Unit+Plan+Idea+-+Great+Expectations+(Dickens)

Susmita Chakraborty
 * Great Expectations Unit Plan Ideas**

The unifying concept for this unit has to do with one’s place in society, as well as the society’s class structure. The main characters in //Great Expectations, Homeless Bird,// and //Coram Boy// navigate their culture’s class structures while concurrently coming to terms with the dichotomy between where they want to be in society versus where they are told is their rightful place. The characters climb social ladders before falling down, and vice versa, but in the end, it is their character and spirit that helps them survive.
 * Unifying concept**

Dickens, C. (1996). //Great expectations//. London: Penguin Books. Gavin, J. (2000). //Coram boy//. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Whelan, G. (2000). //Homeless bird//. New York: Harper Collins.
 * Texts**

Tricked into marrying a dying boy, Koly’s life as a widow began when she was just thirteen. Abandoned by her mother-in-law in a city of temples and widows, the young girl discovered that her life could be much more than simply destined for poverty and isolation. In the city of white-sari clad widows, Koly comes across opportunities and meets people who want to help her, as well as those who want to exploit her. Homeless Bird is a story about how a young girl found hope in the depths of a difficult life.
 * Whelan’s //Homeless Bird//**

In Coram Boy, parallel plots develop, contrasting England’s 18th-century city life with the country estates, the poverty-stricken with the wealthy classes. Readers are introduced to a bevy of characters; each with a story that intersects with the lives of every other character. The story begins with the shady "Coram man," who is supposed to deliver unwanted children to orphanages but instead disposes of them. Along with him is his mentally unstable son, Meshak, who, one night, rescues a baby born to Melissa, a girl whom Meshak calls “his angel”. A separate story unfolds involving Alexander, the baby’s teenage aristocratic father who studies music and is unaware of his baby’s existence, and his friend Thomas, who was raised in poverty. Readers then follow the story of Melissa and Alexander’s son, Aaron, as he leaves the orphanage Meshak spirited him to and becomes a musician’s apprentice, as well as Aaron’s friend, Toby, who is apprenticed to the “Coram man”, who is now disguised as a wealthy pillar of society. The stories begin to mesh once Aaron discovers his musical ability, each disparate thread of the narrative coming together to form a seamless whole.
 * Gavin’s //Coram Boy//**

1) Body biography. Students will work in groups of four to complete a life-size body biography of one of the characters in the text. They should use quotations and references from the text as well as drawings or magazine cut-outs to represent the character’s thoughts, heart, viscera and extremities. Groups will present the body biographies to the class.
 * Response activities:**

2) CD Soundtrack. Students will choose one of the following CD soundtrack options. This project entails students creating an audio CD, CD liner notes with short (2-3 sentence) descriptions of the scene and chosen song, as well as a short paper (2-3 pages) describing the thought process behind the chosen songs. a. Choose one of the novels and put yourself in the role of music producer for the film adaptation. Students will choose integral scenes from the book that will be included in the film and then create a soundtrack. The short paper included with the CD and liner notes will discuss the importance of the scenes depicted as well as why certain songs were chosen. b. Choose a character from one of the books and create his/her biography through soundtrack. The short paper included with the CD and liner notes will utilize Faust’s Courtroom Metaphor to provide reasoning behind the chosen songs. Students should use references and quotations from the text as the basis for the character’s biography, and choose appropriate songs that align with those textual references.

3) Intertextual interviews. Students will be given a character from one of the texts and will take on that character’s persona to conduct interviews with each other. Students will be provided with base questions, but will be encouraged to come up with their own that delve deeper into the text. Students should go beyond the surface and ask questions along the lines of “How did [insert incident] make you feel?” and/or “Why do you believe [another character from the text] acted the way they did?” a. A similar activity would be to have the main characters from the three novels in a talk show situation (similar to Live! With Regis and Kelly, Oprah, etc). The remaining students not in character will be the show audience, and can ask questions during a Q&A session.