Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Senior Secondary School 2

SUBJECT:  LITERATURE-IN-ENGLISH               

CLASS:  SS2

DATE:

TERM: 2nd Term

REFERENCE

1. Exam Reflection Literature- in-English by Sunday OlatejuFaniyi.
2. Exam Reflection Literature-in-English (Prose and Drama) by Sunday OlatejuFaniyi.  
3. Native Son by Richard Wright.

WEEK SIX

STYLE

Suspense: This is one narrative technique that any reader will easily and quickly identify with as it runs through the work. In a nutshell, this technique helps readers to go through the volume of the pages of the novel with getting tired. Richard Wright has cleverly entwined Bigger with an aura of suspicion as readers tend to suspect every move he makes. This is not alien to the circumstances that surround Bigger and the mess he got himself into. After killing Mary, readers read with rapt attention to know if he has any hope of escape or pardon for his crimes. Suspense is strongly felt in the court room as Max puts up a seasoned argument for Bigger in the face of threatening whites in the majority.

Tragedy: This technique is deployed by the writer to effectively betray the tragic presence of racism and inequality in a land. Beside the death of Mr. Thomas, Bigger’s father, which is also a tragic one, we see Bigger unconsciously manifesting into an emotionless killer. Though, Mary’s death was accidental, it satisfies Bigger’s desire to be able to inflict pain and fear on the white folk. After the killing of Mary, Bigger sees himself losing it completely that he felt nothing bad in his decision to kill Bessie, his girlfriend. By this, the writer tries to make readers understand that the same consideration given to Bigger’s crimes should also be that which is given to what had stir such thoughts in Bigger in the first place, which is no other than racism.

Flashback: Though used on a low scale, flashback comes in timely to help tell about the death of Bigger’s father and what efforts his mum had deployed before they found themselves in their present house. Through it, we were exposed to other crimes Bigger had committed in the past which as a result of one of them he was sent to the reprimanded home.

Dramatic Irony: The writer also utilised this technique to help Bigger to hide for a longer time in Mr. Dalton’s house after committing such a gruesome crime. When Mr. Britten, a private investigator, was called upon by Mr. Dalton when he realises that his daughter has been missing, he considers Bigger the first suspect, which would have helped to unravel the situation at a lesser time period but Mr. Dalton intervened by asking Mr. Britten not to involve Bigger, who actually was the criminal who had killed Mary, his supposed missing daughter.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the use of irony in the novel.
2. Examine the use of flashback and suspense in the novel.

GENERAL EVALUATIONS/REVISION QUESTIONS

1. Critically analyse the style of the novel.
2. What do you about the novel?

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1. A speech in a play in which a character speaks his or her thought alone is A. a monologue. B. an aside. C. a soliloquy. D. an epilogue.
2. In Literature, repetition is used essentially for A. rhyme. B. suspense. C. allusion. D. emphasis.
3. The pattern of a poem without reference to its content is referred to as the A. limerick. B. metre. C. free verse. D. form
4. The performers in a play constitute the A. chorus. B. character. C. audience. D. cast.
5. A metrical foot in which a stressed syllable is following by an unstressed syllable is A. iambic. B. spondaic. C. trochaic D. dactylic.

THEORY

Discuss the blindness of Mrs Dalton as a metaphor.