To explore the teacher/pupil relationship in the stories: The Winter Oak and the Pieces of Silver.
The relationship in The Pieces of Silver is one of insecurity and fear, this is because the teacher is hard to approach and talk to. The relationship in The Winter Oak is one of belief and surprise. There is also a reversal in roles, as the teacher becomes the pupil. Karl Sealy wrote The Pieces of Silver and the author of The Winter Oak is Yuri Nagibin. Both of the writers introduce a feel of their own lives into the stories.
Barbados, West Indies is where the Pieces of Silver is set. There is an awful lot of poverty in Barbados and you feel as if there is a colonial atmosphere. This is because the children are treated as if they are under control and in a squad of troops, this is shown by the repetition of words such as "inspection" and "ranks". This portrays that the children in Barbados grow up with a particular education, almost like the old education from the United Kingdom in the British Empire times. This shows irony as Barbados still use the education system they were introduced with from the British Empire.
The writer presents the teacher/pupil relationship in The Pieces of Silver by
making Mr Chase - the 'stout and pompous acting headmaster' - a hard and forceful man, basically a bully. The writer portrays an image of unfairness as well as an army style approach to everyday school life. "Again the school master ordered: 'Shun!' The boys came to attention and the school was ready to begin." This evidence suggests that the pupils are obeying to every command the headmaster makes. The word choices also highlight the army perspective when the pupils come to attention just like a squad would do when given a command. When Mr Chase punishes the students he doesn't do it in the appropriate professional way, but by scrawling an X on the children's heads. The professionalism decreases rapidly and conveys the bullying and humiliating image for the reader. "Taking a stick of chalk he scrawled an X upon the forehead of each boy, to the huge delight of the rest of the school." By using this quote the writer has an impact on the reader as the reader could be a parent and may not know that this could be happening in schools, they may also strongly disagree with the way the children are being mistreated. The use of the verb 'scrawled' encourages this response because it projects that Mr Chase put the 'X's on their heads in a disrespectful way which was a very harsh approach.
The relationship in The Pieces of Silver is one of insecurity and fear, this is because the teacher is hard to approach and talk to. The relationship in The Winter Oak is one of belief and surprise. There is also a reversal in roles, as the teacher becomes the pupil. Karl Sealy wrote The Pieces of Silver and the author of The Winter Oak is Yuri Nagibin. Both of the writers introduce a feel of their own lives into the stories.
Barbados, West Indies is where the Pieces of Silver is set. There is an awful lot of poverty in Barbados and you feel as if there is a colonial atmosphere. This is because the children are treated as if they are under control and in a squad of troops, this is shown by the repetition of words such as "inspection" and "ranks". This portrays that the children in Barbados grow up with a particular education, almost like the old education from the United Kingdom in the British Empire times. This shows irony as Barbados still use the education system they were introduced with from the British Empire.
The writer presents the teacher/pupil relationship in The Pieces of Silver by
making Mr Chase - the 'stout and pompous acting headmaster' - a hard and forceful man, basically a bully. The writer portrays an image of unfairness as well as an army style approach to everyday school life. "Again the school master ordered: 'Shun!' The boys came to attention and the school was ready to begin." This evidence suggests that the pupils are obeying to every command the headmaster makes. The word choices also highlight the army perspective when the pupils come to attention just like a squad would do when given a command. When Mr Chase punishes the students he doesn't do it in the appropriate professional way, but by scrawling an X on the children's heads. The professionalism decreases rapidly and conveys the bullying and humiliating image for the reader. "Taking a stick of chalk he scrawled an X upon the forehead of each boy, to the huge delight of the rest of the school." By using this quote the writer has an impact on the reader as the reader could be a parent and may not know that this could be happening in schools, they may also strongly disagree with the way the children are being mistreated. The use of the verb 'scrawled' encourages this response because it projects that Mr Chase put the 'X's on their heads in a disrespectful way which was a very harsh approach.
