English

Video Report Unit 1 

Here you can find the first assignment that we had to do for English.

It's a video report about the cost of living crisis that I made with two classmates Amy and Niels. 

Report native speaker 

This is my second assignment where we had to talk to a native speaker. I got to speak to Yasmina Gourchane, she told me more about NY specialties. If you are interested definitely don't hesitate to read my report.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson 

Here you can find the first assignment we got to do after reading part one of the book we have always lived in the Castle (chapters 1-3)

Page 16

"I was pretending that I did not speak their language; on the moon we spoke a soft, liquid tongue, and sang in the starlight, looking down on the dead dried world."

This is a very short passage but yet so striking and beautiful. I like how it feels kind of poetic, using the moon as a metaphor for another world. As if she wants to escape from, like she says, "the dead dried world".

 A lot of questions pop in to my mind when I read this. It's interesting because in the first place why is she pretending that she did not speak their language? Is it because she doesn't like the people or because they don't like her? Is she an outcast and is that why she wants to escape? Interesting if you ask me, also this passage reveals us that the character isn't like everybody else. This makes me curious about the evolution of this character throughout the story, will she keep trying to escape? 

But my most burning question is why she wants to escape. What exactly happened that she doesn't want to understand other people and have her own language? 

· character profile

Merricat is the main character of the story, her full name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. She is eighteen years old and she lives with her sister Constance and uncle Julian because the rest of the family were killed one night. Merricat is very protective over the rest of her close ones, these are also the only people she likes.

Merricat is an interesting character to analyze, for example she doesn't like the outside world and the folks there which makes her a tremendously introverted person. She doesn't seem to care about anyone but Constance.

It's remarkable since Merricat has such a good bond with her sister, she even sees her sister as a fairy princess as if she looks up to her in a way. She describes her so beautifully while everyone else means nothing to her.

For example Merrricat mentioned that she likes to frighten people or that she wouldn't feel bad if everyone in the store died, this was for me really interesting.

So it surprised me a lot that she wasn't an unloving person because that's how she made me think of her by saying certain things.

I would like to know what makes her only like her sister and also why doesn't she wants her sister to leave the house? Is it for the reason that she is way to overprotective or is she hiding something? Because Merricat has a reason for this behavior, what it is makes me want to continue reading. 

PART 2 

Here you can find some more assignments we got to do after reading part two of the book we have always lived in the Castle (chapters 4-7)

page 52

"We were going to the long field which today looked like an ocean, although I had never seen an ocean; the grass was moving in the breeze and the cloud shadows passed back and forth and the trees in the distance moved. "

The reason I chose this passage is because it is not only a beautiful description of a field that struck me but also the underlying theme of isolation. Merricat tells us that she had never seen an ocean, which is very remarkable to me. Who has never seen an ocean before? This clearly shows me that Merricat lives a very lonely and isolated life. I would feel miserable if I had to live like this. She on the other hand, doesn't want it any other way.

I already know that she doesn't like a lot of people, only her cat Jonas and her sister Constance. She either doesn't like going to the town, which makes me question her, this passage makes me want to know why she doesn't like getting out of her comfort zone and be around other people.

In my opinion is Merricat the most interesting character, since there's more to her than we get to read, something darker, more evil. 

Is it a Gothic novel?

"We have always lived in the castle" certainly has some gothic elements that often come up, such as the elaborate descriptions of settings or the mentioning of supernatural things like magic. Merricat even has her own magic words and they are melody, Gloucester and Pegasus. Escapism and the remote mansion they live in are both very gothic. If we dive into escapism, we can see that Merricat refers a lot to the moon and living there. So I think in her imagination the moon is a better place, where she can escape to when the real world becomes too much.

But when Merricat starts talking about her sister Constance or describing her it doesn't give dark vibes, it's light and joyful, not gothic at all but more the opposite. Also, we have a woman as an active main character, which is Merricat, besides not being just someone's wife, she has her own way of living and looking at things.

You can say that the book in the way that the gothic elements were used is an exception. Yes there are gothic elements but there are also elements that are not at all. So the book is a bit of an outsider just as we know Merricat as an outsider.

PART 3

Here you can find the last two assignments we got to do after reading part three of the book we have always lived in the Castle (chapters 8-10)

Passage:

Page 107

"It was time; I took Constance tightly by the hand, and we started carefully down the steps. I would not run yet because I was afraid that Constance might fall, so I brought het slowly down the steps; no one could see us yet except Helen Clarke and she stared at the house."

Even though Constance is older than Merricat it seems the other way around after reading this passage. This is remarkable, as if Constance is still a young girl who can't take care of herself. But in reality she is much older than Merricat, this emphasizes the strange relationship between the sisters very well.

For what reason does Merricat feel the need to help her sister so hard? This is one of the many things she does that I find odd. Sometimes I even think she's in love with her sister and that's why she's doing bad things like killing her family. However, I wonder why she loves her sister so much that she is capable of killing people.

It makes me interested in the past of the two sisters to gain more understanding of their relationship. So I think it would have been nice if Shirley Jackson implemented this in the book by using flashbacks.

Who is the most disturbing character?

When I say that I think Merricat is the most disturbing character it's no surprise. She's done things that can't make you think otherwise. For instance, she killed her entire family, no normal person would do such a thing. She hates everyone and has a very big love for her sister Constance. Which is very contradictory, how can someone feel so much hate and love at the same time?

While Merricat may seem the most disturbing at first glance, her sister is certainly not the most reassuring character. Since she knew all along that Merricat is the killer and just remains quiet, also shows that she is not normal and disturbing in a way.

But these things certainly don't outshine Merricat. The things she says and thinks throughout the story are disturbing. For example on page 98 she thought "I disliked having a fork pointed at me and I disliked the sound of the voice never stopping; I wished he would put food on the fork and put it into his mount and strangle himself", a very evil thought and so there are many more disturbing things she says and does. 

Presentation (mother tongue)

through this link you can find my presentation on English as a World Language. If you are interested definitely take a look.