Cat Among the Pigeons

AMONG THE PIGEONS

CAT AL AN N U

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ITIES N A M U H G FEATURIN THE

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I started at Caterham School in 1936 and my late younger brother Trevor in 1939.

However, in 1940 the Battle of Britain was fought - sometimes right above Caterham.

That was especially so when the Germans bombed Croydon airfield and on the following Sunday they attacked Kenley.

During that raid, the roof of our house in Greenhill Avenue was damaged and mother decided to take us straight away to join my father. He was in MI6 (Section VIII) based at Whaddon Hall some five miles from Bletchley Park.

I continued my education locally but later had a chance to join MI6 (Section VIII) at Whaddon Hall. Trevor was at the same school later going to Liverpool University.

There he obtained a First Class degree in modern languages after further study at the Sorbonne.

He did his two years of military service as a Lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps.

Then he was invited to join the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). He was with them for 33 years, their Sinologist and leading linguist. In his retirement, he wrote the definitive story of the development and use of tanks in World War 1. He went on to write other books about the Somme.

For my part, I came out of MI6 (Section VIII) in 1947 to join the family bathroom business founded by my great-grandfather in 1876. I was the fourth generation of the family.

In the late 1950s, I built a bungalow in Grange Road in Caterham and two of our sons, Laurence and John, went to Caterham from the Prep to the 6th Form. They are still selling kitchens and bathrooms - the fifth generation in the industry.

In 1989, I started to write about my work in MI6 and my first book ‘The Secret Wireless War’ is now in its 6th print. Others followed in due course.

In order to promote creative and intellectual writing endeavours at Caterham School and in honour of all the Pidgeon family members who attended the school, Geoffrey Pidgeon has kindly founded the Pidgeon Prize for Literature, which is the inspiration for this magazine.

Photo: Wayne Huang

“ The calling of the humanities is to make us truly human in the best sense of the word” J. Irwin Miller

Dear Reader, Welcome to the premier edition of ‘Cat Among The Pigeons’ and as our title implies, we intend to provide you with controversial content on the society and culture of today’s student world. Centred on the Arts and Humanities here at Caterham, the magazine covers issues presented across school societies and also individual topics with which students have engaged outside of their lessons. From pertinent talks at the recently founded Russell Society, to creative writing contributions from across the school, this magazine showcases the very best that Caterham has to offer.

These pieces start a political and cultural conversation informed by issues that occur all around us. A number adopt a political style, whether it be commenting on literature and theatre or trying to understand what constitutes a failure of a country. Others consider gender in art, religion, and even amongst celebrity and pop culture in response to recent campaigns against sexual harassment this year, perhaps leading to a strongly Feminist message. By extension, a clear challenge in the future is to address the perception that the Arts and Humanities is solely female orientated – which is why it is empowering that brilliant male writers feature; now we just need more of them. Another challenge for students is to showcase their passions in a way that is appealing to all audiences, but the witty style that the pieces carry capture both the talents across these departments and the draw of art that makes us human.

The various cultural backgrounds of all contributors is reflected through the diverse content styles included in this year’s issue, from a translation of a Chinese poem for the Steven Spender prize to a piece on Ancient Rome and accompanying translation. The magazine covers a wide range of art forms and periods, reminding us of the breadth of humanity and its history, which really is a beautiful thought.

Alongside the magazine, every piece in this issue is automatically submitted for the Geoffrey Pidgeon Prize for Literature awarded at Speech Day, named after an Old Cat who has been a great inspiration to the future generations of Caterham students.

Lastly, I would like to thank all contributors to the magazine for working so hard to provide such riveting pieces, featured opposite, and my passionate committee whose diligence is what drove the success of this inaugural issue.

I hope you enjoy this issue of ‘Cat Among The Pigeons.’

Sanjana Idnani, Editor

Editor: Sanjana Idnani (L6H1) Committee: Anna Gardener (L6L2), Lottie McDonald (5U), Georgie Fogarty (5U), Shreya Ganesh Kumar (4H1), Graham Gibbins (L6R1), Beryl Chau (L6A1), Emiri Cheng (L6U1), Maisie Greener (4A2), Mili Greener (2W) Other contributors: Alice Caiger (2K), Lucas Ashton (L6A1), Chloe Redstone, (L6L1), Flora Hannay (2W), Ellen Tong (5R), Millie Thomas (3R), Ross Furley-Smith (L6N1) Cover illustration: Co-curricular undertaking by Emiri Cheng (LGU1)

TH E

C O N T E NT S

B I R D S

GAULTIER’S CONICAL CORSET by Chloe Redstone . . . . .

by Hermione Zhou . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

VOICES IN THE WIND

26

EXPLORING THE GRAPHICS OF CUPHEAD

by Lucas Ashton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

A Translation by Emiri Cheng and Beryl Chau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

MAKE IT ALL GLASS

by Hermione Zhou, image by Ben Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

P A I N T I N G S by Hermione Zhou, Olivia Dowle and Harry Grove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

GEORGE ORWELL’S PARALLELING OF ANIMAL FARM CHARACTERS WITH FIGURES FROM THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

PHOTOS

A R T by Bean Wang, Heidi Ng, Georgia Bennet & Millie Summers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 How far can we bring Shakespeare plays into the 21st Century? by Anna Gardener . . . . . . . . . 32

A RT

by Maisie Greener . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

HOW TO START A WAR

by Abigail Barrett and Sophie Slape . . . . 30

by Christy Bennett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

PHOTO COMPETITION Wayne Huang & Daria Semikina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

by Georgie Fogarty,image by Ben Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

DA D DY S A I D

E vo lut i on of Poe tr y by Graham Gibbins . .

36

by Alice Caiger, image by Christy Bennett 38

by Flora Hannay, image by Sophie Austin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

IN TER VIE W WITH VISITIN G S PEA K ER , J O H N FIEL D

Is Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale influenced by Orwell’s 1984?

by Sanjana Idnani & Anna Gardner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

by Sanjana Idnani, image by Hermione Zhou . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Found Poetry by Emiri Cheng and Beryl Chau . . . 12

HOW MUCH WOULD IT TAKE FOR YOU TO KILL?

TE XTIL E S by Saffron Gilbert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Sab i n e s - W O M E N I N A N C I E N T R O M E

by Shreya Ganesh Kumar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 W O U L D IT TR A N S FO R M C H RIS TIA N THEOLOGY TO REFER TO GOD AS MOTHER ?

by Ross Furley-Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

By Graham Gibbins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

ART

by Sophie Slape & Katie Colquitt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

MADLive M E M O R I E S by Sanjana Idnani . . . . . . . . . .

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D O ES PL AYIN G L E A D R O L ES AT S C H O O L PR EPAR E YO U FOR A PROFESSIO NAL CAR EER ?

By Mili Greener . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Ph il osof e a r s

I M AG INA RY FR IEN DS

by Flora Hannay, image by Heidi Ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

by Emiri Cheng, image by Amelia Watson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

DRAW IN GS

Why do countries fail?

by Christy Bennett, Mollie Harris & Lucy Gomm . . . . . . . . . . . 19

by Anna Gardener, image by Ashley Best . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

G RA P H IC S

S h a d e

by James Blain, Jack Lee & Matthew Wilmott . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

CAT O N A H OT T IN R OOF

LETTER TO THE MOON

by Ellen Tong, image by Galina Veshchugina . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Review by Sanjana Idnani . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

I NE V ITA B IL ITY by Georgie Fogarty, image by Eva Zeng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 3R D YEA R FOR ES T PA IN TIN G S . . .

by Beryl Chau, image by Heidi Ng . . . 52

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# F e m a l e Ro l e M o d e ls

by Lottie McDonald, image by Sadaf Raza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

PHOTO COMPETITION Nico Wong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Why the House-builders Should Provide Infrastructure

by Millie Thomas, image by Saffron Gilbert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

The Pidgeon Prize for Literature, celebrating excellent writing at Caterham School, has been awarded to Hermione Zhou for her short story The Birds. Chosen from all of the pieces of writing submitted to this magazine, including those selected for publication, Hermione’s writing demonstrates an exquisite skill with language and complex, sophisticated control of narrative. Each word of her piece has been carefully considered to create a balance of finely-wrought imagery and ambiguous but compelling story-telling that, in its brevity, leaves us satisfied whilst still wanting more. Photo: Steffi Lagerberg

TH E

B I R D S

By Hermione Zhou, 5U

The chimneys had fallen silent again at dawn, dozing in the wisps of smoke which circled them twice as swallows finding their perch, then wandered away. The birds which had lent them shadows had jerked collectively into suspension with a dazzling whir and flutter.

For there had come a curious beat beat beat, so unlike anything the birds had known for a long time: it was not the night wind, which was kind and hoarse, nor the funny grind of the metal beasts below. A rumour had passed across the air that the noise was brought by something only their friends in the prairies knew of - a horse. Like an oversized, shaven fox it careened away from the hysterical traffic and with a clear, decisive trill shattered the glass of a display window.

Image by Hermione Zhou, 5U

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Some say the headless and slightly dented body found upon the shards, like a black hole in a bed of stars, was its rider. Others contend, not unreasonably, that it was nothing more than a dummy in a tweed jacket, which had happened to blossom open on the pavement like a great chrysanthemum with gulping petals of blood.

Anyway, the felt cap, which had yielded up the ground with a sighing tinkle of glass grains, the birds had taken for themselves.

VOICES IN THE WIND

寒風中聞聲 戴望舒 枯 枝 在 寒 風 裡 悲 嘆 ， 死 葉 在 大 道 上 萎 残； 雀 兒 在 高 唱 薤 露 歌； 一 半 兒 是 自傷 自感 。

A Translation by Emiri Cheng, L6U1 and Beryl Chau, L6A1

大 道 上 是 寂 寞 凄 清 ，

Withering limbs draw their last breath in the bitter wind,

只 有 那 孤 零 的 雀 兒 ，

Decaying leaves lay mangled upon the horizon.

伴着孤零的少年人。

A broken melody from a perfect voice on wings, Half wallowing in misery upon misery.

The lone road lies still in the desolate land of snow, Against the hushed silence atop the weathered tower.

高 樓 上 是 悄 悄 無 聲 ，

寒 風已吹 老了樹 葉 ， 更吹老少年的華鬢， 又覆在他的愁懷裡， 將一絲温馨吹盡。 唱 啊 ，同 情 的 雀 兒 ，

The sorrowful melody of the Redbird rings out

唱破我芬芳的夢境，

In harmony with his unbearable solitude.

吹 罷 ，無 情 的 風 兒 ，

The icy breeze grazes upon the now-wizened leaves,

吹斷我飄搖微命。

Weaves itself into the strands of the young man’s white hair, Taking from him his last flickering hope, put out.

Until it soundlessly captures his still-beating heart, Until the last tendrils of warmth are blown away...

Shower me with your melody, my winged companion.

May your sweetest voice shatter my dreams of paradise, And the merciless wind shall send a storm through the night.

My fickle life is yours to take.

This poetry translation is a combined effort.

We have translated this modern Chinese poem and, in the process, discovered the softness and delicate beauty of the Chinese language, even with the rigid and formalised structure of the poem itself. Our exploration of both the difference in interpretations and the integration of such diverse ideas have led to this final product, which will be submitted as an entry to The Steven Spender Prize for poetry translation.

Image by Hermione Zhou, 5U

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MA K E IT AL L GLA S S

By Hermione Zhou, 5U Image by Ben Brown, 5H

When you first saw space,

Wasn’t that there was a hidden staircase to Saturn’s rings where

Like looking under water. You reckoned

God sat and ate grapes.

With this -

Wasn’t that anything alive ever made any sense.

This infinite thing

One day you’d make a book

There will be no more secrets.

For the universe to confess in.

You’d sling it into orbit, furnish it with three dimensions

So it began -

So that words rain into other words

You were born from rock, a fish without gills

And pages cut other pages apart

And you cling to the bigger rock

And the book can never end. It’ll be circular

As you invent civilisation

So nothing eventually meets everything

And you make flames and songs and you cry

And the entire spectrum of colour bites its own tail.

And hurtle in circles

And when there are paradoxes

As stars die, and the sun burns out

You could make it all glass

Though long before that

So that no sentence can contradict another

You’d stop singing and

Because, because - nothing shall ever be written

Singeing and crying and your rock

Nothing shall ever be written.

Was never really that big.

You only asked for secrets.

The secret wasn’t that Giant turtles traipsed across galaxies heaving under planets Wasn’t that hounds broke their teeth on moons and the Milky Way Is just another ocean

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You did not ask for this.

Hermione Zhou, 5U

Olivia Dowle, U6R1

Harry Grove, U6N1 - 'We are all made of Star Dust'

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GEORGE ORWE ANIMAL FARM FIGURES FROM

By Maisie Greener, 4A2

certainly a plethora of links between the two to support this interpretation, but the main one I would like to explore is Orwell’s parallelling of characters in Animal Farm with the people at the vanguard of the Russian Revolution.

B

oth the Russian Revolution of 1917 and George Orwell’s Animal Farm of 1945 are immensely influential milestones in their respective historical and literary fields.

While the Russian Revolution marked the cessation of Russia’s centuries-long Tsarist autocracy and conclusion of the Romanov Dynasty, the publishing of Animal Farm in 1945 marked the end of a war which had discontinued the oppressive dominions of dictators but had consequently claimed 80 million lives. Seemingly, both events signified the commencement of an improved era, relieved of persecution and inequality and paving the way for advancement and change. However, the Russian Revolution only created a breeding ground for more social injustice under a totalitarian and more tyrannical Communist regime pioneered by Lenin; meanwhile, the period following Animal Farm was one plagued by ill-relations and perpetual tension, threatening the extermination of nations. However, this similarity of worsened situations is not the only one shared between this novella and the Russian Revolution. In fact, the common belief nowadays is that Animal Farm was solely based on the Russian Revolution and that Orwell used the novel as a platform to broadcast his passionately anti-totalitarianism views and to surface the failings of the Communist dictatorship. There is 8

Firstly, Orwell bases characters in Animal Farm on persons who played active roles in the revolution. For example, Mr Jones, the evil farmer, was based on Czar Nicholas II the last Tsar of Russia. The main similarity between the two is their incompetence at authority in their respective positions.

Tsar Nicholas II succeeded his father in 1894 and, between his lack of preparation and the Khodynka Tragedy of May 1896, he struggled to gain popularity: his reign seemed sentenced to fail. This quality is mirrored in Mr Jones. For example, in the first sentence, Orwell tells the reader: ‘Mr. Jones… had locked the henhouses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes,’ where the adverbial ‘too drunk,’ illustrates Mr Jones’ prioritisation of alcohol over the satisfactory running of the farm. This is particularly significant as Nicholas also demoted his duties as Tsar, in place of a personal life filled with extravagance and luxury.

Another character with an equal in the Russian Revolution is Old Major the pig, who triggered the Animals’ uprising with prospects of reform in his fervent speeches: much like Vladimir Lenin, the predominant Communist revolutionary.

The main similarity between the two is their addressing of audiences using the inclusive noun ‘comrade’. For example, in Lenin’s Speech to a Street Crowd in Spring 1917, he says ‘Comrades, the revolution is on.’ Orwell ridicules this opening in Old Major’s speech ‘That is my message to you comrade: rebellion!’, where the exclamation mark mocks Lenin’s ardour for revolution. Furthermore, aspects of the Socialist theorist Karl Marx are presented in Old Major. The most notable resemblance can be found in Marx’s ‘The Communist Manifesto’, written in 1848, in which he laid out the basis for his political theorem: Communism. Orwell mirrors

LL’S PARALLELING OF CHARACTERS WITH THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION this in chapter two when Old Major declares ‘The Seven Commandments’, the conditions which inspired his ideology: ‘Animalism’. Not only this but in the Communist Manifesto, Marx repeats that removal of the Capitalist impediment, would permit Communism’s flourishing; while Old Major fostered the acclaimed motto: ‘All men are enemies. All animals are comrades,’ which also blames a common enemy.

A third character from the book who has a counterpart in the Russian Revolution is Snowball the pig, who is based on Leon Trotsky. The main similarity between the two characters is their shared visionary plans. Possibly the most identifiable similarity between events in the Revolution and Animal Farm, is this sequence involving Trotsky and Stalin: during the Russian Revolution of 1917, Trotsky had played a role of paramount importance, then during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1921, despite being assigned by Lenin as Commissioner of War for the Red Army and regardless of a victory, Trotsky’s support depleted. As a result, in January 1924, after Lenin’s death, Stalin succeeded Lenin instead of Trotsky – the inevitable ensuing of disputes commenced.

Trotsky and Stalin’s conflicting opinions regarding Communist expansion ultimately led to disagreement over Stalin’s proposed ‘five-year plan’ for the modernisation and reform of the Soviet Union’s economy for the financial year of 1925/26. Trotsky retorted with his own economic programme, where the industry budgetary allowance would be increased to ‘between 500 and 1000 million roubles a year’. Subsequently, Trotsky was expelled from the Communist party in 1927 and was banished from the Soviet Union altogether in 1929. The equivalent of this episode in Animal Farm begins in chapter 5 when Orwell writes ‘The two disagreed at every point where disagreement was possible.’ This statement is followed by perhaps the most

noteworthy juncture in the pair’s relationship: ‘Snowball… was full of plans for innovations and improvements,’ the most drastic being his proposal for the construction of a windmill.

With his eloquent speeches and thorough research, Snowball wooed the fellow animals with his designs. Nevertheless, identical to Stalin’s jealousy of Trotsky’s popular economic plan, Napoleon retaliated by expelling Snowball from the farm and set ‘nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars’ on Snowball. Orwell duplicated this event to Stalin’s expulsion of Trotsky. Furthermore, Stalin later claimed Trotsky’s scheme as his own, much like Napoleon’s profession of Snowball’s blueprints for his own.

Another significant moment in chapter 5 is the quotation: ‘It was noticed that they were liable to break into “Four legs good, two legs bad” at crucial moments in Snowball’s speeches,’ referring to the sheep’s devotion to Napoleon and stern hostility towards Snowball.

Most consider the sheep a depiction of both Russian propaganda and those swayed by said propaganda. In this way, Orwell illustrates how the Communists manipulated propaganda to eradicate opposition, which we know to be true as Stalin often portrayed Western Capitalism negatively in propaganda.

In conclusion, I believe that Orwell broadcasted his political views in the form of Animal Farm’s extended metaphor not only to apprise against the repressive dictatorship that is Communism, but to pillorise the prejudice plaguing all dictatorships. In Orwell’s words, the novel was about ‘The destruction of the Soviet Myth,’ but in my opinion, through the form of a satiric allegory, Orwell successfully illustrates the hopelessness of any extreme dictatorship.

In this way, I think Animal Farm should be read as a novel but interpreted as a caution.

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H O W T O START A WAR

By Georgie Fogarty, 5U

One, two, three, four, I declare a civil war.

Five, six, seven, eight, Soon my country’s filled with hate.

Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, Now into the ground I’ll delve Twelve, eleven, ten, nine, Until I find an oil mine.

Eight, seven, six, five, Now there’s foreign bombs and knives.

Four, three, two, one, This war will not be nicely won.

Image by Ben Brown, 5H

DA D DY S A ID

By Flora Hannay, 2W

Image by Sophie Austin, 5L

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Daddy said He’d be back soon; So soon the crisp autumn leaves will not have fallen into winter’s lonely trap.

The leaves have grown back now, And fallen again, But still, He doesn’t return.

Mummy says, He’s up with the angels, That the clouds are now his bed.

When will he be back?

Little Bennie wants him, Mummy.

Before the leaves turn green again.

Why do we visit That lonely stone, With scribbles on it, Mummy?

The one behind the church?

Why do you cry on the evening, Then hug us ever so tight?

When will Daddy be home, Mummy?

Will it be tonight?

WITH W E I V R E T IN ER, K A E P S G N I VISIT

D L E I F N JOH

By Sanjana Idnani, L6H1 & Anna Gardner, L6L2 John Field; English teacher, Director of Digital Learning at Tudor Hall school.

I can get obsessive over anything once I start reading it.

I’m teaching dystopian literature at the moment and that’s even taken me to Sci-Fi. And if a couple of years ago you told me that I would read science fiction for fun I would have just laughed.

What inspired you to become a literary blogger?

I was really jealous of a girl at school. The T.S Eliot Prize had a shadow prize for year 12 and 13. We got to read poetry from the T.S Eliot shortlist and we had to choose the best collection to win the prize and then review it! She had a lot of fun doing it and I just sat there thinking “I’m not going to get in!” I was really annoyed.

It was that competition basically, that was it.

What is your favourite literary movement and why?

How did you decide on the name for your blog?

What is your favourite poem and why?

I thought really carefully about that. I had a copy of Shakespeare Sonnets on my Ipad – as you do – and I just started searching it for phrases that surrounded different words such as word, line, book, and eventually Poor Rude Lines just popped out to me and I thought, "this works". The only big regret for me is that URL doesn’t match the name of the blog. You’ve got to get your brand sorted out, you need Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. So if I could change one thing, it would be that.

For me, poetry does things in a way that a drama and a novel can’t do. Hugo Williams was reading a poem called ‘My Sister’s Wedding Dress’ and I think his sister died very young. As he was reading this poem, I burst into tears in the room. I was shaking with tears.

No film ever makes me cry. My wife thinks I’m made of stone but this poem did. Poetry in general just seems to do it and so I love it for that reason. Phillip Larkin, I really like him. There is this poem called 'Toads' and at 17 I had to explain what it meant and I had no idea what it was about. Here I am now and the idea that work is soul-destroying activity that you can never escape from really speaks eloquently to me. Often the poems I like the most end up being the ones I’ve known about the longest.

How do you choose which poems to write about on your blog?

That’s a bit of an issue now. To start with, it was really easy because I had been reading contemporary poetry for fun for a long time and I still get birthday money from my mum and I always go to the bookshop and just max out on really gorgeous looking books. So first the worry was: how expensive will this hobby be? It was easy because I could just review the books I liked enough to buy. But then people started sending me books and it becomes difficult because you end up reading books you never would have read yourself and things you really might not enjoy. That’s a problem because you are spending an evening trying to find something interesting to say about a line. So I’ve not blogged as much over the last 18 months and it’s probably because of that. I need to spend more time looking at books of my own choosing.

What is your favourite genre?

Modernism definitely would be my favourite movement because it is nasty and hard with unpalatable poems about unpalatable things and the oppression of human dignity by industrial things.

It is exciting. T.S. Eliot is just amazing and Jamie Joyce in the same way is a very special writer.

If you could choose one piece of literature from your blog to have if you were on a desert island?

I would be in real trouble because most poetry books are only 70 pages. I’d probably take an anthology because that would be longest. I would take Adventures in Form. It’s a great book.

What do you think the purpose of poetry is?

I think to entertain us? I suppose. When you pick up a book or listen to a song and give your attention it, it just entertains you. I don’t know if it has a moral, political or aesthetic function but I think poetry can be a lot of things.

God, I don’t know! A few years ago I would have said it was definitely gothic, I love a bit of Angela Carter but anything really,

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Found isti si que vol a, poetry que Literature.

It is all about perspective.

These are pieces of black-out poetry from across various year groups, where poetry is found by breaking the boundaries of a pre-written text and shaping it into a new form of literature with the use of imagination and unique, creative perspectives.

This was done during a workshop held

by Emiri Cheng, L6U1 and Beryl Chau, L6A1 for the Middle Literature Society.

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13

Saffron Gilbert, U6H1 - Perceiving Patterns - an exploration of plastic pollution in the ocean

Saffron Gilbert, U6H1 - Skin 14

Sabines

By Shreya Ganesh Kumar, 4H1

WOMEN IN ANCIENT ROME

The ancient Roman society consisted of two discrete roles: male and female. The details have often been eclipsed by the bias of ancient male writers and 19th-20th century male scholars, thus making it difficult to assess the role of women in ancient Rome – a maledominated world.

The Romans were unlike the ancient Greeks who formed a creation myth that describes woman, lesser than man, created in the form of a bringer of vices – Pandora. The Romans formed an advanced civilisation for their time and took a more neutral approach.

In Roman mythology, humanity is said to have been created by the gods from earth and water; there is no distinction between male and female. This idea is supported by Ovid’s Metamorphoses which regards men and women equally, at least in a physical sense.

The story of the Sabine women by Livy is one that uncovers many things concerning women in ancient Rome. In this story, the first Romans abducted women from the nearby tribe – the Sabians – to populate the city. On entering the city, the Sabian men were killed and the women were raped (a common occurrence) and the men who survived, returned to their city for reinforcements. A while later, they returned to Rome with King Titus Tatius to get their wives. They also intended to attack the Romans. However, when they arrived, they were surprised to find that their wives, with their sons, had intervened in an attempt to end the violence. Consequently, the fighting came to an end and Rome was united as one.

This story reflects the important role of women as a link between their birth and marriage family in ancient Roman society – and nothing more. This is further supported in the story when the fighting comes to an end upon the introduction of the sons – not daughters – and if the women had walked into the battle alone, they would not have been recognised in the same way. In this way, this story provides great insight into the role of women in ancient Rome.

From Book I of “Ab Urbe Condita” by Livy A Translation by Shreya Ganesh Kumar Then the Sabine women, whose wrong had given rise to war, with dishevelled hair and torn clothes, their woman’s fear conquered by their misfortune, dared to interfere amongst the flying weapons, and rushing in from the side, to disrupt the hostile forces and disrupt their anger, begging their fathers, their husbands, that fathers- in-law and sons-inlaw must not stain themselves with wicked blood, nor taint with parricide the allies’ own children, their grandsons.

“If you dislike the relationship among you, if you dislike the marriage link, turn your anger against us; we are the cause of war and wounds and death to both our husbands and our parents. It is better for us to perish than to live, without either of you, as widows or orphans.” It moved both the soldiers and their leaders.

A stillness fell, and there was a sudden silence. Then the leaders came forward to make a treaty, and not only did they agree on peace, but they made one state from the two.

They shared the kingdom, but all authority was given to Rome. The population doubled in this way, and to give something to the Sabines, they were named Quirites, from the town Cures. As a monument of this fight, they gave the name “Curtian Lake” to the pool where the horse of Curtius first emerged from the deep

swamp and stood in safety.

15

M

FORM S N A R T T I D L U WO O T Y G O L O E H T N A I T CHRIS R EFER TO G O D A S

By Ross Furley-Smith, L6N1

With the rise of the Feminist movement in the 20th century, the issue that has most challenged the Christian Church’s views of, and treatment towards women, is the question of how Christians understand the gender of God. Christian theology is dependent on our use of language, which is arguably patriarchal in nature, and many have struggled to grasp the concept of God without humanising Him and making our descriptors of Him androcentric, thus alienating women. Therefore, whilst referring to God as mother would ultimately transform Christian theology, in doing so, it would tip the balance to become gynocentric and only serve to alienate men. Indeed, as Feminist Theologian Rosemary Radford-Ruether asserts, to refer to God as mother would lead to a ‘crisis of tradition’ for Christianity. Thus, Christian theology needs to achieve a considered sense of balance between the use of descriptors of God which are both male and female in order for it to transform Christian thinking.

In terms of the Christian biblical tradition, referring to God as mother would mean a radical transformation in Christian theology. The Bible uses the male pronoun, ‘He’ to denote God and refers to God in predominately male language: father, warrior, king. These, in turn, have dominated the Church’s view of God. When referring to God, we are limited by our language; there is no divine non-gender in the biblical languages, nor in English.

Biblical names and titles of God, such as Yahweh and Theos, are also grammatically masculine. RadfordReuther asserts; ‘Male monotheism has been so taken for granted in Christian culture that the peculiarity of imaging God solely through one gender has not been recognised.’ In other words, patriarchal thinking has 16

become so inherent in Christian theology that most Christians would not recognise that God could be female.

Therefore, if God is male, and man is made in the image of God, the question needs to be asked whether this can include women. Mary Daly, posits: If God is male, then male is God. The divine patriarch castrates women as long as he is allowed to live on in the human imagination, thus denying women their true humanity.

Yet, it is important to remember that the Bible was written when society was dominated by patriarchal thinking and praxis, thus God would inevitably be referred to as masculine as a reflection of society at the time.

However, speaking of God as feminine and referring to God as mother is nothing new, and therefore, would not entirely transform Christian theology. Both Scripture and Christian tradition describe God using female imagery; comforting mother, mother eagle. Indeed, whilst female imagery is one thing, some commentators believe referring to God as ‘God the Mother’ is abhorrent because it is unbiblical.

However, the ‘crisis of tradition’ is not the only issue preventing the reference of God as Mother. Maggie Dawn argues that any effort to make language inclusive

Mother runs the risk of exclusion. To rid Christian theology of patriarchy, liturgical language would need to replace all male pronouns with female ones. Whilst this may have some value in introducing a new vision of God, simply replacing the old pronouns with new ones is, at best, a temporary fix. She writes: If we merely substitute one power structure for another, a new metaphor for an old one, then we are in danger of merely whitewashing the issue, rather than drawing closer to truth.

Another approach is to remove gendered language from Christian theology altogether and engage gender neutral expressions for God instead: FatherSon-Spirit becomes Creator-RedeemerSustainer. However, Dawn asserts that this limits our theological understanding because it has reduced the Trinity to ideas of function rather than relationship.

Furthermore, it is fundamental to Christian theology that God, while not a corporeal being, is not impersonal. God is not an “it”, and the language of job-descriptions doesn’t serve to address God adequately.

Expansive language, however, offers an appealing alternative; it aims to use as many names and metaphors for God as possible, stretching the imagination towards God. If we limit our language we run the risk of

?

domesticating God, or even of making God in our own image. The beauty of expansive language is that it opens up many more possibilities; rather than excluding difficult terms such as those in the epistles which subordinate women to men, they are seen in context within a broad range of language that doesn’t place one name above another. Traditional names such as Father and Lord can find their place when moderated alongside a plethora of other names which serve as a constant reminder that God is far bigger than any one of them. Indeed, Maggie Dawn states that rather than adjusting our language to remove all offence, we should “stretch our imaginations: use the names that others use, listen to the various narratives encompassed within this community, and try out the names that emerge from them. Each of us may encounter names that are unfamiliar, curious, or even a little disturbing.” As Desmond Tutu famously said, we are a “rainbow people of God”; our language needs to reflect that diversity, rather than the dullness of neutralisation.

Rather than limit our language for God, we should rediscover, from the scriptures, and from two thousand years of Christian theology, some of the many names of God: helper, servant, father, mother, mighty ruler, powerless infant, love and wisdom, and, at the same time, the God whose name, however close we try to get to it, will always elude us. What we should not forget is that gender is biological and God does not have biology. God is spirit.

God does not have a body: she doesn’t have chromosomes or genitals or any of the physical markers of gender.

Fundamentally Christian theology is not transformed if God is referred to as ‘mother’, as God is a genderless being, and changing God’s gender would not change Her teachings or the love that She has for her creation.

17

IMAG INA RY

FRI ENDS

By Flora Hannay, 2W Image by Heidi Ng, U6L2

Lost Are the days Where you laughed And played With us.

Where your imagination Was so vivid A car could be your castle, A street could be your moat.

And we could be anything you wanted.

We are here, Still here.

And now we can forgive you.

For forgetting us In the death trap that is growing up.

And We are ready for you.

We will wait.

Under the shadow of your unconscious imagination.

We promise.

Acknowledge us.

Look into the depths

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Of your heart.

And dare to believe.

Believe in the wonders, That you no longer see.

We try To think that you did not Lose us.

Just temporarily walked away.

We live on happiness.

On love.

But it returned.

Always.

Until Until It didn’t.

When you lost our kind.

When Mama told you That you were too old for Us, We were shunned To the dark corner.

No It wasn’t your fault.

You called for us.

But the car was just a car, now.

The road, Just a road, Not a moat.

And we waited.

But no longer were we kings And queens Over your heart.

You promised.

You promised You promised you wouldn’t grow up.

We are fading.

Come back to us.

Lift the mist from Your eyes.

And believe.

Or we shall be gone.

Lost.

Before You say goodbye.

Christy Bennett, U6L2 - Climate Change Policy Maker

Mollie Harris, 5L - Looking Through

Lucy Gomm, 5L - Wild 19

James Blain, 5U Year - Wild

Jack Lee, 5N - Waterfall 20

Matthew Wilmott, 5N - Transformation

Review by Sanjana Idnani, L6H1

On February 22nd, I went to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at an NT live screening at The Everyman in Reigate. Popcorn in hand, I was excited to watch a powerful Tennessee Williams’ play performed by The Young Vic and directed by Benedict Andrews. The play tells the story of the conflicts of a Mississippi family after their patriarch, Big Daddy, is diagnosed with stomach cancer and also his youngest son’s (Brick) revelation of his homosexual feelings towards his dead friend Skipper which he struggles to confront, turning to alcoholism as a result.

The cast was packed with strong actors such as Sienna Miller and Jack O’Connell, who both played the lead roles with brilliant conviction.

Jack O’Connell’s portrayal of Brick, initially as a withdrawn alcoholic locked in his own world before opening up about himself, and his struggle through the revelation seen in the latter half of the play during his conversation with Big Daddy, really captured Brick’s struggle with his feelings and Skipper’s death.

The chilling lack of intimacy between Maggie and Brick throughout the play heightened Maggie’s desperation for Brick to love her and desire her. Her loss of dignity when she prostrates herself like a ‘cat’ in front of him makes us feel uncomfortable but sympathetic with Maggie as it shows the lengths she will go to in order to be deserving of Brick’s attention. Brick’s apathy at the end of the play when Maggie essentially blackmails him into sex continues to show the horrific and pitiable state of this relationship which unsettles the audience.

Desperation is a feeling that haunts all characters and Andrew’s decision to have the characters throw cake and ice cubes at moments of increased intensity added to the tension of the play.

A heart-breaking moment was when Big Mamma (Lisa Palfrey) refused to accept the fact that Big Daddy was dying from cancer and was crying out, throwing cake everywhere in her disbelief. Everything being thrown around to create a mess on the stage at the end of the play was particularly

effective because it highlighted the chaos caused by the dying state of the patriarch Big Daddy and the web of lies contained within the family all for the sake of the material estate.

I also particularly enjoyed Andrew’s use of the fireworks exploding at tense moments during the second half of the play, especially when Big Daddy finds out everyone knew he was dying except him and he screams “liars.” Hearing the children laugh in the background and the fireworks boom added a very eerie effect and it also conveyed the impending doom that landed upon Big Daddy in that moment as well as his inherent fear of death.

Overall, the show was cleverly crafted, had perfectly timed comic relief and conveyed Williams’ vastly autobiographical tragedy in a beautiful way, engaging new audiences with the body of the play. The play captured the intensity of the plot well and I would definitely recommend those in Fifth Year and above to watch it if they can!

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I N E V I TA BIL ITY

By Georgie Fogarty, 5U

A forest. Trees stretching up to the sky, their leafclad branches forming a dense canopy overhead.

The forest floor is bare, with patches of ground-ivy and ferns between the trees. The trill of birdsong echoes through the woods. A gurgling can be heard, emanating from a small brook, bubbling and splashing on its way through the world.

There is a sudden sense of movement. Nothing has visibly changed, nor has there been any sound out of place, but a tingle down the spine, a feeling of oddness betrays the motion. It was to the right, whispers that little, imaginary, voice. There is nothing to the right save a clump of ferns and a rhododendron bush. No movement. The forest is still.

To the left, murmurs the voice, that sixth sense that has been keeping us alive since time immemorial. But there is nothing to be seen on the left.

There is something else here. Something hidden, and watching. The whole forest is waiting for something.

A faint pressure between the shoulder blades; a little voice screaming Get out! Get out! in the back of the mind; a cloud of red, irrational fear hanging overhead- a warning; You are not alone! You are the prey, and it is the hunter! Run! Flee! Hide!

But it is a hunter. And you are its prey. If you run, it will chase. You cannot escape. It can run further, swim faster, climb higher. It will keep coming, inexorably. You will run, and you may run quicker than it, but it will keep running far longer. You will rest; it will not. It will follow you across mountains, across oceans, across deserts. It will chase you across time and space, and you cannot outrun it forever.

It is not the forest that is watching you.

There is a story, about a man, who saw it in Baghdad. Borrowing a horse, he fled to Samarra, hundreds of miles away, only to find it waiting for him there. No one can escape it; it catches up with everyone eventually. Everyone’s time runs out. And some laugh, and taunt it; others run screaming in fear; and some look it in the eyes and walk, head held high, into its embrace.

It has had many names. It is feared and, by a few, loved. It is balance, and chaos. It is certain, but unknowable.

It is the end, and it is inevitable. And one day, it will reach you, too.

Image by Eva Zeng, 3A

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Oliver Willoughby, 3L

Tamsin Anderson, 3U

Sadaf Raza, 3H

Nathan Summers, 3L

Charlotte Walker, 3R

Sihu Jung, 3A

Eva Zeng, 3A

Amelie Griffiths, 3A

3rd year forest paintings 23

o R e l a m e #F

By Lottie McDonald, 5U Image by Sadaf Raza, 3H

In an age of female empowerment, amongst the setting of the #metoo and 'Time’s up' movements, young girls have the incredible opportunity to have huge numbers of inspiring women who are fighting or have fought for equality. These women have paved the way so that girls now can attain high powered positions and are treated as equals. However still there are issues that women face as a whole, whether it be closing the gender pay gap or helping women in less forward thinking countries receive the same treatment, and female role models help to change perceptions so girls today can see how much they can achieve. #1 : The youngest member on this list, Malala Yousafzai, born in 1997, was only 15 years old when she was shot in the head by Taliban members in Pakistan, after her activist movement regarding girl’s education. She was targeted on her way to school, due to her speaking out against the Taliban from the age of 11, and publicly advocating for girls’ education. She was hit with one bullet, which went through her head, neck, and ended in her shoulder, and yet miraculously she survived. She went on to continue her activism, speaking with Obama about his use of drone strikes in Pakistan in 2013 and opened the Malala Fund championing girls’ education. She went on to be awarded with the Nobel peace prize in 2014 and became the youngest recipient at the age of 17, and co-authored I am Malala, which is now an international best seller. Yousafzai is a fine example of defiance in the face of oppression, which is what makes her, in my eyes at least, an exemplary role model. #2 : While Katherine Hepburn is an undeniably good actress, with a career spanning 63 years and 43 films with 4 Best Actress Oscar awards, she is also a feminist icon to thousands of women globally. In her first ever film appearance, she demanded a pay rise the first time she stepped on set, an inspiring act which is just as relevant today as women fighting for the pay gap to be closed. In an era where women were expected to be subservient and timid, she was anything but. One of the rare examples of woman in 20th century Hollywood who did not conform to the stereotypes of female superstardom, she valued intelligence, wit and independence. Hepburn more often than not would wear trousers, both on screen and off, and while this may seem like one of the more conservative looks on today’s red carpet, this act pushed the boundaries and societal expectations of female attire. This unwavering set of morals and beliefs makes Hepburn a figure to look up to for every young girl.

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#3 : Aung San Suu Kyi is a Burmese diplomat, politician and activist, as well as the Leader of the National League of Democracy and the State Counsellor, a position akin to Prime Minister. She became one of the world’s most prominent political prisoners after she won the 1990 elections in Burma, and was placed under house arrest after the military refused to hand over power. She, backed by her political party, continued to persevere and came to power after winning the following two elections in landslide victories. In 1990, she was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and subsequently was the recipient of the Nobel Peace prize. She used the $1.3 million dollar award money to open a health and education trust for the Burmese people. Despite the recent controversy surrounding the Burmese military’s persecution of the Rohingya people, Aung San Suu Kyi continues to do her best in a dangerous and precarious position of power. Her continued striving for change and peace in Burma is an inspirational act for all people who hope to make changes in the world, against all odds.

Although hundreds of women each day make a difference, many of whom will go unnoticed and unrecognised, these three I believe exhibit qualities that all women and girls should aspire to have.

Strength, defiance and resilience.

The diversity in this list is what inspires me the most, proving that there is no required age or desired profession for people to have global impact on the overall perception of women.

s l e d o M ole

25

GAULTIER’S CONICAL CORSET

By Chloe Redstone, L6L1

It is frustrating to me as an academically inclined young woman that one may judge me based on the way I choose to present myself. In my educational career, I have experienced the prejudice which comes with my appearance, often leading others to undermine my intelligence.

Therefore, I wish to present and explore an iconic yet controversial work of textiles – Jean Paul Gaultier’s ‘conical corset’ as worn

by Madonna during her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour; the corset was a suitable choice for my analytical research as it poses the question: should a woman’s selfpresentation determine others’ views upon her?

In first looking at the corset, I was immediately aware of the fact that it is in equal parts eccentric and overtly sexual. The cone shaped breasts evoke an exaggerated sense of 50s glamour whilst Gaultier’s choice of fabric - pink silk - adds a couture flair. With the synched and corseted waist, Gaultier overtly emphasises the angular but “hourglass" figure which women have desired, or rather, been influenced to desire throughout history. Jean Paul Gaultier’s corset was intended to produce a provocative effect whilst simultaneously serving as a symbol of female empowerment. However, it makes us question whether it merely added to a long history of female objectification.

A fascination with the ideal feminine form is not a modern obsession but as old as time itself. The “Venus of Willendorf” is a palaeolithic sculpture of a fertility Goddess, dating back to 24,000 BCE, and one of the earliest examples of this. Perhaps unsurprisingly the most conspicuous elements of her anatomy are those that deal with reproduction: her enlarged breasts, belly and hips.

Further sculptures which draw attention to these desired female characteristics can be seen throughout history. The need to procreate is essential to the survival of any species and so it is not surprising that artistic forms were made to encourage the focus on fertility. Furthermore, to ancient 26

humans, the process of the development of an embryo would have been entirely mysterious. Therefore, praying to such a goddess would have been seen as essential throughout gestation.

The earliest known example of corsetry originates with the Minoan people of Crete in as early as 3000 BCE. Images from ancient pottery show women wearing corsets to express an ideal shape, accentuating their curves and often exposing bare breasts. In 16th century France, Catherine De Medici promoted the use of corsets in French courts by wealthy women. The corset, which yet again drew attention to the bust and streamlined waist, was quickly seen as indispensable to the beauty of the female figure. The hourglass corset, a shape which even today’s society deems the most desirable, came into providence during the Victorian era. In 1947, Christian Dior’s, post-war “new look” collection reinforced the popularity of the prominent breast and ultra-synched waist silhouette, whilst the 1950s and 60s saw the birth of the ‘cone bra’ with the aid of Hollywood glamour icons such as Marilyn Monroe and Dame Elizabeth Taylor. Thus the inspiration for Gaultier’s ‘conical corset’ was not entirely original but rather history’s culmination of the desired female form.

Much to my horror, although history has seen some progression for the equality of women, the fact of the matter is women’s bodies are often sexualised, whilst men’s are not – or at least to a lesser extent.

Therefore, in choosing to wear Gaultier’s design, was Madonna complicit in the objectification of herself as a woman?

Gaultier’s corset could essentially be seen as a physical manifestation of social expectations upon women in order that they appeal to men; furthermore, the way in which Madonna danced whilst wearing this garment is blatantly erotic.

At first glance, this garment made me question Madonna and Gaultier’s claim of enabling female liberty and empowerment.

She appears to be the antithesis of contemporary feminists who campaigned tirelessly for equal pay in the work place dressing themselves in what may have once been considered more masculine attire, in order that they be respected.

As a young woman today, social media constantly bombards us with images of

celebrities and models, for example, the likes of Kim Kardashian, which fit this so-called desireable physique. In defiance to our perfection seeking generation, Rei Kawakubo founded the revolutionary fashion house ‘Commes des Garçons’.

The name, literally meaning ‘like boys’, is in itself a feminist statement, moreover Kawakubo’s work juxtaposes both the masculine and feminine form and exaggerates the silhouette to such a degree that it defies what we would classically deem attractive. Interestingly, Gaultier was an early supporter of Kawakubo’s work stating: "I believe that Kawakubo is a woman with extreme courage… When I see her creations, I feel the spirit of a young girl. A young girl who still has innocence and is a bit romantic. Yet she also has an aspect of a fighting woman, one who fears nothing as she thrusts forward." Both Gaultier and Kawakubo exaggerate the female form in different ways to make a statement against fashion norms.

In my opinion Gaultier’s design for Madonna only compliments the feminist stance. I believe he intended the conical corset not to portray women as an object of sex but rather as an ‘object of power’. With the corsets’ sculpted design one could even consider it to resemble a warrior-like armour. The concept that a woman can maintain her strength and ferocity whilst still being

deemed attractive is not uncommon, as demonstrated by the warrior image of ‘Amazonian’ women or the DC comic creation ‘Wonder Woman’ – who has been somewhat deemed as a feminist icon. In analysing Gaultier’s original sketches for the corset, it is clear that the artist envisioned Madonna to embody a domineering persona, as demonstrated by the angular, distorted legs and powerful stance. Likewise, the exaggerated sharpness of the model mirrors the conical breast shape of his design. In comparing this corset to Gaultier’s similar work, it is clear he intended this particular design to be feminine, with his choice of fabric and nude tones, therefore the corset not only encapsulates a female fighting spirit but also a sensitivity or nakedness.

The corset therefore reasserts the hyperfemininity derived from the first wave of feminism in the 1970s.

You may be wondering why I chose, as an art student, to centre my presentation on Gaultier’s design and feminism. I have been confronted with the fact that art is often viewed through the male gaze, with many masterful painters focussing on the soft, curved and often ultra-beautiful, nude female form, a prime example of this being Ingres’ ‘Grande Odalisque’.

Clearly I am not alone in this realisation.

‘Guerrilla Girls’, an anonymous group of feminist female artists, established in the mid 1980s, devoted to fighting sexism and racism in the art world, also comment on this corruption. In one example they reuse Ingres’ classic oil-painting along with the text: “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?

Less than 5% of the artists in the modern art sections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female.” I saw Gaultier’s corset as an exaggerated and almost more powerful form of the female nude, in contrast to the softness of a reclined figure often portrayed by male artists.

Conclusively, it is easy as a woman to allow societal standards and men to influence how we dress, but we do have a choice. By expressing oneself through the means of fashion we empower ourselves.

Thus I see Gaultier’s corset as being the embodiment of this ideology, in that dressing as one chooses is not to align with the desires of men but rather gives us control over our own lives.

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EXPLORING THE GRAPHICS OF

By Lucas Ashton, L6A1 Cuphead is a game which is internationally recognised for its use of graphics. This is not a conventional form of quality art in the art community and is quite often overlooked. This game was released on the 29th of September 2017 by an independent game studio, StudioMDHR. The graphics of the game were made with the collaborative effort of Jared Moldenhauer and his brother Chad Moldenhauer. One frame that is particularly interesting is the Cagney Carnation fight scene.

T

he main plot of the game is about the characters Cuphead and Mugman who lost a deal with the devil and as a result must collect owed souls, one of the many antagonists in the game.

The frame shows Cuphead fighting Cagney Carnation.

The most obvious thing here is the similarity between this game and 1930s cartoons in general. Some famous examples are Mickey Mouse, Felix the

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Cat, Betty Boop. The overall effect of this type of graphic is that it creates a sense of nostalgia, which is aesthetically appealing.

Rubber hosing is an aesthetic style used to draw characters in 1930s cartoons.

This made the characters seem like they are made out of rubber as they have smooth edges. An example of this is the Mickey Mouse cartoon where the person behind Mickey is stretched out. What

can be noticed is that the limbs for both characters are fairly thin, which is also a main idea associated with rubber hosing.

In Cuphead, these same features resonate with the smooth surfaces and thin limbs.

Granted there are some exceptions such as the spiky nose, pointy fingers and prickly thorns but those stick out less significantly than the long arms and body of the plant. Rubber hosing can be seen in the Cuphead character with the limbs but mainly in the plant. This technique

Boop’s “Snow White”, the ghost is turning its head into a bottle and drinking juice coming out of its head. It is a random kind of surrealism, equally seen in the fight scene with the flower. It gives this sense of unpredictability and can be unsettling, which supports this idea of the invincibility of the plant, which again decreases the hope for the main character overcoming this challenge.

creates the aesthetic of rubber and a sense of indestructibility. After all, it is not easy to break rubber, a flexible material that can withstand almost any force. The plant as a result looks unbreakable and therefore invincible, which slowly drains the hope of defeating it.

The two-dimensional plane is a recognisable characteristic in 1930s cartoons. In the image opposite, there is a flat two-dimensional floor on which characters both in the game and cartoons travel. There are certain exceptions to this style but this feature exists in the majority of 1930s cartoons. The path at the bottom of the cartoon is a path to a certain location. And what might this location be?

Success. This can be seen by the flower acting like an obstacle to the path that Cuphead is travelling across.

It is presented as a metaphor for an obstacle on the path to success.

This oversimplification of tackling an obstacle makes the frame incomparable to real life though it should be noted that the main purpose of the game is to move to the opposite side of the frame.

The third comparison that can be seen is that anything could happen in this game, however random. This is an extreme form of surrealism, one that comes off strangely. In the image, there is a person with a cup for a head shooting bullets out of his fingers at an evil flower whilst standing on top of a mushroom platform with a propeller underneath.

This contrasts to films and cartoons today where everything in some way is justified, as almost none of this is justified. In Betty

Many of these cartoons in the “Golden Age” of animation have a dark hint of horror behind them. This is evident in the picture with a flower, usually a symbol of innocence and fairness, being a malicious villain with the small but prickly thorns and the long and pointy nose sticking out like a blade. It has sold its soul to the devil meaning that it is corrupt and fake.

The subversion of the flower imagery creates a sinister tone. This is similar to 1930s cartoons and how horrifying they can be despite how they are aimed for kids. For example, in “Bimbo’s Initiation”, the main character is tortured multiple times and pressured into joining a cult.

In “The Little Pest”, a young boy repeatedly shoves, kicks and abuses a baby. In “Mickey Mouse”, death stares at him when he is not looking. This dark imagery therefore is disturbing.

On the other hand, there are aspects of the image that are not similar to “Golden Age” cartoons. There is an exaggerated size difference between the flower and Cuphead. The flower is roughly three times taller than Cuphead and even with the aid of a platform, it still looks down to him. This large size creates a sense of powerlessness and eliminates any hope of Cuphead winning.

that the layer at the front is unnecessary.

The complexity of the landscape creates a chaotic scene – although the focus does attempt to compensate for that. Then there are the falling seeds, the platforms and Cagney Carnation. These interactive characteristics of the scene force us to keep track of all three, which in turn creates overwhelming complexity. With so much to look at in just one picture, we realise how difficult is the task of defeating the boss.

Why is this piece of art so important, one might ask? Effort and success are probably two of the most resonant themes in life. When we look at this image, we can combine the aspects analysed to see Cuphead on a journey leading to success only to be stopped by a large and evil flower that appears as almost indestructible in a world where anything could happen whilst many other objects make the challenge even harder. It feels disempowering, but you need to put the effort in. It is imperative. Only once success is achieved can you look back years later with the feeling of nostalgia, remembering the “good old days”. I did not live in the thirties of course but I have seen some of the cartoons mentioned during my childhood and to get to relive that experience through this incredible art is simply amazing. Despite only being a storyline in a game it represents something so much greater than that. The game lives up to its expectation of difficulty but the resilience of Cuphead is inspirational to apply the same resilient attitude to difficulties in life.

Finally, there is so much is going on.

Firstly, there are three layers that form the landscape; one at the front, the plane in which the gameplay occurs and the image behind the characters. All have different points of focus. This in itself creates complexity as it can be argued 29

Abigail Barrett, U6A1 - 'Bird man of Brighton'

Sophie Slape, U6H2 - Oil Slick - mixed media sculpture

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Bean Wang, U6N2 - Eve

Heidi Ng, U6L2 - Repose

Georgia Bennet, 5H

Millie Summers, 5H

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How far can w Shakespeare pl 21st Century?

By Anna Gardener, L6L2

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we bring lays into the S

hakespeare’s most avid critics are frequently found in classrooms, as generation after generation of children fail to comprehend how the words written by a 454 year old man are applicable to their lives.

Teachers and directors alike have tried many different methods over the years, but it is easy to understand why, to many, Shakespeare is, at best, irrelevant – and at worst, downright irritating.

The question of Shakespeare’s relevance has faced an increasingly large proportion of society for centuries of reading and performance. The main difficulty in accessing Shakespeare seems to be a disparity of time; Elizabethan language and setting contrasted with timeless characters and themes. Indeed, the very purpose of theatre is called into question when deciding how far Shakespeare’s plays can be made interesting and accessible without losing the original language for which he is so praised. Plays should be, of course, for entertainment and enjoyment, yet some people desire implicit purposes to comment on society and encourage the audience to reevaluate their preconceptions.

Take the Globe Theatre: the home of Shakespeare, where centuries of tradition overhang each director and performer.

Recent productions have included a gritty urban adaptation of Cymbeline, titled Imogen, directed by Matthew Dunster and featuring grime artist Skepta. This is clearly far from the ‘original practice’ productions that stay true to Elizabethan and Jacobean costume, setting and casting, and modern shows have been criticised for being antithetical to their heritage and to the Globe itself.

But this is just not the case. Shakespeare himself envisioned a diverse theatre for the masses, and in his time, the plays made extraordinary modern breakthroughs – both in theatre and the wider status quo.

Shakespeare ‘purists’ may criticise films inspired by Shakespeare like She’s the Man and 10 Things I Hate About You for trivialising and over-simplifying the products of one of the greatest literary minds, but it is hard to see a problem in engaging people with the stories of his plays so they can be part of a literary culture. Some praise the balance of film adaptations such as

Baz Lehrmann’s 1996 Romeo + Juliet for presenting the original language in a way that is both understandable and enjoyable. It cannot, however, be ignored that such films may receive success partly because the audience often already ‘gets’ the story and characters, perhaps not even from school studies but from Gnomeo and Juliet. Even the word ‘adaptation’ cannot be clearly defined, and raises argument over the extent to which altering language, removing scenes, or music is allowed (if the word ‘allowed’ can even be used for plays which are free of copyright for anyone to alter).

One way that Shakespeare’s plays have evolved through time, regardless of whether this is seen to be good or bad, is gender.

On a societal level, perceptions of gender have developed and fluctuated significantly, with Shakespearean performances reflecting this. Female parts were historically played only by men and especially boys with high voices, and the concept of gender itself was more of a ‘quality’ than a physiological body.

Parallels can be drawn today, possibly even returning in a cyclical fashion to this. Stagings such as a gender-reversed Taming of the Shrew demonstrate a fluidity of gender not apparent in early modern productions. These parallels are not, of course, the same, and gender is used by directors in Shakespeare adaptations today as much more of a political tool than the often humorous and self-mocking original texts. Similarly, technology has developed to allow CGI and sound to be used in a way Shakespeare himself may never have imagined. There is a risk with this, however, that the description crafted in the language to be apparent without fancy scenery could be lost if it is taken too far.

A key difference between Shakespeare’s time and the current day is the existence of directors. In the 16th century, actors were largely self-directed, with very few rehearsals as a company and lines learned mostly in isolation to the rest of the plot. Directors in the present try to make the play their own, with increasingly outlandish versions of characters and settings that are sometimes criticised for being ‘too modern’ or ‘too edgy.’

The difficulty with these comments is that they raise the question of what it really means to be ‘modern’ and whether something can even be ‘too modern.’

I was lucky enough to recently see a production of Hamlet by the Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by Simon Godwin and with Paapa Essiedu as the titular role. Interestingly, he is the first black actor to play this role for the Company and Godwin used his Ghanaian heritage in the staging. While my own interpretation of this production is subjective, to me Godwin successfully found a balance between old and new. The language was all the original text, with nothing omitted; even the ‘King of Denmark’ referred to was not altered to fit with the modern setting. By contrast, the costumes and music were exotic, with drums and music adding to a sense of cultural diversity and bringing a fresh take on Hamlet’s psychological progression.

The female characters of Gertrude and Ophelia, though using the same words as have been used for centuries, brought a modern take on femininity, though this may be influenced by my response as a woman in the audience. Some of the juxtapositions between tradition and modernity required the audience to suspend their disbelief, for example in the specifics of the governing rule of Claudius. Once this was done, though, it was possible to enjoy the play on two levels: the language and character development brought by Shakespeare’s eloquent soliloquies as well as the bright colours and exotic music of the West-African influences.

The conflict of interests comes because too often we centralise and worship Shakespeare, forgetting that his plays are just a few in the huge sea of dramatic literature. For instance, if more Brechtian plays were adapted today with the purpose of stimulating us intellectually, this would perhaps take some of the pressure off directors to find ‘a deeper meaning’ behind Shakespearean scenes that really should just be entertaining. Just like ecology, Shakespeare has to evolve to survive.

And whether you believe these changes to be necessary or blasphemous, directors will continue to make Shakespeare modern and accessible for as long as his work remains held in high esteem. The solution, for me, is to take the plays and the productions as separate entities: the enjoyment can come from both.

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Christy Bennett , U6L2 'Who Decides Climate Change Policy?'

Pencil response

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Co-curricular Photo competition on the theme of 'Piece of My Mind'

Runner up: Wayne Huang, L6A1

Runner up: Daria Semikina, L6N1 35

By Graham Gibbins, L6R1

T

he word poetry often makes people think of great Shakespearean sonnets or rhyming stories from the past. However, in truth, these barely scratch the surface of what poetry truly is, and where it came from. Perhaps the oldest text in human history, an Ancient Sumerian piece written in around 2500 BC, named The Epic of Gilgamesh is an example of early poetry, specifically, of epic poetry. This, along with such texts as Homer’s The Odyssey and Iliad, and Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, was a form of narrative, normally detailing heroic deeds and events of cultural or national significance, like the battle of Troy, or Dante’s journey through the world of the dead. Epic poetry tells tales of adventures and journeys, often influenced by the whims of the Gods and fates watching the events unfold.

In the case of The Epic of Gilgamesh, the Gods created a perfect warrior named Enkidu in order to challenge the harsh king, Gilgamesh. The poem recounts the initial clash between these two men and their eventual friendship and collaboration. The Divine Comedy, meanwhile, details the poet, Dante’s trip through the Underworld in search for his lost wife. The most famous book in the Comedy is Dante’s Inferno, which speaks of Dante’s original trip through the equivalent of Hell before he reaches purgatory in Dante’s Purgatorio, and ‘Heaven’ in Dante’s Paradiso. These tales were the building blocks of not only modern poetry, but, in fact, almost all of present day media.

Following epic poetry, over a dozen centuries later, we get to the famous Sonnets. These much better fit the stereotypical idea of what poetry is, as they are mostly great declarations of love or desire towards others. The most famous poet producing these kinds of poems is of course, the great bard, Shakespeare. His sonnets are easily the most wellknown, with his most famous sonnets being unnamed, but instead numbered. The one most quoted is probably Sonnet 18, the one that attempts to ‘compare thee to a summer’s day, thou art more lovely and more temperate’. The majority of Shakespeare’s sonnets follow the same rhyme scheme, of abab cdcd efef gg, and structure, being made up of three quatrains, four line stanzas, and an ending rhyming couplet. There a few exceptions to these rules, the most well-known one being Sonnet 126, which is instead made up of a series of rhyming couplets. Yet, even in the exceptions, Shakespeare’s poetry still revolves around love, and the declaration and pursuit of it.

Nowadays, however, poetry has evolved further from stories of conquest and statements of love, and now, modern poetry is mostly free verse, with the text conveying a theme of social commentary or debate. One example of this is the poem Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass. The poem itself is about removing a particularly stubborn plant from a garden with 36

a chainsaw, which, by itself seems like a rather odd thing to write a poem about, especially when compared to the other poetry topics previously written about, love and adventures.

But when you read more closely, and look between the lines it is possible to find hidden meaning in this poem. For example, the description of the chainsaw with stereotypically aggressive masculine traits and the contrastingly meek description of the pampas grass, suggests that the poem may have a deeper meaning. This deeper meaning then changes the poem's conclusion from being, simply, ‘the grass grew back’, and instead becomes a motif for the futility of war, or the social struggles facing certain groups, or any number of other things, depending on how you interpret them. In this way, modern poetry can be seen to be a lot deeper than its historic counterparts as it gives the reader a lot more room to evaluate what they believe the poem means without being given a strict story to follow, or an obvious structure to locate. But, of course, not all modern poems will follow the same free form structure, and, as such, you will get the odd outlier. One such example of that is Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn. While it does not have a consistent structure, the presence of a rhyme scheme introduces an idea of order to the poem that is often lacking in other modern poems.

The poem itself speaks about the poet’s fear of the loss of knowledge and humanity as time passes, with the inky legacy we are able to leave behind being whatever will be found in a museum one day, if they are even still standing. But this poem is a great example of how far the reader’s insight can go into changing the meaning of a poem, as, even just looking at the title, we receive a call-back to a nineteenth century poem called Ode on a Grecian Urn. In this poem, the same fears are expressed, yet none of them have yet been fulfilled. This can cause us, as readers to change our perception of what Tim Turnbull was saying in Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn, as it becomes uncertain whether the poem is expressing the fact that these concerns still exist, or is instead highlighting the idiocy of these ideas by parodying the original poem so clearly.

And there, you have it. A brief parley into the history of poetry, all the way from the legendary epic poems of the Ancient Greeks and Sumarians, to Shakespearean love ballads, and modern social commentary. But, as you can see, as poetry has evolved, it has given more power to the reader to choose how it is interpreted. But, of course, poetry is still changing and evolving.

Spoken poetry is being integrated with music more and more, and written poetry is constantly changing stance – so the only way to keep up with this constant evolution is to keep reading and changing along with it.

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By Alice Caiger, 2K Image by Christy Bennett, U6L2

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Hey Dad, Hi Dad,

ys ticking Time is alwa ver rest, Time will ne kicking He’s always next quest.

Finding his my poem st verse of That’s the fir ked li My teacher about time. me’s Ti to e ferenc the subtle re fair ’s it k in th n’t victims. I do an, me I ve you less. that Time ga u yo t bu get loads some people ople years. Do pe 29 t only go I hope g? in th me so bribe Time or not Time but if I get lots of What r. you quicke I’ll be with do you think? e xx Love Charlott

Charlotte should make the most of her Time. I filled mine with bad decisions.

Still, Harper should tell her daughter how her own Dad died. I wish so hard that I’d been there for Harper. Charlotte deserves a father, but I suppose she’ll have one soon.

I hate that I have to watch their lives, I can’t escape what I should’ve done.

e, Hey Charlott yming poem, the rh I love your nd, Has your frie is beautiful. yet? u yo d ignoring Ella, stoppe . ce ni d de e soun I hope so, sh the ke ma ld ou sh you Also I think ch mu r Time, howeve most of your st mu le ink peop you get. I th e you r more. Mayb fo me bribe Ti less ve gi to m hi e can even brib le. to some peop you loads, Anyway, Love

12:03am A searing pain shoots through his chest, a bullet slices through his skin. Deep breaths to soothe pain caused by death. A sea of alcohol splashes over him, one sniff and cheap beer is everywhere. Metallic blood seeps through, into his mouth. The police yell so loudly he fades back to current Time. Through his tiny squint he can’t see a single alcohol bottle or hear a distant siren.

Hi Dad, Quick question before I go to art: is there life after deat h?

I mean, you’re dead so you’ re the best person for this question .

I hope you’re reading my lett ers, even if you’re not replying … I’m sure you have your reasons.

Got to go!

Love, Charlotte xx Ps. Ella is my best friend again!

Wooh!

I am Charlotte, I read every word of every letter. There is something after death, I wouldn’t call it life but living.

Hi Charlotte, There is definitely life after death, how else wou ld I read your letters? How is your painting going? I remember you were painting a wol f staring at a clock. I can’t wai t to see it!

Love you loads, Dad xx

Dad xx

The letter fades as usual when I try to slip it through the post box with my ghostly hand. I check the Time: 11:58pm.

I have 5 minutes until the Time I died.

Just so you know, death is the answer to nothing.

I finished the wolf picture I’ve been making. I’m ent ering it in that competition I’v e been telling you about, even tho ugh my friends think it’s weird tha t there’s a clock. I think it’ s cool.

It’s like the wolf is waiting for something or someon e. Spooky!

Love, Charlotte xx

I hope she wins that competition, she deserves to. Charlotte has been going on about it for ages, about a month!

But, then again, maybe that’s normal.

I’m no judge of Time.

Every second I watch Charlotte I think of her mum. Every time I think of her mum I realise that I still love her. With all my heart. As much as I love Charlotte and that is saying something.

Hi Charlotte, Glad to hear you’re sending your picture to the competition.

I hope you win! By the way I thought of a few more lines to you poem: Time is evil, Time is harsh, Time will never do what you ask.

It’s quite sad but maybe you’ll like it…

I want so desperately to ask about Harper, the letter will disappear anyway so maybe I should just do it. I mean, what’s the harm in asking?

How’s your mum? Is she happy with Jackson?

Anyway, love you loads and loads,

The letter slowly fades as he slips the letter under the covers of Charlotte’s pink duvet.

Unlike the last times the letter is just visible as he leaves the room.

Dad xx

The letter tumbles from his fingers, it lands on her pillow case. The letter flickers and fades slightly but is still clearly visible.

He walks to the door and as he leaves he glances back. The letter is clear, almost like real life.

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B

Is Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale influenced by Orwell’s 1984?

By Sanjana Idnani, L6H1 Image by Hermione Zhou, 5U

1984 tells the story of Winston, a worker in the Records Department subjected to rewriting history. Internally he rebels, recording his forbidden thoughts in a diary and pursuing an illicit relationship with Julia. The Handmaid’s Tale is a story recorded by Offred of her experience as a Handmaid in the oppressive world of Gilead where she must have sex with her Commander every month to boost production rates. She must be modest and not have relations with any other man. Both novels feature narrators who, whilst not active rebels, use language as a form of protest.

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An important factor to consider when looking at links between 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale is the context behind the two books. Both of the authors felt outraged by totalitarian regimes and strict rules. They both experienced times of conflict with Orwell working as an Imperial Policeman in Burma and also experiencing the tyranny of Hitler and Stalin. Similarly, Atwood began the novel while living in West Berlin during the Soviet Regime therefore directly experiencing the oppression of Stalin’s brutal regime.

Since both Orwell and Atwood were influenced by their experiences of this regime, there are likely to be similarities across both novels already. Both authors use totalitarian regimes implemented by both right and left wing governments suggesting their novels aimed to critique extremism as a whole rather than one political view.

Both authors grew up feeling trapped by society’s rules, which influenced the trapped feelings exhibited through the main characters. In an interview, Margaret Atwood even mentioned that when she read 1984, she connected to the character of Winston.

Her focus on a female experience of a totalitarian rule was largely based on the fact that most books she had read in the genre told the story of a man not a woman. She said that one of her aims in writing The Handmaid’s Tale was to “tell the story from Julia’s point of view” so there is a clear link between the two books here. However, influenced by her surroundings at the time, Atwood puts her own spin on dystopia, crossing the role of the government with the problem of low fertility rates and how this is can be solved.

The first main theme that I felt was important in both novels was the distortion of reality, which is largely portrayed through the misuse of the language we use today. In 1984, the names of the four ministries contradict their roles (Ministry of Love for torture etc.). Similarly in Handmaid’s, Offred mocks how people will believe anything if “studies have been done”, which reflects the party slogan of Ingsoc in 1984: ‘Ignorance is Strength.” Both novels appropriate information so that they meet their own ends, by burning and rewriting history in 1984 and in The Handmaid’s Tale; the Commander locks up the Bible and the Gileadians only seem to know certain parts of quotes for example “blessed are the meek” without ‘inheriting the Earth’.

The novels also distort the roles of ‘caring people.’ The totalitarian leader in 1984 is called “Big Brother” despite being a tyrant and it is the Aunts in The Handmaid’s Tale who force the regime upon other women and carry Taser guns to silence them. This reflects the experience both authors had of totalitarian regimes where people betrayed their family members because of the extreme circumstances they found themselves in.

to the Thought Police and Offred is concerned that Nick is an Eye even when he just winks at her, a seemingly normal action to the reader. The betrayal in both novels reflects the authors’ experiences of regimes such as Stalin’s where it was quite common for friends, neighbors, and family to betray each other.

Which leads us on to the theme of power: given that the novels are dystopian, power generally lies with central government and only them but there were little moments that I noticed while reading where the people under the regime have some sort of power too.

In the novels, events such as the Two-minute hate and the Salvagings were a form of legitimized rebellion. When the citizens in 1984 see a picture of Goldstein and hear his voice, they are described as in a ”frenzy” and Winston tells us it is “impossible not to join in.” In this scene, Orwell conveys a terrifying sense of mob mentality. This is also exhibited through the shaming of Janine encouraged by the Aunts. Offred said “we meant it, which was the bad part” which demonstrates how hate can fuel power.

Sexual power is also prominent, especially in The Handmaid’s Tale where it is so tightly restricted. Offred feels the only power she has over men like Nick is sexiness, which is shown when she wiggles her hips while walking away. Winston’s affair with Julia is a rebellion within itself but he is excited by the sexual power he gains from it too even feeling he has a “right” to her after a while. Lastly, since the ordinary proponents of these regimes do not own much, territorial power is important. This is particularly seen through Serena Joy, who makes the Commander wait outside the sitting room for a while before letting him in. It is a small thing but clearly something important to her. Though this type of power is seen in 1984, it is not as evident since the society in 1984 is more socialist.

However, we do see inner party members with greater privileges and O’Brien himself says: “The Party seeks power for its own sake”, which demonstrates the need we have for selfishness.

Given that both novels were influenced by similar contexts, it is natural that Atwood would draw upon 1984 in her own novel. Naturally, since the novels are both dystopian, there are undoubtedly going to be links between the two anyway with many themes overlapping. However, given that Orwell was one of Atwood’s literary heroes, it is unsurprising that his most famous novel would have influenced her work.

And lastly, Atwood has confirmed that she was influenced by 1984 in articles and interviews.

The theme of freedom and betrayal is also prominent in the novel since freedom is the goal of both characters and yet is one of the many rights being taken from the characters. For many characters, betrayal is a means to some sort of freedom. In 1984, Winston is insistent throughout that freedom is the ability to choose your beliefs, actions and words which he expresses in the quote “freedom is believing 2+2=4.” Winston’s intent belief in this may reflect Orwell’s belief as a democratic socialist since his allegiance to democracy indicates his belief that people should maintain their own thoughts. Though two types of freedom are presented in The Handmaid’s Tale through Aunt Lydia when she talks about the difference between “freedom to and freedom from” arguing that freedom from wolf whistling and objectification that women used to receive was provided by Gilead, Offred seems to yearn for her past. This reflects Atwood’s view of keeping an open mind; technically parts of Gilead would be similar to the women’s culture we protest for, but the extremism taints it and makes the society even more damaging. Betrayal and fear of being betrayed are constant in both novels. In 1984, Parson’ own children report him 41

By Graham Gibbins, L6R1

The question raised by Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s play The Visit, explored in a Literature Society Presentation by the European Literature Society Plot Summary of The Visit

We follow the events in the fictional Central European town of Guellen following World War II. The town has fallen on hard times, and, as such, are hoping that the billionaire Claire Zachanassian, who grew up in Guellen, will provide them with some much needed funds to escape their poverty. The Mayor of Guellen asks Ill, the owner of the town’s general store, and Claire’s former lover, to convince her to make a donation. Soon after Claire arrives, however, we discover the reason she has returned is to take revenge on Ill for making her pregnant then avoiding responsibility by bribing two other men to say they had caused it instead. Claire offers the townsfolk one million (presumably Francs) if they will kill Ill for her.

While no one outright admits they will do it, a general consensus slowly forms, agreeing that Ill must die. When Ill realises this, he makes straight for the three points of power in the town, the police officer, the priest, and the mayor, all of which he finds are heavily armed. They all in turn assure him they are only armed because one of Claire’s wild cats has gotten loose, and all state that Ill is just paranoid. Eventually Ill decides to leave Guellen, rather than continue to risk his life. At the train station, Ill finds the entire town has come to see him off. Despite the fact no one acts in any hostile way towards Ill, he is still paralysed with fear and cannot will himself to get onto the train. After this event, Ill accepts his likely fate and goes out with his family to say goodbye.

He eventually rejoins the rest of the village at the cathedral for Claire’s wedding (her eighth), which is flooded with reporters.

The Mayor goes through the formality of a vote asking if anyone objects to Claire’s donation, at which point, no one objects. The lights then dim with Ill walking through the townspeople, and, when they rise again, Ill is found dead. The village doctor claims he died of a heart attack, as reporters surround the body claiming he died of joy! Claire then checks the body, gives the Mayor his cheque and leaves the town with Ill’s body in the casket she had brought with her at the start.

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Themes

One of the main themes seen throughout The Visit is that of Justice and its corruption. Claire seeks a form of a mob justice she feels she deserves after what Ill subjected her to, especially after what the actual justice system ruled thanks to Ill’s fake witnesses. The corruption is shown through the police officer’s initial defence of Ill and condemnation of Claire, but as the reality of what is being promised eventually hits him, he too becomes an instrument to Ill’s murder. The lasting effect of this corruptive influence is also shown by Claire’s butler ‘Boby’ who is early on revealed to have previously been the Lord Chief Justice of Guellen, but changed career after Claire offered a salary he could not refuse, showing that Claire could even make the man most avidly in support of true justice complicit in organised murder, just because of Claire’s huge influence.

Claire openly flaunts her ability to corrupt justice, in the same way Ill did, by showing off her man servants, ‘Roby’ and ‘Toby’, death row inmates whom she bought, and saved their lives, just to prove she could.

Another theme of the play is forgiveness, or rather, the lack thereof. When the town finds out about the extent of Ill’s lying, and the effect it had of driving Claire out of town and into prostitution, they refuse to forgive him for the suffering it has caused them. Not even Ill’s family are willing to forgive him and join in the rest of the town frivolously spending on credit when they feel his death is coming, not even trying to protect or support him. Despite this however, Claire does show genuine forgiveness, forgiving Roby and Toby of their crimes and sparing their lives. She is, however still incapable of forgiveness when it comes to Ill and the injustices he committed in falsifying witnesses to escape paternity claims.

Conclusion

Through The Visit, Friedrich Dürrenmatt makes the reader question the extent of their moral integrity by presenting a scenario with no clear right answer: let a crime go unpunished, or have it be punished too harshly. This decision is then made harder by the introduction of Claire’s promise of much-needed wealth as a reward for those willing to commit murder. While, from an outside perspective, the answer may seem obvious, the influence of context is important here, as this is a village that has had to endure years of abject poverty leading up to this proposal. What if you were in this position?

How Much Would It Take For You To Kill?

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Sophie Slape, U6H2

Katie Colquitt, L6N1 - Graffiti Granny 44

Sophie Slape, U6H2 - Nocturne

MADLive

MEMORIES

By Sanjana Idnani, L6H1

MADlive is one of the biggest shows on the Caterham calendar and is the flagship event for music and dance. It showcases the talent of Caterham students from the youngest to the oldest.

Some participants have shared their experiences on working on this amazing show.

What is it like working on such a big show and how are the decisions made?

The song selection is very much a collaborative process between staff and pupils. We have a suggestion board in the music department which opens for business during the course of the Autumn Term. Anyone can write down their song suggestions and from there I look at what we have and make decisions based on contrasting songs, songs which suit dancing and songs which both cast and audience will enjoy. Mrs Richards The most challenging parts of rehearsals was definitely trying to get the harmonies in the songs spot on. It took many, many tries and failed attempts but luckily everything came together for the performance. Maddy Pullen In the short term, the motivation was definitely a prospect of some kind of break! But the deadlines were also an important factor. The sooner we finished the choreography, the sooner we could begin polishing it to make it look like a great finished product. When starting the choreography, we approached it using the beat and pace, style and also thought about if we wanted a plot for the dance. Izzy Sherlock Choreographing for MADlive was a great experience and allowed me to interact with dancers from all ages and abilities. There were elements of challenge to this but overcoming them was a great learning curve, and I am grateful for the lessons I learnt during the lead up to the show. The task had many different elements to it and finally bringing them all together with the rest of the dancers, singers and musicians was a brilliant feeling, as you could see the show coming together. Jade Sanderson Marsh

What was the most memorable part of MADlive?

My most memorable part about this year's MADlive was singing my songs with the dancers and band for the first time. Seeing all of it happen at once was amazing and very exciting! Maddy Pullen My favourite moment of this year's MADlive was everyone coming together on the day having been so disappointed by the postponement due to the weather! It was amazing to watch everyone draw together as a team during the dress rehearsal and create that amazing energy and drive which culminated in a fantastic show. Mrs Richards I don’t have one particular favourite moment of MADlive because there were so many ! It’s such a big showcase that involves everyone and it’s so fun for all of us to come together on the night. Brian Leung MADlive is a great show that leaves you feeling part of something so amazing with a group of talented students and is a great opportunity for many students to try something new. It’s difficult to single out one favourite dance as I liked each dance for a different reason for example; I loved Zombie as I worked with younger students and it was also a challenging song and Runaway Baby was a lot of fun as the song was so upbeat. But I think my favourite dances were Deja Vu, as it was a sassy number that I danced with my friends, and also Cheating on Me as it was the most difficult choreographically and I loved the music. Jade Sanderson Marsh 45

Former pupil Chukwudi Iwuji as Enobarbus in an RSC production of Antony and Cleopatra in 2013 Photo by Hugo Glendinning ©RSC

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ES L O R D A E L G N I D O ES PL AY FOR U O Y E R A P E R P L O AT S C H O

A PROFESSIONAL CAREER?

By Mili Greener, 2W

Here at Caterham School, drama is a very popular co-curricular activity.

Every term there is a swarm of eager students around the drama noticeboard hoping to discover their names written next to a lead role. Although the majority are disappointed, there are always those lucky few who succeeded. Everyone knows what defeat feels like and we all question whether the casting was fair and consider why some actors seem to get more lead roles than others. What I have always wanted to know is whether playing lead roles at school does actually prepare you for a professional career in this industry.

I have contacted a few Old Caterhamians to find out their views on this question.

Nikki Jones, who had been taking part in drama since she joined Caterham, received her first lead role in a show called The Dracula Spectacular. Nikki explained, ‘I continued to be in musicals all the way through to Sixth Form.’ She eventually played Mrs. Lovett in Sweeny Todd.

After touring for a year with a theatre group, Miss Jones is now a teacher.

Although drama may have been going on for a while at Caterham School, it still seems to me that at the heart of it everyone most enjoys the community feel and how everyone works together to achieve the same final goal. I have come to a conclusion that drama influences everyone, no matter if you have a lead role or not.

Despite this, learning the story of former pupil Chukwudi Iwuji; it has become apparent that you can take up drama from an older age and still become a

professional actor. Although you may not think that it is very common, and it is not, Mr. Iwuji has managed to have a successful career in drama over many years. His list of accomplishments goes on and on. These include working with the BBC and regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has also appeared on television and in films.

Having shown no interest in drama at school, Mr. Iwuji left Caterham in sixth form (1993) to read economics at Yale University. There he discovered his talent in Connecticut after joining a theatre group there. He then attended a drama school in Wisconsin. From this interview, we can see that starting later in the arts does not mean you cannot succeed.

Although we do not know if Mr. Iwuji found it harder to start off performing to larger audiences because he did not necessarily have as much experience as his fellow students, we do know that it did not hold him back enough to not become a successful professional Another Old Caterhamian called Chris Chambers was also involved in dozens of school productions. Mr. Chambers played multiple lead roles and he went on to say “I played Puck in Midsummer Nights Dream, Armstrong in And Then There Were None and Clarence in Oh CLARENCE.” Chris has succeeded in a dream many actors have, which is to stage his own play; it was called Gunpowder Treason and Plot. He then toured with The Cambridge Footlights, and he is currently the Head of Productions at Trinity School. He said that he tries to teach students to “recognise that

whichever part you play, you should approach it with the same commitment and enthusiasm.”

Here at Caterham our Head of Drama, Mrs Fahey, believes in the saying ‘There are no small parts, only small actors’. She went on to add that ‘Whilst actors that have leading roles are more likely to go into a performance related career, this does not have to be a barrier.’ She said that actors get confidence in their abilities and this drives them to audition for other plays.

Despite this, Mrs. Fahey said that sadly there are so many extremely talented actors who do also have the ability but do not get the chance. She said W ̒ e (drama teachers) wish there were more lead roles!’

I believe that the reason why the actors that go on to a career are the ones who received lead roles is because it gives them confidence that they are good, whilst if you never receive lead roles, then it can be disheartening.

To conclude, I feel that, although current pupils may not feel this way now, in the long term playing lead roles in plays is not what is most important for a professional acting career. What is important is what you learn from taking part, like deadlines and working with others.

What that prepares you for is being involved in making a production successful, so not playing lead roles does not affect you negatively. It is also important to stay with drama because you never know when your lead roles will come.

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By Emiri Cheng, L6U1

Hello! Philosofears is, somewhat, an agony aunt column where Caterham students submit their woes and troubles and I pick some to respond to with a philosophical twist.

Isn’t that very exciting? (Tone down the cheering please) I hope this is a fun read, and some of you will pick up an avid interest in philosophy, as I did! (Honestly, what’s not to love?) -

Philosofears

F o s o L i h P Dear Philosofears,

Dear Philosofears,

I don’t know what to write, please help me!

I am troubled, in both reality and in the realm of my dreams.

I’ve had dreams of fire vividly consuming our boarding house in flames; the heat wakes me up from the screams and cries. Am I being warned by a messenger from the future? Is this a sign that shows how high my stress levels are?

Yours Sincerely,

Helpless Writer Dear Helpless writer, This is a hard one, and I’ve carefully thought about it.

Having nothing to write about means that your future is a blank canvas, everything is in your own hands. You have unrestricted freedom and unlimited possibilities. Perhaps your restlessness will end when you find rest in something - as Al-Ghazali says, “He who knows himself is truly happy.” You just have to find what you truly love.

Then, you would not be troubling over what to write. Instead, you’ll be saying ‘’I’m content.’’ And I’d pass this letter on, complaining about yet another happy-go-lucky fellow putting me out of a job.

Sincerely,

Philosofears

I’m dying to know. Not literally. At least I hope not.

Yours faithfully,

A frightened young dreamer Hello dreamer, Firstly, I’d like to clarify that dreams seldom happen in reality unless you are deemed special by the Lord and he decides to send you a divine prophecy. (Well, it happen to David in the Bible, so it technically could happen to you… let’s not go down that road.)

Secondly, I believe your concern stems from the fear of the unknown (or the future). This fear exists because you cannot control what you do not know. Thereby, you should remember that your way of seizing control can be reminding yourself that dreams are merely what they are - dreams. As Descartes famously said, “I think therefore I am.” You cannot be sure your dreams will come true because they are most likely illusions. You can only ever be sure of one thing - your own existence. So there! You can dismiss dreams of being burnt alive for now.

If all goes up in flames (literally and figuratively), just sleep with a fire extinguisher. That would quench your fears (and the flames, if applicable).

Sincerely,

Philosofears 48

S r ea Dear Philosofears,

Dear Philosofears,

This society is facing a disastrous problem- there are too many choices. I mean, it was only last Saturday when I went to the Ritz. I had to choose between the French Onion Soup and the Organic Tomato Soup. What is the world coming to?

I have a catastrophic issue that leaves me alone at night. My cat no longer runs to hug me when I get home from school.

It’s a claws for concern. She simply turns and ignores me like Snape ignores shampoo. I no longer want to whisker about my problem, I want to shout out to everyone so they can hear my tail. So far, I have even tried buying her expensive cat treats to get her to return my affection but she does not even respond – I’m not kitten! Please give me a purrfect solution to my ordeal.

Yours Sincerely,

An Annoyed Customer

Yours Sincerely,

Dear Annoyed Customer, Oh no. What a horrible dilemma. Luckily, I believe I have just the right soup-lution for your problem.

The most obvious choice is to consider utilitarianism, a philosophy put forth by Jeremy Benthem. It is an ethical system where you prioritize pleasure and minimize pain for everyone involved. Ask yourself. Which soup do you prefer? Which soup is going to get thrown into the trash without your divine intervention? Is organic farming going to go out of business if you do not choose the Organic Tomato Soup? Perhaps a pro and con chart would help.

Good Luck!

Yours Sincerely,

Philosofears

A lonely cat lover Dear lonely cat lover, Aw, sorry to hear that your furry friend is giving you c-attitude.

Perhaps the solution is to lower your expectations of your cat (very much similar to how Snape lowers his on Harry’s potion grade). If no amount of purrsuation will work, perhaps you should rethink your fe(e)lines on how a cat should act. The philosopher Seneca says we want our wishes to have the softest landing possible in the adamantine wall of reality. So if you don’t expect your cat to hug you, you won’t get sad.

If this is not an alternative, train as a ninja, out-stealth your cat and ambush her at the right moment. Then, give her a huge hug!

Sincerely,

Philosofears Image by Amelia Watson 49

WHY DO

By Anna Gardener, L6L2 Image by Ashley Best, 5H

T

he geography of development is intertwined with ideas of ‘success’ and ‘failure.’ All countries have hugely complex stories and cultures - and most have their own way of quantifying success - so rather than looking too closely at specifics it is easier to focus on overall patterns and themes. The aim is not to put the blame on rich countries for global inequality, nor is it to criticise poorer countries for the lives of the citizens.

Instead, it is to understand the patterns of poverty, stagnant development and conflict; in the hope that understanding can lead the way to a better future for all.

But ‘fail’ is a subjective term. For the purposes of this research the UN Human Development Index was used, which assesses development through three main indices: life expectancy, education and gross national income. These three elements are, of course linked – and a strong economy is often the cause of improvements in health and education.

The focus of this is not on these countries being necessarily the most ‘unsuccessful’ in all respects, but to find examples of countries facing challenges that provide patterns and therefore suggest conclusions. Looking at these countries, the first thing that is immediately obvious is continental geography. 23 of these 25 are found in Africa, the remaining two in Asia. Physical location is therefore an important place to start.

In addition, location on the Earth’s surface dictates a country’s climate. Climate impacts the development of agriculture, and in desert climates with little water, the environmental and economic costs of irrigation reduce agricultural output. Subsistence farmers who need to spend more time working to survive will suffer from less time for education. It seems as though this inequality will get worse, as desertification and climate change damage land potential even further. Tropical climates can be equally harmful, as mosquitoes that spread malaria can decimate the workforce.

A perhaps less well-known example is the tsetse fly, found in subSaharan Africa, that spread diseases such as sleeping sickness to humans and also kills livestock. The temperature of 16 degrees has been termed the ‘magic temperature’, because it reduces the risk of tropical diseases while also allowing for effective agriculture; large parts of the US and Western Europe are in this range.

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A key factor in determining success historically was access to the sea. Landlocked countries had more difficulty trading, with the consequence of less capital to invest in new technologies.

This also led to huge transport costs over the land of other countries to reach the coast, as is the case with Burundi. One could argue that landlocked countries like Luxembourg and Switzerland have been very ‘successful,’ but this has arguably come from the favourable relations with their coastal neighbours and different aspects of their modern economies. Similarly, river networks in Europe facilitated trade between smaller communities in the past.

To continue on the physical side of geography, natural resources have been described as ‘intensifiers;’ making countries very rich or very poor. On the surface it seems that natural resources help development, when looking at the wealth of, say, UAE from oil.

However there are, of course, counter-arguments, including an over-reliance on one aspect of the economy without developing others. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, produces about 50% of the world’s cobalt and 60% of the world’s coltan (which is in mobile phones). At the same time, it has the world’s slowest GDP growth rate; the elite can make a lot of money without linking society together in the way that foreign investment or a thriving business sector would require. This can be compared

This map shows the 25 countries ranked lowest in the 2016 HDI, the most recent data available.

COUNTrIES FAIL? to Singapore or South Korea, hugely wealthy countries with little in the way of natural resources. The question therefore becomes: ‘what makes countries perform badly despite huge natural wealth?’

These questions have to be answered by looking at people, as history and geography are inextricably linked. Trade has been used to lift countries out of poverty, as has been seen in newly industrialising India or Brazil. On the other hand, global institutions such as the WTO face criticism from those who see them as favouring global powers and keeping poor countries poor, instead of facilitating easier trade as they profess. Ambiguous rules about subsidies have meant that poorer countries agree to trade deals where they eliminate most of their tariffs, allowing the more economically developed country to take advantage of them without protection.

The Dependency Theory outlines this rather cynical view that ‘success’ for some comes at the cost of ‘failure’ for others.

Similarly, many modern sociologists cite colonialism as the reason why countries are unsuccessful. Most of the continent of Africa and its cross-tribal borders were carved up by rich Europeans on paper maps. A more modern version of colonialism, termed by many as ‘neo-colonialism’, suggests that foreign capital is used to exploit countries rather than help them develop. China has recently been exerting so-called ‘soft power’ through loans to underdeveloped countries for projects such as the ‘East African Railway Master Plan’ and government buildings in Tanzania. These loans may end up being paid back through ‘in-kind’ payments such as favourable trade deals that leave the countries vulnerable to exploitation in the form of economic development plans that seem ridiculous to refuse. Despite the complexities highlighted here, all of these historical aspects seem to come back to people.

One of the key features of failed states is a complicated mix of ethnic groups, rarely so painfully showed as in the Rwanda genocide, where 800,000 people died because of conflict between the Hutus and the Tutsis. Under this theme of ‘people,’ one can look at the concept of democracy. It seems to many of us under Western influence in the UK that democracy is an integral part of a ‘successful’ country, however China suggests otherwise.

Many countries look to its socialist market economy and efficient

governance as a model to help them develop. Moreover, countries with successful export economies based on resources rarely need democracy. Saudi Arabia, for example, is an extremely rich monarchy, with universal health care paid for by oil.

Culture is a divisive factor in dictating ‘success.’ Some see cultural values, including institutions (that is, established laws and practises) making a huge difference to the ‘success’ or ‘failure’ of a state. Poor institutions are synonymous with corruption, and countries like Sudan and Afghanistan show the pattern between corruption and poverty for its citizens. This is because it discourages investors, and the lack of taxes prevents investment in police or education to improve the situation. Culture can also come from poverty, rather than the other way round, in the way that something physical like climate cannot. Cultural reasons are very difficult to put forward by outsiders, and biases can easily influence. The issue of what makes countries ‘fail’ is therefore so much more complex when separated from the HDI and looked at through values.

Despite the complexities and nuances of the question of what makes countries ‘fail,’ there are some conclusions that can be drawn. Firstly, factors do not work in isolation. Location combines with people, climate, institutions and history so it is impossible to see one without the others. Secondly, more depth of study is needed for every country and factor mentioned. Thirdly, the Human Development Index cannot define ‘failure.’ While it was only used to find examples, it is increasingly apparent that it does not give the whole picture. Each person has to decide what they value to determine success and failure, whether this is purely GDP, or wealth inequality, happiness or even the number of World Heritage Sites.

Perhaps the most important conclusion to be drawn from this is that just because a country is perceived as ‘unsuccessful’ or ‘failing’, this does not make it fact. As with much of human geography, culture dictates our opinion on international matters and it is almost impossible to find ‘truths’ and ‘facts.’

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Image by Heidi Ng, U6L2

S H A D E

By Beryl Chau, L6A1

This is a poem inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale; it could fit into the narrative voice of any of the characters to show the lack of individuality and the stripping of identity under the rule of a dystopian dictatorship in a personal point of view/inner voice.

A vivid shade of gray, a dull shade of black.

I guess you could also call it a tainted shade of white.

A mixture of off-black and off-white.

Into cocktail of muddled confusion.

A muted emotion. The blackness of anger and misery pushed back, suppressed, covered up with a white veil that is not quite opaque enough to shield it entirely.

Because you are not supposed to feel. You are not allowed to feel. Not when you are being painted as such a dehumanised figure.

Love, white love, with an accidental spillage of black, first it was a small drop, then an entire bottle tipped over. Careless.

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Gray is worse than black or white.

It does not allow clarity, yet it prompts you to seek it.

You wish to obtain the white, to separate the colour from the swirls of darkness.

The hope is always there, just out of reach, and you always chase after it, despite the black ink obscuring your sight, bounding your flesh, engulfing you whole.

But you always fail. Your voice is muted.

There is nothing you can do other than to wait.

For a response, even if it is another accusation, another angry chain of black words on white.

Gray is a punishment.

Gray is how I feel.

Gray is torturous.

Image by Galina Veshchugina, 5N

LETTER TO THE MOON

By Ellen Tong, 5R Oh bright moon, the sleeping moon A providence of the universe A flare in the lunatic night Give us one last gift, a moment of sight Scampering in the pitch black darkness We seek for a speck of hope We try to walk on flower trails But a sense of reality still looms With tastes of failure and frustration Disqualification from criteria of success The world is another name for despair Seasons a sonnet for death

And different stories to tell Life’s a movie An inevitable mystery With a meaning that ceases to exist

In the cold abyss Neverland Within its depth of darkness Within its forever void

Being hung piece by piece Tell me,

Do engrave it:

With its wings meant to fly

The piece of serendipity

Those fledgling wings, for countless times

Everything eternal seems to be going away

They sprout and guide the way of ours

The whole universe seems to be different from yesterday

Through to the predestination To the anguish that dug into our minds *** Yet comfortable with a familiar darkness

***

To foolishness, like laundry

Like a nameless bird that sings

Being so afraid of the void

We try to find coincidences

To pieces of broken glass

What is the most beautiful moment in your life?

Until a single autumn leaf left attached Holding onto our last chance (until the final evanesce)

Comparing my dead passion

And a destiny guided by one’s belief

Like dead leaves that fall as tears We strive for our existence

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Yet we get different nights, different mornings,

Oh bright moon, the omniscient moon Give us one last gift, a moment of sight

But being terrified of one’s own image We seem happier in there Snowflakes fall from the sky Like specks of dust they fly Like withering memories they fade Drifting away and out of sight

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Co-curricular Photo competition on the theme of 'Piece of My Mind'

Winner: Nico Wong 5A 54

By Millie Thomas, 3R Image by Saffron Gilbert, U6H1 Selected from many entries of rap poetry across the Third Year

Oxted’s getting cramped, All the cars getting clamped.

But there’s no room, No space left for the flowers to bloom.

We need more stuff: More trains, doctors, schools, Or things are gonna get rough.

No space in schools, I broke all the rules, Now there’s nowhere to go.

Such a blow To my mum; I’m sorry mum, why am I so dumb?

The holes get bigger, The council bicker.

Traffic jams increase, Disturbing the peace.

Is it right that a child should feel stupid?

Is it right that he should be booted?

Is it right that he has no skills?

Is it right that he can’t pay the bills?

The road rage is REAL! What’s the big deal?

I’m late for work, Don’t be a jerk.

Just trying to get through, Jesus, how big is this queue?

This is important, listen up, So let’s stop this pileup.

The council can change this, We can make Oxted a bliss.

This can help you.

This is far overdue.

The doctors are full, The Receptionist gets a mouthful.

Everyone’s rushing, The people are crushing.

Just to be told: It’s a common cold!

So listen up, We can stop all the backup, We can make the council listen.

We can christen The new world, We can help make a dreamworld.

We need more stuff: More trains, doctors, schools Or things are gonna get rough.

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FINE

ART

P HOTOGRA P HY TEX TILES

Caterham School, Harestone Valley Road, Caterham Surrey CR3 6YA Telephone: 01883 343028 Email: enquiries@caterhamschool.co.uk caterhamschool.co.uk

EDIT 2018

Image by Olivia Dowle, U6R1