Exam- theme: self-discovery Flashcards
Topic sentences
Bennett illustrates the challenges of understanding ones own identity and sexuality through the character of Posner.
Bennett uses the motorcycle to suggest an outlandish character in Hector, which develops as the story unfolds.
The drummer Hodge scene, reveals how poetry has the power to reach out to someone through a recognised, shared identity.
Bennett alludes to the meretricious nature of the boy’s collective identity as Oxbridge candidates.
Boys within the play use sex and sexuality to gain status and maintain a desired identity.
Mrs Lintott reveals the often delusional self-identification of male characters within the play.
Bennett exposes ideas about identity in a reenactment of “Brief encounter” by the boys.
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Bennett illustrates the challenges of understanding ones own identity and sexuality through the character of Posner.
Quotations
“Dakin’s navel…was small and hard…Posner’s navel was softer and more like an eponymous orange. Posner envied Dakins navel and all the rest of him. That this envy might amount to love does not yet occur to Posner”
“I’m a Jew. I’m small. I’m homosexual. And I live in Sheffield. I’m fucked”
“Posner:” Is it a phase sir?”…Irwin:” It will pass” Posner “Yes sir” “
Bennett uses the motorcycle to suggest an outlandish character in Hector, which develops as the story unfolds.
Quotations
“When Hector first comes in, a figure in motorcycle leathers and helmet … eight boys of seventeen or eighteen, come briskly on and take Hector out of his motor-cycle gear”
“Hector:” Now, who goes home?” There are no offers”
“…she has seen a motorbike. Boy on a pillion. A man…fiddling”
Mrs Lintott reveals the often delusional self-identification of male characters within the play.
Quotations
“Our headmaster is a twat…Twat, twat, twat.”
“Mrs Lintott: “Who’s the best? Dakin?” Irwin:” He’s the canniest” Mrs Lintott:” And the best looking” Irwin: “Is he?…””
Boys within the play use sex and sexuality to gain status and maintain a desired identity.
quotations
“Dakin:” Rudge is having sex, apparently.”….Dakin:” Currently I am seeing Fiona, the Headmaster’s secretary… we haven’t done it yet, but when we do I’m hoping one of the times might be on his study floor.”
“Like particularly her tits, which only fell after prolonged campaign some three weeks ago and to which I now have immediate access and which were indeed the start line for last night’s abortive thrust southwards”
Bennett alludes to the meretricious nature of the boy’s collective identity as Oxbridge candidates.
Quotations
“You should treat us with more respect we are Oxbridge candidates now. We are all going in for Oxford and Cambridge”
“I am thinking league tables. Open scholarships. I want them to do themselves justice. I want them to do you justice. Factually tip-top as your boys always are”
Bennett exposes ideas about identity in a reenactment of “Brief encounter” by the boys.
Quotations
“Posner:”(Celia Johnson) yes, dear”
“She cries and he embraces her”
The drummer Hodge scene, reveals how poetry has the power to reach out to someone through a recognised, shared identity.
Quotations
“Posner: “Drummer Hodge Sir. Hardy”
“Un-kissed, un-rejoicing. Un-confessed. Un- embraced…unspent. Un- finger marked. And with both it brings a sense of not sharing, of being out of it” Posner:” Yes sir, I felt that a bit””
The context for this theme
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy- Hodge is presented as an outsider. He never knew the meaning behind things like “The karoo” or the “Pattern of the stars”. None of this was important he was a stranger and isolated. The young man like soldiers all over the world is yet to comprehend the meaning of the war, he doesn’t quite know what he is doing in this strange land. Many of Hardy’s poems concern tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances.
Anachronistic
Anachronistic -belonging to a period other than that being portrayed
The context for this theme
education
For grammar school headteachers, this was the ultimate result: to be able to say that they had students who had attended these universities, thus enhancing the reputation of their school. For many years, both Oxford and Cambridge Universities set their own entrance examinations for prospective applicants. These were usually taken in what became known as the ‘seventh term’, i.e., after the completion of A Levels. In fact, this reference to school league tables is something of an anachronism.
The context for this theme
Teaching philosophies
In the middle is Mrs Lintott, who tries to avoid a philosophy of teaching and concentrates on conveying information and facts in her subject. From this vantage point, she comments upon the other two teachers’ methods with sympathy and understanding, giving the audience a more balanced perspective.
The context for this theme
Homosexuality
Before the Sexual Offences Act of 1967, male homosexuality had been illegal. One hundred years earlier it had been a capital offence.
The context for this theme
Bennett
Bennett himself has been forthcoming about details in The History Boys that are based on his personal history. He seems to have spread certain characteristics among his characters. Like Posner, Bennett matured late, his voice had not broken and like Posner, he had a crush on a student he hoped to impress by getting a scholarship to Oxford. Bennett often writes downtrodden, unfortunate characters.
