Essay Plans - History Boys

Mrs Lintott – History boys

·         Doesn’t have a major role in the play

·         Only female character, more impact on the female in society

·         Doesn’t get too involved in Hector and Irwins discussions

·         Doesn’t want to show students her personal side and human face and tries to remain in a teaching position rather than interacting on a more personal friendly level such as Hector does

·         Always ready in conversation to defend herself

·         Gives advice to Irwin often on a sympathetic level

·         Seen as a woman in a man’s world

·         Mrs Lintott seen as a feminist

·         “History is women following behind with a bucket”

How does Bennett use Mrs Lintott to highlight the position of women in society? In your response you should refer to at least two other episodes from the play. (40)

Bennett uses the character of Mrs Lintott to emphasize the position of women in education and in society through the use of her minimal dialogue, strong controversial views and minimal personal relationship with the boys. One way Bennett frequently reminds us of the problems women face in society is through the boy’s use of consistent vocatives. The personal title ‘Miss’ used by the boys after most sentences, increasingly emphasises the fact that a women’s identity is held back by a male. Using the incorrect vocative ‘Miss’ towards Mrs lintott when she is married, exaggerates the level of disrespect and the pushing of boundaries by the boys. This is constantly shown through the use of reminders by the male characters in the play which downgrades her power and position and creating almost a mockery out of the fact she uses her husband’s name, seemingly to morph into a male character more than being an individual.

Presentation of 'Home' essay

Examine the presentation of the theme of ‘home’ in the first 104 pages of ‘A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius’

 

Throughout the memoir ‘A Heart-breaking Work of Staggering Genius’ Dave explores the appearance and emotion of where he lives at different stages in the memoir and describes each very differently using a range of linguistic features reflecting his experiences. The theme home is clear at every stage of the memoir however changes very often reflecting his situation and where he currently is living.

 

 In the first couple of pages in the memoir of ‘A Heart breaking Work of Staggering Genius’, Dave explores and captures the audience straight away by the way he sets the scene and describes his house. ‘The house is a factory’ straight away we understand his family set up Is unnatural and not how a home should be portrayed. The fact that this is a metaphor very certain of what the house appears to be, it’s clear that there is something wrong in the family and a significant sign that something bad is going to happen. The noun ‘factory’ emphasises a range of ideas that come under its lexical field. It explores the idea of animalistic and processed daily life that isn’t warm or homely, except tense, unwelcoming and a horrible environment. Egger describes the homes appearance through explored linguistic features. He describes the house as ‘dark’, ‘inconsistent’, ‘ugly’, ‘jumbled’, all descriptive adjectives which emphasise the look and feel of a room. The fact he describes the interior and décor in this manor shows that the inside of the homes appearance reflects the family’s situation and circumstances being wrecked and broken.

 

Again, in the very first few pages of the memoir, we are introduced to some of the characters including Dave’s mother (Heidi McSweeney Eggers) who’s name is never mentioned in the book except only referred to as ‘mother’. We don’t know yet that she is ill but Dave drops small hints that give us clues in the early stages of the book. ‘I had not cleaned up… she could not get up to check’ the fact that the mother is seriously ill, has a very powerful effect on the home environment in this section and we learn how the family cope in the house. The small, declarative sentences used by Eggers emphasise there’s not much to explain even though there is, leaving out emotion and potential descriptive language he could have used reflecting how he feels and his current emotions towards his mother which he seems to hide. ‘She does not move from the couch’ the small actions and placement of characters that Eggers explains, shows off what the life inside the home is like. There clearly is no major movement or exciting events and everything seems dull and dismal, again, adding to the unappealing life of the home. 

 

There is a contrast to how the theme of home is portrayed later on in the memoir when Dave and Toph have to find a place and live on their own without their parents. ‘ re-create domestic life from scratch’ The fact that in this particular stage in the memoir Dave Is looking forward to living on his own suggests he has longed for the freedom for a long time, something he couldn’t do when he was restricted to looking after his parents. It’s clear throughout the long description of what Dave thinks life will be like, he fantasises through the use of extreme adjectives and descriptive vocabulary to emphasise his vivid dreams. Egger uses a diagram of the new house to show the layout. There’s a strong comparison of the feeling and emotion towards the house as Dave describes how the house’s layout is perfect for ‘sock sliding’. This is a strong link to the theme of home as Eggers uses multiple linguistic features including expressive punctuation to get across happy emotions and excitement compared to the dull and restricted family home he once lived in previously. For a while the novelty continues to remain strong however soon, there is a breakdown in order.

 

The novelty of no parents, freedom and reckless attitude eventually wears off the rebellious attitudes die out and this is clear through the way Dave describes a breakdown of order and the maintenance of the house. ‘We lost our inspiration’ typically is expected from two brothers; however the fact they let standards slip shows abuse of the home they longed for. However, the fact that they are lazy in keeping their home nice suggests the idea of comfort and safety, something which to them makes a home. ‘We scrape through everyday blindly’ Because they have no parents to tell them off, or guide them with keeping typical cleanliness to a good standard suggests that they start to feel lonely and abandoned, and possibly miss how their old house was kept. This is a major contrast to the family home at the beginning of the memoir as before, the house was immaculate and always kept tidy compared to Dave’s and Toph’s house now where they face reality of living on their own which is an adult and mature thing to do, however because they cannot maintain their home suggests their still both childish and still rely on others.

 

The entropy when there is a lack of boundaries within the home and between the two brothers. ‘Don’t …not funny’ Toph in this section clearly feels unsafe around his brother’s boisterous actions in the kitchen. The fact that now, after living in the house for a while, it seems that for Toph, sometimes he doesn’t like living with his brother. This makes the house seem unsafe for a relatively small child compared to before when they both thought it was fun and great living on their own. This relates back to the theme of home as it is worrying and unnatural for a child to feel unsafe in his home. Dave throughout the memoir is conscious of how Toph feels when Dave goes out in the evening and getting to places on time however seemingly doesn’t consider the effect of his own actions. The fact there are caesuras in Tophs speech reflects hesitation showing Toph is scared of how to approach his brother.

 

Together, the theme of home is reflected in many ways throughout the first hundred pages of the memoir. It is expressed through multiple linguistic features and terminology by the author. There is a clear swap and change in how home is presented through situations that occur and events such as moving house and their parents dying that force them to change their lifestyles. There are oppositional views on home later in the book compared to really early on when they discover freedom and responsibility, however this novelty wears off as they realise how much they relied on their parents to look after the home. Emotion changes also as the book moves on which to the reader is clear reflecting the characters own emotions and unreliable author.     

The presentation of women essay plan and quotes

Examine the presentation of women in ‘AHWOSG’

Overview, quotes and plan

Throughout the memoir, Eggers uses a range of linguistic features, terminology and carefully picked words to express his feelings about women. From this, we also understand what ‘Dave’ is like as a person, how he treats others and most importantly his views on women. I believe Eggers deliberately portrays women the way he does in this memoir to reflect his personality which in times can be seen as controversial and ultimately sexist which is surprising considering his mother’s circumstances. I notice at the beginning of the memoir Dave is very careful with how he talks and acts with his mother however this respect is lost later on in the memoir when Dave is left to live on his own and therefor finds comfort in women.

 

Blue = Terminology

Pink = Meaning

 

 Page 8 – ‘I am holding the nose’ declarative, short sentence, dynamic verb, care, protectivness over mothers illness, respect, love

Page 11 – ‘Her skin is smooth, brown’ – Adverbs, short sentences, caesura to emphasize its continuous and used through an asyndetic list, shows respect for his mother, precious, caring, notices little details

Page 38 – ‘I expected someone so sweet and normal looking to find me out soon enough’ complex, expectation of others, secrecy of Dave, unreliable author, description of woman

Page 57 – ‘I don’t want to be friends with these women anyway’ Harshness, unsocial, jealousy, anger

Page 60 – ‘There better be some very impressive nude women down there’

Page 69 – ‘Busty women stop and stare’ alliteration, direct description of expectations of women, focused on looks

Page 74 – ‘the woman was not wearing any rings’ automatic assuming, only thinks about status and using the woman for a place to live, fantasy

Page 75 – ‘maybe she had a boyfriend…that secure look’

 Page 98 – ‘I was looking to score’ Dysphemism, expects a relationship, expects women to like him

Page 98 – ‘the mother and I will go upstairs and screw around while the kids play outside’

Page 98 – ‘most of the women are old enough to have mothered me’

Page 105 – ‘Kirsten and I are taking a break…meaning we (ostensibly) date other people’

Page 106 – ‘eventually we will go home together, to her apartment’ fantasising, hoping, has nights planned out, dreams of what he could be doing                

Page 107 – ‘A bad person’ assuming every woman who doesn’t follow their rules or doesn’t so a specific thing is a bad person

Page 112 – ‘I was ready to be horrified’ hyperbole, description of woman’s body      

 

 

Essay Plan

Examine the presentation of women in ‘AHWOSG’

Points to make in the essay:

• Beginning of memoir Dave is caring and respectable of his mother and he illness
• Gets defensive and jealous when at football club with mothers, can’t relate and feels everyone judges
• Takes Toph to a nudist beach for personal satisfaction, for Dave’s own entertainment, exploits Toph to the world of sex
• All about sex and looking to score a woman for himself out of desperation for a home and to feel youthful, fantasies about them all living together

Introduction

Talk about the theme of love and relationships, how it develops and mind set changes, loses respect, mother isn’t there to control or guide him with making good choices and keeping respect for women. Women are presented differently in every stage of the memoir after Dave and Toph go through a new experience. Eg. Mother’s death and moving house

Paragraph one

How the mother gets treated, there is respect for the illness and mother’s needs. Dave notices and comments on details of the mother’s appearance and actions. Here Dave clearly respects women and loves his mother very much. Page 8 – ‘I am holding the nose’ Page 11 – ‘Her skin is smooth, brown’ Relate back to theme of women commenting on how so far he seems genuine and very caring towards women, including his sisters.

Paragraph two

Meets the mothers when watching Toph at football, isn’t what he expected, reality, doesn’t want to seem like a parent like the other mothers. Doesn’t want to be friends with them, wants to be in a relationship, can’t find anyone at the places he expects to. Page 57 – ‘I don’t want to be friends with these women anyway’ relate to theme of woman as he doesn’t want to make friends, has high expectations of living on his own. Doesn’t want to accept he’s playing a parent, wants to be young still and act like a teenager. Decline in respect.

Paragraph three

Personal satisfaction and selfishness is shown. Irresponsible for Toph. Goes to a nudist beach and tries to reassure himself it’s for ‘educational purposes’ Expresses the fact Dave is only concerned about appearance and sexual fantasy. Page 60 – ‘There better be some very impressive nude women down there’ Page 69 – ‘Busty women stop and stare’ stereotypical image of a woman. Own entertainment. Relates back to theme as there’s no respect, expects woman to look how he wants, high expectations, typical young male personality, bad role model for Toph.

Paragraph four

Relates to the theme of ‘home’ also. Daves jumps too far ahead, unrealistic in finding a partner to live with. Desperation to find somewhere to live and have a happy life. Feels he needs to find someone for Toph. Page 106 – ‘eventually we will go home together, to her apartment’ Page 107 – ‘A bad person’ Page 112 – ‘I was ready to be horrified’

Conclusion

How the presentation of women changes throughout the memoir, loss of respect, bad influence on Toph, wants to act young and not step up to a parent role, jealous of other relationships, aims for sex.

In the October half term its safe to say, it was a nice break away from Brendan's life. I managed to fit in some of my favorite things to pass the time with, before its back to the madness. I love shopping, doesn't every girl? so of course I made time for a few shopping trips here and there. I love fashion enough to work in the industry and so fortunately, I increase my interest every time i'm face to face with it upon every shift. I am also interested in travelling and have been to some amazing places including all the Caribbean islands, America, Africa and Greece. Some places I would love to go in the next few years would be Dubai, New York and Italy. I have always wanted to visit the city of Verona in Italy which also happens to be my middle name (Verona) and so its only in my nature to want to know why I was named after this city.

In terms of my unique learning style, I would say I am a practical and visual learner. I love to be active when learning so I find anything project linked and visual really helpful. I find it boring and dull when I am forced to listen to a lecture for the whole time. I am really creative and perhaps that's why I love and took A level art, but I just love doing group work and developing practical skills, it helps me remember the information a whole lot better.  

To me, I cannot hear a unique accent or think I even have one, yet I know everyone has a different way of pronouncing, speaking and projecting words, therefore I figured I must have my own language in one way or another. To explain my own language, when I hardly know myself, is quite hard so I believe a little background history may help myself and others work out a little more of how my language was formed. I was born and raised in the City of Bath where I currently live. I was always told to speak 'properly', yet always questioned what 'properly' meant. I am often told I have a typical Bath accent, which I was confused about and more commonly named as 'posh' by the way I pronounced some words. However, during school there was a vast variety of cultures and backgrounds in which I mixed with and believe I picked up a few other accents and speaking habits during the 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for a period of 5 years, you're bound to have picked up something. Most of my friends were from Bristol which is why I think I speak in a combination of ways depending on the topic of conversation. Now my accents can go both ways. The main reason for warnings and telling off during school (ask anyone) was for being 'too loud' and 'all chat, no work' which I disagree on. So overall, I have no idea what my language, accent or specific way I talk is, and its very hard to pin down once you think about it.

Commentary of news paper article

The news article I have chosen to commentate on is on the subject of children and homework, a topic we are all familiar with. The title grabs the attention, especially of parents and teens who can currently relate.

  'Can't get your kids to focus on homework? Give them blueberry juice to boost their brainpower' this title captures the audience mainly from the obvious, straight to the point rhetorical question. It allows parents and mothers to automatically question whether this article would relate to them and make them want to read on to find a solution to the problem addressed. The second sentence in the title is a blunt answer to the question, which makes it seem like there's more to the point and makes the reader question this so called solution to years of problematic homework. The use of alliteration in the title creates a concise way of getting the point across. 'blueberry, boost, brainpower' all are words which allows the audience to directly understand the information given and helps to bury the words and points in their mind to help it stick and be memorable later on.

Underneath the title there are three bullet points that highlight the key ideas suggested in the article:

• Scientists believe flavanoid chemicals improve blood flow to the brain
• Primary-age children were given cognitive tests after different drinks
• They ignored distractions and performed better after consuming berries

The fact that the first bullet point is expressing that scientists and research has been involved in this article is vital because it shows there is a form of evidence and proof that this theory has been trialed and tested and has obviously gained some sort of result to make it into the news. The second bullet point shows that an experiment has been done related to this theory and the use of the word 'cognitive' expresses that the children's senses, behavior, intelligence and thinking had all been taken into consideration when trialing this. The last bullet point is brief and straight to the point without any weaknesses to the experiment being shown. The fact that these short, straight to the point bullet points are placed straight after the title makes the article more defined and eye catching, making the reader want to read these points then follow on by reading the full article. These bullet points give a quick opportunity to grab in the reader, highlight the main ideas and make the reader feel obliged to read the full thing. 

The first couple of lines in the article are again three, short sentences that explore the subject in more detail yet keep it very short, light and not in bulky paragraphs. This keeps the readers attention and doesn't allow the mind to drift and get distracted by other articles or thoughts. There is a large image after these three short sentences of a little girl picking from a pile of blueberries:

This image is also the main image when you first see the advertisement of the article. It suggests children and health, which gives clues before you even read the title. This image grabs the audience and gives them something visual to look at. There is another image further down on the article after a couple more lines of article information. The picture shows primary school children participating in class, this photo also captures the audiences attention and gives them something to break up the text which is important as it keeps the reader constantly interested. 

The article is kept very short and brief which allows it to keep the readers attention and get a point across without going in too much detail.   The use of the name 'Professor Williams' makes the theory sound more professional and reliable because of the expert name given for someone usually involved in science. Another factor included in the article that would also make it seem more true and a professional tried and tested theory is when they mention 'The study, published in the European Journal of Nutrition, used a powder made from wild berries to make the drinks' This short, simple sentence gives strong information about how this theory has been backed up by including a large company and well known authority to make the tests appear very active in a greatly recognized international industry. 

Bathing in madness

The City of Bath is like lots of cities around the country mashed into one. It's full of buzzing tourists and commuting locals combining their two views of the city together and creating one big mess. It's crisply clean town houses and pretty parks create the privileged lifestyle look we all admire Bath for.
Bath is famous for its historical sites and traditional tea rooms such as the Roman Baths and Sally Lunns Buns that attract so many keen, soul seeking individuals. Take a casual stroll to the bath abbey or the flower filled gardens and you'll know why so many find Bath so picturesque and a beautiful place to live. People from all around the world come to see Bath but the truth is, they don't know the half of it.

Living in Bath all my life, I know practically every corner and cobble of every street and I know; Bath is a two sided story. If you've ever been shopping on a Saturday in Southgate then you will know your shopping trip will be filled with endless choice and opportunity... which also includes spending half your time wading through a sea of shoppers, explaining 'sorry' every time you bash your bags into someone, and choosing which shop next when walking past an endless amount of shops ranging from ted baker to primark. The sales obsessed people of this city love a bargain, and don't let the endless ques put them off. Its like an obstacle course every time you want a bottle of water to say the least.

The Bath bus station is heart of the madness with the constant in and out, moody bus driver system.Its rammed with people getting agitated, children crying, pigeons swooping and the odd instructor telling you your in the wrong bay and the bus is delayed.  It seems to be in this unfortunate city, you are either leggin' it and waving your arms because you desperately need to get to college and you know the teacher will not put up with the 'I got up late' excuse, or you are 34 mins early and sit contemplating moving to a better city with better public transport. Its safe to say, Bath is one of the most unreliable Cities there is, but that's why we all admire it so much.