GCSE English

Your ANNOTATION homework for Thursday the 13th of December

Please read the poem you were given in class.

Then find out answers to the questions below.  For the ‘who’ questions you may find an image search in google to be helpful (as well as a text search).

Annotate your copy of the poem with your answers.

1. Who was the Duke of Ferrara?
2. Who was the Duchess of Ferrara?
3. Who was Fra Angelico?
4. Who is Neptune, and what’s he taming?
5. What’s a ‘countenance’?
6. What’s a ‘mantle’?
7. What’s an ‘officious’ idiot?
8. What’s a ‘favour’ that you can wear?
9. What is ‘stooping’, metaphorically?
10. In what sense might a warrant be a promise?
11. What might ‘munificence’ be?
12. Find out what a ‘dowry’ is.

 

The Old Swamper

The Boss - Head of the Ranch

Appearance-

seems generous but has authority. He seems quite cowboyish and he wears cowboy boots. He has built a good relationship with his workers which is proved by “at christmas he gave us a gallon o gin”.  He was wearing jeans, and a denim jacket.

Quotes-

“fingers in the loops of his belt” “short, quick steps of a tat legged man” “sly” “you wont get away with ‘nothin”

Description-

Acute, macho, decent, king, sly, cowboy, authority,

Slim - Jerkline Skinner

Appearance: tall, long black hair, blue jeans, short denim jacket.

Quotes: “prince of the ranch” , “ear heard more than was said to him” , “moved with majesty” , “gravity in his manner”, “all talk stopped when he spoke”, “word was taken on any subject”.

Descriptive Words: authority, respected, prudent, friendly, welcoming/approachable, influential, wise, astute/perceptive, acknowledged, sociable. 

The Stable Buck- Crooks

Crooks has a crooked back from where he was kicked in the back by a horse.   He job is now to look after the horses and he is known as the ‘Stable Buck’ because of this.  ‘Buck’ is a dismissive and racist way of referring to the fact that he is a black man. We also learn that he ‘gets a lot of grief when the boss is in a bad mood’, which tells us that at least some of the white men on the ranch treat him badly just because he is not white. Besides perhaps making us feel sorry for him, perhaps Steinbeck also seeks to portray him in a positive light as we are told that Crooks is clever enough to be able to read books, not just the magazines that the other workers favour. Considering he was not of the most educated part of the American population of the time, we might conclude that he has self- educated himself.  He might be treated very differently compared to the other workers due to his colour as they were quite racist in the 1930s, but he is also clever and driven.

By Kirsty, Joe R, and Parmeet.

Curley’s Wife: Some Notes

• Appearance

- dressy/not very appropriate?

- dominant colour is red - danger, beauty - ‘ostrich feathers’ is a feminine touch - seems out of place in rough ranch yard

- influenced by film stars - popular culture

- “she puts her hands behind her back… thrown forward” - female stance, best assets forward, unfortunately misunderstood/misleading

- not mature enough to realise what message she is giving off to the men

• Actions

- stance:girly, craves attention 

- “bridles” as Lennie looks at her - suggests she startles/rejects control of male gaze - conscious of her appeal, but not of how it might be read

- “smiled archly” - in control of her expression - imagines she’s taking hold of situation?

- blocks out the sunlight - angelic backlight? - yet the bunkhouse is now darker because of her/sinister

- “apprehensive” when Curley might find out that she might not be where she should be: in the house

• What people think of her

- “tart”

- opposite effect of what she wanted

- misjudged - lonely - looking for someone to talk to

- she wants attention; like a younger girl

Curley

Curley is the boss’ son and he is very aware of his power as the ‘Old Swamper’ warns George of him almost confirming his arrogance. Curley is very rude (”Let the big guy talk”) and demanding, this could be due to his status and authority. Curley gives the impression of a boxer or fighter, the old swamper calls him ‘handy’ however boxers think tasks through before taking them in to practice unlike himself. George is very aggressive  ‘clenched his hands into fists’, ‘His eyes flashed over George’, ‘Pugnacious’ these quotes reinforce the idea of the quick acting, violent nature of Curley. Curley, is also very mannered: he wears ‘A glove fulla vaseline’, he is a very odd, explainable character and impetuous. Curley ‘lashed his body round’ is very showing of his body language, the word ‘lashed’ is  very descriptive of a whip, suggesting he is quick.