Charles Smith

ENG 112B

Dr. Mary Warner

Fall 2011

11-29-11

 

The Not So Innocent Bystander: A Matter of Individual Choice

 

Many adolescents in high school are so compelled by the desire to belong and the fear of being identified as other by their peer community they make devastating choices in order to identify themselves as members of the accepted majority, choices that can have permanent consequences for those who do not fit the mold and fall under the labels of outsider, weak, or different.   The image of a bully or group of bullies roaming the halls of a high school in search of that hapless victim who will, for a brief moment, provide a means of affirming strength, position, and belonging is nothing new.  However, with the introduction of technology and social media the act of bullying has been amplified to a whole new level, and those who find themselves on the receiving end of such behavior find little respite.  A study commissioned by CNN�s Anderson Cooper 360 in Conjunction with UC Davis sociologists recently concluded,

Aggression spreads through the social network, as kids adopt aggressive behaviors from their friends. Most (80%) aggressive incidents are not reported to adults, primarily because kids do not feel like adults will be helpful. In the majority (77%) of aggressive incidents, peer bystanders did not intervene, though ultimately 43% of students were named as having intervened at least once (Faris & Felmlee 1).  

This unit of study attempts to demonstrate through music, poetry, drama and fiction that such behavior can only exist when those who have the power to stop it remain silent.  The following diagram (Figure 1) for the Cycle of Bullying illustrates clearly the notion bullies draw their strength from influencing followers or from relying on the idea that those observers who witness such acts are more likely to remain silent on the fringes rather than risk having attention fall upon them.  The goal of this unit is to provide teens with examples which take them from the dangers of remaining silent and surrendering their individuality to a crowd or group to the power of making a choice to take a stand and be heard.  Teens can be shown the important messages without doing so from the soapbox of didacticism, and they need to know they possess the ability to say, �We will not participate in the ridicule of others.�  Hopefully teens will see their actions and their choices can break the Cycle of Bullying and help to create a community which celebrates the diversity of the individual as diagramed in figure 2. 

 

Figure 1 Figure 2
figure1 figure2_bullying

 

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ksde.org/Portals/32/Images/cycle_of_bullying.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx%3Ftabid%3D3913&h=345&w=528&sz=35&tbnid=D1q7_sk7Bs96UM:&tbnh=77&tbnw=118&zoom=1&docid=FO0j_0J8mZft-M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fC3UTpSMCeKtiAKeyty-Dg&ved=0CC4Q9QEwAA&dur=6957

 

I chose Antigone by Sophocles as the centerpiece of the unit, a classic piece of drama which celebrates the convictions of one who chooses to stand against society and the popular opinion in order to honor the outcast.  As part of our reading of this play, students will reimagine it in the context of a modern movie, bringing the socially relevant themes of the play into a place in which participants in the class can more effectively draw parallels to their own experiences and those experiences presented in the works of Contemporary Realistic Fiction which make up the rest of the unit.        

Unit Introduction

The video �Make It Stop: September�s Children� by Rise Against, a video created in response to a string of teen suicides which occurred in September of 2010, will serve as the introduction to the unit.  Though the images in the video are shocking and bold, they present the core themes of the unit in a manner teens will identify, a manner that will thereby lend legitimacy to the overall unit.  The video was created as part of the It Gets Better Project, an international campaign to create acceptance and address teen depression and suicide caused by bullying.  Once students watch the video, they will be given the following sustained silent writing prompt.

�Have you ever witnessed an act of bullying?  How did watching it make you feel?  Did you intervene?  If yes, what compelled you to do so?  If you did not, what prevented you from doing so?�

Building upon the video and the writing prompt, the class will engage in a discussion about the social dynamics of the individual versus the group and how such a dynamic influences the manner in which people treat one another. 

A Novel / Case Study in the Dangers of Surrendering Individuality

            As a transition into the next module of this unit of study, the class will read William Carlos Williams� poem �The Crowd at the Ball Game.�  In his poem, Williams uses the context of a baseball game to examine the lure and threatening power of the crowd mentality and how it transforms the individual.  This theme will be brought to the surface through a close reading of the poem followed by classroom discussion.  Students should be able to grasp the dangers alluded to in the poem especially in light of recent events involving sports violence. 

 

The Wave by Morton Rhue (aka Todd Strasser)

For a more in depth examination of this theme, students will read and discuss The Wave written by Todd Strasser under the pen name Morton Rhue, a novel based upon a true incident that took place at Cubberly High School in Palo Alto in 1967.  The book is about a World History teacher who attempts to provide his students with a lesson on how easy it is to surrender one�s individuality to a group mentality when under the pressure to conform.  Although the teacher�s original intent is to provide his students with a working model of fascism, he quite literally shows them how quickly the group mentality can dominate a high school, which is exactly why this novel fits so nicely towards the beginning of this unit of study.  Because the book presents such a stark representation of themes, students will find it much easier to identify similar themes in the works that are to follow.  

Synopsis

The Wave is sweeping through the entire school.  What started as an experiment in Ben Ross�s history class is taking on a mind of its own.  Students who thought they were free individuals have become dominated by The Wave, and its salutes and slogans – Strength Through Discipline, Strength Through Community, and Strength Through Action -- are everywhere.  Only Laurie and a few of her friends recognize the danger in The Wave – but can they stop it before it goes too far? 

Based on a true incident in a high school in California, this chilling story shows how easily people can be swayed by the powerful forces of group pressure.

  Rhue (Description from back cover)

Pearson provides a wide variety of writing prompts and discussion topics in the Penguin Reader Teacher�s Guide for The Wave, and this lesson can easily be extended using those resources.  However, this lesson will incorporate two assignments I have created as suggestions for teaching this novel to teens.  . 

 

Character Diaries – The class will be divided into four groups, each representing a major character in the novel – David, Laurie, Robert, and Mr. Ross.  As students read the book, the members of each group will maintain a diary written from the perspective of their respective characters.  Once the class has finished the novel, each group will work to create a presentation based on their character's reaction to and point of view towards the events which transpired in the book.          

 

Writing Prompt – Students will write a brief essay based upon the following prompt.

               The Wave�s slogans are Strength Through Discipline, Strength Through Community, and Strength Through Action.  If each of the underlined words is a positive goal to which people should aspire, what went wrong, and why did the group ultimately fail to deliver on this promise? 

 

Ron Jones Video – Students will watch a video of a presentation by Ron Jones on the 30th anniversary of his original classroom experiment.  Seeing the real person responsible for the events depicted in the novel, students will realize two goals, as identified in the Exeter Study, of Contemporary Realistic Fiction clearly present within the book, these events are indeed plausible, and they happened at a school in the Bay Area in the not too distant past.    

 

This module will conclude with a discussion of the character of Laurie and what it takes for a person to stand against group pressure.  The character of Laurie parallels that of Antigone in the centerpiece module which is to follow, so the classroom discussion serves as a fitting prelude to the play.

Making Antigone and Creating a Bridge to the Classics

This module will require a brief introduction to classical Greek tragedy, which can be accomplished in one or two class sessions.  The lesson should include a basic overview of drama as described in The Poetics to include an explanation of how the Chorus functions as the voice of public opinion in the play.    

Antigone by Sophocles

Under the section titled �Why I Should Care,� the editors of the accompanying study guide to this edition of the play offer the following argument for the social relevancy of Sophocles� classical work.

 

Antigone matters because it wrestles with civil disobedience. Remember how Ismene asks Antigone to just forget about burying their brother�s body (which, according to the king's latest law, is an act punishable by death) and to instead marry the king�s dreamy son and live happily ever after? Antigone isn't willing to forget her brother. She sees burying her brother as a moral imperative, which supersedes human-created laws. And she's not the only person who has courageously placed morals over state laws.

Reach into the depths of the history room in your mind. You have lots of modern examples of people who have chosen to fight for justice rather than preserve their own safety. Consider Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or Gandhi, both advocates of civil disobedience and peaceful demonstrations, who were assassinated as a result of their fights against oppression. Or think about Nelson Mandela, who risked years in jail to stand up against the apartheid government in South Africa.

Antigone chooses to express her dissatisfaction with what she believes to be the unethical new regime of King Creon by burying her brother's body. Antigone resolves to sacrifice her own life in the service of a greater justice. It's this kind of almost superhuman resolve that changes the course of history, and that's something that we can admire equally in the 5th century B.C. and the 21st century A.D.

  Sophocles (Kindle Locations 571-2)

Antigone�s actions as described in these lines stand as a lasting example of the power of the

individual to make a choice and act on behalf of one who has been deemed an outcast by his society.  Polyneices� body is cast aside as food for carrion, and King Creon refuses any attempts to perform a proper burial.  Although others see the unjust nature of Creon�s edict, they will not speak out against the king for fear of persecution.  Only Heaman and Teiresias attempt to sway Creon, and the first will pay with his life while the second can only inform of the tragedy to follow.  All of the choices which underscore the entire unit of study can be found within this play.  Creon chooses to bully his subjects, and they choose to accept that treatment.  But the most impactful choice is the one made by Antigone to stand in opposition of Creon�s edict.  Once students have completed reading the play, they will undertake a project designed to bring its characters and themes into the students� own sphere of reference. 

The Movie Project - MAKING THE MOVIE ANTIGONE

 

        The class will be divided into small groups of about 5 or 6 students each.  Groups will complete the following assignment.

The play Antigone has been read and performed for over 2,000 years.  Some productions are faithful to the Greek text, and others have been radically modernized.  In 1944, Anouilh, a French playwright, rewrote Sophocles' play and set it in Nazi-occupied Paris.  This modernized drama emphasized the theme of the conflict between moral beliefs and autocratic power that was reflected in the politics of the time. In the 1960's, a critic compared Antigone's act of rebellion with acts of civil disobedience that occurred as part of the civil rights movement. In the 1970's, Antigone's actions were praised by feminists; in the 1980's a critic focused on the conflict between Antigone's duty to her family and the duty to herself and her husband-to-be.

 

Your role:     

Imagine that the members of your group are the producers of a movie of Antigone. Your film will be set in modern day, but it must be faithful to the major themes and conflicts in the play.

 

Your task:

Create a prospectus for the movie, which will be submitted to both major and smaller, independent motion picture companies. Your prospectus must be professional in appearance, and well organized (10 points) and include the following content:

 

Convincing reasons why your remake of Sophocles' drama, Antigone, will be a popular success.  Discuss the major themes and conflicts of your production and how they are relevant to a movie audience of today.  Make clear whether your production is aimed at a mass audience, or to a smaller, more specialized audience.20 points

 

Construct a basic plot outline, including setting and characters 10 points

 

Costuming notes - Visually present the most important costume of each of your major characters.  Accompany each picture with an explanation of the effect you will be creating with this costume, the source of the inspiration, and comments about the fabrics and colours.10 points

 

Music notes.  Explain what you want the musical director to achieve in writing the score in terms of overall emotional impact. List which particular scenes will be emphasized by powerful music and state what emotion will be aroused by this music.  10 points

 

Create an original script of what you consider to be the most significant scene in your movie.  Choose a scene which emphasizes the theme(s) and conflict(s) which you have chosen to highlight in your movie.20 points

 

Create a proposed movie poster, featuring the name of your film, the names of the actors that you envision in the key roles.  Your poster should reflect your main theme(s) and conflict(s) and be visually compelling.20 points.

 

TOTAL:  100 points

  Adopted from an original lesson created by Judi Wyatt of the American School in Lima, Peru (Wyatt)       

 

 

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

Crutcher�s Novel rounds out this unit nicely because T.J. offers teens a believable and familiar character – two qualities identified in the Exeter Study as key elements to quality Contemporary Realistic Fiction -- that has every reason to act out of rage and resentment but instead makes a conscious choice to do otherwise, a choice often informed and influenced by the support he receives from those who surround him, his parents, Carly, Georgia, and Coach Simet.  This book does not condescend to its readers, and Crutcher draws upon his experiences as a therapist to paint a world fraught with emotional, mental, and physical perils for the teens that inhabit it.  However, the novel ultimately conveys a positive message of triumph and social responsibility.  A message of hope delivered without the condescending tones of a didactic heavy handedness also meets the requirements outlined in the Exeter Study.  The assignments in this module are meant to highlight the individual choices each character makes, so students understand the power of the decisions they make towards how they treat others or how they allow others to be treated.            

Synopsis

There's bad news and good news about the Cutter High School swim team. The bad news is that they don't have a pool. The good news is that only one of them can swim anyway.

A group of misfits brought together by T. J. Jones (the J is redundant) to find their places in a school that has no place for them, the Cutter All Night Mermen struggle to carve out their own turf. T. J. is convinced that a varsity letter jacket--unattainable for most, exclusive, revered, the symbol (as far as T. J. is concerned) of all that is screwed up at Cutter High--will be an effective carving tool. He's right. He's also wrong.

Still, it's always the quest that counts. And the bus on which the Mermen travel to swim meets--piloted by Icko, the permanent resident of All, Night Fitness--soon becomes the cocoon inside which they gradually allow themselves to talk, to fit, to bloom.

Chris Crutcher is in top form with a cast of characters--adults, children, and teenagers--fighting for dignity in a world where tragedy and comedy dance side by side, where a moment's inattention can bring lifelong heartache, and where true acceptance is the only prescription for what ails us.

  Courtesy of www.chriscrutcher.com

A comparison in Characterization – After separating students into small groups, they will receive the following instructions.  Each of the characters in the following pairs shares commonalities on some level with the other.  Identify and discuss these common traits within your group, then discuss why each character chooses to act in such a different fashion than the other.  When you have finished, report your findings to the class.        

T.J & Rich Marshall

Chris Coughlin & Mike Barbour

Coach Benson & Coach Simet

Carly & Alicia Marshall

Imagine a Year in the Life – Imagine that you are maintaining a diary from the perspective of one of the following characters for the year following the events in the novel.  How do you imagine their choices impact their lives?

T.J                   Rich

Chris               Mike

Andy               Alicia

 

The Diversity Board – On 3x5 cards students will anonymously write down one insecurity or thing they would like to change about themselves.  They will also write one accomplishment or something that makes them feel good about themselves.  The responses will be placed on a bulletin board in the classroom, so students can visualize the diverse makeup of the school community and understand that celebrating diversity leads to acceptance, and acceptance create the type of environment in which bullies find it difficult to act. 

The �Perfect� Ending

As a close to this unit of study, the class will review the song and lyrics of �Perfect� by Pink.  This song promotes the idea of acceptance and encourages perseverance in the face of those who attempt to tear others down.  It is a fitting conclusion to the unit because it offers up a plea to the listeners to remember that their imperfections define who they are as individuals and thereby make them perfect.      

Additional Works to Expand the Unit

These YA novels would also work well as expansion pieces for this unit.  Each one presents a scenario in which individual(s) must deal with the forces of group pressure and endure the consequences of refusing to support the popular opinion. 

 

Anderson, Laurie Halse, Speak, New York, NY, Penguin Group, 1999, Print

Cormier, Robert, The Chocolate War, New York, NY, Laurel Leaf, 1986, Print

Greene, Bette, The Drowning of Stephen Jones, New York, NY, Laurel Leaf, 1997, Print

Hesse, Karen, Witness, New York, NY, Scholastic, 2003, Print

Philbrick, Rodman, Freak the Mighty, New York, NY, Scholastic, 2001, Print

 

Appendix A

The Crowd at the Ball Game

The crowd at the ball game

The crowd at the ball game

By William Carlos Williams 1883–1963 William Carlos Williams

 

The crowd at the ball game

is moved uniformly

 

by a spirit of uselessness

which delights them—

 

all the exciting detail

of the chase

 

and the escape, the error

the flash of genius—

 

all to no end save beauty

the eternal—

 

So in detail they, the crowd,

are beautiful

 

for this

to be warned against

 

saluted and defied—

It is alive, venomous

 

it smiles grimly

its words cut—

 

The flashy female with her

mother, gets it—

 

The Jew gets it straight— it

is deadly, terrifying—

It is the Inquisition, the

Revolution

 

It is beauty itself

that lives

 

day by day in them

idly

 

This is

the power of their faces

 

It is summer, it is the solstice

the crowd is

 

cheering, the crowd is laughing

in detail

 

permanently, seriously

without thought.

 

Appendix B

Pink - Perfect

Source: LYBIO.net

Made a wrong turn
Once or twice
Dug my way out
Blood and fire
Bad decisions
That�s alright
Welcome to my silly life


Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood
Miss �no way it�s all good�
It didn�t slow me down
Mistaken
Always second guessing
Underestimated
Look, I�m still around�

Pretty, pretty please
Don�t you ever, ever feel
Like your less than
Less than perfect
Pretty, pretty please
If you ever, ever feel
Like your nothing
You are perfect to me

You�re so mean
When you talk
About yourself
You are wrong
Change the voices
In your head
Make them like you
Instead
So complicated
Look how big you�ll make it
Filled with so much hatred
Such a tired game
It�s enough
I�ve done all i can think of
Chased down all my demons
see you same

Pretty, pretty please
Don�t you ever, ever feel
Like your less than
Less than perfect
Pretty, pretty please
If you ever, ever feel
Like your nothing
You are perfect to me

The world stares while i swallow the fear
The only thing i should be drinking is an ice cold beer
So cool in lying and I tried tried
But we try too hard, it�s a waste of my time
Done looking for the critics, cuz they�re everywhere
They don�t like my genes, they don�t get my hair
Stringe ourselves and we do it all the time
Why do we do that?
Why do I do that?
Why do I do that?

Yeah,
Ooh, oh, pretty pretty pretty,
Pretty pretty please don�t you ever ever feel
Like you�re less then, less than perfect
Pretty pretty please if you ever ever feel
Like you�re nothing you are perfect, to me
You�re perfect
You�re perfect
Pretty, pretty please don�t you ever ever feel like you�re less then, less than perfect
Pretty, pretty please if you ever ever feel like you�re nothing you are perfect to me


 

Works Cited

Crutcher, Chris, Whale Talk, New York, NY, Harper Collins, 2001, ebook (Kindle Edition)

 

Faris, Robert and Felmlee, Diane, �Social Networks and Aggression at the Wheatley School,

Davis, CA, A Study by the Department of Sociology University of California at Davis,

2011, Print

 

Jones, Ron, �Ron Jones on The Wave� vol. 1, YouTube, 2008, Outspoken Ideas Channel, Video

Excerpt, Web

 

Nilson, Alice Pace & Donelson, Kenneth L., Literature for Today�s Young Adults, Boston, MA,

Allyn & Bacon, 2008, Print

 

P!nk performing �F**kin' Perfect,� YouTube, (C) 2010 LaFace Records, a unit of Sony Music

Entertainment, Music Video, Web

 

Rhue, Morton (aka Todd Strasser), Essex, UK, Heinemann New Windmills, 1991, Print

 

Rise Against performing Make It Stop (September's Children). YouTube, (C) 2011 DGC

Records, Music Video, Web

 

Sophocles. Antigone: Complete Text with Integrated Study Guide, Sunnyvale, CA Shmoop

University, Inc., 2009, ebook (Kindle Edition.)

 

The Wave Teacher�s Notes, Penguin Readers Teachers Support Program, 2008,

            http://www.ngsp.com/Portals/0/Downloads/HSINZ.T3.TG.TheWave.pdf , Web

 

Warner, Mary L, Adolescents in the Search for Meaning, Lanham, MD, The Scarecrow Press

Inc., 2006, Print

 

William Carlos Williams, �The crowd at the ball game� from The Collected Poems of William

            Carlos Williams, Volume I, 1909-1939, edited by Christopher MacGowan. New York,

            NY, New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1938, Print

 

Wyatt, Judi, �Making the Movie Antigone�, A Lesson Plan, Outta Ray's Head Lesson plans,

 handouts, and ideas. A collection of lesson plans with handouts by Ray Saitz and many

 contributors; all of the lessons have been used and refined in the classroom.

http://home.cogeco.ca/~rayser3/litera1.htm#antigone, Web

 


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