New Horizons in Reading



Reading to Reflect on the Writer’s Ideas and Craft

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Nina Bawden

- Character

CONTENTS ‘Carrie’s War’

| |Activity |Approach |

|1. |Brainstorming the title and cover |Pair |

| |Chapters 1-3 | |

|2. |True/False activity on Plot |Group |

|3. |Completing a Character Grid | Pair |

| |Chapters 3-5 | |

|4. |Completing a Character Grid on the meaning behind the names of the characters |Group |

|5. |Mini Essay on the character of Carrie |Individual |

| |Chapters 5-14 | |

|7. |Completing a Grid on the further development of character |Pair |

|8. |Imaginative Essay |Individual |

|9. |Completing a grid on the character’s decisions |Pair |

|10. |Completing a grid on character’s feelings. |Pair |

|11. |Mini Essay 2 | |

| |Chapter 15 | |

|12. |Character Grid – Before and After |Group |

|13. |Critical Evaluation | |

|14. |Reading Frame 1 on Character | |

We will break down the novel into 4 reading sections in order to study

• how the writer introduces and develops the plot

• how she makes the reader sympathise with the main character

|Chapters |Structure |What the writer does in ‘Carrie’s War’ |

|Chapters 1-3 |INTRODUCTION |The writer introduces: |

| | |the main plot |

| | |introduces the main character Carrie |

| | |introduces the family circumstances |

|Chapters 3-5 |DEVELOPMENT |The writer develops the main character |

| | |Carrie and we are introduced to other |

| | |characters. |

|Chapters 5-14 |CRISIS |The main storyline takes over – Carrie |

| | |overhears her Mr Evans’ plans for her to spy|

| | |on Hepzibah. She thinks Mr Evans has stolen|

| | |Mrs Gotobeds’s will. The writer further |

| | |develops Carrie’s character |

| | |The writer uses a cliffhanger |

|Chapter 15 |RESOLUTION | |

| | |The main character Carrie changes as a |

| | |result of her experiences |

What is the Novel about?

The novel you are going to read is called

Writers always try to choose a title which will

• ‘hook’ the reader

• give the reader an idea of what the novel is about

PAIR ACTIVITY

• Look at the picture on the book cover

• Think of the title of the story especially the word ‘War’

• What kind of story do you think it is likely to be?

With your partner write down any ideas you have on what the story might be about.

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|Our Ideas on what the story might be about |Why we think this |

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The Big Picture

While working on the novel ‘Carrie’s War’ you will be doing the following:

• Reading the novel

• Focusing on the main character Carrie

• Exploring how her character is introduced and developed by the writer

• Writing an imaginative piece of writing focused around the novel.

• Writing some Mini Essays on character leading up to an extended essay

IMAGINITIVE WRITING

Imagine you are the main character Carrie, in the novel ‘Carrie’s War’. Write a letter home to your mother, telling her about your experiences in Wales.

You should mention, how you are feeling about being away from home, how you are being treated by the Evans’s, how your brother is getting on and tell her about any new friends you have made.

CRITICAL EVALUATION - ESSAY

What makes a character an interesting one?

By examining the way the character of Carrie is introduced and developed in Nina Bawden’s novel ‘Carrie’s War’, show what you found interesting about her.

Chapters 1 – 3 Introducing the Main Storyline

The writer introduces the reader to the main story line in the opening chapters. In chapter 1 we are introduced to the adult character of Carrie as she revisits Druid’s Grove with her children. The novel then moves to the past and we learn what happened to Carrie and her brother when they were evacuated from London during the war.

GROUP ACTIVITY

With your group decide if the information given below about the main storyline is True or False and find evidence from the chapters to support your decision.

|Carrie’s circumstances |True/False |Evidence from Chapters 1-3 |

|The adult Carrie often dreamed of returning to Druid’s Grove. | | |

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|She returned with her husband. | | |

|The adult Carrie was frightened when she returned to Druid’s Grove. | | |

|Carrie and her brother were evacuated because of the war. | | |

|When they arrived in Wales they met a boy called Alan Sandwich. | | |

|Miss Evan’s brother wanted her to take a boy and a girl. | | |

|Miss Evans was friendly toward the children. | | |

|People always noticed Carrie and never Nick. | | |

|The children think Mr Evans sounds really nice. | | |

|Nick and Carrie were always very tidy in their own home. | | |

Introduction to the Character of Carrie.

In the opening chapters of the novel we learn quite a bit about Carrie. We learn about her character

• From what she does (her ACTIONS)

• From what she says (her SPEECH)

PAIR ACTIVITY

With your partner look at the qualities mentioned in the grid below and add as many examples as you can of actions and speech which reveal the aspects of character given.

The first one has been done for you.

|What we learn about Carrie |Evidence from the Chapters | Our response to Carrie |

|She often tries to hind her emotions. |She wanted to cry suddenly… but…being Carrie she |We feel quite sorry for her but she |

| |stared crossly out of the window. |appears to be stubborn. |

|She is well- mannered and polite | | |

|She is pretty but modest as well. | | |

|She loves her brother and looks after | | |

|him well. | | |

|She feels awkward when her mother | | |

|comes to visit. | | |

Chapters 3-5

Further development of the character of Carrie and an introduction to other Characters in the Novel

As well as finding out about Carrie and Nick and the circumstances which brought them to Wales, we are also introduced to a number of other characters.

PAIR ACTIVITY

• Many of the characters have unusual names. Nina Bawden may have given the characters names which reflect their personality.

• With your partner decide what the name says about the character and show evidence for this from the novel.

|Name |What it says about them |Evidence from novel |What does Carrie think about them? |

|Albert Sandwich | | | |

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|Hepzibah Green | | | |

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|Dilly Gotobed | | | |

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|Samuel Isaac Evans | | | |

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MINI ESSAY 1 and REVIEW

Now that you have finished reading and taking notes on the first part of the novel, you are going to write a short mini essay on the character of Carrie as she is introduced by the writer.

In your mini essay you should write about the following:

The Character of Carrie

• What you discover about Carrie from her actions

• What you discover about Carrie from what she says

• What the other characters think of Carrie and what she thinks of them

• What your response is to Carrie (sympathy? Understanding? Like?)

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Chapters 5 – 14 Further development of the character of Carrie

In this section of the novel, we find out a lot more about Carrie.

We see her struggle with her sympathy for Mr Evans and her dislike of him. We see her find out that he wants her to spy for him, and she thinks that Mr Evans has stolen Mrs Gotobeds will. She comes across as a likeable and sympathetic person but sometimes we do not agree with her actions.

As before we learn more about Carrie by looking at

• Her ACTIONS

• Her SPEECH

GROUP ACTIVITY

In the grid below you will see a statement about Carrie’s character. You will also see that some of the evidence and a quotation have been completed for you.

• With your GROUP you have to complete the full grid on the next page and

• put in any other evidence and quotations which you can find in the chapters to support the points made.

|Qualities we see in |Evidence from the Chapters |Quotations |Your response to Carrie |

|Carrie | | | |

|Helpful |She done the cooking when |“Carrie did the cooking at home.’ |We can see that Carrie is nice person as|

| |auntie Lou wasn’t well. | |she help’s when auntie Lou is ill. |

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| |She also looks after Nick. | | |

Completing the grid on Carrie’s Character

|Qualities we see in Carrie |Evidence from the chapters |Quotation |Your response to the |

| | | |character |

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|Caring | | | |

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|Always tries to do the right | | | |

|thing. | | | |

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|Shows concern for others | | | |

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|Feels guilty often | | | |

We will now attempt to do the imaginative writing task.

Imagine you are the main character Carrie, in the novel ‘Carrie’s War’. Write a letter home to your mother, telling her about your experiences in Wales.

You should mention, how you are feeling about being away from home, how you are being treated by the Evans’s, how your brother is getting on and tell her about any new friends you have made.

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The Crisis Chapters 5 – 14, The Character of Carrie

Carrie’s Decisions

The main storyline becomes very important in this section of the story. Carrie makes a number of decisions and sometimes we agree with her decisions and sometimes not. She decides not to tell Auntie Lou of her visitor at first, she decides to tell Mr Evan’s what Mrs Gotobed told her and she also decides to get rid of the skull.

The writer further develops Carrie’s character in this part of the novel as we see her cope with the consequences of these decisions.

In this part of the novel we see some more of Carrie’s admirable qualities but also some qualities we do not admire.

PAIR ACTIVITY

Below are a list of things that Carrie does in this part of the story.

They reveal certain aspects of her character.

• Discuss with your partner what each shows about Carrie and

• Enter it in the correct column on the next page

• Decide what it makes you feel about the character

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|She decides to tell the American soldier |She changes her mind, and decides to tell |She decides to lie to Mr Evans, when he |

|who has come to see Auntie Lou that he |Auntie Lou that the soldier came. |wonders where Auntie Lou is when she is |

|should go. | |out with the soldier. |

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|She decides to tell Mr Evans the message |She thinks about asking Mr Evans if Hepzibah |She decides to throw the skull into the |

|from Mrs Gotobed, “She told him the first |and Mr Johnny can stay at Druid’s Grove but |pond, “Carrie lifted her arm and threw |

|chance she had…” |she decides not to. |the skull as hard as she could.” |

Carrie’s Decisions…

|Her decision… |What this shows about her character… |How we feel towards Carrie… |

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Plot- Chapter 14

In this chapter of the novel, we learn that Auntie Lou has left with the American soldier, and that Mr Evans did not steal Mrs Gotobed’s will, he only took a photograph of him and Mrs Gotobed when they were young. The chapter ends in a CLIFFHANGER. We realise Druid’s Grove went on fire but we do not know what happened to its habitants.

A CLIFFHANGER is the name given when a chapter

in a novel or a scene in a film ends in a dramatic way

which leaves the reader or audience uncertain as to what

will happen next. Sometimes a cliffhanger leaves the reader

with a sense of impending disaster.

PAIR ACTIVITY

Chapter 14 ends with the words “Carrie never mentioned Druid’s bottom after that day.”

• Discuss with your partner which of the following following reasons you think Carrie had for never mentioning Druid’s Bottom again.

• Give reasons for your choice and for rejecting the other suggestions

|Suggestion |Our Choice |

|1. She did not care what happened to the inhabitants of Druid’s grove. | |

|2. She did not ever want to remember Druid’s Bottom as she had such a terrible time there. | |

|3. She didn’t want to mention it again as she was convinced everyone died in the fire and it was | |

|her fault. | |

MINI ESSAY 2 and REVIEW

Now that you have finished the middle section of the novel, you are going to write your second mini essay. You are going to look at the character of Carrie

The Character of Carrie

You should mention

• The qualities you see in Carrie in this part of the novel

• How she has changed from the first part

• Your response to Carrie at this point

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The Resolution Chapter 15

In the last chapter of the novel we learn what really happened to the inhabitants of Druid’s Grove.

We also realise that Carrie will also learn what really happened to everyone. We do not see what Carrie’s reaction is to the news that everyone survived, but we can imagine what it would be.

GROUP ACTIVITY

You are now going to think about how Carrie would have felt when she learned the good news.

In groups you should fill out the table saying how you think Carrie would have felt and why.

|Her feelings |Why we think this |

| |She will know that everyone is ok so will no longer think that it was her|

|Guilt free |fault. |

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Your Final Task

CRITICAL EVALUATION

You will now answer this question on the novel:

1. What makes a character an interesting one?

By examining the way the character of Carrie is introduced and developed in Nina Bawden’s ‘Carries War’, show what you found interesting about her?

(You will need to check through the previous activities on character)

Reading Frame for Critical Evaluation 1

Paragraph 1 Introduction

Give title and author of text

Say in general what you found interesting about the character Carrie.

Paragraph 2

Show how the writer introduces Carrie to the reader

Examine what we learn about her/ her qualities/and your response

*You will use your notes and Mini Essay 1 to help you write this paragraph

Paragraph 3

Show how Carrie’s character is developed in the middle sections of the novel

What else we learn about her/her qualities and your response

*You will use your notes and Mini Essay 2 to help you with this paragraph

Paragraph 4

Show how Carrie changes as a result of her experience. What changes do you see? How do you respond to the ‘adult’ Carrie?

Paragraph 5 Conclusion

Brief summary of the main points you have made and give your final opinion of the character and why you find her interesting

Reading Frame for Critical Evaluation 2

|Paragraph 1 Introduction |

|Give title and author of text |

|Briefly summarise the two storylines (1) the personal domestic storyline |

|(2) the ‘cops and robbers’ storyline |

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|Paragraph 2 Examine how the main storyline is introduced and how it makes the story interesting |

|*You will use your notes and some of the work you did in Mini Essay 1 |

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|Paragraph 3 Examine how the second storyline is introduced and how it also makes the story interesting |

|*You will use your notes and some of the work you did in Mini Essay 1 |

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|Paragraph 4 Examine how the main storyline is developed |

|*You will use your notes and some of the work you did in Mini Essay 2 |

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|Paragraph 5 Examine how the second storyline is developed |

|*You will use your notes and some of the work you did in MiniEssay 2 |

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|Paragraph 6 Examine how the two storylines merge in the final section of the novel and how all the problems in both storylines are |

|resolved |

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