AS LITERATURE - SPIES READING SCHEDULE

AS LITERATURE
2000 WORD COMPARATIVE ESSAY
SPIES – READING SCHEDULE – for the class I share with Jerome and Kay

Below is a table to help you read Spies by Michael Frayn. This reading must be done independently of the work we do in class. We will not have enough time in class to read the text in detail. Instead we will be focussing on key episodes from the novel and linking these to key comparative themes in Equus.

I expect that this reading will be done and the classroom activities will assume you have read the relevant passages at least once but hopefully twice.

CH	TITLE	READING TIMETABLE	PAGES
1	Present day – return to childhood home	Week beginning 7 October	3 -33
2	The Close
3	The sitting room and the hideout	Week beginning 14 October	37 - 110
4	4 spying journeys
5	The Box, Barbara and Mrs Hayward
6	Night. The box and the man. Keith interrogates Stephen.	Week beginning 21 October	113 - 171
7	The thermos
8	Barbara in the lookout smoking and the box
9	The basket. Confrontation with Mr Hayward. Stephen and Peter	Week beginning 28 October	175 - 234
10	Stephen and Peter, confrontations with Keith  and parents, night and Peter’s death
11	Present day reflections

TOPICS IN SPIES - TO NOTE

Englishness, Power, Friendship, Male identity, Conformity/Individuality, Bullying, Storytelling/fantasy, Belonging, Making sense of the past, Alienation/dislocation,

Deception/Betrayal, Memory, Identity [national, family etc], Innocence and experience,
Sexual awakening, Childhood, Class, Language and meaning, The role and status of women

Concepts in bold link also to Equus

AS LITERATURE EQUUS - CLASS READINGS

AS LITERATURE
EQUUS CLASS READING

All scenes marked * will be read and discussed in class

ACT / SCENE	SUMMARY
ACT 1
1	*Dysart reveals his dissatisfaction with his career/life – admiration for Alan
2	*Dysart and Hester – tells him about the case asks him to take Alan on as a patient
3	*Dysart meets Alan
4	Nurse and Alan
5	*Dysart’s dream – carving children
6	with Hester – flashbacks with nurse, Dora & Frank, Alan’s nightmares
7	*at Dora and Frank’s home. Meeting with Dora – Alan as a child – Frank [secular/religious divisions]
8	Alan nightmare – Dysart watches
9	Dysart asks questions and Alan provocative challenging defensive
10	*On the beach – Alan meets Trojan
11	Dora visits Dysart: - Two pictures – Christ and Equus
12	Dysart  and Dalton
13	*Alan’s tape recording
14	*Frank visits Dysart – ‘Chinkle-chankle’
15	Alan tells Dysart about work – meets Jill
16	Alan tells Dysart  at the stables - introduction
17	Dysart Alan confrontation
18	Dysart and Hester – D’s marriage
19	*Hypnosis  the night rituals
20	*Alan takes Nugget to thefield
21	* Riding
ACT 2
22	Dora visits Alan conflict row
23	Dora’s monologue and talk with Dysart
24	Dysart and Alan interview
25	Dysart and Hester discuss treatments and treatment  motives / objectives
26	*Night: Letter from Alan to Dysart – Dysart prepares meeting with Alan
27	*Dysart gives Alan a placebo / truth drug. Dysart asks about Jill
28	*Alan tells Dysart about Jill
29	*The cinema Alan and Jill see Frank
30	*Outside the cinema – they talk uncomfortably
31	*Jill and Alan outside – alone walking and talking – decide to go to Stables
32	*Alan reluctant to go to stables – the horses
33	*At the stables – Alan terrified / naked tells Jill to leave / failed sexual act
34	*Alan alone in barn – stabs the horses eyes out
35	*– some interruption from Hester. Questions what he has done to Alan

AS LITERATURE - JANE EYRE FIRST READING

AS ENGLISH LITERATURE

JANE EYRE – INDEPENDENT READING

We will begin studying Jane Eyre in class from the beginning of January. However it is vital that you read and prepare the novel by the time we start studying it together after Christmas. We will only have a short period of teaching time for the novel before the exam in May. I expect we will be covering 2/3 chapters in each lesson.

 Here are the first reading questions again for your preparation

 

·         Make a note at the top of each page summarising the main action of that page.

·         Note down the structure of the novel

·         Make notes on the narrative voice and on the character of Jane

·         Make notes on the character of Rochester

·         Underline what you consider to me key quotations in the text.

·         Underline or make a note of the features of the main character[s] as you read.

·         Underline the progress of relationships between Rochester and Jane as it develops.

·         Notice the settings of the novel and consider how they contribute to the novel.

·         Look out for objects that may symbolise or represent abstract ideas.

·         Bearing in mind events, characters, settings, weather and symbols; identify key themes that recur through the novel

Consider the structure of the novel as you read it. Identify events that signal a change in the narrative and particularly Jane’s progress through the book.

Below is a reading guide timetable to help you read the novel.

We will begin studying the novel before we break up for Christmas.

CHAPTER	WEEK BEGINNING
1	28/10
2
3
4
5	4/11
6
7
8
9	11/11
10
11
12
13	18/11
14
15
16
17	25/11
18
19
20
21	2/12
22
23
24
25	9/12
26
27
28
29	16/12
30
31
32
33	23/12
34
35
36
37	30/12
38