A bit of a blank

I have a problem here: I'm sure I imparted some pearls of wisdom about something or other before we watched the second half of the film; but I can't remember what they were. A challenge to you: what did I say?? Do comment.

Then we did watch the rest of the film, , which despite its crackles, unconvincing accents and old-fashioned hairstyles I thought was quite evocative. I liked the very close-up camera shots as the film went on; they gave a real feeling of the claustrophobia of being crammed together in a small flat with all that tension. I also liked the way Eddie ran after the immigration van, yelling at Marco, and then turned to see all his neighbours lined up against him. But maybe it all just seemed convincing to me because it just reminds me of my youth: all those frocks and rickety chairs and everything in black and white...

Homework is passage 2 of 2007 about libraries (and you could also do passage 1, if you haven't) - and I would suggest that you also try a literature essay, your choice. If you don't have the past papers, last year's is on the SQA website - http://www.sqa.org.uk/ and go to Services for Learners, NQ subjects, drop down to English.

Watching the film

A very short blog today: we watched Act 1 of the very grainy, scratchy (but quite effective, I thought) black and white film of "A View from the Bridge". It was made in 1961 (though it looked more like 1861) so the clothes, set and so on would be quite authentic for the period. We'll watch Act 2 next week so if you don't want to see it, don't feel you have to come to class.

Homework for next week is the 2007 Close Reading, passage 2, about the digitisation of the Bodleian

and the boy sitting in the courtyard of Cambridge University Library. This is homework – and if you haven’t done the first passage yet then I’d be happy to get both together next week. Or not.

Not very inspiring...

Sorry – very boring lesson today going over the Close Reading prelim. Hope you now know why you didn’t get full marks. If not, ask me!

By the way, Matt has kindly given me a copy of the film of “A View from the Bridge”. It starts very differently from the play but soon morphs into a fairly accurate, word-for-word version of it. If any of you would like to comment, I’d be interested to know whether you would like to watch it at any point. Failing that, you could just tell me, of course, or email. Bear in mind that it's fairly old (1961), black and white and quite scratchy. However, if you haven't seen it, it would be a good and fairly restful way of revising the play. It lasts about 2 hours so we could do it over either 1 or 2 weeks. Or not.

Should you be enthusiastic enough to want your own copy, you could get it from http://stores.blowoutdvd1.com/-strse-23/A-View-From-The/Detail.bok

Homework – paper 1 of the 2007 Close Reading about Glasgow University Library.

In brief

This is going to be quite short as the janitor will shortly be at the door, rattling his keys. Life is getting away from me this week.

Today we read “Glasgow 5th March” by Edwin Morgan, which I personally don’t think has quite enough to write about in the exam, and Philip Larkin’s “Poetry of Departures”, which certainly does.

We read part of Act 2 of “View”, in which Catherine and Rodolpho look set to marry; Eddie comes home drunk to find them coming out of the bedroom and tells Rodolpho to leave; Eddie goes again to Alfieri to ask for help from the law – none is forthcoming; Eddie decides, in desperation, to report the cousins to the Immigration Bureau and is seen doing so by Louis. Eddie then arrives home to find that the cousins have moved upstairs to the neighbours’ house, where there are other immigrants too – and he becomes very angry.

Homework: 2002 Close Reading, passage 2. This is slightly unusual because it’s very colloquially written – therefore very easy to read, though it doesn’t mean that the questions are any easier than usual.

Tent pegs and paper dolls

This evening we looked at a student’s “Patchwork Planet” critical essay about how the ending of a novel was prepared for earlier on. We admired the way in which this student actually discussed how various earlier bits led on to the end. This is better than just commenting on incidents which might have been shown to lead on to the end – but actually were.

We then looked at my version of this question and I reiterated the tent peg metaphor. It may seem like overdoing to keep referring to the questions, but a marker at this level likes to have the relevance to the question of what you’re saying made obvious. Remember that the markers want clear, relevant points in that SECT sort of way. If your tent shows signs of flying away on an enthusiastic gale, to land in some distant field, far from the question, then pin it down by adding sentences such as: “This leads on to the ending when…”.

We discussed Norman MacCaig’s “Hotel Room, 12th Floor”, full of imagery which is reasonably easy to discuss in the exam. The main, extended, metaphor is that of darkness as the enemy, seen specifically as a band of Red Indians riding into town and being shot at – ineffectually – by the light. Darkness is shown to bring violence to New York, despite the trappings of civilisation: helicopters, tall buildings, tv, radio, light. As he says, “And no stockades/ can keep the midnight out”. We may imagine that we’re civilised, but we’re never far away from violence, or potential violence – it’s there in human nature.

Then we read on in “View”, finishing Act 1 and just beginning Act 2. We saw Alfieri in the dual role of narrator (reminding us of the fact that he’s telling us a story) and lawyer (advising Eddie). The two roles merge seamlessly together – he turns from the audience and is apparently mid-conversation with Eddie, who has come to consult him. Eddie wants the law to help him against Rodolpho who, he says, is “not right” – he’s implying that Rodolpho is gay. Alfieri has to tell him that even if he were, marrying Catherine would not be illegal. The only illegal thing is that the cousins are illegal immigrants and Eddie says, “I wouldn’t do nothin’ about that…”. Then Alfieri gently suggests that sometimes “there is too much love for the daughter, there is too much love for the niece”. Eddie reacts “furiously”.

Alfieri tells the audience that he “could see every step coming, step after step… I knew where he was going to end”.Then, at dinner, Catherine is clearly very excited by Rodolpho’s stories of sailing to Africa and picking oranges off the trees in Italy.

Eddie is much less impressed. He points out that American girls aren’t as “free” as Rodolpho thinks; Rodolpho protests that he has “respect” for Catherine. She and Rodolpho dance to “Paper Doll”, though he, “in deference to Eddie” (stage direction) at first demurs. She, however, is “flushed with revolt” and dances with him. Here, Miller is reminding the audience that Eddie wants to keep Catherine as a "doll that other fellows cannot steal".

This is the Mills Brothers' version, which I think is probably the one that they're listening to.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=n2m8VZBfRYo&feature=PlayList&p=AA3233A397B67272&playnext=1&index=13

She, however, is “flushed with revolt” and dances with Rodolpho. Beatrice tries to divert Eddie's attention by talking about the cousins’ fishing expeditions, but Eddie’s worst fears are confirmed by hearing that Rodolpho is a good cook: “He sings. He cooks. He could make dresses…”. He suggests that Rodolpho would be better suited to working in a dress shop than as a longshoreman. This is not a compliment.

He suggests teaching Rodolpho to box and starts to do so. He punches Rodolpho lightly and makes him stagger, alarming the others. Marco then demonstrates his superior strength by challenging Eddie to lift a chair by one leg, with one hand. Eddie can’t do it but Marco can, and the act ends with Marco holding the chair high with a “smile of triumph, and Eddie’s grin vanishes as he absorbs this look”.

I'm sorry that not all my paragraphs have missed lines between them. They do when I type them, but then Blogger removes them. Bad Blogger.

Homework: this poetry question on "Hotel Room" - or choose your own question/poem.

Choose a poem which says something about human nature. By referring closely to the poet's language, show what message the poet is conveying about what human nature is like and how he gets this message across.

Happy New Year

We thought again about writing critical essays – about how you must answer the question by using the SECT procedure – or something like it.


You have a new literature (“critical”) essay for homework:

Consider carefully the ending of a novel you know well.

Discuss in what ways the author has prepared for the ending in the earlier part of the novel.


You could write this essay by concentrating on the structure of the novel – the two station scenes – and how the theme of trust is seen very differently in each of them. You would obviously have to deal with some of the bits in between as you did this, but you would try to pick out the bits that are relevant to both, ie you’d need to discuss the characterisation of Barnaby and Sophia and some related matters.

You might also want to bring in other themes, eg change/families/etc.

You might like to bring in some symbols, eg the Twinform and the importance of money.

You would need, I think, to deal briefly with the Renascence School, so that you could bring in the earlier mention of the sonnet (“When in disgrace”) and then the importance of the sonnet on the last page. This could also be seen as part of the structure – preparing the reader to understand his sudden realisation that he may love Martine.

Remember to SECT! Critical essays should be about 700 words.

We then began to read “A View from the Bridge” (please buy this if you haven’t yet done so) and got to page 33 (in the Penguin edition – where Rodolpho first sings).

We noticed the emphasis, in this play about Italians, on the themes of justice and honour.

We also observed that Alfieri, the lawyer who’s also a narrator, makes a clear link between the way that people end up behaving in this play and the way they used to behave in Ancient Rome

or Greece.

Most of the time we “settle for half”, he says – unlike in the days of Al Capone, the gangster. But just occasionally – we don’t.

And that’s when things “run their bloody course”. He makes it clear that this play isn’t going to end well: it’s as if it’s already happened and he’s just showing it to us.

We notice Eddie’s extreme protectiveness of his niece Catherine – normal fatherly feelings or a bit over the top? – and the slight tension between Eddie and his wife Beatrice. Beatrice’s cousins arrive and Eddie gets stressed when Rodolpho sings. Is this because he’s nervous about the noise, or is Eddie anxious that Catherine seems to be interested in Rodolpho? Would any man want his almost-daughter to get involved with an illegal immigrant?

This is Rodolpho's song. Listen to it. Why did Arthur Miller choose it?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uZAy-GW1fek&feature=PlayList&p=39A4F48CA7E8B9F7&index=19