him until he had exacted from him as much agony as he had squeezed from their hearts.
That was why, on that Sunday some weeks after Willem had left the Home to take up his diamond cutting apprenticeship, when according to the custom of old boys he paid the place a visit, his reception was so unceremonious that his first visit was also his last. When Felix glanced around himself that Sunday afternoon, he found that all the boys on the lawn were gathering and forming themselves into a crescent behind him, like a Zulu impi.
‘You, Willem Prinsloo,’ he shouted, ‘listen, I’m going to tell you a few things … And you’re an outsider now, don’t think you can bully any of us any more …’
As his taunts and insults poured forth, his limbs trembled uncontrollably, but his voice remained so strong that he felt it could flood the whole huge plane beneath them with Willem’s humiliation. ‘You thought you were the king because you could boss us around, but nobody respected you. They were only frightened because you were such a cruel bully.’ And though he saw that face darken and twist in anger, those huge legendary fists fold up into terrible hammers, he knew that now the bully was impotent against them, so nothing could stop his tirade, which went on until Willem turned and began to limp away, shouting over his shoulder, ‘You going to hear from me. I’ll see you with the police! Just wait …’
Since that day Felix had not seen him again and lately rarely thought of him until this casual crossing of paths with Willem as an ordinary pedestrian walking arm-in-arm with his wife. So he was surprised at how a bare minute of contact in Harrison Street alongside the City Hall could change his feelings from that last rancorous triumph to this broad-minded and worldly forgivingness. No, to an emotion even more positive than that. For the truth was that Felix found himself suffused – as he threaded his way among streams of strangers who were excluded from the experiences Willem Prinsloo and he had lived through together – with a feeling of brotherliness towards him.
[Taken from The storyteller, Juta’s Grade 12 anthology, 2008, from Mail & Guardian 2002, reprinted by permission of Jane Abrahams]
Post-reading:
1. Discuss in a group whether you think Lionel Abrahams’ own circumstances have anything to do with this story.
2. Whose idea do you think is worse for punishing Basil for stealing: Willem’s or Felix’s? Relate your answers to your own experiences.
3. Look at the dialogue. How does the way in which Willem’s words are written indicate more about him to us? Give examples to illustrate your answers.
4. There are parallels between Felix and Willem. In your group, discuss this statement.
Reading a review
You read a review of the film version of Othello earlier in this cycle. Here is a review of The Great Gatsby. Remember that reviews are personal, but that they attempt to give fair comment. A different reviewer might have a totally different opinion.
Activity 3.8 - Reading an example of a review (individual and pair)
Read this review of the novel you began in the previous cycle silently to yourself, after reading the questions as pre-reading activity. During reading, look for the answers.
A review of The Great Gatsby
1 F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby offers damning and insightful views of the American nouveau riche in the 1920s. Fitzgerald seems to have understood the lives of those who are corrupted by greed and are sad and unfulfilled. The novel is a product of its generation shown through the character of Jay Gatsby, who is urbane and world-weary. He is really nothing more than a man desperate for love.
2 The novel’s events are filtered through the consciousness of its narrator, Nick Carraway, a young Yale graduate, who is both a part of and separate from the world he describes. On moving to New York, he rents a house next door to the mansion of the eccentric millionaire Jay Gatsby. Every Saturday, Gatsby throws a party at his mansion and all the great and the good of the young fashionable world come to marvel at his extravagance (as well as swap gossipy stories about their host who – it is suggested – has a murky past).
3 Despite his extravagant lifestyle, Gatsby is dissatisfied. Years before, he had fallen in love with a young girl, Daisy, and although she has always loved Gatsby, she is currently married to Tom Buchanan. Gatsby asks Nick to help him meet Daisy again, and Nick finally agrees. The two meet and rekindle their affair. Tom begins to suspect what is happening and challenges the two of them one day in New York – also revealing something that the reader had already begun to suspect: that Gatsby’s fortune was made through illegal gambling and bootlegging. Gatsby and Daisy drive back from New York alone, and in the wake of the emotional confrontation, Daisy hits and kills a woman, who happens to be Tom’s mistress. Gatsby takes the blame.
4 George Wilson, who is told that the car that killed his wife was driven by Gatsby, shoots him. Nick arranges a funeral for Gatsby, and then leaves New York, saddened by the fatal events and disgusted by the senseless way in which the people he knew had lived their lives.
5 The power of Gatsby as a character is inextricably linked with his wealth. From the very beginning of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald sets up his hero as an enigma: the playboy millionaire with the shady past who can enjoy the frivolous life his wealth brings him. However, the reality of the situation is that Gatsby is a man thwarted in love. He concentrates everything in his life on winning Daisy back.
6 It is the way that he attempts to do this that becomes central to Fitzgerald’s view of the world of the time. Gatsby creates himself – both his mystique and his personality – around the wrong values, the values of the distorted American dream: that money and popularity are all there are to achieve in life, and that the one can buy the other. He gives everything he has,emotionally and physically, to winning Daisy back, and the way he goes about this contributes to his downfall.
7 In the closing pages of The Great Gatsby, Nick considers Gatsby in a wider context. He links Gatsby with the class of people who were so prominent during the 1920s and 1930s. Fitzgerald attacks shallow social climbing and emotional manipulation, which only cause pain. With a decadent cynicism, the partygoers in The Great Gatsby cannot see anything beyond their own enjoyment. Gatsby’s love is frustrated by the social situation and his death symbolises the dangers of the path he chose. The Great Gatsby captures the American dream in a time when it had descended into decadence.
[Rewritten from http://classiclit.about.com/od/greatgatsbythe/fr/aa_greatgatsby.htm]
Post-reading:
1.Discuss the following questions with a partner:
a. Reread the first sentences of the first and fourth paragraphs. Are they fact or opinion? How do you know?
b. Does the reviewer summarise the story or is he/she analysing it? Support your answer.
c. From the review, what do you think Scott Fitzgerald’s purpose was in writing the novel?
d. What is your opinion of the review? Should the reviewer have given away the ending in this particular case? Give reasons for your answer.
e. Would you want to read the book if you haven’t yet after reading this review? Explain your answer.
2. Using the information in the review,
