Fizgerald, Joyce, and the Physical Side of Language
This was a 1 hour 40 lesson that I carried out at Bungay High with two classes of ‘Gifted and Talented’ students. The first class was Year 10s, the second was Year 11s. The first class was about 12 students, the second was about 8. While carrying out the session I had the support of one of the English teachers at the school. Bungay High were able to provide Flipcams for the session, however the session can be altered so as not to need them.
Aim: To introduce the students to literature they may not have been aware of, and to make them more aware of the physical side of language and how writers can employ this to achieve different effects.
Target Age: 14-16
Key Skills: language analysis, creative writing including non-standard sentence structures.
Resources:
Clipboard and pens (or equivalent).
Flipcams (optional) and batteries (Flipcams eat batteries up).
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Copies of the last page of The Great Gatsby.
Coloured pencils, highlighters etc.
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner.
Ulysses, James Joyce.
Sample ‘overwritten’ (lots of adjectives) passage.
Paper and pens.
Steps: 1. Discuss (and notes on clipboard) – what is your favourite book and why? (Go round group.)
2. Discuss (and notes on clipboard) – what is your favourite film and why? (Go round group.)
3. Identify aspects of a film that can be ‘good’ – plot, characters, acting, scenery, how it’s filmed.
4. Identify parallels to these in literature. (Plot, characters = same – are they interesting? Acting, scenery are equivalent of has the writer described the characters and scenery well. How it was filmed – e.g. shot types – is similar to the techniques the writer can use – alliteration, repetition etc.)
5. Discuss succinct (yet still flowing) quality of Fitzgerald’s writing and explain the iceberg technique in contrast to more flowery prose. (This is not necessarily bad – it’s a matter of preference – discuss pros and cons of each type.)
6. Read last page of The Great Gatsby. Reactions?
7. Analysis task (can do in groups, each looking for different techniques, or individually looking for all the techniques). Students read text and highlight/underline (as many colours as possible)/make notes of the following: monosyllabic vs polysyllabic words, caesura, alliteration, assonance, sibilance, other repeated consonants (e.g. within words).
8. Feedback – what patterns did they notice?
9. Discuss the possible effects of these patterns.
10. Discuss language as a physical thing: how the rhythm of speech is affected by emotions and how this can be mimicked in literature (although not a precise art).
11. Introduce idea of stream of consciousness writing. Read beginning of Molly section of Ulysses as an example.
12. Identify key traits of stream of consciousness writing.
13. Students split into groups and take it in turns to film themselves doing an ‘angry,’ ‘happy,’ ‘sad,’ or ‘tired’ speech – making it as extreme a version of the emotion as possible.
14. Students watch their pieces and look at how the emotions affected the pace of their speech, was there repetition, long/short sentences etc.
15. Students write stream of consciousness pieces that use the physical side of language (including what they’ve seen in their films) to convey an emotion. (It’s not just what you say but how you say it!).
16. Those students who would like to share their pieces and as a group we provide positive feedback.