8. Scrabble & Jezebel's

• Engels
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

Lesson objectives 

We will consider the focus on language in the novel 

We will explore the concepts and topics in Jezebel's 

We will look further at the narrative voice of Offred. 

Concepts: 

Power dynamics, oppression, patriarchy, identity, rebellion 

Concepts HL literature 

Using your understanding can you 'guess' the meaning of these words 

One extract from A Doll's House and one from The Handmaid's Tale. 

A global issue that links the two extracts.

You will explore in an essay response (at least 5 paragraphs) how the global issue is shown in the extracts. 

You will explore the techniques (authorial choices) used and their purposes in conveying the global issue. 

11th March comparative summative assessment

Why Scrabble? 

What concepts, ideas, topics and connections to other themes in the novel can you generate on the paper given to you? 

L

Larynx 

Valance

Quince 

Zygote

Limp

Gorge 

Prolix 

Quartz 

Sylph 

Rhythm 

Quandary 

Write down the words that Offred plays on your paper.

Make sure you understand and have a definition for these words.

How many points did Offred earn?

www.thekatespanos.com

Lesson objectives 

We will continue investigating the motif of Scrabble 

We will return to preparing for a comparative essay plan

We will construct an introduction for a comparative essay 

Comparative essay summative - The Handmaid's Tale & If This is a Man 15th May - 2 lessons 

Rate the word 1 to 4

1. I do not know the word, and I have never seen it before. 

2. I've heard or seen the word before, but I'm not sure what it means. 

3. I know the word and can recognise and understand it while reading, but I probably wouldn't feel comfortable using it in writing or speech. 

4. I know the word well and can use it correctly in writing or speech. 

Retrospective

Word of the day

 Retrospective (n) - a show of the work an artist has done in their life so far

Retrospective (adj) - relating to or thinking about the past

OUOSRTSUEICD

Recently a retrospective album of solo Freddie Mercury tracks was released. 

L

Larynx 

Valance

Quince 

Zygote

Limp

Gorge 

Prolix 

Quartz 

Sylph 

Rhythm 

Quandary 

Make up a story with as few sentences as possible, but using each one of these high scoring words from the Scrabble game. 

Read the article and then discuss the information in your groups.

Add any additional ideas to your mind map. 

Warning - some spoilers present 

The struggle agains injustice is a theme that speaks to readers. Compare the ways in which the authors of two literary works have depicted unjust worlds. 

Consider The Handmaid's Tale and If this is a Man

Make a mind map in your groups with unjust worlds in the centre of your paper What branches will you add? What similarities and differences do you see? Brainstorm ideas. 

Concepts: 

Power dynamics, oppression, patriarchy, identity, rebellion 

Concepts HL literature 

Concepts Literature HL

Concepts to consider in the memoir:

Identity, control, humanity, language and morality 

 

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Padlet link 

1. Use the link in discussions to post thematic links and examples around the theme of injustice. The digital versions of the two works are in MB files. 
   
2. Comment on other posts and find at least two to three links between the examples. 
   
3. Attach to one post of your choice an image that visualises the topic, concept or theme. All post should have an image attached - AI generated, image search, drawn, photo... 
   
4. Attach to the posts authorial choices (techniques) that the authors use to convey these ideas on injustice. 
   

Prose fiction 

Plot, genre, settings, themes, symbols, characters, mood, atmosphere. 

Narrative point of view - first-person 

Narrative voice = language, diction, register 

Unreliable narrator 

Physical appearance, actions, idiolect, attitude, importance, relationships with other characters, contrasts. 

Themes, motifs, symbols

Diction = connotations, imagery, metaphors, similes, personification, figurative language, onomatopoeia etc

Literary concepts Literature HL

Literary concepts to consider in the memoir:

Structure, tone, stylistic choices, rhetorical devices

 

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Components of an introduction paper 2

1. Hook where you explore the TOPIC of the question  

2. Identify the two works and authors being used. Identify date of publication/ first performance and the original language. Remember to underline the titles of novels, memoirs or plays (quotation marks for titles of poems)

3. Brief summary of both works keeping an eye on the topic.

4. Use the wording of the question

5. Acknowledge the similarities and the differences

6. Make an argument and state the 'insightful idea' that you have using a clear comparative thesis statement.

Use this checklist to construct an introduction for this question. 

Thesis statement 

A good thesis statement offers a clear direction for your paper. It should: 

1. Identify the two works and authors being used

2. Use the wording of the question

3. Acknowledge the similarities and differences

4. Make an argument and share an insightful idea 

Jezebel is described in the Book of Kings (1 Kings 16:31) as a queen who was the daughter of Ithobaal I of Sidon and the wife of Ahab, King of Israel.[2]​

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According to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible, Jezebel incited her husband King Ahab to abandon the worship of Yahweh and encourage worship of the deities Baal and Asherah instead. Jezebel persecuted the prophets of Yahweh, and fabricated evidence of blasphemy against an innocent landowner who refused to sell his property to King Ahab, causing the landowner to be put to death. ​

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For these transgressions against the God and people of Israel, Jezebel met a gruesome death—thrown out of a window by members of her own court retinue, and the flesh of her corpse eaten by stray dogs.​

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In the biblical story, Jezebel became associated with false prophets. In some interpretations, her dressing in finery and putting on makeup led to the association of the use of cosmetics with "painted women" or prostitutes.​

​Adapted: Wikipedia 

Jezebel in the Bible 

" Well, he says, what do you think of our little club" ...

" It solves a lot of problems, he says without a twitch." 

Chapter thirty-seven pg 244 - 245

1. What is the hypocrisy at the heart of Gilead’s society? ​

2. What political and satirical comment could Atwood be making about Western society in the 1980s?​

3. How is the concept gender explored in this passage?

In chapter 7,  Offred recalls a women's protest that her mother was involved in and which she witnessed as a child. Here Atwood raises a number of areas of interest that the second wave feminist movement was concerned with. 

Chapter 7 pgs 43 - 44

Pornography, objectification of women, sexualisation of women, 

date rape, 

make-up, inequality. 

Explore in one or two PEEL paragraphs how, and to what purpose, these concerns are explored in chapter thirty-seven. 

This is what she says, whispers, more or less. I can’t remember exactly, because I had no way of writing it down. I’ve filled it out for her as much as I can: we didn’t have much time so she just gave the outlines. Also she told me this in two sessions, we managed a second break together. I’ve tried to make it sound as much like her as I can. It’s a way of keeping her alive. (pg 251)

Chapter thirty-eight  pg 251

Note how Offred draws attention to her role as an unreliable narrator. 

“Moira,” I say. “You don’t mean that.” She is frightening me now, because what I hear in her voice is indifference, a lack of volition. Have they really done it to her then, taken away something – what? – that used to be so central to her? But how can I expect her to go on, with my idea of her courage, live it through, act it out, when I myself do not?​

​    I don’t want her to be like me. Give in, go along, save her skin. That is what it comes down to. I want gallantry from her, swashbuckling, heroism, single-handed combat. Something I lack.​..

​Here is what I’d like to tell. I’d like to tell a story about how Moira escaped, for good this time. Or if I couldn’t tell that, I’d like to say she blew up Jezebel’s, with fifty Commanders inside it. I’d like her to end with something daring and spectacular, some outrage, something that would befit her. But as far as I know that didn’t happen. I don’t know how she ended, or even if she did, because I never saw her again. (257 - 258)

Chapter thirty-eight  pg 257 - 258

Is Moira a foil or a double to Offred? 

Using evidence, write a response to this question in your class notebook.