Grundkurs 2002, Intermediate Course, Gymnasium Steglitz Berlin

Department of English Gymnasium Steglitz Berlin
Contact	Hello everybody, you' re visiting Claudia's homepage at the moment! I'm in my final four semesters at Gymnasium Steglitz. For those of you who are interested in my hobbies, here you are: I love nearly every activity, especially sailing, dancing and, of course, everyone who knows me, will confirm that I like running best. So have a look at my site, give comments if you want to, then probably I will answer ;-) (Sep 2002)	Home
Table of Contents

Erich Segal: Love Story is a death story	A year later: Frank´s letter to Rita
Drama can provoke widespread reactions
Multiculturalism in the USA
The purpose of education
Bob Dylan, With God On Our Side

Love Story is a death story

Would Oliver call his own story a love story ?

With reference to the construction of the book it has to be said that Erich Segal wrote a death story, for the novel begins and ends with Jenny’s death.
At the beginning the reader is told about her dying in the end, and the following narration describes what has happened meanwhile and which circumstances caused his wife’s decease from Oliver’s, her husband’s point of view. The real love story seems to be surrounded by a story about death. That’s why the story seems to be overshadowed by death in a way and somehow death is omnipresent, because the actual love story in the novel just represents the lucky but short period of the main character’s life till the unfortunate decease of his wife Jennifer, with which that period of time is concluded.

On account of the anticipation of the ending the reader’s interest and attention is concentrated on how the tale will develop, not on how it ends, but on why it ends that way. Looking at the development of the story the reader just wants to get to know the reason why Jenny had to die. Sure, that’s a method of creating suspense, but it all focuses on the issue of death.

Usually the reader himself tries to find out which occurences were decisive after all and could have led to the end while he goes on reading. But if he does so, he will frequently think about what the circumstances of her dying could have been. But that surely means decease is is main subject for the reader.
In Oliver´s view his relationship with Jennifer lasted a very short period of time only, and now a new life is waiting for him, alone, starting with his wife’s death and always facing the memories. Thinking about his feelings when reminded of her death, Oliver would certainly – just imagined he was not fictitious – respond "death story" rather than "love story"!

The time after his beloved wife’s passing away won’t be easy for him at all, he will be filled with emptiness, nothing will satisfy him, life will seem to be useless more than ever, questions about the meaning of life will surround his mind and thoughts about why closely devoted loving human beings sometimes are separated in such a cruel way. The past will seem to him as a beautiful dream, a beautiful but very short one, perhaps the only bright spot in his life, a love story that has come to an end tragically since overshadowed by death.

If the end of the story had not been anticipated, it would have been a love story with a tragic and unexpected turn, not following Hollywood’s shining examples. But in the way Segal wrote death is too emphasized and therefore a bit too dominating for my taste.
So I come to the conclusion that Erich Segal’s "Love Story" rather is a "death story" – though it includes a wonderful story about love and although my opinion probably differs from Segal’s, as one can easily guess by the title the author has chosen for his novel..

Back to the top of the page What´s your view?

Drama can provoke widespread reactions

Lessing and Priestley are good examples

If you look into the past, you will notice very soon that authors of every age used the literary form of conversation as a forum for politics. They often made use of a fable, tale, drama or other genres to criticize society and people’s behaviour.

There were enough writers who lived in countries where citizens weren’t allowed to take a different view from the regime that led the country. For those putting their criticism into a story one of the few possibilities was that they had to rebel without being censored. Of course, it did not have be so drastic. In the case of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, for example, a drama enabled him to take revenge his senior priest Goeze, his superior. Lessing lost his job because of that and had to find a new one, which was not easy at all during his period of time! Deeply offended, it is handed down to us, he wrote his "Nathan The Wise" with the words " ... I’ll have to try whether I’m still allowed to pray at my old pulpit" ( in his case, "pulpit" means "writing" ). And he was. Lessing projected Goeze into the character of the patriarch – the only person in the whole story that did not represent a positive figure of identification. For that Lessing could not be censored, but naturally everyone who knew about the row between Lessing and Goeze noticed what Lessing wanted to express and probably some of them even had a smile on their face.

If an author wants to publish his own opinion that is forbidden for any reason and uses a clever way (like writing a drama), he is able to do so nevertheless.

Another reason for my point of view is that authors have the ability and possibility to make people think about their way of acting when publishing their socio-critical works. For that drama is just one but often a suitable way. J.B. Priestley used this method in his most famous drama "An Inspector Calls" (published: 1947). Set in the years before World War I, the reader is able to judge about whether the political views of our ancestors were right or wrong and if dreams, hopes or even fears have come true – since the reader already knows his ancestor’s future because from his perspective – more than 20 years later – it is in the past. For example when Mr Birling, the head of the Birling family that owns one of the prosperous middle-class companies, talks about a time of steadily increasing prosperity that is not too far away. Having a look into the past from our reader’s point of view, it is a fact that their future was full of wars. The Birlings are quite confident that the future will bring success and development, but in spite of that, it was not. If the omniscient reader is affected by that and feels pity for the poor people who do not know about their future, the author’s aim has been achieved: He was able to make people pensive.

"An Inspector Calls" reminds me of George Orwell’s novel "1984" – written at the dawn of Stalinism and Fascism, picturing a very sad and a terrific vision of totalitarian systems, of completely supervised states, where mankind has to live in fear and terror. Though Orwell´s visions did not come true (fortunately!), he has also achieved to make many pupils, students and even a large group of adults think about politics and future.

If literature including drama can provoke such widespread reactions, it definitely is a proper forum for politics!

Back to the top of the page What´s your view?

Multiculturalism in the USA

Where is the dressing to cover it all ?

The Melting Pot – An Admirable Blend

From its beginning the United States has been a "melting pot" of peoples unlike Europe or Africa. To describe it the "salad" model is more useful: For instance, tomato slices do not join together with pieces of cucumber at all – in a salad, they just get in touch with each other. Perhaps they’ll take on the other one’s strange taste but all in all usual salad ingredients won’t lose but keep their original look and consistency.
So do many African tribes and European people. But these who emigrated to the developing USA in former times, caused a widespread intermarriage between Scandinavians, Englishmen, furthermore Irish, German and Italian immigrants and have created a blend of commonly called "White People" that is not to be found in Europe....
In the case of America, the idea of the "melting pot" that has been known well for generations fits better: America as a place where lots of people came together just in the same way different metallic elements are melted at great heat in a pot so that alloys are formed with varying properties from the original element. The new compound is connected inseparably. No matter what future brings, an enormous strength ties them together. The melting pot is a symbol for the famous American unity, equality. More precisely, one can define it as a metaphorical implication borrowed from alchemy. With reference to the "melting pot" metaphor, the phrase "e pluribus unum" can be found very often. Therefore one might guess its reference to the unity of the thirteen original states.
Anyway, lots of American citizens are proud of their strong belief and team spirit.
The metaphor of the melting pot also symbolizes the mystical potency of the great democracy, whereby people from every corner of the earth are fused into a harmonious and admirable blend.

Melting Pots Concerning History / Modern Life

The "melting pot" phenomenon is not new. Even the Angles and Saxons of the 5^th century were two ethnic groups in England, but by the time of the Norman conquest they had blended to become Anglo-Saxons. Thus there were no conflicts between them any more. In modern Israel, Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews, two distinct groups few decades ago, are rapidly blending into a common culture, too.
Thinking of that and looking at modern Israel / Palestine, I wonder why they don’t search for a sensible way to divide their areas fairly instead of fighting their neighbouring countries. Moreover, I am quite convinced that the permanent military attacks can be stopped then.
There are still enough communities and countries who do not care about the fact that their ancestors had the same descent!
If the hatred for one another was not that huge, the probability would be rather high that a melange of both tribes would be created so that an unequivocal assignment to one of those tribes would be impossible! And if this happens - wouldn’t reconciliation be unavoidable? Too good to be true... if there were not so much hatred and rivalry...but who knows, perhaps one day...?

About Free Salad Bowls And Melting Pots

In each case all free salad bowls will mingle inevitably and adapt as if they were all mixed up in a shaker. The more mingling, the harder to distinguish between them: in a salad, regarding to the taste, or in a society, regarding to the traditions, cultures, religions respectively.
Consequently there would be no clear enemies to be discovered any longer. On the one hand development won’t stop then. Culture is a continuous process of change and its boundaries are always porous. This process goes on, other communities of people will arise and so there will be new quarrels. On the other hand, quite a few of well-established great cultures might vanish into thin air when melted together. The same laws, the same people, the same colour of skin, the same preferences – wouldn’t that be a bit boring in the long run?
Melting Pots usually grow in big cities, but the larger an area, the faster new groups develop. Even in the famous melting pot New York new quarters develop like Little Italy or China Town. They remind me of the salad model. The reason why larger areas seem to be more like a salad bowl than a melting pot is that they are more separated and individual.
Another issue is that varieties as they can be found in a salad bowl preserve liveliness. Moreover, it has to be said that nature wouldn’t have created different species if uniformity was better. Therefore I guess varieties do have some sense indeed. Opposite to that, in crisis areas mingling for free between opposing parties is desirable, because then there wouldn’t be clear enemies anymore (as already mentioned before). It is a pity that this idea is utopian completely.
If one compares the vision of various cultures poured into a giant pot (which melts them into one kind of person) becoming people labeled Americans with reality, it’s obvious that here is a contradiction! Americans got (and, of course, still get) their name not by how they act, what religion they belong to and practice or what kind of food they eat but where they are born! Even the language does not separate them from Non-Americans.
(To make it more understandable: You might ask: What about England’s inhabitants or Australia’s? They all share the same language.)

Advantages / Disadvantages And Possible Solutions

Both ideas have advantages but handicaps, too: In the case of the melting pot the aim is that all cultures become reflected in one common culture, in general, it is the culture of the dominant group: " I thought it was mixed vegetable soup but I can only taste tomatoes".
In case of the salad bowl, cultural groups should exist separately and maintain their practices and institutions, however, "Where is the dressing to cover it all?" So hopefully two other approaches may be offered – the first one by the concept of the "ethnic stew" where all the ingredients are mixed in a sort of pan-Hungarian goulash where the pieces of different kinds of meat still keep their solid structure. The alternative solution is that America could be understood as a " multiplicity in unity, an orchestration of mankind", as Horace Kallen suggests in his essay on "Democracy versus the Melting Pot".

Back to the top of the page What´s your view?

The purpose of education

Despite their natural curiosity children need good teachers

What is education? An attempt of a definition

In my opinion education is the process which enables people to develop their personality and make use of their intellect on their own. It happens by showing them how to think, how/ what to learn, how to develop and use their abilities. The goal of a good education should be to make people able to cope with life.

Education from birth through school and whole life

First of all, a human being’s education starts right after his birth. Once a child is born he, after spending many days blissfully watching how his fingers move, soon enters the first year of what will be the focus of the next decade of his life: school. But before, an infant is shown how to co-ordinate his movements, a child is "taught" how to do his first steps – in a way, this is a kind of education, too! Later in school, the young people are educated in different subjects to evolve their abilities and to get a comprehensive general education, which will be helpful all through their whole life. But what they did for the first five years of their life - like discovering language - was learning ( and thus a part of the process of education) as well! After graduating from school many people will study. Provided they are accepted at university, learning goes on: For example, someone who wants to become a doctor has to know as much as possible about his business. Even when having passed his final exams, he has not learnt enough to start working as a doctor: What he needs then, is – practical education... Therefore, if he lives in a country such as Germany, he usually has to absolve a practical year. But education won’t stop then. A successful career (and successful medical treatment of the patients!) depends on his abilities, practice, methods, which have to be trained and developed further all the time. A doctor that tries to cure his patients with antiquated methods, won’t challenge his career nor his patients´ health at all! Thus the example shown above gives one reason why it makes sense to go on learning: The new capabilities one worked hard for will help to heal people but will also pay off - for both.

On which conditions does education have a high efficiency?

The earlier one starts to learn the easier for him to get it in mind/ to internalize. In general and according to problems such as learning a foreign language and the necessary vocabulary, children are faster in learning to speak since they are much more able to learn than their parents.

Naturally, the pupils` achievements at school – at least partially - depend on whether their teacher is much or little encouraging. Enthusiasm is always rousing. It‘s motivating being taught by someone who really likes his subject and who knows how to arouse a student`s interest, someone that discusses themes pupils are interested in, someone that likes talking to students, showing them things, and having them sometimes tell him things back that they see differently. If a teacher watches the light that comes into students' eyes when they suddenly realize something they are talking about makes a lot of sense to them, things they have wondered about and perhaps never quite understood, he will possibly enjoy having made pupils reflect on something they have never thought of before. That means he made people think. He will surely get the good feeling having made them learn from his knowledge / abilities. It won’t be bad if he is open-minded for improvements and shows pupils diverse ways to think about one theme from time to time. In my opinion, a good teacher is characterized by at least some of these things mentioned above and it is delightful being taught by him. Usually kids are curious. So that is one of the best requirements to become well-educated: At school, curious kids learn for their own interest – for them, learning is fun. So they are doing fine in school; they even like it. If people don't like learning or are afraid of liking it, it is not something they are born with, it happens later: When some day they notice they are forced to learn, quite a few start to feel dissatisfied and become rebellious. This normally happens during their time as teenagers when the interest for other activities grows, too. That’s why a lot of them start to get lazy. But it is also part of education to learn how to cope with it!

What should be learnt?

In correspondence with the goal of a good education one should learn how to learn, think, use his own abilities. Therefore an extensive general education would be desirable. Besides, it won’t do any harm either if someone learns to behave social towards others.

Some final thoughts

Education is vital. But many school systems are - like many things - imperfect. And the problem comes with the misconception that learning begins just after the first bell rings and stops after graduation. Education is a life-long process and by showing kids that the reward for learning is not knowledge but a good report card, there's no wonder that the problem is lack of motivation.
That’s why I believe the aim of education should not only be to be taught what to think, but also how to think and for what! Many kids learn to get good grades to get into a good college, which will more likely lead to a successful career and happy, fulfilling life. This can only be motivating if people do learn for the sake of learning itself, otherwise they miss the point. Why come to a place one third out of the year if you have no interest in what you are doing there besides basically preparing for the rest of your life?
I am of the opinion that the probability to become more independent and confident of one´s own abilities is heightened enormously for students who are used to take responsibility for their own learning and career.

Back to the top of the page What´s your view?

Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

1963, Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

"With God On Our Side"

Some biographical notes

Bob Dylan was born in Minnesota in a town called Duluth on May 24^th in 1941. By the time he was ten years old he was writing poems and had already taught himself how to play the guitar. He later changed his name from Robert Allen Zimmerman to the famous name Bob Dylan. In 1962 he visited Woodie Guthrie who became his big early influence. They often met and became friends and some time later Bob dedicated a song to Woodie which he also called "Song To Woodie". After graduating from High School in 1959 Dylan found himself playing folk music. This was also the time he began to write his legendary folk songs. In the years around 1960 Bob Dylan had turned the themes of his music (until then: ordinary folk music) to protest against what many people consider the "wrongs of society". In his songs he writes about the " luckless", the " abandoned" as he put it in a song like "Chimes Of Freedom". In another one, Dylan condemned the Ku-Klux-Klan; in "Masters Of War" the war makers were damned by him and with " Blowing In The Wind" he composed an anti-racist, anti- war anthem.

Dylan is said to have the characteristics of a biblical prophet as he is a spiritualist , but he had a sense of humour and irony, too. People soon started to notice that he was beginning to write songs that saw the world as consisting not just of heroes and villains but mostly of cowardly people called up in all-too-human situations.

In 1965 Bob Married Sara Lowndes and they later had four children together.

In 1966 he had a serious motorcycle accident, so he suffered from several broken bones and was not able to play his guitar any longer for some of his broken bones were his arms... For months he was forced to recuperate in his home in Woodstock with his wife. She treated him so devotedly that Bob was convinced she saved his life. So he dedicated a song to her called "If Not For You" out of gratitude. During his long recuperation he refused to speak to the press, but soon after he told the "New York Daily News" that he had completely changed and that his new album would deeply reflect about it. And indeed, he was singing ... country music! His fans were shocked, the album became a bust and showed little future. But all in all, until now Bob Dylan has reached the status of a cult figure and continues to tour and to produce new albums.

Some thoughts concerning "With God On Our Side"

"With God On Our Side" is a song about a resignated, disappointed person who has witnessed times of war and suffered from other people’s misery all over the world.

It is easy to guess Bob Dylan himself plays the role described above, who can discover no sense in people fighting and cannot get familiar at all with those bad consequences which usually follow a war. Wondering about whether God is on our side or not, he expresses his confusion in this anti-war anthem, but also wants to appeal to the minds of peole who listen to his music and make them reflect on their behaviour.

Besides, Dylan’s point of view is made clear in the modest way this song is written. He shows a kind of understatement regarding his influence on other people, and explains his ideas as a first person narrator. Thus it creates a close atmosphere to the reader and enables us to understand his feelings, ideas and what he is wondering about.

Moreover, the Midwest, his home country, is mentioned to connect the history of his home and himself with the story he tells and of which he never quite understood the reason. Some aspects of the American past are given, for example the Spanish –American war as well as being used to obey the laws and the common belief that God is on the side of those who want him. Depending on the context of each stanza, irony cannot be overlooked -like the fifth stanza shows: "Though they murdered six million/ In the ovens they fried/ The Germans now too / Have God on their side." At this point, the song is given a bitter touch. But even though there is a contradiction between murderers (who belong to the evil) and God (who is the incarnation of the good) and the justified doubts whether such people deserve being on the same side or at least are able to be on the same side as God - it should not be forgotten that restless new generations arise who cannot be made responsible for the faults of their ancestors!

In the following verses the lyricist reflects on the process how people are made or make themselves equal in mind concerning the many wrongs done so often everywhere. The composer - well-known as a strict war opponent - possibly wants us to see that accepting wrongdoing with pride is hardly acceptable.

The cynicism especially of the final stanza "If God’s on our side / He’ll stop the next war" does fit perfectly into the dark basic mood full of bitterness.

Click here to listen to the music (soon)

Back to the top of the page What´s your view?

A year later: Frank´s letter to Rita

Frank has found his retreat in Australia

Hall’s Creek, Australia, November 6^th

Dear Rita,

before we parted I promised you to write. That is what I’m going to do now. First, what about you, Rita? Are you fine? Now that you are an educated lady, have you reached your goal by using the new possibilities to choose the career, the life you always wanted? I would be glad to know whether you (hopefully) succeeded in what you were aiming at, especially as your desire for intellectual satisfaction is concerned. Have you ever regretted having studied literature, which made you leave your former life behind and divorcing Denny? Now and then my thoughts revolve around what would have been if you had neither attended Summer School at the Open University nor my sort of peculiar lessons. Probably you would still have felt desperate for some education, probably you would have found a teacher much more capable than me! A teacher who maybe would have led you to happiness, showing you various roads to success. Despite of the fact that you wished me to teach you I am wondering whether I was a good teacher. Naturally, I cannot expect to change another person’s life completely, let alone giving it a better turn, but perhaps I gave you at least the impulse you needed in order to change "from the inside"! All in all, I hope education has enriched your life, and perhaps awoken your interest and curiosity for more.

What about your relationship with Tiger? Were you on vacation together? Are you still friends or even lovers? I’m keen on hearing from you that you’re happy right now, that is what interests me most!

Well, three months are a terribly long time indeed. Three months – 90 days; more than anyone needs to travel around the whole world! Have you ever thought how the face of the world can be changed within ninety days? Or a person’s mind respectively? On some parts of the earth you won’t find your way back home after a long day at work due to the rapidly increasing sky-scrapers built next to family shops. Sometimes to me the world seems a little bit crazy! But in other parts of the world, like Central Australia, nearly nothing changes. Here, in Hall’s Creek, which belongs to the Western part of this country well-known for its kangaroos, located quite in the North, you are one of the lucky people being able to watch the early sun rising over the jagged mountains. With each sunbeam coming from across the rough mountains the picturesque scenery gets brighter until the scarcely urbanised countryside of the West of Australia is enlightened by the burning sun. That is the place I set out to live on a little ranch I may call my own in the middle of the wonderful landscape till the end of days. As you can see, I have made "my choice", although I was not even aware of any opportunity for me before settling down over here!

Altogether, it was not that hard to start a new life as you might guess. All I had to become was open-minded for a different way of life a foreign country offers, and I finally profited in many respects: The peaceful surrounding made my mind calm down quickly, I got new power to live, and imagine - I even gave up drinking!

Therefore I owe a lot to Australia!

After all, here I have found what I expected life to be: Living close to nature, being content with a simple, but even though fulfilling life, enjoying the fresh air, the clean water, writing poems if I am in the mood. Far away from pestering students! J To cut a long story short: Seeking consolation in alcohol became meaningless when I had found this lovely little farm to live and work on which gave my life a new meaning!

Let me tell you, it is really lovely out here, and I am glad having come here to this tranquil piece of earth from abroad. The more I reflect on the latest decisions I made, I have to say, the one which stands out the most - in a positive way - was to come to Australia. To complete the bow of changes, my life has changed completely. By the way, nice pun, isn’t it? It just reminds me of the time we spent together discussing literature, the pleasure we had, and my crazy idea wanting you to become my wife! Surely, you will be quite surprised about that. Now that I’ve been away from you for so long I got the necessary distance and on the other hand I have had enough time to think. So some day I came to the point that changed my mind: I really have to apologise for being so stubborn - anyway, then I realised that my feelings for you were more based on the love for a daughter. Moreover I have never been nor can I imagine being a father of a girl having the sort of idiosyncratic and lively character of yours.

Today, I am of the point of view that my mind must have been a little bit fuddled in the past! A woman of your age and your personality obviously does not want to have an (by now: former!) alcoholic as her husband who in addition is about two decades elder than her!

But those are yesterday’s sorrows. Let’s talk about visiting each other in the foreseeable future! Wouldn’t you like to come here to Australia during one of the next months? As I told you before, it is really lovely out here, a place perfectly to relax, particularly since our relationship is based on mutual friendship. There is nothing left to be afraid of! It will surely liven up your college days! And who knows if life out here will inspire you in your works.

Anyway, I am looking forward to hearing from you, all the best

Frank

Back to the top of the page What´s your view?