The set-up…
Three characters: one is a liar, the other two have to live with the consequences of those lies.

You may wish to think about the following possibilities:

• Does the liar have a great influence on the other two, and if so, how are you going to show this in your writing?
• Do the two secondary characters have the same reaction to the lies?
• Are we thinking about a DoaS style relationship… or are we talking about a Chris Tarrant type thing?

I’ve got some useful links for you to chase up at your leisure (if you haven’t already found them):

Wikipedia – Death of a Salesman

Sparknotes – Death of a Salesman

Enjoy!

I’ve added a new page to the wiki. You can access it to find some more pointers for the critical essay. CLICK HERE>>>

Sorry! I forgot to set the permissions for the wiki so that anyone can view what is on it! I’ve now fixed that so if you want to go and get the chronology without signing in, this should now be possible!

I’ve started a wiki for the class (I’ll explain later!). Click on THIS LINK to be taken to the page for downloading the ACT ONE CHRONOLOGY.

Use this as the starting point… I’ve highlighted (in yellow) the specific scenes that I think will be the most useful ones to look at in preparation for Monday.

I will post more later today so stay tuned, or subscribe using the RSS feed on the page.

Cheers, Mr W

Re-read pp.7-17 of Death of a Salesman (DOAS) and start making character notes on Biff and Happy.

Consider:

• What sort of a person are they?
• What do the Stage Directions add to our understanding of their characters?
• What are we to make of the relationship between Biff and Willy in the present and in the past?

Reread the article and finish making notes on the main ideas in the article.

You can access the original article HERE>>>

Welcome back. I hope you had a good holiday and are refreshed and ready to get on with the work. We’ve got a lotto get through so I thought I’d start by giving you a quick overview of what you are expected to be doing as the course progresses.

It shouldn’t be any surprise to you that you are expected to spend a lot of time reading. Make that a LOT of time reading. As well as the course texts – Sunset Song and Romeo & Juliet – you are expected to spend time reading a quality newspaper such as The Independent, Scotland on Sunday, The Scotsman, The Times, The Herald, The Daily Telegraph, etc.. This is not because we are on commission for making you buy these papers (we’re not!), it is because
these are the papers that provide the majority of the passages for Close Reading assessments (both internal and final exam). If you are not in the habit of reading these papers, then you will almost certainly find the language and style of the writing intimidating when you come to attempt the assessments.

If you don’t know the style of writing, I’d recommend you look at some of the back issues that are held in the school library. I’ll be going over an analysis sheet that you can use for focus when reading them, and I’m investigating the possibilities of some form of online discussion of news items later in the year.

If you want, you can also access a lot of newspapers on the internet. Try clicking on the following for starters:

• The Glasgow Herald
• The Independent
• The Scotsman
• The Daily Telegraph
• The Guardian
• The Times

Enjoy!

Just a quick reminder that you should have made a start to your holiday reading by now. Remember that you want to have a fair idea about the text(s) you will be using for your SSL by the time you return in August. If you’re still stuck for ideas, you can drop me a line, or there’s always the reading lists on the School website.

Remember, the onus is on YOU to do the reading… it is the one thing no-one else can do for you!

I'm busy marking the Interp and Snackbar questions. They should be finished by tomorrow (dependent entirely on the World Cup telly tonight!).

I'm curious as to how many (if any) of you are actually reading this… can you let me know in class tomorrow if you have read it!

Cheers,
Mr W