НОУ Немецкая гимназия Peterschule
Рекомендовано
Утверждаю
Руководитель
методсовета
С.М.
Марчукова
Директор НОУ Немецкая гимназия Peterschule
Протокол
№
Е.А. Юпатова
От
“__” ____
(Предметный элективный курс)
И.Н. Каштанова
Учитель английского языка
НОУ Немецкая гимназия PETERSCHULE
Санкт-Петербург
Июнь-август 2005г.
Данный курс является предметным элективным курсом и состоит из трех самостоятельных частей (“Драма”, “Поэзия”, “Проза (рассказ)”, каждая из которых имеет предположительную длительность 12 часов (2 часа в неделю).
Курс предназначен для учащихся 9-10 классов гимназий и предполагает углубление знаний и навыков владения английским языком, а также может рассматриваться как межпредметный ибо позволяет углубить знания в области русской литературы, так как знакомит учащихся с литературными жанрами и некоторыми приемами анализа художественного текста.
Курс построен на оригинальных неадаптированных текстах современной английской и американской литературы, что с одной стороны, значительно расширяет культороведческий аспект владения языком, с другой, позволяет учащимся почувствовать уверенность в своих знаниях, так как они впервые за 9-10 лет обучения сталкиваются не с учебным, а с оригинальным авторским текстом и знакомятся с некоторыми литературными приемами.
Главной целью обучения иностранному языку по-прежнему является устная коммуникация, поэтому основными методами будут устные обсуждения и дискуссии, а завершится курс написанием эссе по теме, выбранной или самостоятельно сформулированной самим учащимся.
I. Драма: пьеса знаменитого американского писателя Уильяма Сарояна “Устрица
и жемчужина” (William Saroyan ‘The Oyster and the
II. Рассказ: рассказ выдающегося английского писателя Роалда Дала “Кожа” (Roald Dahl ‘Skin’).
III. Поэзия: подборка культовых стихотворений английских и американских поэтов 19-20 веков (У.Вордсворта, Д. Китса, Р. Фроста).
Отличие от базового курса
На всех этапах
изучения английского языка не использовался оригинальнй полный текст – он
всегда был адаптирован для определенного уровня владения языком. Никогда не
использовался данный подход – жанры литературы (драматические произведения
вообще не входят в программу, если не считать учебных диалогов). Никогда не рассматривалось творчествo отдельных писателей и
особенности их художественного стиля.
Обеспеченность учебными и вспомогательными материалами
Материалы курса
отксерокопированы и выдаются учащимся на руки на время изучения курса.
Виды деятельности
Чтение вслух.
Чтение по ролям.
Анализ произведения.
Анализ выбранной роли.
Обсуждение.
Дискуссия.
Написание портретных
характеристик.
Написание эссе.
Заучивание наизусть
стихотворений.
Декламация.
Презентация творчества
одного из рекомендованных поэтов и его произведения.
Самостоятельность ученика
Выбор роли в
соответствии со свойствами характера и творческими возможностями.
Выбор темы эссе.
Подбор дополнительной
литературы по теме.
Высказывание
собственного отношения и оценки на протяжении всего курса.
Cамостоятельный выбор произведения для изучения и анализа.
Презентация
поэтического произведения по собственному выбору.
Критерии успешности
Активное участие в
работе курса на каждом занятии, написание эссе, презентация.
Анкетирование на последнем занятии.
Визуальный контроль на каждом занятии, так как основной вид деятельности коммуникативный.
По первой части – написание эссе.
По второй - ревю (анализ произведения и собственный комментарий).
По третьей - чтение стихотворения наизусть, презентация творчества писателя или отдельного произведения.
The Oyster and the
William Saroyan
“The Oyster and the
Although there is a story line, that
is not the author’s main concern. He
wants the reader/viewer to enjoy, to relax, to “play” as the play
progresses. There is no clearly defined
plot
SCENE: Harry Van Dusen’s barber shop in
On the walls, on shelves,
are many odd and ends, some apparently washed up by the sea, which is a block
down the street: abalone and other shells, rocks, pieces of driftwood, a life
jacket, rope, sea plants. There is one
old-fashioned chair.
When the play begins,
Harry is seated in the chair. A boy of
nine or ten named Clay Larrabee is giving him a haircut. Harry’s reading a book, one of many in the
shop.
CLAY: Well,
anyhow, thanks a lot. I guess I’ll go down to the beach now and look for stuff.
HARRY: I’d go with you but I’m expecting a little
Saturday business.
CLAY: This
time I’m going to find something really good, I think.
HARRY: The sea washes up some pretty good things at
that, doesn’t it?
CLAY: It sure
does, except money.
HARRY: What do you want with money?
CLAY:
Things I need.
HARRY:
What do you need?
CLAY: I want to get my father to come home
again. I want to buy my Mother a
present…
HARRY: Now, wait a minute, Clay, let
me get this straight. Where is your
father?
CLAY: I don’t know. He went off a day after I got my last haircut
about a month ago.
HARRY: What do you mean, he went
off?
CLAY: He just picked up and went
off.
HARRY: Did he say when he was coming
back?
CLAY: No. All he said was, Enough’s enough. He wrote it on the kitchen wall.
HARRY:
Enough’s enough?
CLAY:
Yeah. We all thought he’d be back
in a day or two, but now we know we’ve got to find him and bring him back.
HARRY:
How do you expect to do that?
CLAY:
Well, we put an ad in The
O.K.-by-the-Sea Gull…that comes out every Saturday.
HARRY:
(opening the paper) This
paper? But your father’s not in
town. How will he see an ad in this
newspaper?
CLAY:
He might see it. Anyhow, we don’t
know what else to do. We’re living off
the money we saved from the summer we worked, but there ain’t much left.
HARRY:
The summer you worked?
CLAY:
Yeah. Summer before last, just
before we moved here, we picked cotton in
HARRY: (indicating the paper) What do you say in your ad?
CLAY:
(looking at it) Well, I say… Clark Larrabee. Come home.
Your fishing tackle’s in the closet safe – and sound. The fishing’s
good, plenty of cabazon, perch, and bass.
Let bygones be bygones. We miss
you. Mama, Clay, Rox
HARRY: That’s
good ad.
CLAY: Do you
think if my father reads it, he’ll come home?
HARRY: I don’t
know, Clay. I hope so.
(Clay
goes out. Harry takes off a derby,
lathers his face, and begins to shave with a straight-edge razor. A pretty girl in a swimming suit comes into
the shop, clothing a colorful parasol.
She has long blond hair.)
HARRY :
Miss
THE GIRL:
Miss McCutcheon.
HARRY:
Harry Van Dusen.
THE GIRL:
How do you do.
HARRY: (bowing) Miss McCutcheon.
THE GIRL:
I’m new here.
HARRY:
You’d be new anywhere – brand new, I might say. Surely you don’t live here.
THE GIRL: As a matter of fact, I do. At any rate, I’ve been here since last
Sunday. You see, I’m the new teacher at
the school.
HARRY:
You are?
THE GIRL:
Yes, I am.
HARRY:
How do you like it?
THE GIRL:
One week at this school has
knocked me for a loop. As a matter of
fact, I want to quit and go home to
HARRY:
Are you serious? I mean, in
asking me?
THE GIRL: Of
course I’m serious. You’ve been here a
long time. You know everybody in
town. Shall I go, or shall I stay?
HARRY: Depends on what you are looking for. I stopped here twenty-four years ago because
decided I wasn’t looking for anything more.
Well, I was mistaken. I was
looking, and I’ve found exactly what I was looking for.
THE GIRL: What’s that?
HARRY:
A chance to take my time. That’s
why I’m still here. What are you looking
for, Miss McCutcheon!
THE GIRL: Well…
HARRY:
I mean, besides husband…
THE GIRL:
I’m not looking for a husband. I
expect a husband to look for me.
HARRY:
That’s fair.
THE GIRL:
I’m looking for a chance to teach.
HARRY:
That’s fair too.
THE GIRL:
But this town!.. The children
just don’t seem to care about anything – whether they get good grades or bad,
whether they pass or fail, or anything else.
On top of that, almost all of them are unruly. The only thing they seem to be interested in
is games, and the sea. That’s why I’m on
my way to the beach now. I thought if I
could watch them on a Saturday I could understand them better.
HARRY: Yes, that’s a thought.
THE GIRL:
Nobody seems to have any sensible ambition. It’s all fun and play. How can I teach children like that? What can I teach them?
HARRY: English.
THE GIRL:
Of course.
HARRY: (drying his face) Singing,
dancing, cooking.
THE GIRL:
Cooking?.. I must say I expected
to see much older man.
HARRY: Well! Thank you!
THE GIRL: Not at all.
HARRY:
The question is, shall you stay, or shall you go back to
THE GIRL:
Yes.
HARRY:
The answer is, go back while the going’s good.
THE GIRL: Why? I
mean, a moment ago I believed you were going to point out why I ought to stay,
and then suddenly you say I ought to go back.
Why?
HARRY: (after a pause) You’re too
good for a town like this.
THE GIRL:
I am not!
HARRY:
Too young and too intelligent. Youth and intelligence need excitement.
THE GIRL:
There are kinds of excitement.
HARRY:
Yes, there are. You need the
big-city kind. There isn’t an eligible
bachelor in town.
THE GIRL:
You seem to think all I want is to find a husband.
HARRY:
But only to teach. You want to
teach him to become a father, so you can have a lot of children of your own –
to teach.
THE GIRL:
(She sits almost angrily in the
chair and speaks very softly) I’d
like a poodle haircut if you don’t mind, Mr. Van Dusen.
HARRY: You’ll have to get that in
THE GIRL:
Why? Aren’t you a barber?
HARRY: I am.
THE GIRL: Well, this is your shop. It’s open for business. I’m a customer. I’ve got money. I want a poodle haircut.
HARRY:
I don’t know how to give a poodle haircut, but even if I knew how, I
wouldn’t do it.
THE GIRL: Why
not?
HARRY: I don’t give women’s haircuts. The only women who visit this shop bring
their small children for haircuts.
THE GIRL: I want a poodle haircut, Mr.Van Dusen.
HARRY:
I’m sorry, Miss McCutcheon. In my
sleep, in a nightmare, I would not cut your hair. (The
sound of the truck stopping is heard from across the street)
THE GIRL: (softly, patiently, but firmly) Mr. Van Dusen, I’ve decided to stay,
and the first thing I’ve got to do is change my appearance. I don’t fit into the scenery around here.
HARRY: Oh, I don’t know – if I were a
small boy going to school, I’d just say you look just right.
THE GIRL: You’re just like children. They don’t take me seriously either: they
think I’m nothing more than a pretty girl who is going to give up in despair
and go home. If you give me a poodle haircut, I’ll look more – well, plain and
simple. I plan to dress differently,
too. I’m determined to teach here. You’ve got to help me. Now, Mr. Van Dusen, the shears, please.
HARRY:
I’m sorry, Miss McCutcheon. There
is no need to change your appearance at all.
(Clark
Larrabee comes into the shop)
HARRY:
You’re next,
THE GIRL: (whispering) I won’t
forget this rudeness, Mr. Van Dusen.
HARRY: (also whispering) Never whisper in O.K.-by-the-Sea.
People misunderstand. (Loudly) Good day, Miss.
(Miss McCutcheon opens
her parasol with anger and leaves the shop.
Clark Larrabee has scarcely noticed her.
He stands looking at Harry’s junk on the shelves.)
HARRY:
Well,
HARRY:
He was here a little while ago.
HARRY:
He’s fine,
CLARK:
I been working in
HARRY: You’ve been home, of course?
HARRY:
Oh?
HARRY:
You got time for a haircut,
HARRY: Clay’s somewhere on the beach.
HARRY:
Why not?
HARRY: Sure,
HARRY: Sure,
HARRY: Oh, I can’t kick. Two or three
haircuts a day. A lot of time to
read. A few laughs. A few surprises. The sea.
The fishing. It’s a good life.
HARRY: Sure.
HARRY: Anything you say,
HARRY:
Good seeing you, Clark.
(Clark Larrabee goes out. Harry watches him. The truck shifting gears is heard, then the sound of the truck driving off. Harry picks up a book, changes hats, sits down in the chair and begins to read. A man of forty or so, well-dressed, rather swift, comes in.)
THE MAN: Where’s the barber?
HARRY: I’m the barber.
THE MAN: Can I get a haircut, real quick?
HARRY:
(getting out of the chair) Depends on what you mean by real quick.
THE MAN: (sitting down)
Well, just a haircut then.
HARRY: (putting an apron around the man) O.K. I don’t
believe I’ve seen you before.
THE MAN:
No. They’re changing the oil in
my car across the street. Thought I’d
step in here and get a haircut. Get it
out of the way before I get to
HARRY:
About two hundred straight down the highway. You can’t miss it.
THE MAN:
What town is this?
HARRY: O.K.-by-the-Sea.
THE MAN: What do people do here?
HARRY: Well, I cut hair. Friend of mine named Wozzeck repairs watches,
radios, alarm clocks, and sells jewelry.
THE MAN: Who does he
sell it to?
HARRY: The people
here. It’s imitation stuff mainly.
THE MAN: Factory
here? Farms? Fishing?
HARRY: No. Just the few stores on the highway, the
houses further back in the hills, the church, and the school. You a salesman?
THE MAN: No, I’m a writer.
HARRY: What do you
write?
THE MAN: A little bit
of everything. How about the haircut?
HARRY: You got to be
in
THE MAN: I don’t have
to be anywhere tonight, but that was the idea.
Why?
HARRY: Well, I’ve
always said a writer could step into a place like this , watch things a little
while, and get a whole book out of it, or a play.
THE MAN: Or if he is a
poet, a sonnet.
HARRY: Do you like
Shakespeare’s?
THE MAN: They’re just
about the best in English.
HARRY: It’s not
often I get a writer in here. As a
matter of fact you’re the only writer I’ve had in here in twenty years, not
counting Fenton.
THE MAN: Who’s he?
HARRY: Fenton
Lockhart.
THE MAN: What’s he
write?
HARRY: He gets out
the weekly paper. Writes the whole thing
himself.
THE MAN: Yeah. Well … How about the haircut?
HARRY: O.K.
(Harry
puts a hot towel around the man’s head.
Miss McCutcheon, carrying a cane chair without one leg and without a
seat, comes in. With her is Clay with
something in his hand, a smaller boy named
CLAY: I got an
oyster here, Mr. Van Dusen.
HARRY: (looking at Miss McCutcheon) Is she willing to admit there’s a little one in it?
Miss McCutcheon:
Mr. Van Dusen, Clay Larrabee seems to believe there’s a pearl in this
oyster he happens to have found on the beach.
CLAY: I
didn’t happen to find it. I went looking
for it. You know Black Rock, Mr. Van
Dusen? Well, the tide hardly ever gets
low enough for a fellow to get around to the ocean side of Black Rock, but a
little while ago it did, so I went around there to that side. I got to poking around and I found this
oyster.
HARRY:
I’ve been here twenty-four years, Clay, and this is the first time I’ve
ever heard of anybody finding an oyster on our beach – at Black Rock, or
anywhere else.
CLAY: Well, I did, Mr. Van Dusen. It’s shut tight, it’s alive, and there’s a
pearl in it, worth at least three hundred dollars.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: Now, you children listen to me. It’s never too soon for any of us to face the
truth, which is supposed to set us free, not imprison us. The truth is, Clay, you want money because
you need money. The truth is also that
you have found an oyster. The truth is
also that there is no pearl in the oyster.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: No, but neither did Clay, and inasmuch as
only one oyster in a million has a pearl in it, truth favors the probability
that this is not the millionth oyster … the oyster with the pearl in it.
CLAY: There’s a big
pearl in the oyster.
MISS McCUTCHEON: Mr. Van
Dusen, shall we open the oyster and show Clay and his sister Rox
HARRY: In a moment,
Miss McCutcheon. And what is that you
have?
MISS McCUTCHEON: A chair, as
you see.
HARRY: how many legs does it have/
MIS
SMcCUTCHEON: Three of course. I can count to three, I hope.
HARRY: What do you
want to do with a chair with only three legs?
MISS McCUTCHEON: I’m going to bring things from the sea the same way
as everybody else in the town.
HARRY: But not
everybody else in town bring things from the sea – just the children, Judge
Applegarth, Fenton Lockhart, and myself.
MISS McCUTCHEON: In any case,
the same as the children, Judge Applegarth, Fenton Lockhart, and you. Judge Applegarth? Who’s he?
HARRY: He judge
swine at a county fair one time, so we call him Judge.
MISS McCUTCHEON: Pigs?
HARRY:
Swine’s a little old-fashioned but I prefer it to pigs, and since both
words mean the same thing - Well, I
wouldn’t care to call a man Like Arthur Applegarth a pig judge.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: Did he actually judge swine, as you put it,
at a county fair – one time? Did he even
do that?
HARRY:
Nobody checked up. He said he
did.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: So that entitled him to be called Judge
Applegarth?
HARRY: It
certainly did.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: On that basis, Clay’s oyster has a big pearl
in it because he says so, is that it?
HARRY: I
didn’t say that.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: Are we living in
the Middle Ages, Mr. Van Dusen?
MISS
McCUTCHEON: Yes,
MISS
McCUTCHEON: Yes, but there’s nothing else in the bottle.
MISS McCUTCHEON:
Salt, perhaps.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: You can imagine seeing them. Mr. Van Dusen, are you going to help me or
not?
HARRY:
What do you want me to do?
MISS
McCUTCHEON: Open the oyster, of course, so Clay will see
for himself that there’s no pearl in it.
So he’ll begin to face reality, as he should, as each of us should.
HARRY:
Clay, do you mind if I look at the oyster a minute?
CLAY:
(handing the oyster to Harry) There’s a big pearl in it, Mr. Van Dusen.
HARRY:
(examining the oyster) Clay … Rox
CLAY, GREELEY, and ROXANNA: O.K., Mr. Van Dusen. (They go out.)
MISS
McCUTCHEON: What pearl?
What in the world do you think you’re trying to do to the minds of these
children? How am I ever going to teach
them the principles of the truth with an influence like yours to fight against?
HARRY: Miss McCutcheon. The people of
O.K.-by-the-Sea are all poor. Most of
them can’t afford to pay for the haircuts I give them. There’s no excuse for this town at all, but
the sea is here, and so are the hills.
A few people find jobs a couple of months every year North or South,
come back half dead of homesickness, and live next to nothing the rest of the
year. A few get pensions. Every family has a garden and a few chickens,
and they make few dollars selling vegetables and eggs. In a town of almost a thousand people there
isn’t one rich man. Not even one who is
well-off. And yet these people are the
richest I have ever known. Clay doesn’t
really want money, as you seem to think.
He wants his father to come home, and he thinks money will help get his
father home. As a matter of fact his
father is the man who stepped in here just as you were leaving. He left thirty dollars for me to give Clay,
to take home. His father and his mother
haven'’ been getting along. Clark Larrabee’s
a fine man. He’s not the town drunk or
anything like that, but having four kids to provide for he gets to feeling
ashamed of the showing he’s making, and he starts drinking. He wants his kids live in a good house of
their own, wear good clothes, and all other things fathers have always wanted
for their kids. His wife wants these
things for the kids, too. They don’t
have these things, so they fight. They
had one too many fights about a month ago, so Clark went off – he’s working in
MISS
McCUTCHEON: Are you suggesting we play a trick on Clay,
in order to carry out your mumbo-jumbo ideas?
HARRY: Well,
maybe it is a trick. I know Wozzeck’s
got a few pretty good-sized cultivated pearls.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: You plan to have Wozzeck pretend he has found
a pearl in the oyster when he opens it, is that it?
HARRY: I plan to get three hundred dollars to Clay.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: Do you have three hundred dollars?
HARRY:
Not quite.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: What about the other children who need
money? Do you plan to put pearls in
oysters for them. too? Not just here in
O.K.-by-the-Sea. Everywhere. This isn’t the only town in the world where
people are poor, where fathers and mothers fight, where families break up.
HARRY:
No, it isn’t, but it’s the only town where I live.
MISS
MCCUTCHEON: I give up.
What do you want me to do?
HARRY:
Well, could you find it in your heart to be just a little less sure
about things when you talk to the kids - I mean, the troubled ones? You can get Clay around to the truth easy
enough just as soon as he gets his father home.
(Arthur Applegarth comes in.)
HARRY:
Judge Applegarth, may I present Miss McCutcheon?
THE JUDGE:
(removing his hat and bowing low) An honor, Miss.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: How do you do, Judge.
HARRY:
Miss McCutcheon’s a new teacher at school.
THE JUDGE: We
are honored to have you. The children,
the parents, and – the rest of us.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: Thank you, Judge. (To Harry, whispering)
I’ll be back sooon as I change my clothes.
HARRY: (whispering) I told you
not to whisper.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: (whispering) I shall expect you to give me a poodle
haircut.
HARRY:
(whispering) Are you out of your mind?
MISS McCUTCHEON: (aloud) Good bye, Judge.
THE JUDGE:
(bowing) Good day, Miss. (While he is bent
over he takes a good look at her knees, calves, ankles, and bowtied sandals. Miss McCutcheon goes out. Judge Applegarth looks from the door to Harry.)
THE JUDGE:
She won’t last a month.
HARRY:
Why not?
THE JUDGE:
Too pretty. Our school needs an
old battle-ax, like the teachers we had when we went to school, not a bathing
beauty. Well, Harry, what’s new?
HARRY:
Just the teacher I guess.
THE JUDGE:
You know, Harry, the beach isn’t what it used to be – not at all. I don’t mind the competition we’re getting
from the kids. It’s just that the
quality of the stuff the sea’s washing up isn’t good any more. (He goes to the door.)
HARRY: I
don’t know, Clay Larrabee found an oyster this morning.
THE JUDGE: He
did? Well, one oyster don’t make a stew,
Harry. On my way home I’ll drop in and
let you see what I find.
HARRY: O.K., Judge. (The
Judge goes out. Harry comes to life
suddenly and becomes businesslike.) Now, for the haircut! (He removes the towel
he had wrapped around the writer’s head.)
THE JUDGE:
Take your time.
HARRY: (He examines the shears, clippers, and
combs.) Let’s see now.
(The writer turns and watches. A gasoline station attendant comes to the
door.)
THE
ATTENDANT: (to the writer)
Just wanted to say your car’s
ready now.
THE WRITER:
Thanks. (The
attendant goes out.) Look.
I’ll tell you what. How much is a
haircut?
HARRY: Well, the regular price is a dollar.
It’s too much for a haircut, though, so I generally take a half or a
quarter.
THE
WRITER: (getting out of the chair)
I’ve changed my mind. I don’t
want a haircut after all, but here’s the dollar just the same. (He hands Harry a
dollar, and he himself removes the apron.)
HARRY: It won’t take a minute.
THE WRITER: I
know.
HARRY:
You don’t have to pay me a dollar for a hot towel. My compliments.
THE WRITER:
That’s O.K. (He goes to the door.)
HARRY: Well, take it
easy now.
THE WRITER: Thanks. (He stands a moment,
thinking, then turns.) Do you mind if I have a look at that
oyster?
HARRY: Not at all.
(The writer goes to the shelf where Harry has placed the oyster, picks it up, looks at it thoughtfully, puts it back without comment, but instead of leaving the shop he looks around at the stuff in it. He then sits down on the whicker chair in the corner, and lights a cigarette.)
THE
WRITER: You know, they’ve got a gadget in
HARRY:
They have?
THE WRITER: Yeah, there was a full-page ad about it in last Sunday’s Times.
HARRY: Is
that where you were last Sunday?
THE WRITER:
Yeah.
HARRY: You been doing a lot of driving.
THE WRITER: I
like to drive. I don’t know, though –
those gadgets don’t always work. They’re
asking two-ninety-five for it. You take
a big family. The father could save a
lot of money giving his kids a haircut.
HARRY:
Sounds like a great idea.
THE WRITER:
Question of effectiveness. If the
father gives the boy a haircut the boy’s ashamed of, well, that’s not so good.
HARRY:
You got a big family?
THE WRITER: I
mean for myself. But I don’t know –
there’s something to be said for going to a barber shop once in a while. No use putting the barbers out of business.
HARRY:
Sounds like a pretty good article, though.
THE WRITER: (getting up lazily) Well, it’s
been nice talking to you.
(Wozzeck, carrying a satchel,
comes in, followed by Clay, Rox
WOZZECK: What’s
this all about, Harry?
HARRY:
I’ve got an oyster I want you to open.
WOZZECK:
That’s what the kids have been telling me.
ROXANNA: He
doesn’t believe there’s a pearl in the oyster, either.
WOZZECK: Of course not! What foolishness!
CLAY:
There’s a big pearl in it.
WOZZECK:
O.K., give me the oyster. I’ll
open it. Expert watch repairer, to open
the oyster!
HARRY:
How much is the big pearl, Louie?
WOZZECK:
Oh, a hundred. Two hundred,
maybe.
HARRY: A
very big one?
WOZZECK:
Three, maybe.
THE WRITER:
I’ve looked at that oyster, and I like to buy it. (To Clay)
How much do you want for it?
CLAY: I
don’t know.
THE WRITER:
How about three hundred?
CLAY: Is
it all right, Mr. Van Dusen?
HARRY: (He looks at the writer, who nods.)
Sure it’s all right.
(The
writer gives Clay the money.)
CLAY: (looking at the money and then to the writer)
But suppose there ain’t a pearl in it?
THE WRITER:
There is, though.
WOZZECK:
Don’t you want to open it first?
THE WRITER: No,
I want the whole thing. I don’t think
the pearls stopped growing.
CLAY: He
says there is a pearl in the oyster, Mr. Van Dusen.
HARRY: I
think there is, too, Clay; so why don’t you just go on home and give the money
to your mother?
CLAY:
Well … I knew I was going to find
something good today!
(The children go out. Wozzeck is bewildered.)
WOZZECK:
Three hundred
dollars! How do you know there’s a pearl
in it?
THE WRITER: As far as I’m
concerned, the whole thing’s a pearl.
WOZZECK: (a little confused) Well, I got to get to the shop, Harry.
HARRY: Thanks for
coming by.
(Wozzeck goes out. The writer holds the oyster in front of him as if it were an egg, and looks at it carefully, turning it in his fingers. As he is doing so, Clark Larrabee comes into the shop. He is holding the copy of the newspaper that Harry gave him.)
HARRY:
No, I’ve got the money here.
HARRY: (putting the apron on Clark) Sure thing,
MISS McCUTCHEON: Well?
HARRY:
You look fine, Miss McCutcheon.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: I don’t mean that. I mean the oyster.
HARRY:
Oh, that! There was a pearl in
it.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: I don’t believe it.
HARRY: A
big pearl.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: You might have done me a courtesy of waiting
until I had come back before opening it.
HARRY:
Couldn’t wait.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: Well, I don’t believe you, but I’ve come for
my haircut. I’ll sit down and wait my
turn.
HARRY:
Mr. Larrabee wants the work.
MISS
McCUTCHEON: Mr. Larrabee?
Clay’s father? Rox
HARRY:
MISS
McCUTCHEON: How do you do, Mr. Larrabee. (She looks
bewildered.) Well, perhaps some other time, then, Mr. Van
Dusen. (She goes
out.
THE JUDGE:
Not one thing on the beach, Harry.
Not a blessed thing worth picking up and taking home. (Judge Applegarth goes
on . The writer looks at Harry.)
HARRY:
See what I mean?
THE WRITER:
Yeah, well … so long. (He puts the oyster in his coat pocket.)
HARRY:
Drop in again any time you’re driving to
THE WRITER: Or
away. (He goes
out.)
HARRY: Of
course you can’t,
HARRY:
Sure,
HARRY:
Oh, just having a little fun with the new teacher. You know, she came in here and asked me to
give her a poodle haircut? A poodle
haircut! I don’t remember what a poodle
dog looks like, even.
Analyzing and discussing the
text:
Setting, atmosphere and
characters
When
you read a play, you first learn about characters and setting from the notes the playwright makes at
the beginning of the play. These notes
describe when and where the action of the play will take place and give brief
descriptions of the characters involved.
A skillful writer uses setting to create a particular atmosphere expresses
author’s view of the world. It is difficult to imagine a tender love story
taking place in a butcher shop, or a duel to the death taking place in the
reading room of a library. The
descriptions help to create an emotional climate for the work, which establishes the
reader’s expectations and attitudes.
Plot
Any
work of literature that tells a story – be it a novel, a short story, or a play
– has a plot. A plot can be regarded as a kind of skeleton that the writer fills out by using well-drawn, convincing characters, a vivid setting, and a distinctive style.
These other elements determine to some extent the impression a work
of fiction makes on reader, but the basic shape of a story depends on it’s
skeleton or plot. Most plots involve conflicts.
Conflict
A
struggle between two opposing forces or characters in a short story, novel, or
play. Conflict can be external or internal and it
can take one of these forms: 1) a person against another person; 2) a person
against society; 3) a person against nature; 4) two elements within a person
struggling for mastery. Most works of
fiction contain more than one of these forms of conflict.
Conflict
is often an important element in plot development and provides, among other
things, the bases for suspense.
Suspense
– the quality of a short story, novel, or drama that makes the reader uncertain
or tense
about the outcome of events.
Character
Much
of a story effectiveness may depend on how well the characters are
presented. Even if a plot is well
constructed, readers may not become emotionally involved in the story unless
they can respond to characters. They
must be able to like or dislike them, to be happy for them or feel pity for
them, judge them morally. Not all
characters in a story are developed to the same degree.
Generally
a writer develops a character in one or more of the following ways: 1) through
the character’s actions; 2) through a physical description of a character: 3)
through the character’s thoughts and speeches; 4) through the opinion other
characters have about the character; 5) through a direct statement telling what
writer thinks of the character. Modern
writers generally avoid the last method.
They prefer to show their characters in actin and have readers form
their own opinions.
Theme
Theme may be
defined as the idea behind a story, the unspoken comment growing out of
every sentence, every detail, every character, every event. Often, in best stories the theme is difficult
to state. It is as complex as the story itself.
However making a rough statement of the theme will usually help a reader to
understand a story; and finding and interpreting significant passages is a good method of arriving at
the theme.
1.
How does the setting help understand
a)
Harry Van Dusen’s character and his attitude to life
b) the general idea of the play?
2.
Where is O.K.-by-the-Sea
located? Has the name some more meaning?
3.
What is the life in this place
like?
4.
Why did Harry stop here
twenty-four years ago?
5.
What is his philosophy like? Is it really “take it easy way’?
6.
Why are there so many hats in his
shop? Why does he change them from time
to time? At what moments does he change them?
7.
Why do all the characters come to
his shop? Who of them comes for a new
haircut?
8.
Why do some people in the O.K.-by-the-Sea go
to the beach? Who are the people ‘who bring things from the beach’?
9.
What do you think is the conflict
of the play?
10. What
moment does the conflict start? How are
all the characters involved in the action divided after Clay
finds the oyster?
11. Why does
Miss McCutcheon having worked in the town school for a week go to the
beach? Why does she want to change her
image? Why is she so persistent in making Harry give her a poodle haircut?
12. Why does
she want to change her image asking for a poodle haircut? Does she really want it?
13. How can you explain Clay’s words about the
oyster he finds, ‘I didn’t happen to find it, I went looking for it’? What are the people of the O.K.-by-the-Sea
looking for?
14. What for does Miss McCutcheon bring a chair
without one leg and a seat?
15. Comment on Mr. Van Dusen words ‘I’ve always
said a writer could step into a place like this , watch thing for a while, and
get a whole book out of it, or a play’.
Don’t they describe the author’s method of getting ideas for his play?
16. Is it important, as Miss McCutcheon thinks,
‘to face the truth’ if it doesn’t make us free or happy?
17. Why does at the moment Miss McCutcheon
demands to open the oyster ‘to face the truth’ Harry ask her about the chair
with one leg?
18. How can you prove tat small
19. Read Harry’s monologue. Comment on it.
20. In what way does Harry describe the people
in O.K.-by-the-Sea? Why does he call
them ‘the richest I have ever met’ though they are poor and can’t afford even a
dollar haircut?
21. Why does Harry advise Miss McCutcheon ‘to be
less sure about the things when she talks to the kids’?
22. Why does he constantly ask her not to
whisper?
23. At what moment does Clay begin to doubt
whether there is a pearl in the oyster?
24. The writer holds the pearl as if it were an
egg? Why does the author use this
comparison?
25. Why doesn’t the writer want to open the
oyster? How can you explain his words
that ‘the whole thing is a pearl’?
26. What makes Clark Larrabee come back
home? For how long do you think he will
stay with his family?
27. Why does he want a haircut?
28. What does Miss McCutcheon look like when she
returns to the shop?
29. Does Harry lie to Miss McCutcheon when he
says that there was a pearl in the oyster?
30. Why does she look bewildered when she sees
Clark Larrabee? Isn’t his return a
miracle she didn’t want to believe in?
31. Do you believe that the only reason for ‘all
this matter of an oyster and the pearl’
was ‘to have a little fun with the new teacher’ as Harry puts it?
32. What lessons does Harry teach people?
33. Why does the author choose a small barber’s shop in a small American
town as a setting for his play?
34. In what way can you describe Harry’s
philosophy? Is it really ‘take it easy’
way to live he invented?
Eminently – very, perfectly
Stuff – things, anything
Homburg – soft felt hat for men, with a wide
piece (brim) standing out round the edge
Stovepipe – a man’s tall silk hat
Skullcap – a simple closefitting cap for the
top of the head, as worn sometimes by old men, priests, Jewish men, etc.
Odds and ends – small articles of various
kinds, without much value
Abalone – a kind of shell; shellfish yielding
mother-of-pearl
Driftwood – wood floating on water and often
washed onto the shore
Life jacket – an air-filled garment worn round
the upper body to support a person in
water
Junk – old or unwanted things, usu. of low quality or little use or
value
Merriment – laughter and fun and enjoyment
Free of charge – without payment
Threw in the haircut – included the haircut
free of charge
Fair and square – honestly; in a just manner
Merriment – laughter and fun and enjoyment
Free of charge – without payment
To get smth.
straight – to get an honest, open, and truthful answer
To pick smth.
up – to gather together
To indicate – to point to
Safe and sound – completely undamaged
Tackle – the equipment used in certain sports
Cabazon, perch, bass – names of fish
Bygone – gone by, past, former
Let bygones be bygones – что было то было
To lather – to put the mixture of soap and
water on face before shaving
Parasol – sunshade
To presume – to suppose
Brand new – new and completely unused
At any rate – in any case
Has knocked me for a loop - has overpowered me
To quit – to stop and leave
To take one’s time – to use as much time as necessary (to
do); not hurry
Grades – school marks
On top of – in addition
Unruly – wild in behaviour; difficult to
control
Sensible – having sense
Ambition – strong desire for success, power, wealth,
etc.
While the going’s good – while still conditions
are favourable
Eligible – suitable to be chosen
Bachelor – an unmarried man
Nightmare – a terrible dream
To fit into – be suitable for
Despair – complete loss of hope and confidence
Plain – simple
Shears – large scissors
Scarcely – hardly; almost not
To run into smb.
– to meet someone by chance
To take along - take with
I can’t kick – I have no reasons to complain
To shift gears – to change gear (переключить скорость)
Swift – fast
Apron – зд. парикмахерская пелерина
Imitation – a copy of a real thing
Not counting – не считая
To get out – to produce or publish
Cane chair – плетеное кресло
Assortment – various kinds of the same things
Tide – прилив
To poke around – to move things about when
looking for smth.
Inasmuch
as – поскольку
To favour - give support or advantage to
In any case – no matter what happens
County – графство
Fair – a market, esp. one held at a particular place at regular periods for selling
farm produce
On that basis – на этом основании
To show up – to be easily and clearly seen
To see for oneself – understand
The first chance one gets – при первой же возможности
There’s no excuse for it – этому нет
оправдания
To live next to nothing – to live very poorly
Homesick – feeling a great wish to be at home
when one is away from it
Well-off – преуспевающий
To get along with – to have friendly
relationship
For the same reason – по той
же причине
To play a trick on smb. – to deceive
Cultivated – artificial; not real
Calf (calves) – икра (ноги)
Ankle – лодыжка
Battle-ax – a fierce argumentative woman (бой-баба)