character profiles continued

Biff:
- Is the one who forces Willy to face reality with statement that they are both 'a dime a dozen', which shatters Willy's illusions.

- When Biff eventually frees himself from the psychological burden placed on him by Willy, and comes to realise that he is not 'a leader of men' (p.105), we might expect him to be capable of greater happiness. However, Biff is presented as not fully understanding how to live his life free from the illusions placed on him by Willy, or realising how such illusions were insinuated into his own life by his father.

- It would be expected that Biff would free himself form the guilt of his past actions and blame Willy for his failures rather than himself, however this is not the case. This could be the reason that Biff does not fully counteract the sense of doom imposed by Willy's death.

- Biff has no programme for the future, however by the end of the play he is an ordinary man with no pretensions. He appears to have the clearest understanding of what has gone wrong in the family, and in this sense represents some hope for the future: an optimistic audience might believe that he has learnt from his father's mistakes, will use the life insurance money, and be successful. On the other hand, a pessimistic observer that Biff did not learn from Willy's mistakes, and went on to squander the money.

Linda:
- A staunch defender of everything that Willy stands for, although she is also acutely aware of his nature: 'I know he's not easy to get along with- nobody knows that better than me- but...' (43).

-According to the stage directions, she is usually cheerful and has developed an 'iron repression' of the objections she may have to Willy's behaviour. Ultimately, she is willing to excuse everything he does.

-Perhaps dependent on how an actor playing Linda portrays, some might see her as simply a spineless recipient of Willy's 'little cruelties' and her sons' immaturity who has now worthwhile substance of her own.

- In keeping with the gender roles of the time, Linda is not allowed an opinion: when she and Willy are d

production update

I intend to have the majority of my research completed by the last day of term- 16/12/16.
If there is any research I have completed, I will do so over the Christmas holiday.

My research can be divided into 3 sections:
- Research on the British Empire in Victorian Britain.
- Victorian literature concerned with imperialism and the empire.
-Post- colonialist theory.

I intend to have completed my research on the British Empire by the 14/11/16. My main sources have been the book Empire: The British Imperial from 1765 to the present by Denis Judd, [insert book], [insert book] as well as selected websites that provide more detail of the specific historical events that influenced my chosen texts.

I intend to have read all of the literature (literary criticism included)  I intend to analyse by the 16/12/16. I have been working through them for the 5 or 6 weeks, in order to meet this deadline. I have set only estimated deadlines to read and select key sections to analyse of each text by, because the amount of time it will take me to read a text varies dependent on its length and the vocabulary used.

I initially decided to complete two sections of my research: on Victorian literature, and post-colonial criticism at the same time because I thought this would allow me to deeper understanding of both of these types of text. However, I have since decided to complete the majority of research on postcolonial criticism first (main resources being Edward Said's Orientialism and Peter Barry's Beginning Theory) so I can more easily pick out relevant areas for analysis when reading my non-fiction texts.

Furthermore, I intend to have completed all of my research on post- colonial criticism by the 28/11/16. I intend to have read my remaining non-fiction texts by the last day of term- 16/12/16,

I intend to start writing up my research in January. This means that I can use the Christmas holidays to finish reading any texts I have not been able to finish due to factors such as mock exams. Also in those two weeks I will ensure my analysis of the texts I intend to study are thorough and detailed. I will then plan and possibly begin drafting my essay.

8 9 10 short q's

Elements of crime in chapter 8:

Transgression- obsecene note
Victim- of class
Criminal- note could be seen as a crime
Suspense - sun going down
Detective- Grace asking what's wrong
Moral element
Regret
Misinterpretation- Robbie analysing Cecelia and coming to different conclusions

1. Cecelia seems to be more of a maternal figure than Emily, but Cecelia is not content with this because she is not needed. Cecelia seems to run the household more then Briony- able to compromise.

2, Crime in chapter 9:
- Theft of Briony's socks
- Neglect of twins
- Punishment of twins for being liabilities
- Leon misinterpreting everyone as a 'good egg'
- Crime: pregnancy before marriage

3.
- Robbie as a threat to Cecelia and Cecelia being in danger
Robbie as having a 'disgusting mind'
-Robbie's not as a crime rather than an expression of lust not meant for anyone to read
-Leon's misconception of Paul
-Reader's conception of Emily
-Perception of the twins as violent
-Perce
Leon's misconception of Paul
-Reader's conception of Emily
- perception of the sex scene as violent

4.
- In terms of language: tries to relate the adult vulgarity or Robbie's note to more mitigating things like Latin and childrens' books.
- In terms of having to care for Lola, who is more vulnerable
-Sexual violence- of how Briony perceives the note,and through Lola's experience of sexual violence
- In terms of appearance

Atonement hwk

In this chapter, it is chapter, McEwan's presentation of Robbie serves to guide the response the reader will have to his actions later in the novel, as well as the tragic events that he is a victim of.

It could be argued that if McEwan had provided such as detailed and ultimately favourable presentation of Robbie, some readers may have come to interpret his obscene not to Cecelia as an act of aggression- in the same that Briony does- and consequently antagonise him. This may have lea
d to the reader having a negative view of Robbie's motive when he goes to meet with Cecelia in the library, and perhaps more of an ambiguity surrounding the assault of Lola: like Briony, the reader may have perceived Robbie to the criminal based on their interpretation of his letter as 'evidence' of him being 'dangerous'.

If the reader did follow the thought process outlined above and came to perceive Robbie as the criminal, McEwan's subsequent presentation of the hardships Robbie faces during his experience as a soldier in World War 2 may have actually been seen as justified by the reader, rather than an unjustified punishment.

Another reason the Robbie is presented in such detail is that this enables McEwan to present the extent of the tragedy of Robbie and Cecelia failing to be together, which some readers may argue is a transgression against the natural order of things. An example of McEwan presenting their compatibility is references to travelling; McEwan uses free indirect discourse to portray Robbie realising that Cecelia will soon be 'gone'- an idea that Cecelia had previously been presented as thinking about during McEwan's earlier focalisation through her. Similarly, this chapter contains references Robbie's own plans to travel, such as the imagery of his maps.


McEwan presents Robbie as a victim of class.How far do you agree?

In terms of Robbie's position in the macrocosm, McEwan does present him as at all vicitimised by his class. Despite his status as working class, Robbie is presented as highly intelligent and culture through references to cultural movements such as the Fauvists, and numerous poets as well as the work f Shakespeare, The latter provides the reader with an interesting point of comparison between Robbie and Paul Marshall: the upper classes were thought of as being more civililised and possessing a greater cultural capital than the working class, yet is is Robbie who has the knowledge of Shakesperian literature to compare himself to one of the character, whereas Paul Marshall was previously presented as pretending to know all about Hamlet. Moreover, Robbie's class is not presented as limiting his education. In addition to his cultural knowledge, Robbie is presented as being socially mobile if Briony had not committed her crime, the job Robbie would have pursued as a doctor would have led to him possessing the status of middle class.

By way of contrast, it is hard to dispute the fact if Robbie was of the same class as Cecelia, he would have been accepted into the family and perhaps even been encouraged as a potential match for her. If it were not for McEwan's portrayal of him working class, This means that Cecelia and Robbie's relationship could have been presented as public knowledge, meaning that the Tallis family would have perhaps been presented as having a closer relationship with Robbie; Briony's knowledge of his character would have prevented her from seeing him as a threat. Also, Cecelia and Robbie's relationship would not need to be developed so furtively; Robbie would not have had to send the note by way of communication, meaning that there would be no 'evidence' of for the allegations made towards him. In terms of the microcosm, Robbie is a victim of Briony's crime. If he was presented as part of the upper class, this would probably not have occurred.

Another supporting argument for Robbie being a victim of his class is the contribution of negative working class stereotypes in the macrocosm, moreover the idea of working class males being society's idea of what a criminals. If Robbie had been presented as upper class, it is unlikely he would the Tallis family would even consider the possibility of him being a rapist; like Marhsall, he would be immune. Robbie is therefore presented as a victim of the stereotypes held by the upper class. Evidence for this class bias is presented by McEwan when he mentions how Cecelia immediately accuses Danny Hardman of assault when the police arrive. In addition, Robbie is also presented as believing Danny Hardman to be the criminal when Briony goes to visit Cecelia at the end of the novel.

Overall, McEwab intially presented Robbie as a victim of Briony's imagination; her  imagining him as a threat is what leads to her assuming he was the criminal, and subsequently accusing him. However, she is presented as making this accusation largely due to her disapproval of his secret relationship with Cecelia: which would have been accepted and public if Robbie were not working class. Futhermore, Robbie is presented a victim of the legal system's unjust punishment. If Robbie had been presented as upper class, he would not be believed to be a criminal in the first place, meaning he would not have been a victim of class bias, nor the horrific experiences of war.

Reading List

Jane Eyre- 1847 (Bronte)

Bleak House- 1863 (Dickens)

She: A History of Adventure- 1887 (H. Rider Haggard)

Heart of Darkness- 1899 (Conrad)

The White Man’s Burden- 1899 (Kipling)

Three Sailor Boys- published in 1902, author died in 1890s

Kim- 1901 (Kipling)

Context and theory:

Joseph Chamberlain, The True Conception of Empire (speech)

Orientalism by Edward Said (theory)

Coming up with a research question and initial ideas

The process of selecting an area to research has been a difficult process for me. I want to study English Literature at degree level, so I knew I should research an area within this field.

July 2016: I knew from quite early on that I wanted to expand my knowledge of one my favourite aspects of the course so far: literary theory. Initially, my chosen theory was feminism- I intended to research the evolution of the presentation of feminism as a political movement in English literature since the Victorian era. 

22nd September 2016: I overheard my supervisor telling another student that the idea of the EPQ was to research a subject you had little knowledge about to start with, as opposed to an area already studied as part of the curriculum. These comments made me re-evaluate my initial research question. I eventually decided that I already had a significant amount of knowledge of the area I wanted to research. This lead me to scrap my initial idea entirely, a couple of weeks into the school year.

22nd September - 29th September 2016: I used a combination of my Critical Anthology from yr 12, and the website EMagazine to look into other types of literary criticism. In an interview, the literary critic Terry Eagleton mentioned that the theories of post-modernism and post-colonialism are two of the most popular theories in post-graduate theses. I already had some knowledge of the concept of post-modernism from my study of A Level sociology, so opted for an EPQ informed by post-colonialist theory- a completely unknown area to me.

After doing some research on post-colonial theory, my next challenges were to find texts that would be suitable to analyse from this perspective, and decide on how I was going to link these texts and my research to the history of colonialism and imperialism: simply analysing texts from a post-colonialist perspective would have probably gotten boring. I read and made notes about the history of British colonialism, and made a longlist of novels, plays, and poems concerned with colonialism.

I decided that I would use texts written during the era of British colonisation, as opposed to texts written after the era. I made sure to select at least two texts from each century between the 18th century and the 20th century. It proved harder to find relevant plays and poems than novels, interestingly. At the same, I used websites such as EMagazine and Schmoop, as well as my critical anthology from year 12 for guidance in terms of relevant critics.

3rd October 16: As of now, my research question stands as 'From a post-colonialist perspective, how did the presentation of race relations in the British Empire evolve between the 17th Century and the 20th Century?' 
I am aware of the broadness of this question- I expect it will become more focussed as my research into this area continues.
Although I now have a working research question, a record of initial ideas, and a substantial reading, I have feel I have been very behind with the workload so far. This is partly due to my discarding of my initial idea, however I also realise that I up until a couple of weeks I have not been dedicating enough hours to the EPQ. The main reason for this is my prioritising of writing my personal statement, and staying on top of my other subjects- mainly in order to be predicted the grades I need to apply to my chosen universities.

Post-colonial Theory: Key Concepts

Postcolonial Concepts Glossary

This will be added as I complete more of my research, to aid in writing my essay. I have sourced the definitions from http://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/postcold.htm  and http://staff.uny.ac.id/sites/default/files/pendidikan/else-liliani-ssmhum/postcolonialstudiesthekeyconceptsroutledgekeyguides.pdf  and put them into my own words to ensure my understanding. I have cross-referenced these definitions with other sources to ensure their accuracy.

Colonialism: The expansion of the control of imperialist nations (predominantly European) across the world over the last 400 years. This often resulted in a hierarchy of the European ‘mother’ nation, European settlers, the local, educated elites in the colony, and the indigenous residents. Inherent to this political system are notions of racial inferiority and otherness.

Post-colonialism: Broadly, a study of how colonialism has affected the societies it affected: the European nations that colonised, and the affected groups- how the latter responded and resisted. Some theorists argue that the post-colonialism, both as a theory and study of political change, is evolving through three stages:

-          Initial awareness of the enforced inferiority (culturally and psychologically) of being in a colonized state.

-          Discussion of the struggle for autonomy: culturally and politically.

-          Awareness of hybridity and cultural polyvalence.

 Resistance: the theory focuses on the ways that thinking, writing, and acting resist the colonizers.

Imperialism: In ‘poco’ theory, these terms are used more loosely than they are in the dictionary.  Generally, imperialism refers to the formation of an empire, in which one nation has extended its domination over one or several neighbouring nations, to increase economic and political power.

Subaltern: someone who is economically oppressed. Has a racial significance- the term is mostly used to talk about people who countries were colonized by imperialist.

Appropriation: The taking over of aspects of imperial culture by post-colonial societies. These aspects may include language, forms of writing, film and theatre. The appropriation of these tools is  form of resistance of the political and cultural control of the imperialist cultures.

Hybridity: When experiences of more than culture give rise to new transcultural forms, which can be social, political, linguistic (the rise of Creole language in the Caribbean, as an example).

Marginalization: The implication that certain forms of experience are peripheral, unimportant. Also refers to the limitation of a subject (ie the colonized) to power.

Subaltern: Meaning ‘of inferior rank’. The colonized (lower) classes, who are dependent on the language and means (the hegemony) of the colonized (ruling) class to express themselves.

Essentialism: the belief that people and things have an innate, unchangeable nature that is not something that is not dependant on any kind of circumstance, and several defining features exclusive to members of the group concerned. The practice of essentialism tends to overlook individual differences within groups, to maintain the status quo or gain power. Claims of essentialism can be used both by the colonizers (to maintain the oppression of the colonized?) and by the colonized as a way of resisting the claims surrounding them.