Touching the Void

Simon and Joe

I am constantly in awe of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates who climbed the
Peruvian Andes in the novel, 'Touching the Void', despite the
criticism you hear of them and others challenging themselves with
hazardous activities.  I can see how a previously unconquered west
face of Siula Grande is tempting to the professional climber.
 
See the following link for a discussion of the title of the novel by
other students alongside comments about their essays:
http://nautical11.wordpress./category/reading/extended-reading/touching-the-void/

  Should Simon have cut the rope?  This is the question at the heart of
the book.  The knee jerk reaction to this question is sometimes no, he
was his mate!  If Simon didn't cut the rope he would not have saved
his friend's life plus he could have put his own life in jeopardy.  It
was simply the decisiveness of Simon that saved them both.  No, Joe
wasn't to know that the bottom of that crevasse where he had spent a
night there would be a way out deep down in the darkness.  What gives
a man the courage to plunge himself into the unknown like that?   The
fighter within Joe felt that he could not sit there to die and had to
fight.  See the following clips of the documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcQbRjTq82E&feature=relmfu
 
A touching reunion brings these two back together and an understanding
is evident and made crystal clear between the them that Simon did
right.
 
The style of the novel is discussed in the following link.  Be sure to
scroll down onto the easier to read typed notes below the annotated
text.
http://www.acceleratedstudynotes.com/2012/02/10/language-analysis-touching-the-void/
 
See the following for a helpful study guide to chapters:
http://delasalleenglish.weebly.com/uploads/5/9/0/8/5908529/void-key_quotes_updated.pdf

Mrs Leary 

Characters and Voices

I feel the more I return to this cluster of poems, the more I feel at home with their ideas and enjoy their craft.  After engaging with poetry in such a vacuum for a breadth of time with my Year 11 class I appreciate all over again what magical poetry is, from one of my favourite poets, Simon Armitage and his 'Give', to a poem I've more recently been introduced to, the witty 'Singh Song'.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/singh-song-by-daljit-nagra/11723.html Dalgit Nagra video on his poem

 http://www.sheerpoetry.co.uk/gcse/daljit-nagra/singh-song comments on his poem

We have worked on shape and form of poems, starting here because this is an area some find challenging, considering the  five stanzas of  'Give', representing a hand being held out by the homeless person of the poem, begging for change, or the 'River God' with its irregular rhythm, symbolising the reeds in the bed of the river or more precisely, as one of my class stated: the smooth surface of the river being the justified edge of the poem and the line endings of a variety of lengths representing the unknown depth and power of the river (Wow!  What a comment and exploration!)

More importantly the exploration of shape and form is about your confidence to explore the patterns and consider the meanings you can associate with the ideas and themes in the poems.

I have also returned to BBC Bitesize which has in the English Literature section a whole section of notes about the whole cluster, (Scroll down to beyond the old stuff.)  No need to buy revision guides with this available. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/poetrycharactervoice/

Also see the flowing video in ‘The Ruined Maid’ by Thomas Hardy in the cluster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU9pEdzvXH8

Bring on the Unit 2 mock exam in October and January for the external exam!

Mrs Leary