Transcript The Simple Gift - Murray High School, Lavington

HSC Study Day
June 18th 2012
Anne Dobson
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Anne Dobson Murray High School 2012
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1
“Students...explore the ways in which the concept of
belonging is represented in and through texts”
“Students study how the concept of belonging is
conveyed through the representations of people,
relationships, ideas, places, events, and societies
that they encounter in the prescribed text and texts
of their own choosing related to the Area of Study”
“A sense of belonging can emerge from the
connections made with people, places, groups,
communities and the larger world”
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3
What is this?
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NO!
WHY?
Because Love is an abstract concept.
It is not something you can see or experience
with the senses.
So in order to communicate the idea of love and
all its subtleties in Literature, we use
representations that most of us understand.
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The concept of Belonging is represented in
texts.
It is the understanding of these representations
that allow us to understand Belonging.
Patterns of Representation appear which can
become easily identified and recognised.
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How are the following represented;
“The people, relationships, ideas,
places, events, and societies” you
encounter in ‘The Simple Gift’?
“Connections made with people,
places, groups, communities and
the larger world” in ‘The Simple
Gift’?
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10
1. Form – the structure and style of the
novel
2. Language
Pronouns – First and Third Person
Figurative Language - metaphor
3. Motifs - a recurring element which has a
symbolic purpose. The recurrence is what
makes a symbol a motif.
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Verse novel – tells a story in a series of poems
Poetic style –
Free Verse – no patterns of rhyme or metre
Dramatic monologue – three characters speak
individually and directly to the reader – the reader is
allowed into the thoughts and the feelings of each
individual character.
No Narrator - the responder directly engages with
each of the characters
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Dramatic monologue Each character speaks directly to the
reader, involving them in their innermost thoughts and feelings.
No Narrator the reader is connected directly to the character
Free Verse
The unstructured style of free verse mimics prose, and then
authenticates the voice of the persona speaking to the reader.
How does the Form represent Belonging?
The reader is included into the character’s life. The character
directly confides in the reader and includes the reader in their
thoughts and actions. The reader is actively participating in the
character’s life. Because the reader can see from the character’s
perspective, they become a part of that character.
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13
1. Pronouns
First Person singular – I, me, my, mine ,
myself.
Used in the Dramatic monologue, so the
reader is closely involved with the thoughts
of the persona
First Person collective – we, us, our, ours,
ourselves.
This is inclusive language; a group that talks
about themselves as a unit.
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1. First person narrative recount.
First person singular pronouns:
I, Me, My, Mine, Myself
First person collective pronouns
us, we ,our, ours, ourselves
In a first person narrative
1.
You are the person, you experience what they
experience .
2.
You share the character’s experience because they
are talking directly to you, addressing you with
second person pronouns; you, your, yours, yourself.
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My hands
Old Bill – O l d B i l l
- Billy
... I prayed the burgers
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised...
were without sauce
a bum like me...
and I couldn’t eat the fries...
I almost cried...
I sat in my carriage...
and my memory
flickered...
and I stopped remembering
...I knew where it came from...
Billy’s cave
-C a i t l i n
I’m well-mannered.
I knocked on the door...and waited.
I knocked again.
Then I heard his voice
behind me
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The picnic – C a i t l i n
We ate everything.
We took our time...
We couldn’t stop ourselves...
We both stretched out...
...and we drifted asleep
Our first date
Billy and me
and we slept together...
we really did just
sleep together
content
to waste the hours
close.
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Old Bill – B i l l y
His name,
would you believe,
Was Bill...
He’d bought himself a bottle of beer...
...and look at it now.
...when you looked closer
he wasn’t that old
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Third person singular pronouns
he/she/it, him/her/it, his/hers/its, himself/herself/ itself.
Third person collective pronouns
They, them, their, theirs, themselves
Nouns and noun phrases are also third person;
the kid, one lucky bastard, the idiot
Third Person – used by the character to distance themselves
and reader from the person being discussed.
Third person can also distance the character from
themselves.
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Caitlin and Mopping – C a i t l i n
...he claimed it.
So I watched him.
He was very calm
He didn’t look worried...
He looked self contained,
as though he knew he had to eat.
Billy - B i l l y
She had clean hair...
And her skin was pale and clear
and I knew she was rich...
Her eyes were pale green
and they seemed to know
something...
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Cold – B i l l y
“...the idiot
Hunched over the bow
Praying for morning and
sunshine”
Wentworth High School - B i l l y
“...one lucky bastard is writing
...on the window...”
Tonight, and the night after Billy
“...school buses...
full of kids shouting insults
at me, the bum...”
Sorry – O l d B i l l
I feel sorry
for swearing at the kid...
I find myself
Waking...
with the kid”
That bloody kid – O l d
Bill
“...that bloody kid
has woken me at
6.30am..”
the neighbour
the foreman
the girls at netball
my wife
my dad
The kid – O l d B i l l
I like the kid...
Billy and I go to the river...
Billy deserves more...
I like the kid...
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The use of First person connects the reader
to the character by knowing what their private
thoughts and feelings are.
The use of First person has the effect of the
character directly addressing the reader.
The use of Third person has the opposite effect
by distancing themselves from the subject they
are speaking about. Sometimes the character
will distance themselves from their own identity
by referring to themselves in the third person.
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22
The use of Person in a text represents an
aspect about Belonging and Not Belonging
Belonging involves some form of connection
and inclusion between two or more people
and requires some form of communication.
Conversely, not belonging involves a distancing
and lack of involvement with individuals or
groups.
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2. Figurative Language
Metaphor – a way of describing an abstract idea by
representing it with a more tangible concept.
Billy describes his connection with Caitlin as being a
satellite spinning around her
Billy describes his disconnection with the world as an
island or a cave
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Going Nowhere – B i l l y
‘This morning I woke
and I knew where I was going
for the next few months —
to the Library
to McDonalds
to the river and home here to the Hilton —
a circuit of plans
with Caitlin at the centre,
and me
a badly-dressed satellite
spinning crazily in her orbit.’
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Lord of the Lounge – B i l l y
“That’s me,
On the deserted island
Of a soft lounge
In Bendarat Library”
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
A good
related text!
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
Anne Dobson Murray High School 2012
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The use of metaphor in a text can represent
the same aspects of Belonging and Not
Belonging as the text’s Form and Language.
Belonging involves some form of connection
and being part of a larger whole .
Conversely, not belonging involves a distancing
and isolation and lack of involvement with
individuals or groups.
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
Belonging

Not Belonging
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Not having a place to Belong to is highlighted in ‘The Simple
Gift’ by the outdoors. After the first poem, the rest of the first
chapter takes place outside. It is the rain and weather that
makes Billy most acutely aware of the fact he doesn’t have a
home.
Rain is a motif that is strongest
in the first chapter. Rain is also
associated with sadness. This
sort of motif makes the
assumption that Not Belonging
is negative.
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Need – B i l l y
Please – B i l l y
“Two hours in the dark
In the rain
In the dirt of this bloody road...
I can’t go back.
I could sleep at school,
on the verandah.”
Cold – B i l l y
When I was
Twelve years old
And my dad chased me out of the
house
With a strap,
I’d hidden in the neighbour’s
chookshed , waiting for night
when I could climb
Through my bedroom window
Sport – B i l l y
“...I didn’t go inside for
... I realise
hours.”
how fast trains go
When you’ve got no window to close The Motel Bendarat– B i l l y
I finished the book,
And the wind and the rain
nodded goodbye to Irene
Hits you in the face
With the force of a father’s punch.” and walked out into the late
afternoon cloud
and a slight drizzle.
No sleeping in the park tonight.
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Standing on the outside looking in mostly through
windows is also a representation of Not Belonging and
has a negative connotation.
Consider statements like
‘Left out in the cold”
“Standing on the outside
looking in.”
While these quotes do not
occur in ‘The Simple Gift, the
representation of them
certainly does.
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32
Not Belonging: Windows
Sport – B i l l y
“...I broke the bedroom window...
I didn’t go inside for hours.
I looked through the back window
watching him
reading the paper.”
The Shadows – C a i t l i n
“...I see Billy
In the carriage
with an old man...
and that’s when I turn
and run to school...”
Wentworth High School – B i l l y
“I got to Room 421
and look through the window...
and one lucky bastard is writing
“may you all get well and truly stuffed”
on the window...”
War– C a i t l i n
Today in History...
I looked out the window
and saw Billy
sitting across the road
with his head in his hands.
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33
Many poems are set on verandas.
Billy says goodbye to his dog on a
veranda, he also considers spending
his first night homeless on the school
veranda.
Old Bill stays on the outside of his
own home, often preferring to stay
on the veranda.
Swallows – B i l l y
Old Bill and I
Sat on the veranda
Watching the swallows...
...He told me he came back occasionally
“To sit on the verandah
and cry, like an old drunk.”
I knew better than to ask him inside.
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The water motif, particularly of Bendarat River and Westfield
creek have a positive connotation and are strongly connected
to belonging.
The motif of water could also be connected to baptism – an
initiation ritual which imitates rebirth.
The purpose of an initiation is to complete this ritual before
joining a particular community.
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The Kid – O l d B i l l
“Billy and I go to the river,
We dive and swim
and wash
And for a few hours
I almost feel young again.”
Westfield Creek – B i l l y
“I love this place...
I learnt all I need to know
in books on the banks
of Westfield Creek,
my favourite classroom.”
Bendarat River – B i l l y
“ ...I swim fully-clothed
And stand waist-deep in the shallows
With a bar of soap...
I come here to the Bendarat Laundry
to wash the world away.”
Hobos like us – B i l l y
“Sometimes he comes with me
to Bendarat River...
And when he does
And he dives
Fully clothed into the river
His laugh becomes real..”
Making Love – B i l l y
“It was like falling headlong
Into the clear waters
Of the Bendarat river”
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Old Bill’s Fall – O l d B i l l
I held her hand
And told her stories..
...I held Jessie’s hand
And signed with the other.
Caitlin and the Key – C a i t l i n
He hands me a key
and we stand, his hand on mine,
the key between us...
I reach behind for Billy’s hand
And we walk inside.
Manners – C a i t l i n
He stood and shook
my hand
Celebrating – B i l l y
I hugged Old Bill
Like I’d never hugged
A man before
Tremor – O l d B i l l
Billy...offers his strong
young hand. We shake
and my hand in his
stops trembling
for a moment
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37
What is the first thing we do when we
want to make a person welcome in
our home?
Gifts of food and consumables such as beer and
cigarettes are a very common motif in ‘The Simple Gift’.
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Too early – B i l l y
I got a bowl
And filled it with Weet-bix and milk
and I took it next door
to Old Bill
Caitlin Visiting – C a i t l i n
Into my schoolbag
I place two apple pies
And I ask the Manager
For two cups of coffee
to go
My Dad always said
That you should take
something, a gift,
When you go visiting.
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Caitlin – C a i t l i n
I have a TV and a CD
Player...I have a large
desk with a computer...
and I’m smart enough to
realise that none of this
means anything
Billy’s Cave – C a i t l i n
“It was like a little cave...
for children to hide in
when
They’re scared or lonely
And need somewhere
safe
to go
War – C a i t l i n
Picnic – B i l l y
She sat on the seat
and put her feet up
as though she
belonged
I wanted to rush out
cross the road
and hug him
right there in the park...
...I felt like
a prisoner of war here in
Room 652
Closing in – B i l l y
I lay in bed with
the old carriage
walls
Closing in
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Breakfast – B i l l y
I wouldn’t want to
meet her here
Not when she’s in
uniform
And me
Dressed in the same
clothes as always
Looking – B i l l y
I saw past
the shiny watch
and the clean hair
and the beautiful woollen
overcoat
I saw Caitlin
And I liked what I saw
Old Bill’s Fall – O l d B i l l
This pub,
This beer, these clothes
This is where I landed
Old Bill – B i l l y
His grey beard was
stained with smoke,
His hair long and
swept back,
His face lined
Old Bill’s Suit and Tie – O l d B i l l
I bought a clean shirt
and trousers
and a tie..
and walked out
a businessman
ready to impress the world
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Eye contact –
Comfort – B i l l y
I hope it’s someone to look in the eye
Knowing they’ll look back
Name –
Consider who is named, and who is not.
Tokens of friendship -
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John Donne
A valediction; forbidding mourning
The Flea
Good Morrow
The Sunne Rising
Meditation XVII
William Golding Lord of the Flies
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This PowerPoint Presentation will be available at
http://web1.murray-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/
Anne Dobson Murray High School 2012
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45
Resources
http://www.hsc.csu.edu.au/english/area_of_study/belonging/3725/simple_gift
.htm
Material written by Bettyanne Austen, Coffs Harbour High School for NSW HSC
Website
http://isu.indstate.edu/ilnprof/ENG451/ISLAND/ John Donne’s 17th Meditation
Images
http://warezforum.info/games/363663-neuro-hunter-skidrow.html First
Person RPG image
http://www.cinemavoir.com eating at MacDonalds
http://www.gettyimages.com.au/CreativeImages/RoyaltyFree All other
images
Anne Dobson Murray High School 2011
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