Analysis of the Extract ''to Sir, with Love''

INTERPRETATION OF THE EXTRACT

FROM «TO SIR, WITH LOVE» BY E.R. BRAITHWAITE

The text I’m going to interpret is an extract from the book «To sir, with love» by a well-known novelist, writer, teacher, and diplomatist. He was born in Guiana. During World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot and he described this experience as one where no discrimination based on his skin color or ethnicity. After the war, like many other ethnic minorities, he could not find work in his field and eventually took up a job as a schoolteacher in the East End of London. The book To Sir, With Love (1959) was based on his experiences there. The other famous works are A Kind of Homecoming, Paid Servant, A Choice of Straws, and Reluctant Neighbors. His numerous writings have dealt with the difficulties of being an educated black man, a black social worker and a black teacher. 

The extract from the book «To Sir, With Love» is about the bad experience of new blackie teacher with his pupils.

The story is written in the form of the first person narration, so the author takes direct part in the action and gives us the opportunity to feel deeply his emotions and thoughts about the situation. What is more, the narrator’s remarks help us to understand his view on the problem and add some psychological notes.

Then I’d like to pay attention to the prevailing mood of the extract. It is preferably serious, that emphasizes the high social status of the author, his level of education, his intelligence and earnest attitude to the situation. Moreover, it can be seen that the first part of the narration is quite unemotional while in the second part of the extract the mood changes into dramatic and emotional with the aim of expression the main character’s deep feelings.

The main character of the story is a new blackie teacher and the action of the given text takes place between him and his pupils. We cannot see their direct characterization; however the author reveals through the thoughts of the teacher. Thus we can conclude that the main character is well-educated, intelligent person, who feels responsibility for the future generation as when he came across the difficulties with the children he didn’t think about himself, he worried about the inner world of the children, about their soul and how it would affect their future life.

The composition of the extract is presented by three parts: exposition, plot development and climax. So I think it is necessary to analyze this structure in detail.

The exposition reveals in the description of the school Weekly Review, of its advantages for pupils and teachers. So such anaphora as «in his own words, in his own way» produces emphasis on the fact that children were free to comment and criticize. The synonyms «to comment, to criticize, to agree or disagree» express that that review was quite objective as based on the opinions of all the pupils. To the show the importance of the procedure the author uses the hyperbole «no one and nothing» and at the same time this exaggeration is stressed by repetition of the similar consonant sounds, i.e. the alliteration occurs here.