loved by his public, and amassed wealth, prestige, and a large legacy of published works. He was one of the few writers to enjoy both popular acceptance and financial success while still alive. The drive for this success had its roots in his childhood.
Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England on Friday, February 7, 1812. He was the second of eight children born to John and Elizabeth Dickens. His father, John, was the son of illiterate servants. John Dickens managed to escape a similar fate when the family his parents worked for got him a job in a navy pay office. John continued his upward climb by keeping his own lowly background a secret and courting Elizabeth Barrow, the daughter of a wealthy senior clerk who worked there. The marriage succeeded, but John's hopes for further advancement fizzled when his father-in-law was accused of embezzlement and fled the country. The loss of this financial opportunity did not slow the spending habits of John and Elizabeth, who liked the upper-class lifestyle. This problem would be their downfall as time went on.
During Charles Dickens' early years, his family moved a great deal due to his father's job and spending habits. He recalled later that the best time of his childhood was their five years in Chatham, where they moved when Dickens was five, and where life was stable and happy. Dickens loved the area, learned to read, and was sent to school.
However his father's financial problems required a move to smaller quarters in London when Dickens was ten. Their four-room home was cramped, creditors called frequently trying to collect payments, and Dickens' parents alternated between the stress of survival and the gaiety of continuing to party. Dickens wanted to return to school but was instead sent to work at the age of twelve to help support the family.
For twelve hours a day, six days a week, Charles Dickens pasted labels to bottles of shoe polish at the rat-infested, dilapidated Warren's Blacking factory. He was ridiculed and harassed by the older, bigger workers and shamed by the stigma of working in such filthy, low-class surroundings. Intellectually frustrated, resentful of his older sister (who was studying at the Royal Academy of Music), and hurt by his parents' lack of interest in his education, Dickens despaired.
When his father was arrested for nonpayment of a debt, Dickens' mother and younger siblings moved into prison with his father, leaving the twelve-year-old alone on the outside to continue working. His older sister remained at the music academy. Lonely, scared, and abandoned, Dickens lived in a run-down neighborhood close to the prison so that he could visit his family. It was a firsthand experience of poverty and prison life and a reinforcement of the considerable insecurity and emotional abandonment that marked his childhood.
A small inheritance a few months later allowed his family to leave prison. Dickens was finally allowed to attend school over his mother's objections — she did not want to lose his income. School was short-lived though: At fifteen, Dickens had to return to work. Dickens never got over the time he spent at Warren's and his fierce sense of betrayal and rage at his mother's callousness stayed with him for life. Recalling that time, he said: "I never afterwards forgot, I never shall forget, I never can forget, that my mother was warm for my being sent back [to Warren's Blacking]."

Education
In the strictest sense, Dickens' formal education was limited. His mother taught him to read when he was a young boy, and his early education was of a self-taught nature. By the age of ten, he had devoured novels such as Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, and Miguel Cervantes' Don Quixote. At nine, he experimented with writing a play for his family and called it Misnar, the Sultan of India.
In 1821, Dickens attended the Giles Academy in Chatham for about one year. Later, when he was twelve, he attended the Wellington House Academy in London. At fifteen, family problems required him to return to work, and so his last "schooling" was again, self-taught. He purchased a reading ticket to the British Museum at eighteen and immersed himself in its large library. He also taught himself shorthand.

Jobs
For seven years after Dickens left Wellington House, he lived at home and worked at various jobs. He spent the first two years as a law clerk. After learning shorthand he spent four years as a legal reporter, then as a shorthand reporter in Parliament. In 1834 he joined the staff of the Morning Chronicle as a news reporter covering elections, Parliament, and other political events. Dickens also spent some of his time involved in the theater, and he also began to write for publication. His adulthood was marked by a feverish work pace and a desire to achieve.

Love and Family
At eighteen Dickens met Maria Beadnell, the daughter of a rich banker. She was two years older, beautiful — he fell totally in love. He wrote to her: "I never have loved and I never can love any human creature breathing but yourself." Though the relationship went well for a while, she lost interest in him after returning from finishing school in Paris. Dickens' friend and biographer, John Forster, was at first surprised that Dickens was so affected by this relationship, a pain that continued even years later. But Forster realized that this was fueled by a deep sense of social inferiority. Dickens was determined to succeed beyond everyone's wildest dreams and show them how wrong they were about him. Interestingly enough, he met Maria again years later. Eagerly looking forward to his meeting with her, and expecting the desirable vision of his youth, he was crushed when a middle-aged woman resembling his wife showed up. As his sister-in-law happily put it, Maria "had become very fat!"
In 1834, Dickens met Catherine Hogarth, the oldest daughter of the Morning Chronicle's editor, George Hogarth. Hogarth had favorably reviewed Dickens' work, Sketches by Boz, and the two men had become friends. Charles and Catherine were engaged in 1895 and married in 1836. It was a strange courtship: While the two held each other in affection and Catherine share his interest in a family, the courtship lacked the passion of his relationship with Beadnell. Dickens often broke dates with Catherine to meet work deadlines and sent her reprimanding letters if she protested.
As time went on their differences grew more apparent. Catherine was not outgoing or socially poised, and she avoided the public and social events her husband attended. In addition, Catherine's younger sister, Mary, had come to live with them shortly after their marriage. Dickens was very attached to Mary and when she died suddenly in 1838 at the age of seventeen, he was devastated. His enduring grief over her death incurred his wife's jealousy. Mary, adored by Charles Dickens, would show up again and again as a character in his works.
In time, another seventeen-year-old would steal his heart. Middle-aged, hard working, and disillusioned with his marriage, Dickens met Ellen Ternan, an actress in one of his plays. She was everything his wife was not: lovely, young, and slim. Catherine, with ten pregnancies, had grown stout, and at forty-three could not compete with the younger woman. It did not take long for the marriage to dissolve, resulting in something of a scandal at the time. Catherine, rejected by her husband, left the family home. The children rarely saw her because they stayed with Dickens, and she died in 1879, nine years after he. Dickens spent the rest of his life maintaining a secret relationship with Ternan.

Literary Writing and the Rest of Life
During his early working years, Dickens had started writing short pieces or "sketches." Some were stories; others, descriptions of places in London, such as Newgate Prison or the shopping districts. One of these, "A Dinner at Poplar Walk," was published in 1833 in the Monthly Magazine. It was an emotional and exciting moment for the young writer even though he received no payment or credit for that first article. The magazine requested more and he started using the pen name, Boz. In 1836, he published a collection of sixty of these pieces in a book called Sketches by Boz. It received critical praise and sales were good. Monthly Magazine then asked Dickens to write a humorous novel that they would publish in twenty installments. Thus, Dickens' novel Pickwick Papers was born.
By the fourth installment of Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens was a dramatic success. People at all levels of society loved him. The acclaim only fueled his intensity. While still working on Pickwick Papers, Dickens started a much darker novel, Oliver Twist. It was a social criticism of the exploitation of orphans both in institutions and on the streets. Not to be slowed, he began Nicholas Nickleby when Oliver Twist was only half-finished. Nickleby combined both the humor of his first novel with the criticism of his second, focusing on the corruption of private boarding schools.
His grief over the death of his sister-in-law, Mary, probably served as the basis for the character, Little Nell, in his next novel, The Old Curiosity Shop. His readers followed the story closely especially when Nell became sick — many, desperately hoping she would not die, begged the publisher to spare her. Barnaby Rudge was Dickens' next novel, a historical novel set in England during the French Revolution.
In 1842, Dickens and his wife traveled through America. He found himself crushed with admirers to the point of feeling oppressed by his fame. In addition, the attitudes and vanity of some of the Americans disturbed him, especially with regard to slavery, and he was frustrated by the lack of copyright protection in the States — many of his works were being published there without any payment to him. When he returned home, Dickens wrote American Notes. While polite, Dickens' feelings about America were nevertheless obvious. American critics were, as you may expect, hostile.
His next works were a series of five Christmas stories, of which "A Christmas Carol" was the most successful. Martin Chuzzlewit, a more direct attack on America and its attitudes, followed. Dickens also spent time creating and editing a newspaper, the Daily News, and acting in a number of amateur theater productions. At this same time, he had a number of flirtations with other women and his marriage was crumbling. Concentration and sleep suffered, so much so that his seventh novel, Dombey and Son, took a great deal of time and struggle to finish. However, the slower pace didn't diminish the quality of Dickens work: Philip Collins called Dombey and Son Dickens' "first mature masterpiece."
This period was marked by a number of painful personal experiences: the death of his older sister, Fanny, in 1848; Catherine's nervous breakdown in 1850 after the birth of their daughter Dora Annie; the 1851 death of Dora; and the death of Dickens' father, John, in 1851. Yet during this period, Dickens achieved a major turning point in his writing: David Copperfield. Lawrence Kappel, a modern reviewer, crystallizes the achievement:
"For the first time, he conceived a hero who could survive in the midst of the problem-filled world of experience by using his artistic imagination, like Dickens himself. This autobiographical novel was a celebration of the artist's ability to cope with the world right in the center of it, as opposed to just surviving the world by retreating to some safe place at the edge of it, as Dickens' earlier heroes had done."
The next several years would bring the publication of Dickens' next three novels — Bleak House, Hard Times, and Little Dorrit — as well as the anguish and personal scandal of his involvement with Ellen Ternan and his divorce from Catherine. The novels were darker than anything he had previously written and their focus was mostly social criticism: Bleak House's criticism targeted the legal system (it may have been the first detective novel published in English), Hard Times hit the government, and Little Dorritt aimed at the problems of society's class structure. This period also saw Dickens become involved in more theatrical productions, start a weekly magazine, Household Words, and give public readings of his works.
In 1859, after a dispute with the publishers of Household Words, Dickens left and started another magazine, All the Year Round. The first issue carried the first installment of his next novel, A Tale of Two Cities. Like Barnaby Rudge it was a historical novel, set in France during the riotous 1770s and 1780s. The novel was popular with his readers, but did not receive much critical acclaim. Struggling to improve the magazine's circulation and revenue, Dickens hit gold and a financial rescue with his next novel: Great Expectations. In spite of a mixed reception by reviewers, the reading public loved it — many proclaimed it to be his best work.
Also during this time, Dickens burned most of his letters and papers: In his success, he did not want anyone to make his life more interesting than his novels. By destroying his notes, he effectively took his insights regarding his works to the grave, leaving the interpretations of his stories up to his literary critics and readers.

           After Great Expectations, Dickens began work on his last complete novel, Our Mutual Friend. It was a return to Dickens' darker style: social criticism was of a corrupt society, with London's dumps and polluted river symbolizing a modern industrial wasteland. Dickens continued to chain-smoke and overwork, maintaining a heavy public-reading schedule as well as national and international tours. From 1865 until his death, Dickens experienced a number of health problems, including a possible heart attack and a series of small strokes. The work he began in 1869, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was never finished — on June 8, 1870 he suffered an apparent cerebral hemorrhage, collapsing on the floor after dinner. He died the next day.

Great Expectations -- Plot, Theme, and Style

PLOT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS
            Charles Dickens is said to have explored a new ground in his novel, Great Expectations. The theme of self-knowledge explored in the novel expresses in part Dickens’ own search for a sense of self. May readers and historians have suggested that Pip has a touch of Dickens in him, making the fictional book feel almost autobiographical.
            Structurally, the novel is a narration by a mature and retrospective Pip. It is divided into three distinct “stages,” each labeled as a specific “stage of Pip’s expectations.” In chronological fashion, these chapters trace Pip’s progress from industrious obscurity as a child through willful idleness as an adolescent and young adult, to a resigned and modest acceptance of his true place in society. This is an obvious variation on the picaresque theme and carries with it many of the significant overtones of earlier picaresque novels.
            The first stage introduces all the major characters and sets the plot in motion. Pip’s situation is developed fully, including the first seeds of his desire to be “uncommon.” It leads to the revelation by Mr. Jaggers, the lawyer, that Pip is to inherit a huge fortune and become a gentleman. It is something Pip considers as miraculous, though mysterious, as his patron’s identity is not to be revealed for the time being. Mr. Jaggers only imparts to him that his benefactor has great expectations from him and so with the support of his anonymous provider, Pip’s expectations of himself also rise, and the action shifts to London.
            The second stage of Pip’s expectations, therefore, has a change of setting. In this section, Pip’s development into a “gentleman” is explored. It describes the spendthrift and idle way Pip squanders wealth and what kind of person he has become. On the surface of things, Pip believes that he is living up to his great expectations. He also expects to have Estella’s hand in marriage. But this stage of his expectations is brutally shattered when Magwitch discloses his identity to Pip.
            The third stage of Pip’s expectations explores the complete collapse of Pip’s great expectations, which are replaced by a more mature sense of life and respectability. This section primarily constitutes his transformation, which has been at the heart of the novel. Such a pattern of growth, development and re-education reflects the Bildungsroman tradition of Great Expectations.
            The novel, though divided into these three stages, is further divided into episodic chapters due to the publication of the novel serially. Each chapter must necessarily have a complete movement as well as some sort of trigger that will induce the reader to buy the magazine the following week in order to see what will happen next.

THEMES - THEME ANALYSIS
            Pip’s great expectations are a dramatized exploration of human growth and the pressures that distort the potential of an ordinary individual, especially in the process of growing up. Pip is a simple blacksmith’s boy who aspires to cross social boundaries when he realizes his own upbringing is common; however, he has no means to change. Mysteriously, he is given the means, but wealth only brings with it idleness. He learns that happiness in life can be achieved only by hard work and that great expectations not grounded in reality can only lead to tragedy and heartache.
            Part of this theme is an exploration of the dignity of labor. Pip initially feels ashamed to associate himself with Joe but later realizes that hard work brings honor to a man. As for honor, Pip realizes the importance of traits like loyalty and kindness, and eventually understands that no amount of money can make up for the lack of those traits. Supplementary to this theme is the sharp juxtaposition of appearance and reality, as well as the traditional notion that pride comes before a fall. Pip learns valuable lessons from his misguided assumptions. And his pride causes him to do things he is later ashamed of. A final thematic consideration is the belief that goodness is always able to supplant evil, even in characters like Miss Havisham. Mrs. Joe, Magwitch, Estella, and Pip are further examples of characters whose inherent goodness is apparent despite their wrongdoings.
            Essentially, it is a novel about contentment and humility, as well as honor. The thematic notion of great expectations touches on every aspect of common emotions like pride, ambition, envy, greed, and arrogance. The lesson Pip learns is that one should never presume he is better than another. As Joe tells him, it is far better to be uncommon on the inside than the outside. A person’s possessions do not matter as much as a person’s actions.

AUTHOR'S STYLE
            Dickens has shaped Great Expectations on the lines of the Bildungsroman genre, which closely follows the inner growth of a protagonist from his childhood to middle age. In many respects, it contains themes and emotions directly related to the author’s experience. However, the fictional nature of the story allows Pip to relate incidents and events that are similar to sensitive spots in Dickens’ own life without becoming too deeply involved in the narration himself. For instance, the description of Pip’s childhood has some affinity with Dickens own life. Also, Estella seems directly inspired from Maria Beadwell, a lady whom Dickens loved; Beadwell snubbed him coldly because of his low social status.
            Great Expectations boasts a carefully designed structure in three emergent stages. The simplicity of childhood memories in stage one is reflected in the generally direct narrative style. In contrast, the texture of stage three is much more complex, because as the action accelerates, substantial information about the histories of Magwitch, Compeyson, Miss Havisham and Estella are revealed.
            Great Expectations is a rich text illustrative of Dickens’ gift for realistic and dramatic speech. The author carefully studied the mannerisms of people and reported them in the depictions of his characters. Joe is a good example. The speech patterns he uses characterize him well and endear him to the reader much more than mere incidents or descriptions that describe him to be soft hearted.
            A novel with a vast range of subject and incident like that in Great Expectations has to be written carefully, paying great attention to unity and detail. Of all Dickens’ works, this one is generally thought to be the best. The fine tapestry of the novel is woven with vivid scenes of London as well as misty recollections of the marshlands. The haunted stagnancy of Satis House is an ever-present character in and of itself. In the midst of all this graphic description and palpable action, there is also an internal transformation taking place, one in which Pip learns to appreciate his true self and position in society. The varied texture of the novel in all these aspects sustains and maintains the interest of the reader, highlighting the completely balanced style of Dickens as a master craftsman.


Friday, February 9, 2018

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 4 (February 8)

Greetings!

We had a good discussion in class.  We've progressed almost 600 years from the writing of Beowulf to Shakespeare's late 1500s.  Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets.  Although he's known for his rhyming, the play that I've chosen for us to read, Much Ado About Nothing, is not written in verse. 
Image result for shakespeare
  While this is not one of Shakespeare's more complex plays, I feel that as a group we are able to dig a little deeper into the motivations and themes.  This week we discussed Benedick's and Beatrice's relationship, the idea of lies, spying, and overheard conversations, the theme of masks and mistaken identity, and character development.

For those who are interested, Librivox has an audiobook for the whole play.  Feel free to listen to this recording with the book in hand.

Next week will finish Much Ado and introduce Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. 


As I mentioned at the beginning of the semester, students will be taking turns leading the discussions.  I've modeled how to discuss the book and tie in the various questions that students bring to class.  Below is the discussion leader schedule:
Week 4 (2/8) -- Mrs. Prichard
Week 5 (2/15) -- Daniel
Week 6 (3/1) -- Mrs. Prichard
Week 7 (3/8) -- Daniel
Week 8 (3/15) -- Caleb
Week 9 (3/22) -- Sam
Week 10 (4/5) -- Mrs. Prichard & Daniel
Week 11 (4/12) -- Mrs. Prichard & Caleb
Week 12 (4/19) -- Mrs. Prichard
Week 13 (4/26) -- Sam
Week 14 (5/3) -- Mrs. Prichard
Week 15 (5/10) -- Caleb & Sam


Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read Acts III, IV, & V of Much Ado  (Make sure you get your reading done!)
-- Write 3 Discussion Questions

Links for this Week:
Class Notes
Utah University Much Ado performance (Latin American setting)
Bexhill Theater Performance  (1945 setting)

Have a great weekend,
Mrs. Prichard

Sunday, February 4, 2018

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 3 (February 1)

Greetings!

We had a great time in class with all 3 of our students!  At first I wondered if we would be able to fill the whole class time with only 3 students, but they have done a wonderful time filling up the class time with insightful comments and questions.

We finished Beowulf this week and discussed the final three quests of the book:  Grendel's mother and the dragon guarding a treasure.  This book in the form of prose is not the most stylistic piece of literature, but the themes and story are an important parts if the literary history of Britain.

Our next week we will start Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.  This is one of the most enjoyable of the Shakespeare plays; rather than verse, it's written in prose.  The plot line has been copied by numerous stories and movies.  They should read Acts I, II, and III.

I also gave the students the book that follows the Shakespeare play, Dickens's Great Expectations, so that the students have it and can start in early with their reading.

Assignments for Next Week
-- Read Acts I, II, and III
-- Write 3 Discussion Questions


Links for This Week
Class Notes


If you're watching the Super Bowl, enjoy.
Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

Monday, January 29, 2018

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 2 (January 25)

Greetings!

My apologies for the lateness of these Class Notes.  I usually send them out before the weekend is over, but it just didn't happen this week.  Unlike my other classes that have a variety of types of assignments, the homework is pretty straightforward for this class:  Read the assigned sections and come up with some thought-provoking discussion questions.

This past week we worked through the first part of the classic Beowulf.  I've chosen a prose version of this story rather than the epic verse version because I thought the story would be easier to understand.  If you are interested in reading a poetic version, Seamus Heaney has the best translation, and here is a link to a PDF version.  

During or last class, we used the questions from the study guide for our discussions.  These questions modeled the types of questions that I would like the students to write themselves.  Simple questions that help us make sure we have the basics down (i.e. who, what, when, where),  but I would like the students to go beyond comprehension questions, asking questions that start with "How" or "Why."  (If you're interested, Bloom's Taxonomy describes the levels of thinking abilities that progress from basic to higher order critical thinking, and this website has a great chart that I've used in composing study guides.)

We've only had two weeks together, but I'm pleased with our discussions.  Even with a small class, we've kept ourselves engaged up until the end of our time.  Way to go, students!  Below are some helpful and interesting short videos related to the story of Beowulf.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Finish Beowulf
-- Write 3 Discussion Questions (These must be written out and ready to hand in)

Links for This Week:
Class Notes

Happy Reading & Stay Warm!
Mrs. Prichard

Friday, January 19, 2018

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 1 (January 18)

Greetings!

Welcome to British Literature.  We've had a great start to this class.  This is one of my favorite classes to teach; I love British literature, and I love discussing it with students  This is a small class this semester, only 3 students, but I have high hopes for the quality discussions that we will have!

We began our class with a Quick Write, in which I wanted the students to respond to the question, "What is your favorite book and why?"  We then discussed the elements of quality literature and determined that books that stand the test of time do so because of the story they tell and the style that they tell it in.  

Our first book is a prose version of the ancient story, Beowulf.  Written as heroic poetry, I have the students read a prose version because for the sake of this class, I choose to focus on the story rather than the poetic style that it was originally written.  Written some time between the 8th and 11th centuries, this work had been somewhat forgotten until J.R.R. Tolkein revitalized the study of it, not only because of its literary qualities, but also because of its linguistic and historic aspects.  One of the key parts of this class is our group discussions about the literature that we're reading.  My favorite aspect of these discussions is that students will bring discussion questions to class.  Rather than answer questions from a study guide that I provide, they are to read the material and come up with their own questions that they feel would be good to "mull over" in a discussion.  While we will talk about the specific details of the plot and characters, these questions should aimed at more critical thinking and analysis topics.  In other words, "how" and "why" questions.  As the students read the first portion of the book, they are also to pay attention the themes (see this page from Sparks Notes)  

For those new to my classes, I send out weekly Class Notes to let parents know what we did in class and to remind students about the assignments, along with any attachments for that week.  I also put the Class Notes and the content for any handouts on a blog for this class.  Finally, I have a Google Drive  folder that also has copies of the handouts.

I forgot to mention to the class that I have PDFs of coloring pages for the story of Beowulf on the shared Google Drive.  I will bring some copies to class next week, but students can follow this link to view the pages and print any that they want.

This week's links:
Class Notes

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read p. 1 - 30 of Beowulf
-- 3 Discussion Questions:  Either answer questions from the Beowulf worksheet or write your own questions.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Spring Syllabus, 2018



Literature
Reading Assignment Due this Week
Writing
Assignment Due this Week
Week 1 (1/18)
Brief timeline of British History;
Introduce Beowulf

Week 2 (1/25)
Discuss Beowulf;
Read History of English Literature (I & II)
Read p. 1 – 30; 3 Discussion Questions
Week 3 (2/1)
Discuss Beowulf;
Introduce Much Ado About Nothing
Read History of English Literature (III)
Read p. 30 – 57; 3 Discussion Questions
Week 4 (2/8)
Discuss Much Ado About Nothing
Read History of English Literature (IV)
Read Acts I, II & III; 3 Discussion Questions
Week 5 (2/15)
Discuss Much Ado About Nothing
Introduce Great Expectations
Read Acts IV & V; 3 Discussion Questions
Read History of English Literature (VII)
Week 6 (3/1)
Discuss Great Expectations
Read p. 1 – 96; 3 Discussion Questions
Week 7 (3/8)
Discuss Great Expectations
Read p. 96 – 191; 3 Discussion Questions
Week 8 (3/15)
Discuss Great Expectations
Read p. 191 – 286; 3 Discussion Questions
Week 9 (3/22)
Discuss Great Expectations;
Introduce Poetry
Read p. 286 – 380; 3 Discussion Questions
Week 10 (4/5)
Discuss Poetry (Romantic & Metaphysical Poets)
Read History of English Literature (VI)
Poetry selections TBD; 3 Discussion Questions
Week 11 (4/12)
Discuss Poetry (Victorian Poets);
Introduce Pygmalion
Read History of English Literature (VII)
Poetry selections TBD; 3 Discussion Questions
Week 12 (4/19)
Discuss Pygmalion
Read Acts I, II & III; 3 Discussion Questions
Week 13 (4/26)
Discuss Pygmalion;
Introduce 39 Steps
Read Acts IV & V; 3 Discussion Questions
Week 14 (5/3)
Discuss 39 Steps
Read p. 1 – 42; 3 Discussion Questions
Week 15 (5/10)
Discuss 39 Steps
Read p. 43 – 88; 3 Discussion Questions
Reflection Paper