"Love" & "Spin"

• Engels
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

Lesson objectives 

You will show your understanding of the chapter "Spin" 

You will analyse in pairs techniques used in "Spin" 

You will share and take note of the techniques that other pairs focused on

You will receive some information regarding literary theory 

1. What does Jimmy Cross bring down from the guest room when he stays overnight with Tim O'Brien?

2. Give one specific detail about Jimmy's time with Martha at their college reunion.

"She crossed her arms at her chest, as if suddenly cold, rocking slightly, then after a time she looked at him and said she was glad he hadn't tried it. She didn't understand how men could do those things. What things? he asked, and Martha said, The things men do. Then he nodded. It began to form. Oh, he said, those things. At breakfast the next morning she told him she was sorry. She explained that there was nothing she could do about it, and he said he understood, and then she laughed and gave him the picture and told him not to burn this one up." 

 

Passage analysis within the chapter "Love" 

The author indirectly refers to something that happened to Martha. Can you decipher what happened?

 In the chapter "Love", there is a shift in narrative perspective from third to first person. Look out for such shifts in narrative perspective.

Be conscious of the distinction between Author and Narrator (despite them having the same name!)

Events, thoughts and feelings are discussed in relation to O’Brien the character. Structure, literary techniques and themes are dicussed in relation to O’Brien the author. 

Note the title of all the chapters they are an important clue to the concepts and themes of the chapters. 

 

1. What does Azar give the boy with the plastic leg?

2.What does Mitchell Sander send to his draft board in Ohio?

3. What do Norman Bowker and Henry Dobbins play every night?

4. How do the men avoid land mines out on the Batangan Peninsula?

5. What does Norman Bowker want his father to say to him in a letter?

6. What does Azar do to Ted Lavender's puppy? Be specific!

7. What is the average age in O'Brien's platoon?

Lesson objectives 

Homework check 

Textual features in "Spin" passages and sharing your findings

Introduction to literary theory and the features of post-modernism 

Concepts in this novel 

Reading "On the Rainy River" 

Rate the word 1 to 4

1. I do not know the word, and I have never seen it before. 

2. I've heard or seen the word before, but I'm not sure what it means. 

3. I know the word and can recognise and understand it while reading, but I probably wouldn't feel comfortable using it in writing or speech. 

4. I know the word well and can use it correctly in writing or speech. 

Obligate 

Word of the day

Obligate (v) - to force someone to do something, or to make it necessary for someone to do something.

The law obligates financial institutions to make monthly reports on large transactions.

How does this image relate to the chapter "Spin"? Write your answer. 

Silent writing 

How does this image relate to the chapter "Spin"? Write your answer. 

Silent writing 

1. Discuss in your groups and then, individually, put your answers into your exercise book, 
2. Share your answers with the class. 
3. Consider how stylistic choices and the placement of passages support and augment the overall message of this chapter. What is the overall message of this chapter? 

Passage analysis within the chapter "Spin"

Group 1: analogy or metaphor 

Group 2: Imagery 

Group 3: Imagery and figurative language 

Group 4: extended metaphor 

Group 5: Vignettes 

Passage analysis within the chapter "Spin"

• Tools or approaches through which we we gain a deeper understanding of a literary text ​
• Looking for patterns based on perspective, socio-economic situation, time period etc
• Marxist, Feminist, Psychoanalytical, Post-colonial, structuralism, reader-response theory ...

Literary Theory 

• Emerged as a way of thinking in the 1900s, especially after the First World War
  
• Also influenced by the Industrial Revolution and impact of modernisation on daily living. 
• Writers consciously broke away from the traditional, Romantic way of describing things. 
• Focus was on First Person Narrative Style, self-reflection, questioning authority. 
• Rejecting traditional, rigid forms of literature, especially in poetry: rise of free verse
  

Modernism 

• As the name suggests, a follower of the Modernist tradition
  
• Both a successor as well as a break-away from Modernism
  
• Emerged during the late 20th century
  
• Driving Principle: Truth is Relative
  
• Ideas trigged by the Second World War and other continuing conflicts around the world
  
•  The feeling was that everything that has to be said, written or created had already been done.

Post-modernism 

• Meta-fiction - writing about imaginary characters and events in which the process of writing is discussed or described 
• Intertextuality - the connections between different works of literature and art, and the meanings that are created by them 
• Blurring the lines between fiction and truth
  
• Fragmented narratives
  
• Unreliable narrators
  
• Use of pastiche and satire - pastiche = a piece of art, music, literature, etc. that intentionally copies the style of someone else's work or is intentionally in various styles. Satire = a way of criticising people or ideas in a humorous way, especially in order to make a political point, or a piece of writing that uses this style

Features of post-modernist text

To what extent is this novel a post-modern novel? 

Find two examples to support your claims? 

What big ideas, concepts
or major topics
has O'Brien tackled in the
novel so far?

Concepts HL Lang Lit 

The Things they Carried

Concepts we generated: 

friendship or relationships, trauma, storytelling, responsibility, guilt