- This topic has 99 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated December 12, 2024 by
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Summary for Lesson 1
In today’s class we began our study of Gulliver’s Travels, evaluating our feelings towards the novel and learning all about Swift as a writer. We spoke in detail about the notion of satire and how this novel connects to Swift’s other work, particularly A Modest Proposal. We thought about the society of Lilliput and the way Gulliver feels towards it, linking this to Swift’s own concerns about 1700s England. The class also conducted some amazing research on the author and shared some wonderful ideas on how they felt about the novel overall and why. Brilliant work everyone, very well done for all your hard work and commitment today. Keep it up and see you soon 🙂
A Modest Proposal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UaL0iUKaSM&t=64s
Homework
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Dear Beth,
I really liked your lesson!
Please find my homework attached below,
Have a nice day!
Yuexi
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Summary for Lesson 2
In today’s class we continued our study of Gulliver’s Travels, discussing today the ways in which the journey Gulliver takes mirrors key intellectual changes at the time. We looked at the things each land and its people mean in the book, thinking through the use of symbolism and how this reflects Swift’s approval and disapproval. We looked at the Enlightenment and how it provides the wider context for the satire in this novel, and applied Enlightenment thinking to the notion that each adventure builds on the last. Finally we read through an analysis of each group of characters and dug into their symbolic importance. Amazing work today everyone, your ideas were really interesting and switched on throughout, I really enjoyed hearing them. Keep up the great work and see you next week 🙂
Gulliver video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NegtEQxSF0
Enlightenment video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnoFj2cMRLY
Homework
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Dear Beth,
Thank you for the magnificent lesson, I really enjoyed it!! 😊👏🥳❤️
Here is my homework.
Yichen
PS in my homework from last week, you pointed out the I should use ‘little people’, but I was actually referring to the kind of dwarfs in fairy-tales, you know the ones in Snow White. Would the same thing apply to fairy-tale dwarfs (I googled it but that didn’t help 🤔 Thanks!)
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Hi Yichen,
You’re welcome!
Lovely work this week, I’ve attached your feedback below.
In terms of your question, I’m not actually sure what the consensus is when it comes to fairytale, but I’d say as long as you make it clear that that’s what you’re referring to, and not real people, then it should be okay! 🌟
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Summary for Lesson 3
In today’s class we focused on the notion of the travelogue, linking this to ideas of satire and 18th century travel we have touched on previously. We spoke about the role of travel writing and how it can be used as a political conduit, before thinking about the history of the genre and applying it to Swift’s novel. The students spoke in detail about what Swift is suggesting about the nature of travel, sharing beautiful ideas on how he achieves this, and finally creating their own lands which revealed something about society at large. They then wrote some fab travelogues based on someone coming to that land and trying to articulate what it was like- super imaginative work on those creative exercises guys it was a joy to hear you discuss their symbolic importance. Keep up the amazing work and see you next week 🙂
Homework
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Dear Beth,
Thank you so much for the perfect lesson!
Please find my homework attached below,
Have a great day!
Yuexi 😊
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Dear Beth,
Merci beaucoup de la leçon magnifique. J’ai vraiment aimé ça!
#PractisingFrenchAtEveryPossibleMoment
Here is my homework. 😊
Yichen
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Summary for Lesson 4
In today’s class we looked at Gulliver’s Travels through the lens of motifs and themes. We began by discussing three crucial motifs and what they signify in the novel before reading through a resource analysing each one in context. We then thought about the theme of travel, digging into different ways of intellectualising the point of travel, drawing on philosophy and big ideas about what travel has been intended for in the past and present. We read sections of an essay reflecting on the simulacrum of travel and the class then applied these notions to the story, thinking about what it tells us about Gulliver’s character and the use of the theme in the novel. Great work today everyone, very well done; I really enjoyed the way you applied the theory to the plot of the novel today and thought you all shared beautifully. Keep it up, see you soon 🙂
Travel video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaExiKsvt9A
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 5
In today’s class we completed our penultimate lesson on Gulliver’s Travels, thinking today about John Locke’s impact on swift’s writing and digging into the notion of authorship. We discussed the homework article written by Orwell thinking about what it helped us understand about the novel, before talking about the problems of authorship baked into the novel. We looked at John Locke’s ideas and how they impact the story, and then we finally read an article reflecting on the themes of our lessons. Excellent work grappling beautifully with some challenging ideas everyone, very impressive work. You came up with really original analyses- excellently done! See you next week 🙂
Locke video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZiWZJgJT7I
Homework
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Dear Beth,
Oops, apologies for the late message! Wrote my hw earlier, just forgot to submit 😀 Thanks for the stunning lesson! Uploaded lol.
Cheers
Amber
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Summary for Lesson 6
In today’s class we finished our work on Gulliver’s Travels, thinking about tying up all our ideas on travelogues, satire and the context of the novel. We began by reading through the article we started last week, paying attention to the ways in which satire is so specific to the time it is written. We then planned our own ideas for a modern satirical travelogue, using a step-by-step guide to help us, and the students came up with some really inventive, fresh and entertaining ideas for how to translate Swift’s original intention into the modern world. Finally they wrote some of this, coming up with some incredibly well-written and sophisticated openings. You should all be proud of your work today class, keep it up and see you next week 🙂
Travelogue how-to link: https://www.travelwritingworld.com/how-to-write-a-travelogue/
Homework
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This is an interesting dissertation on satire & travel writing- if you search ‘Gulliver’ in the doc it comes up with some really interesting points about Swift and what he was saying about the travel writing industry. Might be worth having a look at what the author says here if you fancy! https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/17827913/2013sumnerjdphd.pdf
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Hi Amber, I can’t see your homework for this week on the drive, can you check it’s been uploaded properly? Thanks!
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Dear Beth,
Thank you for the absolutely wonderful lesson, and lessons on Gulliver’s Travels! Thank you so much for taking the time to plan the lessons, find the essays and websites and stuff like that, and give us feedback on our work!
See you next lesson for Giovani’s Room. 😊
Yichen
P.S. I put chapter 3 to show that it’s the end of the chapter.
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Dear Beth,
Thanks so much for the pulchritudinous lesson!
I really loved the book and I am looking forward to “Giovanni’s Room”.
Have a greaaat day!
Yuexi
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p.s. I used https://app.hyperwriteai.com/personalassistant/tools to help with my grammar, but the writing and ideas are all mine!
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Summary for Lesson 7
In today’s class we began our work on Giovanni’s Room, thinking about the context of 1950s Paris & America and how Baldwin’s own life can teach us about the novel. We shared our ideas about the story before learning about the context of homophobia, exile and the post-war period that frame this novel. We thought about the notion of LGBT novels and how this book sits within that lineage, learned about realism and modernism and discussed the connections of this story to Baldwin’s own life. Very good and invigorating work everyone- I really loved discussing this book with you all and thought your comments and questions were incredibly insightful. Very well done & I look forward to next week 🙂
Homework article 1: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/19/james-baldwin-giovannis-room-garth-greenwell-60th-anniversary-gay-novel
Homework article 2: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2019/feb/26/giovannis-room-may-be-about-white-men-but-prejudice-is-central-to-the-story
Summary video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfGRFuvd3N8
Balwin video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9h9LY-Z_4o
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Summary for Lesson 8
In today’s class we dug into the concept of shame in the novel, thinking about David as a narrative voice and discussing the internalised homophobia evident within the way he portrays events. The class read an essay on the virtuosic shame of the novel and discussed what they saw this as referring to. We spoke about the way David characterises his own desires and how it reflects on many different topics from class to background to the country he is from. We reflected on his cruelty, discussed the articles from the previous week’s homework, and finally touched on the theme of masculinity in the novel. Well done everyone, great ideas today. Fantastic work on understanding the complexity of David’s identity in this story- see you next week 🙂
Homework
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Dear Beth,
Apologies for the late posting – it completely slipped my mind lol! Thank you for the awesome lesson 🙂 HW uploaded <333
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Summary for Lesson 3
In today’s class we continued Giovanni’s Room, learning about the modernist tint to the novel and thinking about psychological realism. We learned about what modernism involves and debated this in relation to the book before moving on to thinking about Giovanni as a character and why we know so little about him. We thought about David’s psychology and analysed aspects such as where Baldwin wants our sympathies to lie. We spoke about the role of Italy in the story and discussed how Giovanni is ‘othered’ before finally touching on the emotional core of the novel. Really insightful work today everyone, particularly in analysing Baldwin’s choices in how he presents the love story at the centre of this book. Very well done and I will see you soon 🙂
Homework
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🙋♀️ Dear Beth, 👋
👍 Thank you for the marvellous lesson. 👏
🥳 Here is my homework. 😀
😉 Yichen 💖
❓ P.S: what should I do if I want to put a quote at the start of my sentence but in the extract the quote does not have a capital letter? Should I change the first letter to a capital letter or is that not necessary? Thanks! 🙏
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Summary for Lesson 10
In today’s class we looked at the concept of home in the novel, thinking about how setting and place carry a sense of urgency in Baldwin’s mind. We began by thinking about the title of the story and its significance before looking at the idea of homesickness. From there we returned to important passages in the book that speak about home (i.e., home is an irrevocable condition) and linked this back to David’s narrative perspective. The class discussed the way in which David frames America, particularly in opposition to Europe, and we wrote from both his and Giovanni’s perspective exploring the way they frame their own feelings of alienation. We thought about the notion of home as only existing in the rear view mirror and connected this back to key points in the text. Well done for all your astute ideas today everyone, very good points and a really fantastic analytical understanding of the way the novel presents these wider philosophical themes. Keep up the great work and see you next week 🙂
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 11
In today’s class we thought about perspective and creative interpretations of the novel, drawing our ideas out into a wider sense of how we can understand the context of the story through modernising parts of it. We discussed what a story like this written today would be and came up with some of our own thematic and technique based questions considering the story. We unpicked themes such as the role of women in the story, how perception colours the narrative and the theme of childishness/ childlessness in the novel, and finally spoke about David and where he may go next. Fantastic work everyone, particularly in the way you all shared some very inventive approaches to thinking about this book. Well done class and see you next week 🙂
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 12
In today’s class we completed our work on Giovanni’s Room, thinking about interpreting Baldwin’s use of shock and crime and thinking about how to understand the final plot points of the novel. We discussed the theme of women in the novel and the students came up with their own character ideas set in the modern world which they shared in their pairs. Finally we thought about David as narrator and how insufferable he can be, debating whether that affected our ability to read the story. Well done today and over the past twelve weeks everyone, it has been an absolute pleasure working with you all. Brilliant analysis, ideas, teamwork and sharing – I always look forward to hearing what you all have to say about the novels we read. Well done and see you in January- Happy Christmas! 🙂
Homework video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6UAPVNIgdU
Homework
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