V6+ week 37 - Roald Dahl short stories and literary essay on themes

• Engels
• Voortgezet speciaal onderwijs
• Leerroute 6

Today's classes

Lesson 1 - 

literature/reading & literary essay/writing; socio-cultural knowledge

Lesson 2 - 

(Romantic period & sonnets (start)/Words in Progress & CPE speaking training

Roald Dahl's short stories

Roald Dahl (1916-1990)

Popular British writer of children's books

Dahl attended boarding school & was bullied

Had wonderful holidays in Wales

Led an eccentric life (adventurer, business man, photographer, special constable in WW II, RAF pilot, worked for the British embassy, worked for MI6, journalist, writer of short stories and children's books, inventor)

Suffered plenty of hardships in life 

(terrible accident himself, terrible accident baby son, lost his daughter at a young age, is wife suffered strokes, he divorced, fell ill for a long time, had quarrels with many people)

Roald Dahl (1916-1990)

Use of vivid imagination in stories

Use of new creative words in stories (to bibble, to bish, biffsquiggled, crodsquinkled)

Children  and the underdog are often heroes, women often "mean" characters 

(is this true? - judge after reading his short stories)

Criticized for language (books had to be reprinted) - Salman Rushdie, Queen 

Consort Camilla, Rishi Sunak have stood up for him

Task

Read at least The Lamb to the Slaughter + The Landlady 

(3rd one is The Hitchhiker)

&

Write a literary essay (500 words) on one of the following theses (next slide)

Literary essay theses 

Gender; Appearances and Deception - 

thesis: Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter" subverts gender stereotypes

Appearances and Deception - 

thesis: Symbols in "The Landlady" appear friendly but foreshadow death and deception

Appearances and Deception -

thesis: Roald Dahl's stories champion the underdog.

Prove your thesis with examples from the short story/stories