enduring love pri

As you are waiting for the lesson to begin...

LGANSITNONTINUCIG

FSUREFPMERANNET

ERPSITSTEABSL

Unscramble the anagrams above. What do the words have in common, and why might they be important?

LASTINGCONTINUING

SUFFERPERMANENT

PERSISTSTABLE

Learning Objectives

• To consider the significance of the title.

• To gain an insight into McEwan’s basis for the novel

• To consider the themes of the novel.

What’s in a name?

McEwan often uses titles that are significant and give an insight into the novel. Consider the title Enduring Love, what insight does it give the reader before the

novel even begins?

Read through the interview with Ian McEwan and answer the following questions:

• For what reason is it necessary for the reader to be aware of the narrator’s scientific mind from the outset?

• What is ‘de Clerambault’s syndrome’? What factor does McEwan feel sparks it off?

• At what point did McEwan decide on his gripping opening to the novel?

• Why did McEwan establish Clarissa as a character so different to Joe?

• In what ways does McEwan view his novel as different to other types of ‘Western literature’?

Look at the following images. What do they suggest about the

characters and themes in the novel?

From your reading of Enduring Love, what evidence do you have for this

so far?

As you are waiting for the lesson to begin…

Summarise the events of chapter one in no more than 10 bullet

points

Learning Objectives

To gain an understanding of chapter one

To consider how McEwan builds drama and tension from the

outset

Re-read the opening paragraph of chapter one, considering as you read how McEwan draws the

reader into the story that is about to unfold.

How does McEwan hook the reader in from the start? What facts are we given / what can we be sure of?

What questions does this paragraph leave the reader with?

Answering the following questions, making notes in your text as you go.

• Pages 3 - 8. What do you learn about the relationship between Clarissa and Joe?

• What does Joe do whilst waiting for Clarissa at the airport? What conclusions about his character can be drawn from this?

• What is the effect of the line ‘I see us from three hundred feet up, through the eyes of the buzzard’. Why does the narrator give us this perspective?

• What are your impressions of Joe from this chapter? How does the language used help to create this impression?

Homework

Ensure you are all enrolled on the VLE ‘desire’ course.

Complete an entry to the forum ‘Sympathy’.

Enrolment key – desire.

This is NOT an optional course. This is an ongoing homework activity and will help you consider and challenge different opinions, analyse quotes etc.

Group Task

Joe's perspective on the event - his analysis of it from memory and his varied emotions.

Read pages 8-16. This section focuses on the balloon accident. McEwan clearly establishes the importance of the event as a turning point in the narrator’s life. Read through this section in your

groups and make detailed notes on the following:

The gradual build up to the event - the focus on the picnic

The reader's prior knowledge of the outcome

The way that the event is described and that tension is created by the use of varied sentence structure

Be prepared to feedback to the class.

To end the lesson …

How does McEwan’s writing in this chapter help build up drama and

tension for the reader?

Which of the following statements are true and which are false. Correct every false statement.

• The novel begins with the statement ‘The end is simple to mark.’ •On the day of the accident Clarissa and Joe had been reunited after 6 weeks apart.• Clarissa had been in Boston researching the work of Darwin.• Joe had bought French bread and brie for the picnic.• Joe and Clarissa were alerted to the danger by the cry of a child.•The pilot of the balloon was the child’s grandfather• Four other men were running towards the catastrophe along with Joe.• John Logan was an architect.• Toby Greene broke his ankle in the tragedy.

Learning Objectives

Consider the narrative point of view.

Analyse the characters of Joe and Clarissa in detail.

Narrative point of view

This chapter is looking back on past events, allowing the narrator the opportunity to examine exactly what happened and who might be to

blame.

Consider the way the narrator analyses the situation, making notes on how he views individual social responsibility.

Highlight phrases that show his scientific mind at work.

We discussed in the first lesson the differences between Joe and Clarissa. Look back over chapter

one and find evidence for the following:Points to consider Quotation Analysis

Their feelings towards each other

Possible desires

Their professions

Their social class

Their past

To end the lesson…

Think about the characters of Joe and Clarissa and everything we have discussed

so far.

What word would you use to describe them and what evidence do you have for your

choice?

Be prepared to feedback you responses.


Think back to what you have learned about the character of Joe in Chapter one. Which of the words above would you choose to describe him. What evidence

have you from Chapter one to support your opinion?

Passionate Altruistic Determined

Competitive Domineering Thoughtful

Aggressive Melancholy Content

Our learning objectives for the lesson…

• To explore the initial presentation of Jed Parry

• To explore the first meeting between Joe and Jed

• To explore the birth of Jed’s obsessive desire for Joe.

From the clues that McEwan gives us in the first chapter, we are aware that Jed Parry is going to be a significant character. His main introduction continues to

present him as a disjointed and unnerving character…

‘ He stood with his hands resting on his hips staring not at Logan but at me. Even then, he was more interested in me. He had come to tell me something. He was tall and lean, all bone and sinew, and he looked fit. He wore jeans and box-fresh trainers tied with red laces. His bones fairly burst out of him the way the hadn’t with Logan. His knuckles brushing against his leather belt were big and tight-knobbed under the skin which was white and stretched tight. The cheek bones were also tight and high-ridged and together with the pony-tail gave him the appearance of a pale Indian brave. His appearance was striking, even slightly threatening, but the voice gave it all away. It was feebly hesitant, neutral as to region, but carrying a trace, or acknowledgement, of Cockney- a discarded past or an affectation. Parry had his generation’s habit of making a statement on the rising inflection of a question…too hesitant or apologetic to say how things were in the world.’

What impression is created of Jed Parry in this introduction to his character? In what way is he presented as different to the protagonist?

Re-read the initial conversation between Joe and Jed Parry and discuss the following questions. Be prepared to feedback your discussion points and

support your ideas with evidence from the text. ‘Of course, I didn’t think any of this at the time…’ (p.24) to ‘…the most joyous of

smiles was spreading slowly across his face.’ (p.26)

• In what way is Parry presented as pathetic and weak? In what was is he presented as dangerous and sinister?

• What does the introduction of religion and belief add to the character of Parry?

• How is the character of Clarissa used in their conversation? Why does McEwan do this?

• What are our initial impressions of Jed Parry as a result of Chapter two?

And to finish the lesson…‘Had I known what this glance meant to him at the time, and how

he was to construe it later and build around it a mental life, I would not have been so warm.’ (Chapter two – p.20)

‘Obsession – the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image or desire.’ Dictionary.com

Look back again at Chapter two. Does Joe do anything to spark the dangerous obsession that begins at this point in

the novel?


What is the purpose of our partner in life? Rank the ideas above in order of importance, based on what you think is the most important aspect of a relationship.

Which of these do we see in the relationship between Joe and Clarissa?

Friendship – someone to be a lifelong partner

Confidante – someone to share our ideas with

Parent – someone to produce children with

Sexual partner – someone to fulfil basic

carnal urges

Quality control – someone to listen and respond to our ideas

Joint Experience – someone to share key

moments with

Sharing the burden – someone to help out

Entertainment – someone to amuse us

Challenger – someone to oppose our bad

decisions


• To explore the relationship and love between Joe and Clarissa

• To identify the ways in which McEwan introduces danger and tension into the early parts of the novel

‘ “I’ll tell you one thing, dummkopf. We’ve seen something terrible together. It won’t go away, and we have to help each other. And that means we have to love each other harder.”Of course. Why didn’t I think of this? Why didn’t I think like this? We needed love. I had been trying to deny myself the touch of her hand, assuming that affection was inappropriate, an indulgence, an irreverence in the face of death. Something we would come back to later when all the talking and the comforting was done. Clarissa had effected a shift to the essential…She knew I was a fool for this encirclement. It made me feel like I belonged, that I was rooted and blessed…That precious time before love-making is ill served by the pseudo clinical term ‘foreplay.’ The world would narrow and deepen, our voices would sink into the warmth of our bodies, the conversation became associative and unpredictable. Everything was touch and breath…When we fell silent, we would lie so close that we were mouth to mouth, delaying the union which bound us all the more because of this prelude.So, there we were, this again, and it was deliverance. This darkness beyond the gloom of the bedroom was infinite and cold as death. We were at a point of warmth in our vastness. The events of the afternoon filled us, but we banished them from conversation.’ (p.33 – 34)

As we move into the novel, the relationship between Joe and Clarissa deepens and we begin to gain insight into what they mean to one another.

What insight do we get into the relationship between Joe and Clarissa from this extract? What do they provide one another? In comparison to the other relationships we have

seen in previous texts, how true is their love?

In a previous lesson, we discussed the differences between the scientific and religious mind. It is this difference in viewpoint and belief that ultimately breaks the bond between Joe and Clarissa.

Whilst Joe focuses on what is concrete and can be proved, Clarissa is more romantic and fluid in her outlook.

Where do we see examples of the two different outlooks – the scientific and the religious – in the presentation of Joe and Clarissa in

this chapter? How does this add to our impression of these two characters at this early part of the novel?

McEwan chooses a chapter which soothes and grounds Joe to introduce the element of danger and suspicion…

‘The light had been out five minutes when the phone rang and snatched me from the beginnings if sleep.I have no doubt that I remember his words correctly. He said, ‘Is that Joe?’ I didn’t reply. I had already recognised the voice. He said, ‘I just wanted you to know, I understand what you’re feeling. I feel it too. I love you.’I hung up.Clarissa murmured into the pillow, ‘Who was that?’It may have been exhaustion, or perhaps my concealment was protective of her, but I know I made my first mistake when I turned on my side and said to her, ‘It was nothing. Wrong number. Go to sleep.’ ( p.37 )

How does McEwan introduce Jed Parry to the safe world of Joe and Clarissa? How does Joe react? How does McEwan hint at what is to come? What is the

general tone and feeling of the end of Chapter twenty three?

And to finish the lesson…

‘As we reach the end of Chapter three, we recognise that Joe is a more likeable character

that Clarissa.’

To what extent do you agree with this statement? What have you learned in this – and previous – lessons to help you reach an informed opinion?


‘If the first person had not let go, the surely the rest of us would have stayed in place. And who was this first person? Not me. Not

me. I even said the words out loud … Was is panic or rational calculation? Had we killed him really, or simply refused to die with

him?’ ( Chapter 6 – p.55 - 56 )

Can Joe be held accountable for what happened to John Logan – was it his fault? Why do you think McEwan includes this reflection

at this point in the novel? What would you have in a similar situation?


• To explore the relationship and love between Joe and Clarissa further

• To highlight why Chapter six is signifcant.

• To recall what we have learned about the novel – and the key characters - so far

To start the lesson…

Watch the following trailer for the film version of Enduring Love carefully. As you are watching, think of a list of ten words which

you would use to describe the nature and tone of the film. Be prepared to feedback your answers.

Enduring Love - Trailer

Homework – for next lesson. Although the film version is very different to the novel, the key

ideas remain the same. Using the words you have come up with from watching the trailer, find quotations to support your choices.

You should focus on the first six chapters of the novel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjS6zwUx1hA

Why is Chapter Six an important point in the novel?

• The chapter opens with an idyllic image of Joe and Clarissa’s life together. This serves as an effective starting point to the unravelling of their ‘enduring love.’

• The fact that Joe still considers the accident – and his role in the accident – suggests that he is still at odds with the part he played. The frenzy of the situation only serves to frustrate him even further.

• Joe chooses to confide in Clarissa for the first time in this chapter, despite the fact that various episodes have taken place with Jed Parry already. Her frivolous and carefree attitude towards Parry’s protestations of live soothe him although there are suggestions of anxiety in their conversation.

• McEwan chooses to introduce Jed Parry again in this chapter, thus violating the loving and confidential world that Joe and Clarissa have created for themselves.

• The chapter ends on a cliffhanger, where Joe decides to meet Jed for the first time after the accident. Although Joe appears to have the upper hand, throughout their dialogue there are suggestions that all will not be well.

Read through the section beginning ‘I was so lost in this…’ ( p.56 ) until ‘We kissed again, deeply.’ ( p.58 )

• How does Joe feel about telling Clarissa about the phone call with Jed Parry? How does McEwan reveal Joe’s feelings?

• How does McEwan create tension when Joe tells Clarissa that Jed has confessed his love for him? How is this tension subverted?

• At what point during this conversation does the tone change? How does the tone change and what does this suggest?

• Throughout the novel, Joe has found solace and comfort in Clarissa. How does this continue at the end of this extract? What does this suggest about their relationship?


‘Solemn. More like panicky. I

calculated: perhaps I should see

him, let him see me and let him

understand that I was distinct

from the creature of his fantasy

world. Let him speak. The

alternative was more of this…’

( p.60 )

Why does Joe go to meet

Jed Parry at the end of

Chapter six?

What have we learned

about his character in this –

and previous - lessons

which might help us to

explain his actions.


As we have seen in a previous lesson, much of Enduring Love focuses on the difference in perspective between

Science and Religion.

Think about what you have learned about the character of Jed Parry in previous lessons.

In your opinion, is all encompassing and passionate faith shown to be powerful or destructive? Should we be

threatened by the force of Parry’s faith?


• To explore the relationship between Joe and Clarissa, Joe and Jed.

• To gain insight as to how McEwan creates tension and suspense throughout Chapters seven and eight

• To critically analyse key extracts from Chapters seven and eight.

‘As I came closer Parry retreated further under his tree, leaned back against the

trunk and teied to look nonchalant by hooking a thumb into his trouser pocket.

In fact he looked abject. He appeared smaller, all knobs and bones, no longer

the sleek Indian brave, despite the pony tail. He wouldn’t meet my eye as I came

up, or rather his eyes made a nervous pass across my face, and then turned

down. As I put my hand out I was feeling quite relieved. Clarissa was right, he

was a harmless fellow with a strange notion, a nuisance at most, hardly the

threat I made him out to be.’ ( Chapter seven – p.61 )

The destructive nature of desire…As Joe meets Jed in an attempt to stunt his amorous advances,

McEwan plays with the impressions and focus of the scene.

In what way does this extract suggest a meeting of two lovers? How is the character of Jed Parry presented here?

Why is Chapter Seven an important point in the novel?

• Although Joe and Jed have spoken before – and Jed has confessed his love for Joe already – the entire chapter is dedicated to the ‘blossoming’ relationship between Joe and Jed Parry.

• McEwan creates tension throughout the chapter by raising the menace in Jed Parry. By the end of this chapter, it is clear that Parry is a force to be reckoned with.

• We begin to see a little more about Jed Parry’s character in this chapter. Most noticeably, we begin to see the changing emotions and in Jed. This makes us feel even more uncomfortable as the chapter progresses.

• The question of religious intent is once again introduced. Parry’s intentions for Joe seem to be two fold – to save him and to love him.

• We are given insight into Joe’s thought process throughout the chapter. As the chapter progresses, we are privy to his changing fears and feelings.

Although the extract we have just studied suggests and end to Jed’s obsession with Joe, Chapter seven sees the tension rise and

the danger become even more apparent.

Below are eight words which chart the development of the tone of the chapter. Your aim is to order these words, deciding how

McEwan manipulates the situation to emphasise the menace that Parry provides.

Wretched Apprehensive Dejected Intense

Confrontational Indomitable Reserved Indignant

Now that you have decided how the chapter develops and have the vocabulary to articulate how McEwan manipulates the reader,

find evidence to support your opinion.

For each word, choose a quotation which supports your opinion. Be prepared to feedback your ideas and explain what the

quotation tells us about McEwan’s writing.

Wretched Apprehensive Dejected Intense

Confrontational Indomitable Reserved Indignant

‘She was perturbed when I read Wilson’s passage to her. Everything was being stripped down, she said, and in the process some larger meaning was lost…The truth of that smile was in the eye and heart of the parent, and in the unfolding love which only had meaning through time…I told her I thought she had spent too much time in the company of John Keats. A genius no doubt, but an obscurantist too who thought science was robbing the world of wonder, when the opposite was the case. If we value a baby’s smile, why not contemplate the cause?...Clarissa said that I had not understood her. There was nothing wrong in analysing the bits, but it was easy to lose sight of the whole. I agreed. The work of synthesis was crucial. Clarissa said I still did not understand her, she was talking about love. I said I was too, and how babies who could not yet speak got more of it for themselves. She said no, I still did not understand. Then we had left it. No hard feelings. We had had this conversation in different forms on many occasions. What we were really talking about this time was the absence of babies from our lives.’ ( Chapter 8, p.71 )

Remind yourself of our discussion about Science and Religion from the beginning of the lesson…

How does McEwan emphasise the fundamental differences between Clarissa and Joe in the language and syntax in this extract?

Chapter Eight fuses the increasingly disturbing vision of Jed Parry with Joe’s frustration with his intellectual life…

• How does Jed Parry react when Joe eventually returns home? What does this suggest about his character?

• How does McEwan suggest that Joe is pathetic and vulnerable during his conversation with the police? What does this suggest about his complaint with Jed Parry?

• Read again the paragraph beginning, ‘I made a flask of coffee…’ on p.75. How does Joe suggest dissatisfaction with his working life?

• At the end of this chapter, Jed Parry remains outside the home of Joe and Clarissa. What does this suggest about his character and intent?

• How does McEwan choose to end this varied chapter? Why do you think he ends it in this way?


At a third of the way through the novel. McEwan has introduced us to many of the key themes he intends to explore throughout the novel.

What three things did we know already

know about the

character of Jed Parry?

What two things have we learned about Jed Parry

from this lesson?

What one thing do we not fully understand

about Jed Parry? How are we going to find out

more?

Chapter Nine


To develop our understanding of Clarissa and Joe’s relationship.

To examine the style of narration and how this influences our interpretations.

CLARISSADiscuss:

What is the significance of her name?What is the importance of her role and her passion for Keats in the novel?How does the reader respond to her as a character?

Why does McEwan associate Clarissa with Keats?

• Keats is particularly famous for his views on ‘Negative Capability’.

• Basically, this is a state of mind in which someone is ‘capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.’

• Keats, therefore, promoted a view that it was desirable to accept that some things were not meant to be understood.

Where have we seen Clarissa’s sympathy to this in the novel so far?

Chapter Nine

What are the significant events of chapter nine?

Clarissa’s Point of View (Pgs 83 – 88)

‘The police? You phoned the police? Thirty-three messages on the machine?’ But she saw it as she came in, the indicator said zero. He wiped them, he insists, at which Clarissa sits up in the water and takes another look at him and returns her stare full on. When she was twelve her father died of Alzheimer’s, and it’s always been a fear that she’ll live with someone who’ll go crazy. That’s why she chose rational Joe...‘Do you think it’s possible you’re making too much of this man Parry. That he’s really not much of a problem. I mean, ask him in for a cup of tea and he’ll probably never bother you again. He’s not the cause of your agitation, he’s a symptom.’ Perhaps Parry, or the Parry as described by Joe, does not exist. She shivers, ands lowers herself back into the water, keeping her gaze on him...‘You were so intense about him as soon as you met him. It’s like you invented him... You ought to be asking yourself which way this fixation runs.’ Who does the reader sympathise with during this argument? Why?What is McEwan trying to lead the reader to believe? How does this link to the destructive nature of desire?


Using your previous understanding of the novel and what we have learned today, consider:

•What does this chapter help us to understand further about the different viewpoints of Joe and Clarissa?•How is Parry managing to come between them?

Chapter Eleven

Discuss: When and why do people write letters?

As you are waiting for the lesson to begin:

In the novel, Clarissa is researching the Romantic poet John Keats. She is searching for a last letter to Keats’ mistress Fanny Brawne because she is

certain that “love that did not find its expression in a letter was not perfect.”


To analyse Jed’s first letter to Joe.

To compare the destruction of love in Othello, The Great Gatsby and Enduring Love.

Dear Joe, I feel happiness running through me like an electrical current. I close my eyes and see you as you were last night in the rain, across the road from me, with the unspoken love between us as strong as steel cable. I close my eyes and thank God out loud for letting you exist, for letting me exist in the same time and place as you, and for letting this strange adventure between us begin. I thank Him for every little thing about us. This morning I woke and on the wall beside my bed was a perfect disc of sunlight and I thanked Him for that same sunlight falling on you! Just as last night the rain that drenched you drenched me too and bound us. I praise God that He has sent me to you. I know these is difficulty and pain ahead of us, but the path that He sets us on is hard for a purpose. His purpose! It tests us and strengthens us, and in the long run it will bring us to even greater joy.

Chapter 11 reveals a new level to Jed’s obsession when he begins to write letters to Joe. How does the reader respond to this communication? Even though there is no physical

interaction, how has McEwan presented Jed as more of a menacing threat in this chapter?

Dear Joe, I feel happiness running through me like an electrical current. I close my eyes and see you as you were last night in the rain, across the road from me, with the unspoken love between us as strong as steel cable. I close my eyes and thank God out loud for letting you exist, for letting me exist in the same time and place as you, and for letting this strange adventure between us begin. I thank Him for every little thing about us. This morning I woke and on the wall beside my bed was a perfect disc of sunlight and I thanked Him for that same sunlight falling on you! Just as last night the rain that drenched you drenched me too and bound us. I praise God that He has sent me to you. I know these is difficulty and pain ahead of us, but the path that He sets us on is hard for a purpose. His purpose! It tests us and strengthens us, and in the long run it will bring us to even greater joy.

Despite the fact we do not see Joe or Clarissa’s reaction to this letter – what type of impact is Parry’s persistent intrusions having

on their relationship? How do we know this?

Which character has the most destructive effect on love / relationships?

You will be assigned into groups and you must present a persuasive argument to the rest of the class about why your allocated character has the biggest negative impact on relationships in their text. In your response you must consider:•What destruction do they cause? How do they change things?•Is this long term or short term destruction? Do the relationships overcome their interference?•What do they desire? What spurs them on to destroy things? Is this justified?•Do you think the relationships in the text would have been doomed anyway? Why?

Othello – ‘Othello’

Iago – ‘Othello’

Gatsby – ‘The Great Gatsby’

Tom – ‘The Great Gatsby’

Jed – ‘Enduring Love’

Joe – ‘Enduring Love’

Discuss: Which character has the most destructive

effect on love / relationships?

Othello – ‘Othello’

Iago – ‘Othello’

Gatsby – ‘The Great Gatsby’

Tom – ‘The Great Gatsby’

Jed – ‘Enduring Love’

Joe – ‘Enduring Love’

1) How does Clarissa react to reading Jed’s letter?

2) How does Joe betray Clarissa’s trust in this chapter?

3) How does McEwan describe Jean Logan’s house? How is it a perfect setting for sorrow?

4) What does their conversation tell Joe about Mrs Logan and about himself?

5) Explain Mrs Logan’s suspicions about the circumstances of her husband’s death.

Homework: Enduring Love

Questions on Chapter 12 and 13

Chapter Fourteen

Complete the wordsearch you have been given.

Extension: Look at each of the words – which character would you use the

language choices to describe and why?

As you are waiting for the lesson to begin:


To analyse chapter fourteen.

To consider the impact of the introduction of De Clerambault syndrome on the text.

It was with a touch of sadness that Clarissa sometimes told me that I would have made a wonderful father. She would tell me that I had a good way with children, that I levelled with them easily and without condescension. I’ve never looked after a child for any length of time, so I’ve never been tested in the true fires of parental self-denial, but I think I’m good enough at the listening and talking, I know all seven of her godchildren well. We’ve had them for weekends, we’ve taken some on holiday abroad, and we’ve devotedly cared for two little girls for a week – Felicity and Grace who both wet the bed – while their parents tore each other in a divorce hearing. I was of some use to Clarissa’s eldest godchild, an inwardly stormy fifteen year old befuddled by pop culture and the oatfish codes of street credibility. I took him drinking with me, and talked him out of leaving school. Four years later he was reading medicine at Edinburgh, and doing well. (Pg 118)

Why does McEwan open chapter fourteen with information about the past? What do we learn about Joe and how do we respond to

him? Why has McEwan shared this information with us?

De Clerambault's Syndrome

In chapter 8, Joe believes he has found a diagnosis for Jed’s obsession: De Clerambault's Syndrome. Read through the

information sheet and find evidence to suggest that Jed is suffering from the different symptoms of this condition.

De Clerambault's Syndrome

In chapter 8, Joe believes he has found a diagnosis for Jed’s obsession: De Clerambault's Syndrome. Read through the

information sheet and find evidence from the text to suggest that Jed is suffering from the different symptoms of this condition.

Jed does not fulfil all of the symptoms of the illness. What about Jed’s character does not conform and why do you

think McEwan has made these changes?

De Clerambault’s syndrome. The name was like a fanfare, a clear trumpet sound recalling me to my own obsessions. There was research to follow through now and I knew exactly where to start. A syndrome was a framework of prediction and it offered a kind of comfort. I was almost happy ass she opened the front door for me and the four of us crowded out onto the brick path to say our goodbyes. It was as if I had at last been offered that research post with my old professor. (pg 124)

How does McEwan create a shift in tone at the end of chapter 8?

How does the revelation at the end of chapter 8 connect to the information we were told at the beginning of the chapter?


Do you think the words from the wordsearch and from the syndrome information sheet could be used to describe Jed AND Joe?

VictimBelief

IsolatedDeluded

InaccessibleThreateningAffectionate

ViolentHarassedResistant

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

As you are waiting for the lesson to begin bullet point the five key events of chapter fifteen.


To revise the assessment objectives for our coursework.

To analyse chapter fifteen in groups.

RECAP: What are the four assessment objectives for

A Level literature?

AO1 - Articulate creative, informed and relevant responses to literary texts, using appropriate terminology and concepts, and coherent, accurate written expression

AO2 - Demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which structure, form and language shape meanings in literary texts

AO3 – Explore connections and comparisons between different literary texts, informed by interpretations of other readers.

AO4 - Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received.

Group Task – Chapter FifteenIn groups, you will be developing questions to analyse chapter fifteen.

Firstly you must consider the key areas of the chapter. Then you must create four questions – one to address each assessment objective. You must be able to answer your own questions to ensure that when you set it you know if it has been answered correctly!

AO1 - Articulate creative, informed and relevant responses to literary texts, using appropriate terminology and concepts, and coherent, accurate written expression. (A general comprehension question – one that requires knowledge and understanding of the chapter.)

AO2 - Demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which structure, form and language shape meanings in literary texts. (Select a specific area of the text and encourage close analysis.)

AO3 – Explore connections and comparisons between different literary texts, informed by interpretations of other readers. (Encourage comparisons with Othello and / or Gatsby.)

AO4 - Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received. (This is a modern text – how does this affect the content and the presentation of events?)

Final Task

You now must pair up with another group and answer each other’s questions.

Class Discussion: Which is the most difficult assessment objective to consider when analysing the text? How can we ensure that we do not over

look this element in our essays?

As you are waiting for the lesson to begin...

At the start of chapter 17, Joe describes Clarissa as ‘ disloyal, unsupportive in this time of crisis, and irrationally suspicious.’

Discuss: Based on what you have learned about Clarissa (and their relationship), do you find it believable that she would react in this way? What does this add to our understanding of

Parry’s intrusion on their lives?


• To analyse chapter 17

• To consider how Jed’s advances on Joe are changing – taking into consideration chapter 16 and 17

• To consider the impact on Clarissa and Joe’s relationship.

In groups, consider how Jed’s character has changed from the beginning of the novel and how Joe is responding to this.

You should consider:How Jed views Joe

Joe’s perception of JedSimilarities and differences in his actions

How the reader responds to Jed

In your discussions and analysis you may also want to look at chapter 16 as well as 17 as this contains Jed’s second letter to Joe and

displays some clear contrasts in his views.

Chapter 17 begins with the line “I don’t know what led to it, but we were lying face to face in bed, as though nothing was wrong…” and ends with Clarissa going to sleep in another room: “We continued to live side by side, but I knew

that I was on my own.”

Consider the structure of the narrative in this section. Although featured around Clarissa and Joe, the narrative digresses along

many paths.Make a note of these and consider: what does this suggest about

Joe’s state of mind at this point and the direction their relationship has taken.

To end the lesson …

‘He was inviolable in his solipsism…” (chapter 17 p145)

Inviolable: Incapable of being destroyed.Solipsism: the philosophical theory that the self is all

that you know to exist

What do you think Joe means by this?

Based on everything we have seen so far, to what extent do you agree with his perception. What

evidence do you have for your decision.


What are the most significant

events of chapters eighteen?

Lesson Objectives

• To analyse chapter eighteen• To consider the shift in Jed’s obsession and Joe’s perception of him.

Re-read the section from “I was attempting to compile a dossier of threats, and while there were no single obvious examples,

there were allusions and logical disjuncture whose cumulative effect would not be lost on the mind a

policeman…On my way to the police station I glanced back a few times to check if he was following me….” ( pg. 151 – 153)

Joe is certain that Jed’s level of harassment has become dangerous – that he is now a real threat to Joe and Clarissa. Once you have looked over this section, consider the threat you think Jed poses on their life.

Has Joe become so obsessed with Jed that he sees things that are not there or do you think Jed’s desire for Joe has reached a new level?

How far do we trust Joe’s portrayal of events based on the fact that we are only given snippets of information?

Answer the following questions in detail:

• Why is it important for Joe to have Jed where he can be seen. What route has Joe’s desire now taken?

• When Joe enters the police station, he observes everything around him in detail. How does this affect his perception of the staff at the station – including Inspector Linley? • What do you think Linley’s view in Joe is when they begin the interview? • Why is it important that Linley is ‘still untempted to write’? (p155)

• Based on Joe’s interaction with Linley, how justified is Linley when he asks ‘Any sort of psychiatric illness, Mr Rose?’ (p156)

• Compare this section with chapter eight – when Joe calls the police. How are they different? How are they similar?


At the end of chapter seventeen Joe comments ‘I

knew that I was on my own.’

Based on our discussions this lesson, in what ways do Joe’s experiences confirm

his view?


Look back over chapter nineteen (page 162 -

167).

What clues does McEwan give us to

prepare the reader for the significant event

that takes place?

Lesson Objectives

• To analyse chapter twenty• To consider how this chapter leads us towards an end point.

Re-read the opening section of chapter twenty – immediately after the shooting in the restaurant – from “For the second time that afternoon, and the second time in my life, I sat in a police station … perhaps it was self pity after all: a maniac was trying to kill me

and all the law could suggest was prozac.” Complete the following table:

Points to consider Quotation Analysis

Joe’s mental state directly after the shooting

Clarissa’s treatment of Joe

Joe’s response to the officer (in comparison to previous discussions with police)

Wallace’s treatment of Joe

Joe’s desire to make people understand the threat Parry presents.

Joe’s mental state at the end of the interview

I stood in the semi-dark of the hallway and listened; only the creak and click of contracting wood and metal, and, deep in the pipework, the trickle of retreating water. From the kitchen, the susurration of the refrigerator, and beyond, the soothing rumble of the night-time city. Back in my study I sat with the phone in my lap, considering the moment, this turning point. I was about to step outside the illuminated envelope of fear and meticulous daydreaming into a hard-edged world of consequences. I knew that one action, one event, would entail another, until the train was beyond my control, and that if I had doubts this was the moment to withdraw.

Johnny picked up on the fourth ring and I said my name. It took him less than a second.

“Joe! Joe Rose. Hey! How you doing?”“Well, I need some help.”“Oh yeah? I got some really interesting…”“No, Johnny. Not that. I need your help. I need a gun.”

How would you describe the tone in this extract? Joe considers this episode to be a ‘turning point’ for him. In what way do you think this is true? Is this a course of action we would expect to see from Joe?

Homework

Read the essay regarding Enduring Love and Keats. Based on what you have read answer the following

question to demonstrate your understanding:What relevance does Keats have on the novel

Enduring Love. (500 words).


“In…linking Clarissa with emotion and Joe with

reason, McEwan may be accused of simply endorsing gender

stereotypes…Joe can be seen as stereotypically

masculine…in his desire to master Jed through

knowledge…”Enduring Love Guide – Clark & Gordon

To what extent do you agree with

statement?

Focusing on chapter 20, do you feel that

Joe continues to be a character of

‘reason’?


In the pack in front of you are some of the

opening sentences from different chapters

throughout the novel. Using the information

given (and not your books!) see if you can arrange them in the

correct order.

1. The beginning is simple to mark.

2. Though we woke the next morning with these events still ringing in the air above our bed, the day with its blend of

obligations was a balm to us.

3. Outside our apartment building, running straight on rising ground, was an avenue of plane trees just coming into

leaf. As I stepped out on to the pavement I saw Parry standing under a tree at the corner, a hundred yards away.

4. It would make more sense of Clarissa’s return to tell it from her point of view. Or at least, from that point as I later

construed it.

5. My impression was that the rain intensified the moment I stepped out ... I ignored Parry and set such a furious

walking pace that when I got to the corner and looked round, he was fifty yards behind.

6. Dear Joe, I feel happiness running through me like an electrical current.

7. It was with a touch of sadness that Clarissa sometimes told me that I would have made a wonderful father. She

would tell me that I had a good way with children, that I levelled with them easily and without condescension.

8. Dear Joe, The student I hired rang my bell at four yesterday afternoon and I went out to meet him at the gate.

9. I don’t know what led to it, but we were lying face to face in bed, as though nothing was wrong.

10. On Wednesday it was Clarissa’s birthday. When I gave her a card she kissed me full on the lips. Now it was settled

in her mind I was unhinged, now she had told me we were finished, she appeared elated and generous.

11. I arrived twenty minutes late. The place was doing good lunchtime business – conversation was at a roar and

stepping in from the street was like walking into a storm.

12. Dear Joe, I’m sorry about our row. I’m not being sardonic – I really mean it, I genuinely regret it.

Lesson Objectives

• To analyse the closing chapters of the novel.• To consider the relevance of the ending on the novel as a whole.

Look back over the section at Joe and Clarissa’s flat:

• How does Jed behave? Why is his behaviour shocking, based on what we have read about him previously.

• How does Joe and Clarissa’s behaviour support what we already know about them? How does it differ?

• How does this scene link to the destructive nature of desire?

‘Please forgive me, Joe…Let me have this one thing from you. Forgiveness, Joe. If you forgive me, God will too.’ (p.212)

When Joe returns to the apartment, he believes that Jed is there to harm him and Clarissa. Jed, however, seeks

absolution.

Clarissa’s letter to Joe – Chapter twenty-three

Dear Joe, I’m sorry about our row. I’m not being sardonic – I really mean it, I genuinely regret it. We always prided ourselves on being able to get by without the occasional fights

that other couples told us were necessary and therapeutic. I hated it last night. I hated being angry, and I was scared by your anger. But it’s there now, it can’t be unsaid…But

what I was also trying to say last night was this: your being right is not a simple matter. I can’t get rid of the idea that there night have been a less frightening outcome if you had

behaved differently. That apart, there’s no question that the whole experience cost us dearly, however right you were. Shoulder to shoulder? You went it alone, Joe…I don’t know

where this takes us. We've been so happy together. We’ve loved each other passionately and loyally. I always thought our love was the kind that was meant to go on and on.

Perhaps it will. I just don’t know. (Pages216-219)

This is the first time in the novel that we hear Clarissa’s unmediated voice. Why is this significant?

Although the purpose of the letter is clearly an attempt at making peace, it seems to highlight the differences in their views.

Why do you feel that the shooting of Jed does not restore their relationship?How does this link to the title of the novel?

Why does the shooting of Parry in chapter 22 not restore Clarissa and Joe’s relationship?

• The stress of the events since Logan’s death means that even though

logic would suggest Clarissa and Joe would embrace after this incident with Parry, they cannot.

• They are ‘Corrosive of feeling’.

• Joe feels cramped by grief, so cannot comfort/be comforted by Clarissa. It is as if they are numb.

• Clarissa cannot get over seeing Joe with a gun-she is repulsed.

• Joe believes they really are finished as a couple.

And to end the lesson…

‘Chapter 24 is successful in that it restores the equilibrium of the novel’

To what extent do you agree with this statement?

How does it provide the reader with a resolution, and to how many different stories?

How satisfying is this chapter as an end to a dramatic novel?


How does McEwan approach the appendices at the end of the novel? What information are we given in

each of the appendices? What is the purpose of each appendix?

Summarise what occurs in each of the two appendices in your own words.

Be prepared to feedback your ideas.


• To explore the content of the appendix,

aiming to answer unanswered questions

• To understand why McEwan finished the

novel in this way

• To reach personal and informed opinions

about the novel.

Appendices ‘Supplementary material at the end of a book, article, document, or other

text, usually of an explanatory, statistical, or bibliographic nature.’Dictionary.com

Think carefully about the definition of ‘appendices’ as suggested above…

• What information does McEwan give us in the Appendices?

• How fitting are the appendices as a final end to the novel?

• By the very definition of the appendices, are they important to our

understanding and impression of the novel? Would we have a different

view of the novel if McEwan had not included them?

To start the lesson…

‘Just as it has suggested that the beginning is an arbitrary point, chosen by a storyteller in order to contribute to the shaping of experience which storytelling amounts to, in the interests if making sense, so Enduring Love has a number of

different endings, which suggests a similar arbitrariness about the point at which a story is concluded.’

Roger Clarke and Any Gordon – Continuum Contemporaries.

What is the purpose of the appendices in Enduring Love?

• To explain the reasons behind Jed’s erratic and obsessive behaviour?

• To satiate our desire for a happy ending and give us closure to the relationship between Joe and Clarissa?

• To lend weight to the scientific phenomenon of De Clerambault’s syndrome?

• To ensure a cliffhanger ending?• None of the above?

Appendix One presents the case of Jed Parry as seen by Drs Wenn and Camia.

What do the following quotations suggest about Jed and his condition?

‘By his own account, P was an intense and

lonely child, prone to daydreaming, who did

not easily make friends.’ (p.236)

‘During this time be became convinced that God wad preparing him for a challenge which he mist not fail…This certainty grew when he discovered that R was a

well known science writer who wrote from an atheistic point of view.’

(p.237)

‘To patient was articulate and coherent in his

assertions.’ (p.238)

‘Questioned in an interview about his erotic ambitions with regard to R, P was evasive and

even offended.’ (p.240)

‘With regard to outcome, most commentators have leaned towards pessimism. De Clerambault described

cases of pure erotomaia which lasted without significant change for between 7 and 37 years.’ (p.242)

‘These people tend to be described as loving socially empty lives…the desire for a relationship

is balanced by a fear of rejection or a fear or intimacy, both sexual and emotional.’ (p.239)

Appendix One presents the case of Jed Parry as seen by Drs Wenn and Camia.

What are the wordsWenn Camiaanagrams of?

Wenn Camia=

Ian McEwan

‘However, as the Manchester Guardian reported recently, neither the British Review of Psychiatry nor the study's authors exist. (In fact, the last names of the doctors are an anagram for Ian McEwan.) … Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post seemed to be

convinced by the ruse, referring to the novel as a "formidably intelligent study of one form of mental illness.“’ (Laura Miller – Salon)

Why does McEwan create the fictional account of De Clerambault’s syndrome at the end of the novel? Does the fabrication merely add weight to McEwan’s fiction or is

McEwan trying to make a final attempt to manipulate and mislead the reader?

‘I ought to be going under. Instead I feel more purpose than I’ve ever known in my entire life. I’ve never felt so free. I’m soaring. I’m so happy,

Joe! If they’d known how happy I was going to be here they would have let me out. I have to stop writing to hug myself. I’m earning our happiness day by day and I don’t care if it takes me a lifetime. A thousand days – this is my birthday letter to you. You know it already but I need to tell you again that I adore you. I live for you. I love you. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for accepting me, that you for recognising what I am doing for out love. Send

me a message soon and remember – faith is joy!’ (p.245)

Appendix Two references a letter from Jed Parry to Joe on his 1000th day in confinement.

How fitting is this as an end to the novel? What impression is McEwan trying to leave the reader with the at the close of the appendices?


McEwan has said that Enduring Love was written in ‘the spirit of investigation’ and that he was not

‘trying to give a lot of answers…’The Salon Interview – 1999

Think back to what you have learned this lesson about how McEwan chooses to end the novel. What questions have been

answered? What questions are still yet unsolved? Were we ever supposed to find out the answers?

enduring love pri

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