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Year 10 - English

'Leave Taking': an exploration of shame and guilt through the character of Enid

Leave Taking: a sense of belonging

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils start their exploration of Winsome Pinnock's play, 'Leave Taking'. They first learn about the play's context of 1980s Britain and the Windrush generation before then reading and exploring the full play. They finally explore themes and characters before working on essay writing.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to explain how Pinnock explores ideas of shame and guilt through the character of Enid.

Key Notes

  • The death of Enid's mother is a catalyst for Enid confronting her feelings of shame and guilt.
  • Arguably, Enid is presented as feeling ashamed of her upbringing in rural poverty.
  • Dramatic methods are the tools a playwright uses to create drama. Examples are setting, stage directions and dialogue.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • shame: A negative emotion, often connected with blaming yourself for something, or feeling embarrassed about something.
  • guilt: An emotion you feel when you have done something bad. Guilt makes you feel worried and unhappy.
  • symbol: If something is a symbol, it represents or expresses an idea. In 'Leave Taking', cleaning could be a symbol for shame.
  • dramatic methods: The tools a playwright uses to create drama. Examples are setting, stage directions, dialogue and language choices.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • The poverty Enid faced in Jamaica is equivalent to the poverty she faces in England.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.

The death of Enid's mother is a catalyst for Enid confronting her feelings of shame and guilt. Arguably, Enid is presented as feeling ashamed of her upbringing in rural poverty.

2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'shame'

A negative emotion, often connected with blaming yourself for something, or feeling embarrassed about something.

3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.

Mistake: The poverty Enid faced in Jamaica is equivalent to the poverty she faces in England. Correction: Enid faced rural poverty where she "lived off the land". Farming is unreliable, and her family could feasibly become destitute.

More Lessons In This Unit

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