Year 11 Portfolio on Homelessness

Authors Avatar

 Year 11 Portfolio on Homelessness –

Paper 1 Unit 1.

Response Phase:

Firstly, we began by looking at a photo of Anne Smith, a homeless woman that has lived in an old, battered, Ford Consul in a leafy area of London for at least 12 years. We also looked at some of the issues surrounding this, because we found that some of the surrounding neighbours disliked the fact that she lived in a car, the state and hygiene of the car and the area around it. We also looked at the problems and issues that Anne faced and her human rights to live in the way that she likes.

The class came up with many positives and negatives towards the idea of Anne Smith’s living conditions. The positives were that she should have the right to live however she chooses, she was a polite woman that had lived there for 12 years without any problems and many people felt that she symbolised a sense of community in the area. The negatives we found were; the hygiene of the vehicle, and area around it were covered in litter, and, some neighbours even spoke of rats. In addition, the health and safety of passers-by could be affected by the car, for example; the children that live in the area could get hurt. In addition, the image of the street is degraded by the sight of her car and it could potentially affect the price of the houses in the surrounding areas.

As you can see, the results of this showed that her presence may have affected the street and may have caused arguments and quarrels among the neighbours.

Character Response:

After a warm-up, we stood silently with our eyes closed and were asked to devise a character. This is the description of my character:

Name:  Dawn Fitzgerald

Age:     23

Job:     Store manager of a large clothes shop

Family Circumstance:       Engaged for one year. Recently moved

                                     onto the street where Anne lives with

                                     fiancé.

House Circumstance:       The house is owned with fiancé, and it

                                     is on the street where Anne Smith  

                                     lives in her vehicle. The house is a four

                                     story terrace.

Thoughts on Anne Smith:    Anne Smith is a polite woman and

                                        although she and I have never been

                                        properly been introduced she always

                                        gives a friendly smile as I walk past. I

                                        think that the poor woman needs help,

                                        and if anyone of the people that judge                                                           her even bothered to find out why she

lives in the way that she does, the may find that there is more to her and her past than meets the eye.

Proxemics Exercise:

The diagram shows an exercise we did in lesson, there was a chair placed in the centre of the room and we all had to stand either side of it to represent how our characters felt about the situation of Anne Smith.

  • I stood here as I believe that every one should have a choice on how and where they live but I think that she should clean the car and the area surrounding it as it is becoming an issue to the community.

We then separated into groups to work on a scene between the neighbours in the area. When I was in my group with Emma, Neil, Jackson, Abbie, Chahida, Kristy, we decided to hot seat all of the characters so we could see what the group consisted of. From this, I learnt that my character was engaged and was just moving into the area so I did not really know Anne Smith. The responses of the other characters were mixed as some thought that she should be moved away, and some thought that she should be able to choose where she lived. Others were neutral on the topic, I felt that it was good that everybody had their own opinions on the situation but I think that some of them were not very empathetic.

We then created a piece of drama that had to show many different opinions towards the situation, most people did a dinner party but we did a gathering on the street.

- I thought that it might be a good idea to try something different so our characters met on the street, around Anne's car. Neil and I played the part of the new couple that had moved in around the corner, and we wanted to know about Anne's car. Emma and Jackson played the part of an older couple who were quite fond of Anne, Chahida played the part of a teenager completely against Anne Smith living outside her house, and Kristy played a small girl that liked to talk to Anne.

Join now!
  • Abbie played the part of Anne, as we wanted to include the opinion of Anne in our piece.
  • We included all sides of the argument, as we wanted it to be balanced.

- The two characters that made up the new couple were picked, as they were a similar age. We had a variety of ages and background within the piece, which gave it more relevance to the audience.

  • We wanted it to be a posh area to show the contrast between the homeowners and Anne Smith, so we gave most of the characters posh ...

This is a preview of the whole essay