Embedded Files
"I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys. "
George Orwell
I still remember vividly in my College Literature Class, the professor asking the class, "How many of you have read 'Shooting an Elephant'?". Only a few hands went up - and mine was not among them. She was shocked. She told us it was about the most important essay written in the 20th Century - and she expected us to have it read for the next class. When I read it - I'm not sure if I got it - but over the years I have become more and more convinced that my teacher was spot on. To understand this essay, is to understand so much of what has happened over the course of the past 50 years - and it seems even more prescient as of late.
Since I've been teaching my Literary Criticism Unit, I've put "Shooting an Elephant" smack dab in the middle of it. Not because it directly speaks to its own school of criticism - but because instead it speaks to so many. Somewhere I must have my original text - covered with notes - but I'm not sure where that is, and frankly, it's just as well. I always felt, when having a class discussion about this essay, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of ideas and important words that are in Orwell's text. It was only when I stumbled upon Vertexts, those Power Point Presentations that allow the teacher to put quotes up on the screen in front of the students, that I felt I could do justice to the words. And it is the most recent Vertext that I give you here.
"Shooting an Elephant" is an essay both subtle and powerful in its scope. Orwell was a policeman in Burma and he is "forced" to shoot a rampaging elephant against his better judgment because it is what is expected of him as a colonial oppressor. He has an epiphany and realizes that this incident perfectly illustrates the horror of colonialism, slavery, and oppression. When one partakes in unjust act, one is also oppressing the self as well as the oppressed. It is a powerful argument against those who speak of self-interest and the morality of imperialism - no matter the desired outcome. I warn my students that there are horrible and offensive stereotypes and portrayals in the essay beforehand (before their reading and before their discussion) - which, in turn, all the more proves Orwell's point.
Lesson Overview - Literary Criticism Day 6 - Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell
Lesson Overview - Literary Criticism Day 6 - Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell
The Reading for today (students have read these FOR today on their own time)
The Reading for today (students have read these FOR today on their own time)
The reading for today is George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant". I warn the students beforehand that it contains offensive stereotypes and ethnic slurs - and we will talk about them in depth when they finish - and if for any reason they don't want to read the essay they should come see me. The copy of the essay found below is formatted to leave plenty of room for notes.
What's Done in Class
What's Done in Class
The Quiz
The Quiz
There is a short reading quiz the students take - but unlike most of the other days - we go on with the lesson, no matter if a student passed or failed.
The Vertext
The Vertext
(see the actual Vertext for more and my page on Class Discussion Methods).
There are 29 slides that present (mostly chronologically) quotes taken from the story. We start at one end of the room - the first student reads the quote - and the class responds to what is read (while finding it and marking it up on their own copies of the text). Sometimes, especially if time is short (which it will be with 29 slides) I ask the student who reads the quote to say one thing about it - a comment, a question, a reference to something else we've studied - and the class then responds to that.
The quotes are specifically chosen because I know they will begin discussions and they often come from comments that students make in our discussion. For instance, here is the fifth quote presented: "As for the job I was doing, I hated it more bitterly than I can perhaps make clear. In a job like that you see the dirty work of Empire at close quarters. " After the student reads it aloud - there are sure to be questions - "Why does he hate it"? "What are the things the Empire does" "Why is it an Empire?" etc. etc. etc. Now that they've finished the reading, the quote takes on special meaning - given what happens by the end of the essay.
The End of the Vertext
The End of the Vertext
At the end of the Vertext - I bring in (through the slides) three more parts to the lesson. First, on one slide about Imagery, I present three different quotes from the story that talk about the softness and mudiness of everything. I ask the students what that has to do with what happens in the story. Next, we go through three of schools of Literary Criticism as they apply to this essay. This is great, because it gives the students a chance to use what they've been reading about: Feminism, New Historicism, and Author Intentionality.
Next, I bring up the story of John Newton, a real life person (like Orwell) who realized as a sailor on a British slave ship - that he too, by his actions, was much more of a slave than those he was oppressing and after realizing the horror of his actions - wrote the words to "Amazing Grace".
Finally, there is a slide with a page of text from the essay that goes into some detail about the kind of word textures, associations, syntactical puns that they will be studying in a few days with Stephen Booth (and that they were first exposed to in the Macbeth Made Easy lesson).
The Next Day's Reading
The Next Day's Reading
Their final homework is to do the reading for the next day. By now (this time in the school year) they should be proficient note-takers. This is especially important with something as challenging as Literary Criticism where note taking is, for most students (and myself for that matter) the only possible path to having understanding of the reading.
Reading for Day 7: 1) Background and Summary on Deconstruction or Deconstructionism. 2) an excerpt from "Calling Out the Law" a Deconstructionist reading of Twelfth Night by Jonathan Goldberg.
The Most Recent Quiz
The Most Recent Quiz
Worth more points than the other reading quizzes for two reasons: First, it's a lot easier to read than anything else we've read in this unit - it's closer to fiction. Next, this essay is so important - it's impossible to have a discussion if the student hasn't read - unless they've been excused from the reading.
ShootinganElephant_2014b.mp3A Bonus Class Recording
A Bonus Class Recording
Audio - a class discussion Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant"
Audio - a class discussion Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant"
An audio recording of our "Shooting an Elephant" discussion. An amazing and insightful bunch of students. It will really help to follow along if you download and play the Vertext along with the audio.
Remote Teaching
Remote Teaching
I did not do Literary Criticism the year we were remote - but really there is no reason not to - with the greatest challenge is having students work in online groups - but by this time of year, they should be accustomed to it.
Students are instructed to put this rubric on the first page of their Literary Criticism Binders. There are two check-ins - two grades for this unit - both of them unannounced - so students should be up to date at all times. In addition to being a rubric - it breaks down in great detail - exactly what is expected of them - including how many questions (or readings) there are for each part of each day's entries: Readings for that Day (notes are graded), Questions for Today, Group Work Questions, and Solo Work.
Because you don't want to deprive students of their Journals during this unit - I usually do the first check-in (Grading) while they are watching the first part of Exit Through the Gift Shop - I will only collect as many as I can get graded during that time - and will grade the rest the next day - during the class period - asking them to take out the work and readings that they need for that class. The second check-in is not so rushed and I usually collect the binders after the Final Exam to grade them.
NOTE: I always gave students a chance to revise their binders (journals) if they did it BEFORE the final. I told them that I would change the grade they got for Check-In #1 (the only checkin that I offered this) to an average of their original grade with what they would have gotten with the revised journal. In other words, if they got a 50 on the first check-in - and then they revised it, gave it to me (before the final on Literary Criticism) - and the new assessment of their Journal lands them what would have been a 90 - I will change the recorded grade for that check-in to a 70.
Day 7 - Literary Criticism - Deconstructionism: While not a fan of Deconstructionism (I see it as anti-humanistic), I am a fan of giving students as broad a perspective as possible - exposing them to different and often radical points of view. I must also say that, for some of my students, this is their favorite of the literary criticism schools - and for even a more select few - the favorite thing that we do all year . We have also breached this idea of "deconstruction" way back in Macbeth - "there is no art to find the mind's construction in the face" - a line which has multiple meanings depending on the subtext given by the actor. But the readings are excellent - they have "Questions for Tomorrow (Today)" which will help them figure it out and as everything with this unit - what has come before, and with the help of their classmates, and an earnest effort - all can be mastered.
Day 7 - Literary Criticism - Deconstructionism: While not a fan of Deconstructionism (I see it as anti-humanistic), I am a fan of giving students as broad a perspective as possible - exposing them to different and often radical points of view. I must also say that, for some of my students, this is their favorite of the literary criticism schools - and for even a more select few - the favorite thing that we do all year . We have also breached this idea of "deconstruction" way back in Macbeth - "there is no art to find the mind's construction in the face" - a line which has multiple meanings depending on the subtext given by the actor. But the readings are excellent - they have "Questions for Tomorrow (Today)" which will help them figure it out and as everything with this unit - what has come before, and with the help of their classmates, and an earnest effort - all can be mastered.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Day 5 - Literary Criticism - The Fallacy of Author Intentionality
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
This essay will inhabit our classroom for the rest of the school year. I can never forget one of my most brilliant students talking about what his mother taught (a prominent Civil Rights Leader and teacher) about the idea that no one can make you a slave - only yourself. That quote, from that student has in turn - never left me.
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