Presentation COMPLETE

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

Theme: politics and history and their impact on life

Goals:

• The student can explain what is meant by "Partition" and the Naxalite movement 
• The student can express an opinion on characters' choices and support it with arguments and evidence from the novel
• The student can show how politics and characters' lives are intertwined in the novel

Activities:

• Watch a film about 20th history in India and answer questions
• Read about Naxalbari and Naxalites
• Explain what you think of the brothers' response to the political events
• Visualise the impact of political involvement on the lives of the characters 

VWO

The Indian Part of the novel is set in
Tollygunge, an area in Calcutta (Kolkata),

West Bengal (see map), India

The novel describes how the brothers Subhash and Udayan grow up in Tollygunge.  

Naxalbari

Naxalbari

The next slide contains three quotes from this part of the novel. Match each quote to the corresponding picture by dragging it to the correct yellow box.

They’d never set foot in the Tolly Club. Like most people in the vicinity, they’d passed by its wooden gate, its brick walls, hundreds of times. that closer to the clubhouse there was a swimming pool, stables, a tennis court. Restaurants where tea was poured from silver pots, special rooms for billiards and bridge. Gramophones playing music.

Though Partition had turned Muslims again into a minority, the names of so many streets were the legacy of Tipu’s displaced dynasty [...]

Still the mosque on the corner, a place of worship for those of a separate faith, oriented their daily comings and goings.

These days it was stagnant, lined with the settlements of Hindus who’d fled from Dhaka, from Rajshahi, from Chittagong. A displaced population that Calcutta accommodated but ignored. Since Partition, a decade ago, they had overwhelmed parts of Tollygunge, the way monsoon rain obscured the lowland.

• Watch the video on the next slide.
  Answer the questions while watching.
• Also think about the following: how do the pictures and quotes from the novel fit in with the history of India?
  
• Return to the main lesson after watching.
  

Remember this quote?
Since PARTITION, a decade ago, they had overwhelmed parts of Tollygunge, the way monsoon rain obscured the lowland.
What is meant by "Partition"?

01:06

What itensifies Indian protests against colonial rule?

01:39

What does the Muslim League want?

02:27

How many people died in the 1943 Bengal famine, which also struck in Calcutta?

"I’ve already lived through change in this country, their father said. I know
what it takes for one system to replace another. Not you."
This is a quote from a conversation between father Mitra and Udayan, late 1960s. Use what you just seen in the video to explain what he might be referring to.

What do you know about Lenin, Marx and Mao? Share your thoughts...

Create a presentation

• The Naxalbari and Naxalite movement are described extensively in the novel. What were they about again? Get into groups. 
• Choose a slide. Click the link in the slide. It leads to novel quotes about Naxalbari and Naxalites.
• Use the information from the text to create a  1-slide infographic with the most important information and answering the question: what did the farmers and the movement strive for. Use pictures. Feel free to use additional information from the novel or the Internet.
  
• Be prepared to present. 
• You have ten minutes.
• An example of an infographic is shown on the right. 

Link to the presentation

Link to the Padlet

Link to the Padlet

Theme: politics and history and their impact on life

Goals:

• The student can explain what Durga Pujo is and relate it to a major event in the novel
• The student can explain whether and how the novel's structure influences its perception 
• The student can give examples of secrecy in the novel and how it affects the plot

Master

Introduction

• inspiration for the novel a real event:
  two brothers executed in front of their family
  
• Udayan's death witnessed by wife and parents
• theme in the novel: political activities, secrecy, and their consequences  
• activities grouped around this

• first activity: Durga Pujo...

Gauri's perspective

It was the week before Durga Pujo. The month of Ashvin, the first phase of the waxing moon [....]

They were arranged in a row. They stood close together, their shoulders touching. The gun was still trained on her father-in-law.

She heard a conch shell blowing, the ringing of a bell. The sounds carried in from another neighborhood. Somewhere, in some house or temple, someone was praying, giving offerings at the end of another day.

Subhash' perspective

He thought of Durga Pujo coming again to Calcutta. As he was first getting to know America, the absence of the holiday hadn’t mattered to him, but now he wanted to go home. The past two years, around this time, he’d received a battered parcel from his parents, containing gifts for him. Kurtas too thin to wear most of the time in Rhode Island, bars of sandalwood soap, some Darjeeling tea [....]

This year no parcel came from his family. Only a telegram. The message consisted of two sentences, lifeless, drifting at the top of a sea. Udayan killed. Come back if you can.

Why were Durga Pujo and Udayan's death linked?

00:00

Durga Pujo is a Hindu celebration of the Mother Goddess and the victory of the revered warrior Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura. The festival honors the powerful female force (shakti) in the Universe.

Watch the clip to get an impression and learn more. Prepare to answer this question: The Hindu festival of Durga Pujo is juxtaposed to Udayan's death. Is this significant for the story? And if yes, why and how? Share your thoughts. 

The Hindu festival of Durga Pujo is juxtaposed to Udayan's death. Is this significant for the story? And if yes, why and how? Share your thoughts.

What do you remember from what the novel says about the Naxalite movement?

Link to Padlet - Group 1 (countryside)

Link to Padlet - Group 2 (Naxalites)

Link to Padlet

Link to the google document