Scribble Issue 2

S C R I B B L E Shrewsbury High School Literary Magazine, Issue 2 (December 2018).

EDITOR

NOTE FROM THE

H A

ere’s to the second edition of Scribble; what a success the first one has been. Our literary magazine really did go off with a bang. So, as a team, we wanted to make this edition even better and celebrate what’s been going on around us - both in school and in the wider world of literature. s we mark the centenary year of the First World War armistice, the article on page 4 explores the most influential female poets of the time.

This article gave me an idea for my editor’s letter and that is the idea that literature is a device to understand what is around us: past and present. A good book can transport us to another place or another time and force us to walk in the imaginaryshoesofsomeoneelse.Seeingthingsfromanewperspectivecanoften make us see things differently when we’re back in our own shoes.

S

o, on that note, the article on pages 30 to 33 takes us on a tour of civil rights literature which I feel gives us a really good understanding of just how much attitudes have evolved over time and how literature has acted as a mirror to those changes. In fact, I would say, literature often acts as a mirror to history and that is something that is discussed further in our interview with Mrs Sharrock where we invited her to talk all about her own relationship with literature (which can be found on pages 20 to 23).

B

ut it’s not just a time machine that literature creates, it’s also a device used tocommentsocietyandhumancondition.Inthisedition,wemeetGraham Greene’s Pinkie Brown and his inner demons on page 8, we also have an encounter with the ingenious poetry of Allen Ginsberg through the eyes of Mr Allen on page 18 and we have a great article on Mary Webb on page 7. Three very different authors and a few interesting characters for you to see what it’s like to be in their shoes – just don’t stay in Pinkie’s for too long!

W

e also celebrate the results from not just one but two literary competitions in this edition which is fantastic; we as a school aren’t just lovers of reading literature but we love writing it too. So, we hope you enjoy reading the second edition of Scribble and that it made you think about the wide world of literature – from the poems of WW1 to Ms Sharrock’s favourite book.

Enjoy!

Molly

scribbleshs

SCRIBBLE

Table of Contents 4 On the “Rim of the Shadow of Hell” Looking at Female poets of WW1

by Madeline Williams

14 Does Literature Change Anything ?

Essay by Meg Heaney

30

7

The Civil Rights Movement in Literature is explored by Divya Balain

Esther Dowd visits another Shropshire writer, in this edition she looks at Mary Webb.

2

Welcome from the Editor

20

15 Questions with Ms Sharrock

3

Contents

24

SHS Essay Writing Prize

8

How do you solve a problem like Pinkie?

34

Budding A-Level Literature

12

Jackson Brodie makes the crime genre new!

36

Miss Hale’s Recommended Reads

18

Allen on Allen

38

Meet the Scribble Team

scribble_shs 3

SCRIBBLE

On the “Rim of the Shadow of Hell”?

I

Women poets of the First World War By Madeline Williams

conic figures in poetry of the first world war, Owen and Sassoon, drew attention to the futility of war from the perspective of officers in the trenches and are most popular voices of the war. Despite this 2225 different British and Irish poets were published during the war, ¼ of these were women and yet the 1960’s literary elite chose Owen and Sassoon to be the voices of this war as the views expressed in their poems of war’s futility fitted the current climate. Female poets’ voices were neglected until 1970’s Anglo-American feminist movement with the republication of Vera Britten’s Testament of Youth and publication of Catherine Reilly’s anthology Scar’s Upon My Heart (both prominent features on feminist reading lists) which drew attention to women’s issues during the war such as loss, inequality, evolving position of women and female suffrage.

This year marks the centenary of the end of the first world war and votes for women which presents a good opportunity to reflect on the evolving position of these pioneering women.

‘The destruction of men as though bests, seems a crime to the whole march of civilisation’ Vera Brittan

The war presented opportunities for generation, the Great War. Poetry was women to work and help with the war perceived as an effective medium as it effort and by 1918 female suffrage. 5000 allowed writing to occur despite the huge women worked as VAD (Voluntary Aid disruption in war torn society in such a Detachment) and nurses assisted on compact form to match the intensity of the battlefields of the Western Front, the generation’s experiences. The views thousands of factory workers and land of women broke from the narrow band girls helping the war effort offered women of soldier poets and the horror of the a growing platform for their voices to be trenches portrayed by Owen and trench heard and publish work and views on the poets. However, at the time of their greatest socio-historical event of their writing women’s views were often side-

4

SCRIBBLE

lined or silenced by the patriarchy unless they fitted the narrow confines of the propaganda machines. Even men were confined by censorship and struggled to express views of pacifism which risked lowering the country’s already fragile morale. However male voices were perceived as valuable social comment, women were overlooked and perceived as late comers and unauthentic.

Women adopted masculine voices and dramatic monologues of trench warfare in belief that this would make their voices more

Nurses on the Battlefield caring for men during WW1

valid, however this received more criticism as they appeared

Pacifist poets such as Britten, perceived by many as the

unauthentic. Non-serving male poets such as Kipling, Hardy

spokeswoman of her generation presents war’s futility and

and Housman received greater esteem for their work and the

her own personal losses add to the view of reluctant heroism

accounts of the conditions in the trenches were perceived as

of soldiers presented by soldier poets like Sassoon. Britten a

more authentic than women in non-combative roles such as

VAD nurse observed streams of casualties from the trenches in

VAD poets like Vera Britain and May Wedderburn Cannan, as

the Somme. They celebrate the girt and pluck of men in such

their gender and not their experiences made their work seem

hopeless situations, with growing numbers of casualties in

more valid; war continued to be considered the domain of men.

the fields of France and Flanders. Women struggled between

Despite this, the lonely survival these women faced, outliving

censorship and conveying the harsh truths and sufferings

their sons, husbands and brothers, emotions of anger and grief

occurring that are perceived as inappropriate for the mass

became too great, women wrote, expressing what was expected

audience back home and their efforts were stifled, Britten’s book

to remain repressed by notions of “the stiff upper lip.”

only being published much later in 1933. However, such writers

Women had a unique position bridging the gap between

were pioneers paving the way for post-war pacifist novelists

the living and dead, the Western Front and home, particularly

such as Virginia Woolf. Empathy with the suffering of soldiers

women in non-combative roles as they may observe but not

was believed by these women to overcome the difference in

fight, dealing with the immediate consequences of conflict.

experience of the war. Tragic voices that were grimly satirical

Poets chose contrast placid English countryside with the

against the nationalism and hypocrisy of young men seeking

slaughter of the Western Front. Rose Macauly’s poem “The

glory and instead are becoming cannon fodder, forming acts of

Shadow” explores the chaos of war “weak blood running

protest the established patriarchy expressed in poems such as

down the street” and the psychological effects of warfare and

“For Valour” by May Herschel-Clarke which contain feminist

the futility of death “split brains so keen.” Macauly evokes

undertones emphasising the complexity of the situation in which

such poignancy in her writing by contrasting the images of

these women existed. Vera Britten focussed on personal loss

the civilised and images of war “smashing people like wine-

becoming political, in the poem “To my Brother” written four

jars” to emphasise senseless violence of war that she feels even

days before his death on the Italian Front, expressing the loss

God is “blind” to and their world has become a “hot rubbish-

and poor conditions in the trenches ; “Your battle-wounds are

heap”. These women expressed personal grief and emotion

scars upon my heart,” and the continued suffering of survival

and political, religious and spiritual beliefs. Concepts of the

and endurance of women, preserving their loved ones in their

“lost generation” and sacrifice of soldiers exists in many works

remembrance and their words.

as well as stark cries of mourning not only expressing personal

Although the ability to write and publish poetry was confined

loss but the loss of millions of unknown soldiers.

to upper- and middle-class women, suffering during the war was confined to class- the working classes living in poverty

5

SCRIBBLE

callous and ignoring soldier’s suffering. Pope’s jingoism was criticised by fellow poet Wilfred Owen as dangerous and naïve in his dedication of his poem, Dolce et Decorum Est, to Pope, which explicitly challenges her messages in the ending

“the old lie; Dulce et Decorum est/ Pro patria mori,” meaning

“Your battle-wounds

“It is gentle and dignified to die for one’s country.” The poem

are scars upon my heart”

accused Pope of encouraging young men to their futile deaths. Furthermore, Sassoon’s poem “The Glory of Women” presents a blunt critique of women’s “romantic ignorance” of the true suffering experienced by soldiers and presents brutal images of life in the trenches “You can’t believe that

British troops “retire”/ When hell’s last horror breaks them, and they run, /Trampling the terrible corpses- blind with blood.” In addition, Helen Hamilton a fellow female war poet critiqued women like Pope in her poem “The Jingo-Woman”, with anger at those who were perceived as “Dealer in white

feathers,/Insulter, self-appointed,/ Of all the men you meet,/ Not dressed in uniform,” and who “goads” men to their with yellowed skin and hair loss because of the chemicals in

deaths, making a sacrifice which she herself is not expected

munitions factories; the shortages experienced by the middle

to make. Modern critics accuse Pope of disillusion; it is easy

class - all classes are united through their losses. Working

to attack Pope based upon her sex, which determined that she

class female factory workers reflected their struggles in

was unable to join in the fighting, which they were prejudiced

songs such as “Where are the girls of Arsenal?” sung while

against her for. However more empathetic modern views on

making munitions for the front lines. These songs act as

Pope was she was a suffragette, who earned her own living

a vital representation of views on the war from different

through writing when women were typically side lined, but

socio-economic demographic that were not represented by

her patriotic stoicism and “stiff upper lip” appear callous

mainstream opinions at the time especially considering

but are a survival mechanism. Vera Britten, a pacifist, wrote

women had no political voice with regards to the war as they

in Testament of Youth that she was excited at the beginning

were unable to participate in democracy.

of the war, only after nursing the wounded and losing her

On the other hand, women did also present Jingoist views

fiancée and brother changed her view to pacifism.

with a romantic, sentimental and altruistic yearning to join

Work by women poets from this era has largely been stifled

the fight. Jessie Pope, a jingoist poet wrote her propagandist

due to their pioneering position in society, at the time of

poem War Girls, celebrating women’s work in the absence of

their writing most were heavily criticised as it was perceived

men and the progress of women’s suffrage. She writes that

either as unpatriotic if they spoke out against the war or

women were “No longer caged and penned up, / They’re going

unauthentic if they spoke of wars horror just because their

to keep their end up/ Till the khaki soldier boys come marching

gender prevented them in actively participating. The complex

back.” Pope was respected for her propaganda boosting

relationship that exists in most poems between feminism,

morale which encouraged male participation, however her

women’s losses and the effects of war on soldiers, acts as

pro-war opinions were often criticised and her belief that

an important socio-historical account of one of the most

women’s position benefitted because of the war appears

important and turbulent periods in British history.

6

SCRIBBLE

Famous Shropshire Writers Mary Webb

By Esther Dowd

“I'd laboured over it a long while, and labour brings a thing near the heart's core.”

Mary Webb, Precious Bane

M

ary Webb was a British

Romantic writer whose work is chiefly set in the Shropshire countryside.

Her writing is not comfortable or unrealistic but is earthy and sometimes

A

t the age of 20, she developed symptoms of Graves'

disease, a thyroid disorder which resulted in bulging, protuberant eyes and throat goitre, which caused her ill health throughout her life. This affliction resulted

in her being empathic with the suffering of others. It finds its fictional counterpart particularly in Prue Sarn, the heroine of

harsh but with powerful and beautiful

Precious Bane who has the disfigurement of a harelip (this is not

descriptions.

only a physical affliction in the novel but a superstitious one as

If you look at reviews of Precious

Bane (her 6th novel which was published in 1924) you will read again and again similar phrases such as ‘This is the best novel I have ever read’ or ‘Precious Bane is my favourite read’. Discerning readers believe that she is on a par with Thomas Hardy and George Eliot and that she never quite got the recognition she deserved.

of

Lodge,

Shrewsbury.

countryside

8

miles

Mary

around

southeast

explored her

rom 1914 to 1916 she lived in the village of Pontesbury,

during which time she wrote The Golden Arrow. Her time in the village was commemorated in 1957 by the opening of Mary Webb School. The publication of The

Golden Arrow in 1917 enabled Mary Webb and her husband to move to Lyth Hill, Bayston Hill a place she loved, buying a plot of land and building Spring Cottage. She died at age 46 and is buried

S

in Shrewsbury, at the General Cemetery on Longden Road.

Mary Webb was born in 1881 at Leighton

F well).

the

childhood

home, and developed a sense of detailed observation and description, of both

he won the Prix Femina Vie Heureuse (a prize decided

by an all-female jury) for Precious Bane. After her death Stanley Baldwin, the then Prime Minister, brought about her commercial success through his admiration of her

work; at a literary fund dinner in 1928, Baldwin referred to her as a neglected genius. Consequently her collected works were

people and places, which later infused

republished in a standard edition by Jonathan Cape, becoming

her poetry and prose. In 1902 her family

best sellers in the 1930s and running into many editions.

settled in Meole Brace, Shrewsbury.

7

SCRIBBLE

A LEVEL

How do you solve a problem like Pinkie?

I

Head of English, Mr Robin Aldridge, explores the central character o f G r a h a m G r e e n e ’s n o v e l B r i g h t o n R o c k .

am drawn to Pinkie Brown

saves Rose from a fate worse than life? Is

Rock and Pinkie Brown will inexorably

because he is such a Marmite character – students either really love him or really hate him. I can’t quite decide where I stand, but it is in A-level classes on ‘Brighton Rock’ where debate rages on whether he is essentially a good character who makes poor choices or whether he, in fact, is an amoral sociopath incapable of positive thoughts or positive emotions.

he a victim of his own horrific upbringing

revolve around your relationship with

in the back-streets of Brighton?

‘the boy’ and perspectives on these

Whatever your own position with these

quandaries.

‘Marmite’ characters, any study of Brighton

‘Is he a knight in shining armour?’

Similar debate happens when classes study Macbeth and wrestle with the perspectives on life and ambition of Macbeth, and I am also reminded fondly of my own A-level study of Paradise Lost Books I and

II where I recall distinct admiration and respect being constructed by Milton for his central protagonist, Satan, as he begins his ascent from Hell back to Heaven, but I think that it’s Greene’s character that provides the most problems for a reader. Is he capable of loving Rose or just using her as a shield?

Is he a knight in shining armour who

8

SCRIBBLE The Shakespeare critic L.C. Knights(1) wonders how we can

The novel’s opening seems to cast Pinkie as

maintain ‘the necessary aloofness from a work of art if we treat

an unlikeable character, in a series of vignettes

a character as a human being’ and it is possibly this debate

which raise a series of questions over his moral

which holds the key to reading Pinkie’s character – whether

and social perspectives on the world. Pinkie’s

Pinkie is to be read as a real person, or whether we believe

entrance to the novel is sinister and in-keeping

that Greene has simply constructed a facsimile of aspects of

with a villain, calling to ‘Fred’ and making ‘the

humanity, thus allowing for the character to be extreme and

gin slop out of Hale’s glass on to the bar’ clearly

inconsistent because ‘the character is not a human being,

demonstrating the ill-at-ease feeling Hale

but resembles one’(2) so closely. Pinkie is an artificial literary

immediately has on hearing the boy’s voice.

construct, a collection of words, actions and thoughts, which

Greene further underlines this characteristic

have been artfully designed by the writer to mirror those of

through his physicality, describing him as ‘a boy

a human. It goes without saying that this is true of all Art,

of seventeen…a shabby smart suit, the cloth too

literature included, but the challenge of a human reader

thin for much wear, a face starved of intensity, a

reading a human character constructed by a human writer

kind of hideous and unnatural pride’. This sense

without then responding in a human manner is considerably

of him being unnatural is underlined further in

challenging; surely this is the appeal of most literature – that we

part one of the novel, in the scene when Pinkie

read in order to feel and that reading is an essentially emotional

force feeds Spicer fish and chips, relishing the

and introspective experience. Within this timeless debate,

concept that he can make him ‘spew’, exercising

Greene’s construction of Pinkie provides further challenge

his power over the much older gang members.

simply because of his human foibles, vulnerabilities and

Later, as part one progresses, Pinkie begins the manipulation of Rose, first in Snow’s when he declares ‘I’ll be seeing you… You an’ me have

things in common’ and soon after in Sherry’s where he is seen ‘pinching the skin of her wrist

until his nails nearly met’ . This is a scene which many students remember, possibly because it is so appalling, but we just need to widen the scene a little to probe deeper into Pinkie’s character. It is often forgotten that Pinkie is pinching Rose’s wrists whilst ‘one hand caressed the vitriol bottle

in his pocket’ and that the pinching ‘sat there like a live coal in his belly’ remembering ‘all the good times he’d had in the old days with nails and splinters; the tricks he’d later learnt with a razor blade’. Pinkie is clearly being established here as a sociopath – a person incapable of normal human emotion – particularly as his character juxtaposes the innocence of Rose so starkly. These sociopathic tendencies can be

9

SCRIBBLE

encapsulated in the single line - a sort

in the ultimate victory over Spicer by not

of motif of Pinkie’s ‘ What would be the

being able to sleep with Sylvie, preferring

fun if people didn’t squeal’? which are instead to ‘get Cubitt for you’ . Despite all

T

he very ending of the novel surely underlines this love which has

then built upon throughout the novel. His

of his violent tendencies and sociopathic

delight in making Brewer squirm before

views on society, Greene’s choice to include

slashing his cheek with a razor-blade, the

elements of a conventional bildungsroman

cold-hearted way in which he attempts to

in Brighton Rock is surely done to soften his

Pinkie simply cannot bring himself

feed Spicer to Colleoni’s mob, the murder

core protagonist and to make him likeable.

to murder Rose, despite it being the

of Spicer at Frank’s and the ensuing

Pinkie and Rose are kind of cute

logical course of action for him,

cover-up in which he manipulates Prewitt

together as their relationship grows,

because he loves her, rather than

all stand as good examples of Pinkie’s

shown in microcosm in the scene at Rose’s

fear of being caught and charged

delight in making other people scared and

parents’ house when the marriage is

with her murder. The elaborate

uncomfortable, but noticeable Greene

arranged. Greene takes significant care to

suicide pact is a trust exercise

uses these moments to punctuate the

construct Nelson Place and Paradise Piece,

which Rose nearly successfully

opening third of the novel only, possibly

integral locations for the characters of both

passes by shooting herself, but it is

softening Pinkie’s character in the later

children, as places of extreme poverty and

her love for Pinkie which prevents

sections.

suffering, indeed resembling a bomb-site

her from pulling the trigger; the

in its initial descriptions. How then can we

fear of being separated, even for

character,

deny that Pinkie provides Rose with the

an instant, from the man she loves

depending on how earnestly you look

escape with which he was provided by Kite

so deeply. We must remember

for it, and it is often this that provides

and the gang?

that the scene begins with Pinkie

There is an undeniable vulnerability somewhere

in

Pinkie’s

developed

between

them. A problematic scene again for many readers, my view is that

a dilemma for A-level students and for

experiencing a defensiveness for

wider readers. We learn early on that

Rose as the men in the lounge of

Pinkie is a boy in man’s shoes, running the mob in the absence of his recently murdered father-figure, Kite, furthering the significance of Greene referring to

‘The elaborate suicide pact is a trust exercise’

the roadhouse ‘took an arrogant look at the girl by the statuette.

She wasn’t worth bothering about’ causing Pinkie to wonder ‘what the

him often as ‘the boy’. This vulnerability

hell right had they to swagger and

is extended in scenes with Rose, where

laugh…if she was good enough

alongside her innocence, Pinkie is often

Later chapters in the novel see Rose

for him…’ (p259), the climax of

show not to understand what he is doing

attempting to build a home for Pinkie at

their relationship in many ways;

with his girl. Whilst in the country, Rose

Frank’s, whilst imagining a future family

here, for the first time, Pinkie sees

asks ‘You’re not scared of anything are

as she listens to next-door’s neglected baby,

Rose as something to be proud of,

you?’ and amid all of his bravado, Pinkie’s promising ‘I wouldn’t leave it all afternoon’. someone who matters. If she meant sexual innocence and inexperience is

Rose tends to Pinkie’s wounds in the rear

nothing to him, and if he is a cold

emphasised when ‘his mouth missed

of Snow’s amongst the wine bottles and

sociopath, surely then he could and

hers and recoiled. He’d never yet kissed a we come to recognise them as a legitimate would murder her in cold blood, girl’ . Of course, this sexual immaturity is couple, in which she certainly loves him, just as he does with Spicer. This underlined later in the novel as Pinkie fails

and part of him arguably is in love with her.

10

then is the problem with Pinkie –

how can he be bad, if he acts in a good way and makes another character so Pinkie & Rose , 2011 Film Adaptation

happy? Isn’t this then, not a story of a genius criminal, but a coming of age tale of a misunderstood boy who has not had the opportunity to live his childhood because of circumstances beyond his control?

Just as the reader makes peace with Pinkie, however, Greene has a final twist up his sleeve – the very the ending, with Rose never hearing

(5)

and this possibly further allows

final line of the novel; ‘if he loved these words, interestingly with the

for the uncomfortable resolutions

you’ said the Priest, ‘that shows…’ support of Greene himself, who stated

in Pinkie’s character and narrative;

She walked rapidly in the thin June that he preferred the end of the Boulting

Greene

sunlight towards the worst horror of Brothers 1947 film to his own novel

expectations by having an arguably

all’ (p269). There is often an audible because the horror is more horrible

horrible character’s final horrific act

gasp in class, as students piece this because it remains unsaid. Greene saw

coming from beyond the grave – or

enigmatic sentence together and it as a compromise, but a clever one:

clifftop.

is

just

subverting

genre

realise that Greene is referencing the “Anybody who wanted a happy ending

Whatever your own reading of

record which Pinkie makes for Rose would feel that they had had a happy

Pinkie, he is undeniably an artful

at the beginning to part 6 this ticking ending,” he said. “Anybody who had any

construction by Greene, a writer

time-bomb is about to explode. The sense would know that the next time Rose

experimenting with both genre and

French term ‘denouement’ translates would probably push the needle over the

character. Returning to L.C. Knights’

as ‘unknotting’ and John Mullan(3) scratch and get the full message.”(4) The

views on character, we can agree that

argues that in a novel’s denouement, 2010 version, directed by Rowan Joffe,

the complexities which typify Pinkie

‘mysteries have to be cleared up’ takes it another step further, as Rose

certainly allow him to ‘resemble’ a

because this section of a text ‘is also listens to the record whilst in a home for

human very closely in his fallabilities,

an explanation, belatedly providing unmarried expectant mothers and the

mistakes, emotions and sense of being

information that has previously been record player’s needle sticks, causing

utterly overwhelmed by life – very

held back’ should Rose herself as Pinkie’s voice to transcend the grave,

modern feelings of humanity. Maybe

made peace with Pinkie, calmed by repeating I love you as Rose cradles

the problem of Pinkie can never be

the Priest stating that if Pinkie can both the record player and her love

solved and the beauty of his character

feel love then he will not go to Hell, for Pinkie with increased tenderness.

lies in the impossibility of solving it –

but is now about to learn his true Dr Andrew Green argues in favour of

who needs to agree with someone else

feelings towards her, captured in the this uncomfortable ending, suggesting

on literature anyway? Surely that’s the

record’s words ‘God damn you, you ‘Whereas in many traditional crime

beauty of all literature – that it holds up

little bitch, why can’t you go back tales the solving of the crime results in

a mirror to our own lives and allows for

home forever and let me be?’ (p193). a return to the status quo Brighton Rock

both introspective and extrospective

Both film versions of the novel adapt offers no such comfortable reassurances’

responses. I remain unconvinced that

1.L. C. Knights How many children had Lady Macbeth? 1933, cited in ‘How novels work’ by J. Mullan, p70 2 Mieke Bal, in Narratology 1985, cited in Mullan (Ibid) 3 John Mullan, How novels work (p308), OUP, 2008 4 Cited by Jake Arnott, www.guardian.com, ‘Mad, bad, dangerous to know’ 5 Dr Andrew Green, ‘More than just entertainment’, in e-magazine, December 2016

Pinkie ever achieves a peace ‘between the stirrup and the ground’ but I certainly don’t like him any less for it.

SCRIBBLE

Jackson Brodie makes the crime genre new!

Whether you are revising Kate Atkinson’s novel for your upcoming mock or whether you’re just interested in her as a writer, this article explores how Atkinson breathes modern life in to the crime genre.

Four of her ten novels form a private detective series in which the protagonist, Jackson Brodie (a former police detective turned private investigator), finds himself drawn into a vortex of crime and mysteries. In When Will There Be Good News, the third novel in the series of four, a six year old witnesses a brutal and appalling crime which leaves the reader appalled. Thirty years later, Jackson Brodie finds himself on a fatal journey that sees him drawn into the aftermath of the family’s murder. However, despite being full of unsolved mysteries and suspense, this is not a ‘detective novel’ in the formal sense of the term. In fact, Atkinson’s offence, in the eyes of the avant-garde, is probably not so much the crime or mystery itself as its solution (or lack of!). However I would argue that any supposed distinction between literary and crime genre is one that Atkinson’s oeuvre destroys which, perhaps ironically, makes her an even better crime writer.

To examine how Atkinson subverts the crime genre, we need to firstly establish: what is genre? It is essentially a contract or set of conventions which the writer follows. However, Atkinson’s charm is that she brilliantly and idiosyncratically adapts these conventions.

With a deceptively familiar form, When Will There Be Good News treats crime fiction with a fresh complexity.

One way in which Atkinson achieves this untypicality within the crime genre is by seeming more interested in the characters and their relationships than the crime itself (her other novels would seem to bear this out too). For instance, the chapter Celestial City focuses on the incapacitated Jackson Brodie

by Miss Lord

12

SCRIBBLE

“I don’t think of myself as writing in a particular genre,” Atkinson once said. “There is always a mystery to be solved at the heart of everything I write.” Kate Atkinson following his train accident: ‘he knew it was altered temporal lobe function or oxygen deprivation to his of an irreverent tone and satirical asides, which are brain as his body shut down.’ Brodie’s unconscious filled with pop culture and literary references, make brooding on how he knew this (‘he’d read somewhere it a typical of the crime genre. Although Atkinson’s about that, National Geographic probably.’) is use of this postmodern aspect of texts referring to unconventional and serves to provide backstory other texts could be seen as pretentious, it seems to for Brodie, thus delaying our knowledge of Reggie’s create humorous, ironic, or even poignant moments investigations as, at the end of the previous chapter, in which these allusions serve to enrich the reading she has donned her coat with the declaration: ‘The experience and evoke a sense of realism for the world wasn’t going to end this night. Not if Reggie reader. It seems that Atkinson again uses this device had anything to do with it.’ The use of these delayed to create a sense of realism in order to suggest how revelations, particularly her use of analepsis and commonplace or sudden crime can be. Furthermore, prolepsis, enhance Atkinson’s postmodern novel as suggested earlier in this essay, these cultural to create a fractured narrative which is unusual for references also act as asides to the reader which allow crime novels. Thus, instead of focussing on a singular them to connect with the multiple focalisers. From the detective’s investigation of a crime and search for opening epigraph (an extract from an Emily Dickinson clues, Atkinson repeatedly hinders the solving of the poem), the novel is absolutely chockful of literary crime through spatial and temporal shifts as well as allusions and references: quotations remembered shifts in narrator to further characterisation. Through and misremembered, from nursery rhymes, folk multiple focalisations, Atkinson forms a non-linear songs, fairy tales, ballads, Christmas carols, hymns narrative structure with extensive sub-plotting which and psalms, to Homer, Ovid, Shakespeare, Dickens, allows us to understand the mindset of the characters. Woolf and a multitude of other writers from the I would also argue that, although unconventional, it Western literary canon. The process of reading the increases the suspense of the novel which enthrals book becomes like a literary mystery or treasure the reader. Most notably, the lack of denouement and hunt in which, like Reggie in the novel, forces us to resolution at the end of the novel leaves us to question become like a detective ourselves. It allows the novel the fate of several characters and several of the crimes to become more than a crime text. It is a Trojan horse; remain unresolved. Although unusual for a crime a way of delivering something pointed in the guise of text, it seems fitting for a novel whose characters something smoothly familiar. teach us about the transience and fragility of life Therefore Atkinson’s series are a pleasure to read rather than how to solve a crime. Therefore, before as they don’t sit comfortably in the crime genre just as you know it, When Will There Be Good News has this series about ‘Jackson Brodie’ delight because they turned from a crime novel into a fuguelike meditation are not really about Brodie at all. His investigations, on the vicissitude of life as her characters blur the which he performs winningly but without any boundaries of character tropes and seem to be able extraordinary ability or expertise, are mostly just to embody both victim and detective depending on pretexts for exhuming and solving the ‘mystery’ of what the context of the moment determines of them. ordinary lives. In her best work—a category in which Thus, allowing us to experience profound insights into her latest, Transcription certainly belongs—she human nature. maneuvers the tropes of the murder-mystery genre Another way Atkinson subverts the genre is into a kind of critique of what it is to be criminal or the through her employment of intertextuality; her use lasting impact of victimhood.

13

SCRIBBLE

Does Literature Change Anything?

By Head Girl Meg Heaney

A

ccording to Michael Mack, literature is “a disruptive force, breaking up our fictions about the world we live in”; it acts as a spotlight, focusing the reader’s attention on certain aspects of society, dispelling myths and ‘breaking up our fictions’ about the world around us. Literature doesn’t ‘change’ anything as much as it ‘catalyses’ such change and as a ‘disruptive force’ within feminist literature, it ‘breaks our fictions about’ women and their capabilities. The feminist voice sought to encourage further social change to improve society’s recognition of women’s strengths, showcasing female protagonists to have traits that they were typically overlooked with having, such as being strong and independent. Being a non-confrontational form of criticism, literature enables readers to digest the messages of feminist novels, instigating a natural realisation for a need of change, so that no defence is appropriated when controversial feminist messages such as Woolf’s – that ‘women are hard on other women, women dislike women’ arise, only acceptance towards what we’re told which, in turn, forces us to seek further social change.

F

or a novelist to have an audience,

their messages within their novels must be relevant and relatable for readers, therefore,

social change must have been occurring before such novels were written and it’s with this in mind that we can understand literature as a catalyst for change, not the former initiator of such change. Therefore, literature doesn’t ‘change’ anything, moreover catalysing further change, hence we can see the impact that the literary catalyst of feminist works have had upon society, as the feminist movement has changed our perceptions of women’s strengths and capabilities as authors showcase female protagonists who make independent decisions, not ruled by highlystrung emotions, capable of thinking and acting rationally; ‘breaking up the fiction’ that women are weak and helpless. Ultimately, enabling the patriarchy to change its opinion on women and the way they were treated. The canon of feminist literature served to force readers to acknowledge the capabilities of female protagonists within novels – be it Jane

Eyre and her own decision to marry Rochester or The Yellow Wallpaper’s depiction of

14

SCRIBBLE the cruelty that women suffered at the hands of

up our fictions’ regarding women’s capabilities

a patriarchal society, or Jane Austen’s Pride and

and encouraging social change that was already

Prejudice whereby Elizabeth’s character contradicts

occurring in the form of the ‘Married Women’s

the female stereotype by owning her independency

Property Act (1882)’, which liberated women from

and liberation from marriage, standing out in a world

the clutches of their male counterparts as they were

that forces women to act pleasingly and desperately

given the freedom to control their own property,

in their search for a suitor. As Mary T. Lathrap

entering a world within society that was once solely

determined – “before you judge a [woman], walk a

occupied by men.

A

mile in [her] shoes” , and feminist literature served to ‘break up our fictions’ of women’s capabilities, as if forcing us to ‘walk a mile in their shoes’ to fully understand how they’ve suffered, being limited to a meek and mild persona, to ultimately change society and our misconceptions that women were incapable

the

feminist

literary

canon

progressed, works of writers such as Louisa May Alcott also acted as a catalyst for the change stemming

from the misconceptions of women’s strength

and weak.

C

s

and ability to overcome obstacles and problems presented by a patriarchal society. Alcott’s novel

harlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre was a

questioned a woman’s ties and duties to her family

literary catalyst and helped to provide

and the resulting confinement of this, hence

social change by not only showcasing

exploring the conflict that arises from the two

the necessity for women to have the

identities of a woman – being a sister and daughter

basic rights to their own income, household and

as well as a professional. Alcott breaks the belief

independence from men, but also the right to make

that women weren’t capable of working, hence being

their own choices. Bronte provides a more rounded

confined to the house, as she demonstrates women’s

view of women for her readers as she depicts her

capability of working through Jo’s character –

female protagonist to have the ability to think and act

women’s feminist literature still continued to help

rationally, which contradicted the “unhinged” and

promote or, perhaps, support this sense of change.

A

“gendered” trait of hysteria – which once referenced an “exclusively female disease”.

Not only does

Bronte deal with the political aspects that needed addressing in society, she also sought to persuade society, en masse, that women had the ability to be as sensible and as capable of accepting responsibilities

women’s capabilities with working outside of the home and aren’t all shallow, fickle creatures – “I hate to

think I’ve got to grow up, and be Miss March, and

as men, and not dictated by their emotions, as was

wear long gowns, and look as prim as a China aster!

previously believed.

B

lcott’s literary catalyst emphasises

It’s bad enough to be a girl, anyway, when I like boys’ games and work and manners! I can’t get over my

ronte states that women are “no

disappointment in not being a boy…I can only stay at

bird[s], and no net ensnares [them]”,

home and knit, like a poky old woman!”

they’re “free human being[s], with an independent will” , helping to ‘break

15

SCRIBBLE

Luoisa May Allcot

“

I hate to think I’ve got to grow up, and be Miss March, and wear long gowns, and look as prim as a China aster! It’s bad enough to be a girl, anyway, when I like boys’ games and work and manners! I can’t get over my disappointment in not being a boy…I can only stay at home and knit, like a poky old woman!

Louisa May Allcott, Little Women, 1869

Head Girl Meg Heaney attended an awards ceremony in London. Here she was Highly Commended for this essay set by New College of the Humanities, London. 1,800 applications were received and Meg’s entry was in the top 100.

Philosopher, author and Master of NCH, A.C.Grayling held the awards reception on 2nd October.

16

SCRIBBLE

T

he 1860’s saw “women’s status in

senseless as she begins believing that “there are things

society… increasing”

in that [wall]paper that nobody knows but me”

and improving

to further give them value and over the last 50 years “gender equality has

transformed our society. No longer are specific jobs reserved for men or for women”, and the “traditional family model is increasingly being redefined for modern attitudes and working styles” . This is the social change that Alcott’s literary catalyst sought

G

ilman was feeding off the social change

that

was

women’s

occurring mental

surrounding

health

and

her

novel acts as a catalyst to encourage

a woman’s right to speak and act for herself; to have her own independence which contrasts the traditional

to instigate, as the conventional stereotype forced

views that women were delicate and prone to madness

women into the role of ‘Mother’ began being replaced

if overstressed, ‘breaking up our fictions’ of women’s

with “stay-at-home fathers whose spouse goes out

capabilities. It was because the mentally ill were

to work” , as women were recognised for being both

perceived to be criminals which resulted in the harsh

capable of a life within the household as well as having

treatment of “asylums, [which] were all but places of

intellectual jobs, as Alcott’s novel echoes the reality

horror, filled with the criminally insane”; Gilman’s

that women can do more than society believed they

novel sought to catalyse the changed perception of

could.

these women as “sick humans needing care” , shifting

G

the image of the bestial madman of the 18th-century.

ilman’s novel The Yellow Wallpaper

also catalyses further change within society, as she shows her readers a “realistic depiction of what happens to

the mind when faced with forced inactivity” and acts as a ‘disruptive force’ to break the cruel treatment of the patriarchal society that was enforced upon ‘mentally

L

iterature catalyses social ‘change’ that

was already occurring by acting as a ‘disruptive force’ to ‘break our fictions’ within society, with feminist literature

specifically seeking to encourage the change surrounding the misconceptions of women’s strengths

insane’ women. Gilman criticises the confinement of

and capabilities. Authors provided protagonists with

those who were believed to be mad as she explores the

traits that they were typically overlooked with having.

question of which comes first – is the confinement a

Literature has the benefit of continually raising issues

result of the madness or does the confinement cause

that may have previously been forgotten as seen

the madness? Gilman argues that confining women

through Perkin’s revival of the ‘madwoman in the attic’

who were believed to be mentally insane was a self-

and Woolf’s assertion that women have the freedom

fulfilling prophecy as Jane begins lucidly narrating,

to choose just as Margaret Ayers Barnes presented

explaining how John “cautioned” her, how “he says

in Years of Grace. Therefore, feminist literature acts

that with [her] imaginative power and habit of story-

as catalyst to ‘break our fiction’ regarding women’s

making, a nervous weakness like [hers] is sure to lead

capabilities to reflect off social change that was

to all manner of excited fancies, and that [she] ought to

already occurring.

use [her] will and good sense to check the tendency” , yet with Jane’s inability to “overcome feelings of uselessness” , her mind becomes deranged and

17

SCRIBBLE

ALLEN

ON

ALLEN

An introduction to the poetry of Allen Ginsberg focusing on his poem ‘A Supermarket in California’

A Supermarket in California

By Allen Ginsberg What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.

In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!

What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands!

Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!—and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?

I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.

I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?

I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective.

We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.

Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in an hour. Which way does your beard point tonight?

(I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.)

Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we’ll both be lonely.

Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?

Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?

Berkeley, 1955

18

A

SCRIBBLE

llen Ginsberg is a key proponent of ‘The Beat Generation’ of America in the 1950s along with other famous names such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Jack Kerouac. The Beats hit back against the American idealism of the 1950s after World War II, which suggested that the ultimate goal of any true American was to settle into the lives of corporate jobs and nuclear families. This sugar-coated ‘American Dream’ belied the reality of poverty, bleakness and counter-culture that bubbled beneath the surface of the America generally shown on TV screens. The work of Ginsberg and others from the Beat Generation would sow the seeds for the rebellion, protest and Cultural Revolution that marked the 1960s and early 1970s America and incorporated the Hippie movement and rejection of American involvement in the Vietnam War.

‘A Supermarket in California’ is essentially an ode to one of Ginsberg’s inspirations: Walt Whitman. One of the most influential poets of the American canon, Whitman was part of the American Romantic movement writing about controversial ideas in an accessible and engaging way but crucially championing his America and the natural world to which it belonged. In his poem, Ginsberg bemoans the materialism of the modern world where everything has become a commodity to be bought and sold and the natural world is largely forgotten. The poem is written in typical Ginsberg style with long, rambling lines more reminiscent of speech than poetry (Ginsberg was famed for the verbal renditions of his poems). Like Whitman, Ginsberg chose to eschew the structured lines and stanza format of more traditional poetic styles for something more free and unconstrained by rules: a metaphor for his views on life as well.

It is telling that Ginsberg’s narrator (almost certainly the poet’s own voice) opens the poem outside: ‘under the trees…looking at the full moon’ but this natural solace is short lived and he quickly moves inside the ‘neon fruit supermarket’. Although both the moon and supermarket are providing light at this point, one is inherently natural while the other is decidedly fake and gaudy. Despite this, the speaker cannot resist the lure due to his ‘hungry fatigue’, a comment on our inability to reject the trappings of the modern world despite our obvious misgivings.

each member of the nuclear family together, on the surface a perfect representation of America but is there a darker interpretation just beneath the surface?

Penumbras are a shroud, covering the fact that all of the members of the family are separate. Rather than this being a wholesome family experience, it represents the divide inherent within American homes. Similarly, this whole experience happens at ‘night’ under the cover of darkness, an allusion to the darkness of modern society.

The second stanza explores an imaginary encounter with Walt Whitman himself, this hero of American Literature has been reduced to a ‘lonely old grubber’ stranded and left in the middle of the aisle like one of the many commodities that Ginsberg decries, he has become forgotten and worthless. Whitman’s fall from grace is further enhanced by Ginsberg’s double entendre, reflecting Whitman’s alleged sexual preferences: ‘poking among the meats…eyeing the grocery boys’. However, his journey with Whitman around the store provides a new sense of hope and positivity: ‘brilliant stacks…solitary fancy…frozen delicacy’ and suddenly there is beauty to be found here. Crucially perhaps, Whitman does this while ‘never passing a cashier’ and unrestrained by the rules of a capitalist system is free to enjoy the natural world.

This brief sense of hope however seems dashed as we reach the final stanza when Ginsberg asks ‘where are we going Walt Whitman?’ For the speaker, the constraints of modernity remain because ‘the doors close in an hour’ and once they have, then what?

From this point Ginsberg asks a number of questions that are left unanswered reflecting his uncertainty over the future direction of America. He talks of the ‘lost America’ to which Whitman belonged and is now something he can only dream of experiencing.

Ginsberg’s final image is to compare America to Hades, the Greek underworld. For him, everything that America once stood for is dead and its past is being forgotten. The beauty and purity of the natural world has been tainted through rapid commodification and the pursuit of profit and Ginsberg criticises this obsession with capitalism and the lack of freedom that his America provides.

Ginsberg perhaps highlights the irony that most people’s experience of the natural world (fruit, vegetables etc.) comes from a place that is decidedly unnatural and completely representative of a capitalist system: a supermarket. On entering, the speaker shows his obvious cynicism through the repeated exclamations: ‘what peaches and what penumbras!’, ‘Aisles full of husbands!’, ‘Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!’ Inside the speaker witnesses

19

SCRIBBLE

15 Questions with

Ms Sharrock

This new series opens our eyes to the minds (or bookcases) of teachers, students and special guests. Literature comes in many genres and forms so what could be more exciting than getting to know people’s favourite book or which character they would be for the day; this editions special guest does not disappoint.

Join us on our voyage of discovery into Ms Sharrock’s love of literature. This exclusive interview with our new Headteacher has given us the opportunity to find out about her favourite literature. Thanks to her inspiring assemblies, we have learned about her passion for exploring the role of the media in enriching our lives; from the values and beliefs seen throughout the Great British Bake Off, to the comfort and pleasure brought to us by books. The emotions highlighted in Ms Sharrock’s reference to ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ echo the challenges we face growing up. Although our supportive school community helps us to overcome these challenges, it is unquestionable that books play a phenomenal part in growing up. So, here is Ms Sharrock’s journey through literature and some of the books that have inspired her from her childhood favourites to the last book she read.

20

SCRIBBLE

Q1

What is your favourite book?

Q2

What is your favourite quote?

I am not sure I can honestly say that I have one favourite book – I love reading and over the course of my life I have fallen in love with many, many books which are always my favourite at the time! That said, there is one book that I can return to, time and again, and it never loses any of its power, and that’s To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It has it all – friendship, growing up, dealing with prejudice, finding acceptance, tragedy, empathy, drama and complex moral questions. It’s also a cracking good read.

First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird In this day an age of polarised politics and judgemental social commentary, I think it’s so important we remember that empathy is essential to a civil and functioning society.

Q3

What is your favourite childhood story / book?

Q4

What is a book you plan on reading?

Q5

Did you enjoy studying English Literature at school?

Again it is impossible to pick just one – I loved Wind in the Willows, I was captivated by the Chronicles of Narnia and still hope to find a portal to a magic world in the back of my wardrobe. I also thoroughly enjoyed Roald Dahl stories and remember my eleventh birthday spending all day reading Matilda.

Mary Beard - Women and Power.

I loved studying English Literature at school - I didn’t always enjoy the literary criticism but I loved the way the subject stretched my mind, led me to read things I would never have attempted and then opened my eyes to so many different worlds - all without ever leaving the classroom.

Name a character from a book that you wish you could be 6 for a day

Q

Lucy from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or anyone from the Magic Faraway Tree – The Adventure Beckons...

21

SCRIBBLE

Name a book that you have read that positively shaped 7 you?

Q

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – A Feminist manifesto in fifteen suggestions. A friend gave it to me when I was appointed Head of the High School – she said I had a responsibility to empower all the girls in my care to become strong, independent women and that this book would help! It is full of useful advice and really makes you think about the messages we give our young women – for example in lesson ten she says ‘Don’t think that raising her a feminist means forcing her to reject her femininity.

Feminism and femininity are not mutually exclusive’ - So true!

Q8

What was the last book you read?

Q9

Who is your favourite author?

Q10

What would you write a book about if you had to?

Arundhati Roy – The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.

That is so hard to do! If you insisted I would choose Donna Tartt – she has written three of the best books I have ever read.

An adventure story with lots of strong female lead characters who save the day.

Q11

Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings?

Q12

Romance or Crime Fiction?

Lord of the Rings, Just! I love them both.

Crime.

Q13

What’s the longest book you’ve ever read?

Vikram Seth – A Suitable Boy. (I’ve always loved books about India – but I also read it as a challenge because someone told me it was the longest book written in the English language – not sure.

22

SCRIBBLE

What’s is one piece of advice you would give to an A-Level 14 or GCSE Student?

Q

Read everything and anything. Reading fiction, plays and poetry enriches you in so many ways, it teaches you about life, about people, it broadens your vocabulary, it makes you interesting, it teaches you empathy, creativity and it is a wonderful escape. Never lose sight of the joy of reading even when you are having to do it for revision!

Suggest a book you would advise Scribble readers to read 15 next.

Q

Arundhati Roy – The Ministry of Utmost Happiness - an incredible book that spans decades, follows multiple characters and has many moments of despair and horror but also of great joy and hope. Sometimes it is good to be challenged by a book - The author herself is a fascinating political activist and a great story teller.

A prominent value highlighted in this interview was the power that books can bring to individuals and the inspiration they can give to us as students. The pathways to the undeniable lessons of confidence and empowerment the school teaches us as independent women can also be shared through books. Having touched upon the magic of books, Ms Sharrock also promotes the many benefits reading brings for all of us within school, reinforcing reading as a form of escapism. Notably Ms Sharrock celebrates inspiring female American writers such as Donna Tartt whose many achievements include winning the WH Smith Literary Award in 2003 and the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. There is also the reference to the iconic round character of Lucy from ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. Lucy’s admirable characteristics include her loyal and perceptive nature, which ultimately signify the power and independence of women which are traits which we feel are like that of girls here at Shrewsbury High School. The next question for you, the reader, is are you going to read Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness next?

We would like to thank Ms Sharrock for sharing her cherished books and valuable advice with all of us, which will undoubtedly play a part in helping to shape all of our lives.

Kirsty Eades

23

Interviewer

SCRIBBLE

9

9

SHS Essay Writing Prize

“

Sponsored by Friends of Shrewsbury High School

SHS Essay Writing Prize – sponsored

by Friends of Shrewsbury High”, launched in September 2018. An essay competition for all year groups from Year 7 to 13, the question title of “Who has changed the world, and why?” has garnered a phenomenal range of entries with applicants selecting figures such as Alan Turing, Lady Diana, Charles Babbage and artificial intelligence, as those who have changed the world.

ended so that everybody could take their preferred

The level of the essays submitted have been

it’s essential in all walks of life. In the safe space of

outstanding and inspirational; all who took part in

the school environment with questions that enable

the competition should be tremendously proud of

you to discuss a topic that is of interest to you, what

what they have achieved. Each applicant took an

better place to practise your essay writing skills? The

independent and individual approach to their essays,

“SHS Essay Writing Prize” is a competition designed

making them personal and unique. Some began with

to flourish your independence in critical thinking,

insightful, philosophical openings that immediately

nourish your confidence in putting pen to paper and

engaged their readers; Ellie Heaney (Year 11) began

inspire you to think wider about the world we live in.

stance, hence we had an essay who discussed artificial intelligence and humans as the thing that has changed the world. Hao Zhang (Year 13) began her essay with the quote ‘Language is information, and information

is everything’ taken from the recent TV series ‘Killing Eve’. Hao argued that it’s human’s technological advancements in society that have, and is, ‘changing the world’, going as far as to predict a future where artificial beings and humans interact on a daily basis.

Whilst essay writing isn’t everybody’s first love,

– “Earth, as of today, is the only known planet in our

universe to harbour life; split into 7 continents, 195

As E. M. Forster said – “How do I know what I think,

until I see what I say?”

countries and the ratio of women to men is practically 50/50. Despite this, it is only in the last 170 years that

Congratulations to the winners of the 2018

women in the UK have been given the right to vote

“SHS Essay Writing Prize” as follows:

and it’s all down to Emmeline Pankhurst and her

Overall Junior Winner: Erin O’Shea Overall Senior Winner: Madeline Williams

Suffragette Movement”. Some even went as far as contacting their chosen person who has changed the

Year 8 Winner: Elizabeth Mellor Year 9 Winner: Ellyse Barker Year 11 Winner: Ellie Heaney Year 12 Winner: Victoria Ainsworth Year 13 Winner: Hao Zhang

world; Harriet Underhill (Year 8) cited that “as part

of my research I decided to contact Rabia Siddique directly by email. Her responses were remarkably honest and extremely humbling in relation to the

Highly Commended: Abella Reiling Highly Commended: Harriet Underhill

personal and human challenges that she has so clearly faced. I am grateful for her response, and her words of courage and bravery have been woven through my work.” The essay question was purposefully left open-

9

9

24

9

9

SCRIBBLE

Overall Junior Winner - Erin O’Shea Year 8 Imagine its 1955 and you’re a black person. You cannot go to the same libraries as whites, you must use different, inferior ones. You go to different schools from whites, with shorter days & second hand books. You can’t drink from the same water fountains, use the same public toilets. You won’t be served in some restaurants, cafes public houses. There are separate spaces for you in cinemas, theatres and shops. You cannot even marry a white person in white states. You typically receive a lower payment than whites. You live in a black segregated area. Public transport has allocated seating areas depending on the colour of your skin. Now imagine your Rosa Parks: secretly furious about how you are treated, desperate to find a way out of it. Quietly

R

fighting for change. osa Parks was born on the 4th of February

back seats reserved for blacks in the "coloured" section.

1913 Tuskegee, Alabama as Rose Louise

Near the middle of the bus, her row was directly

McCauley to Leona Edwards, a teacher,

behind the ten seats reserved for white passengers. At

and James McCauley, a carpenter. After

the start she did not notice that the bus driver was the

her parents split up she moved to Pine Level just

same man, James F. Blake, who had left her in the rain

outside of Montgomery and lived on a farm there

in 1943. As the bus travelled along its regular route,

with her mother’s grandparents, her mother and her

all the white-only seats in the bus filled up. The bus

younger brother Sylvester. Rose attended rural schools

reached the third stop in front of the Empire Theatre,

until the age of eleven. As a student at the Industrial

and several white passengers boarded. Blake noted

School for Girls in Montgomery, she took academic

that two or three white passengers were standing, as

and vocational courses. Parks went on to a laboratory

the front of the bus had filled up.

school set up by the Alabama State Teachers College

People were meant to give up their seats in the

for Negroes for secondary education, but dropped

middle section so that the white passengers could sit.

to care for her grandmother and later her mother,

Years later, in recalling the events of the day, Parks

after they became ill. School bus transportation was

said, "When that white driver stepped back toward us,

unavailable in any form for black schoolchildren in the

when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of

South, and black education was always underfunded.

our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a

Rosa remembers going to elementary school in Pine

quilt on a winter night."

Level, where school buses took white students to their

By Parks' account, Blake said, "Y'all better make it

new school and black students had to walk to theirs.

light on yourselves and let me have those seats." Three

She said:

of them complied. Parks said, "The driver wanted

“

I'd see the bus pass every day... But to me, that was a way of life;

us to stand up, the four of us. We didn't move at the

we had no choice but to accept what was the custom. The bus

beginning, but he says, 'Let me have these seats.' And

was among the first ways I realized there was a black world and a white world.

Rosa then went to work as a seamstress and it was

the other three people moved, but I didn't.” The black man sitting next to her gave up his seat.

one night on the way back from a day at work that she refused to give up her seat to a white person. Thursday,

Whilst an act may appear small the consequences can be life changing.

December 1, 1955, in downtown Montgomery. She

When Rosa Parks didn’t give up her seat the bus

paid her fare and sat in an empty seat in the first row of

driver called the police and had her arrested. After

9

9

25

SCRIBBLE

9

9

she was released she still suffered many hardships.

refuses to give up her seat as she believes that whites

She lost her job, and her husband left his job as he was

aren’t better than blacks and that she shouldn’t have

banned for talking about his wife or the legal case. In

to give up her seat for one. When she made a stand

1979, the NAACP awarded Rosa Parks the Spingarn

and wouldn’t move she set off a chain of events. Lots

Medal, their highest honour, and the following year,

of blacks throughout the country started making a

they presented her with the Martin Luther King Jr.

stand, changing the course of history, making a differ-

Award. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of

ence.

Freedom in 1996.

Just by refusing to give up her seat to a white

Here a black person refuses to give up their seat

person on a bus she’s started changing the world. Rosa

to someone who is supposedly better than them

Parks has made a stand. Now imagine it’s the 1960s

according to the law. Rosa’s act of refusal was her way

and you’re black, what deed would you perform to

of demonstrating everyone is the same. Rosa Parks

continue this chain of events?

Overall Senior Winner - Madeline Williams Year 12 The discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming is one of the most significant of the modern age, not just within medicine, as it has saved immeasurable numbers of lives and has led to the further discovery of many more antibiotics, each with their own life saving properties. H. G. Wells wrote in his novel War of the Worlds:

“These germs of disease have taken toll of humanity since the beginning of things--taken toll of our prehumen ancestors since life began here.” However, in our modern world it seems almost unimaginable for people to suffer and fear minor cuts as we know that should they become seriously infected, it can be cured by anti-biotics. However, with the growing predicament of antibiotic resistant bacteria which has been bought to the attention of the public through recent hospital lock-downs because of MRSA, we are truly able to value the role antibiotics play in everyday life saving. Hence the ground-breaking nature of Flemings discovery is once

B

again at the front of our modern scientific minds. efore the days of antibiotics, disease and

effective treatment before their patients died.

infection caused by bacteria were the main

It is a curious case that the discovery of the first

causes of fatalities. So, it is no surprise

antibiotic occurred purely by accident, that fate

that in 1913, 36,500 people were killed in

delivered Fleming the answer to most of the early

Britain alone by the bacterial disease tuberculosis.

20th century world’s grievances. In 1928, Fleming

Bacteria can reproduce rapidly as they multiply by

(while researching influenza) had left some culture

binary fission, splitting every 20 minutes. This means

plates containing the staphylococci bacterium on a

that within 12 hours, 1 specimen can multiply into a

window ledge. He noted that unintentionally a mould

colony of 68,719,476,736 bacterium. The rapid and

had grown on the plates and more intriguingly around

often lethal effects of bacteria led to the frustration of

the growths there was an area free of staphylococci

many doctors and scientists as they knew that bacteria

growth. It was clear that this mould was able to kill and

(the first sightings of bacteria occurred in 1660 by

prevent the growth of staphylococci. Fleming spent

Anton van Leeuwenhoek) was causing the deaths of

his time identifying the type of mould which had been

their patient but were unable to intervein with any

so effective against the bacteria, it was Penicillium

9

9

26

9

9

SCRIBBLE

notatum (later to be known as penicillin.) By 1940,

other scientists to find future antibiotics and continue

scientists Howard Florey, Ernst Chain and Norman

to walk the path that Fleming had laid for them.

Heatley researched cultures of penicillin provided

Antibiotic resistance is arguably the greatest risk

to them by Fleming. They were able to culture

to the health and ultimately the survival of humanity

concentrated penicillin and set up a factory in their

and it is as prominent today as it was in the 1950’s.

laboratory in Oxford. Although Flemings discovery

The risk of returning to the times before antibiotics

had occurred 15 years earlier, penicillin was not

is daunting as antibiotics has caused such a profound

widely available till 1943 when allied troops were given

improvement in the survival rates of patients with

the new drug to treat all manner of injuries acquired

bacterial infections. Hence the development of

during the second world war, saving countless

penicillin resistant bacteria presented an ultimatum

numbers of lives then and still to this day. Fleming

for the world: find an alternative for penicillin or

shared a Nobel Prize in 1945 with Florey and Chain as

return to the “dark ages of medicine.” This call was

his work was finally noticed due to its perception as a

answered with the discovery of other antibiotics only

“magic bullet” for disease being widely prescribed for

a few years later such as streptomycin (1943) and

anything from pneumonia to syphilis.

methicillin (1959) to name but a few, each part of the

Penicillin was found to have the ability to treat

first generation of antibiotics, none of which would

mainly meningitis, pneumonia, diphtheria, blood

have been possible without the initial discovery and

poisoning, septic wounds and scarlet fever (which was

the research put in place by Fleming. However, since

particularly prominent in children and devastating

then it has been a continuous struggle to find more

in the 18th,19th and early 20th century as in some

effective antibiotics before bacteria became resistant

locations deaths due to scarlet fever out of all deaths

to them. It seems that there has been limited progress

rose to 25% around 1900. ) Penicillin treated some of

since “the golden age” of antibiotic discovery of the

the main killers at the time however it did not kill all

1940-70’s, especially compared with the advances

e.g. Penicillin was unable to treat TB. So, it was clear

made in other areas of science and technology in the

to Fleming and other scientists that the search must

modern period. The long-term effect of Penicillin

continue.

is not only that it formed a prototype for all later

However, the achievements of Fleming began to

antibiotics but also that it is still one of the drugs of

be put at risk from invisible opposition as early as the

choice used to treat many infections even today- 90

late 1950’s when penicillin-resistant staphylococci

years after its initial discovery. In February 2017 the

cases began to emerge in hospitals. Fleming had even

WHO produce a list of 12 families of bacteria which

predicted during the 1940’s that some bacterium would

required the need for immediate discovery of new

eventually become resistant to his penicillin and that

antibiotics to treat them as they posed such a threat

other antibiotics must be found in preparation for

to humanity’s survival as they had such high levels of

this. Thereby Fleming was dedicated to collecting any

resistance even to the last resort antibiotics. The list

types of mould that he could find. Fleming scraped

includes Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas and E. coli etc.

off mould from food, shoes and people to test them

which normally pose a greatest threat to vulnerable

to see if they had similar properties to his penicillin.

patients with already weakened immune systems as

However, all his endeavours failed to find another

they are already receiving treatment (especially post

“magic bullet” like penicillin and so it would be left to

operation and transplant patients who are also taking

9

9

27

SCRIBBLE

9

9

immuno-suppressants at the same time.)

means that 55% of the world’s population live in an

The public is aware of the problems caused by

urban area. This is a massive rise since 1950 where

antibiotic resistance with winter headlines often

only 751 million lived in urban locations. Currently

consisting of deaths because of MRSA and C. difficile.

there is no longer the mass hysteria of living within the

According to the Office for National Statistics, 846

proximity of others who may possibly have dangerous

individual cases of MRSA we reported in hospitals

bacterial infections which may be harmful to health

across the UK in the financial year of 2017-18, which

and spread quickly from one person to another if

has shown a steady rise over the past few years from

living too close to one another. We can still experience

only 800 cases in the financial year 2014-15. It is

the fear that the world had of bacteria before the age of

clear that the global population is on a downwards

antibiotics, in the hysteria presented especially in the

slope with regards to access of effective antibiotics

media when a viral outbreak (such as the Swine Flu

and thereby Flemings legacy is more important than

epidemic) occurred in an urban area due to the rapid

ever- the ceaseless pursuit of antibiotics and the

spread and the number of people effected.

collaboration of scientists across the globe in pursuit of a this goal.

Countless masses were saved by Flemings discovery and the other antibiotics discovered because of his

Fleming’s discovery altered the world beyond

initial work. We could not imagine a world without

all recognition. It’s first main use in the treatment

today’s modern technology or it’s inventors; a world

allied soldiers during the second world war and later

without celebrities and activists in all areas of work;

contributing to D-Day and so indirectly assisted in

without our own parents and families- most who

the prevention of the further rise of Hitler in Europe.

probably owe their lives to antibiotics and without

During the 1930’s the rates of death during childbirth

which our society would be stunted in its development.

declined dramatically because of the availability of

It cannot be denied that the world would not look the

antibiotics. Today women in England and Wales have

same without Fleming. It is impossible to imagine

the mortality rates during childbirth that are 40-50

what would happen if Winston Churchill had died of

times lower than in 1955. The decrease in the death

pneumonia in the middle of the second world war if he

rate because of the advances of medicine (particularly

hadn’t been treated with the antibiotic sulfadiazine?

the usage of penicillin and other antibiotics) and the

Emily Bronte, Edgar Allen Poe, John Keats- each died

maintenance of the birth rate meant that population

of tuberculosis which could have been treated with

growth rates began to rise towards 2% in the 1950’s

antibiotics and may have written so much more as a

and 1970’s with a peak of 2.113% in 1966 and it has

result. Tchaikovsky contracted cholera and could have

only been since the millennium that percentage of

benefitted from the treatment of antibiotics and may

global population growth is beginning to fall back

have composed many more masterpieces of music.

to 1%. Population growth has been making front

By observing the influential people who could have

pages for all the wrong reasons as it puts the world

been saved by antibiotic, we are able to realise the real

at threat from over population and its consequences

influence that antibiotics had to save the lives of those

such as famine and climate change. However, the

who have truly impacted the whole of society as well

modern world would not exist in its current state with

as our lives as individuals.

urban metropolises (the symbols of the 21st century)

Furthermore, global agriculture has changed due

in which 4.2 billion humans now call home , which

to the discovery of antibiotics as animals can now be

9

9

28

9

9

SCRIBBLE

farmed more intensively, in larger groups with a lower

predicament of antibiotic resistance as predicted

risk of disease spreading through a whole population

by Fleming himself.) However, Fleming’s legacy of

of livestock. It is estimated that around 40% of all

mankind’s determination and ingenuity to find a

antibiotics produced are given to animals, most of it

solution to our problems and once again like Fleming

is used in industrial agricultural feed to be given to

to aim to regain control over “the humblest things that

livestock to promote more rapid rates of growth as they

God, in his wisdom, has put upon the earth.” - bacteria

are less likely to become ill and so lose muscle mass, making farming more efficient. Even though antibiotic usage in animals is now massively frowned upon as it is believed to largely contribute to antibiotic resistance as its usage is mostly unnecessary as the animals given antibiotics at the time are not experiencing an infection at the time and just consume antibiotics mixed into the feed (to ensure that all the livestock are given an equal dose.) However, the efficiency of this level of agriculture has enabled most of the global population to remain fed despite the global population growing exponentially and the number of people working in the agricultural industry decreasing dramatically.

It has also massively changed the types of food that people around the world consume (specifically in Asian countries such as China and India,) changing from plant-based diets (mainly staples such as rice) to consuming a more typically western diet based mainly on meat and dairy. The antibiotic resistance caused by the excessive and somewhat irresponsible use of antibiotics is now trying to be reduced by the WHO and other organisations that prioritise preventing antimicrobial resistance.

It cannot be denied that Flemings discovery of Penicillin impacted the world by saving millions and saving countless more by inspiring the discovery of further antibiotics. Antibiotics have changed our world beyond all recognition by enabling humanity to exist as it does today in the modern urban settings with a flourishing population. Although the consequences of antibiotics have not always been positive, this is only because of humans exploiting their benefits when it is not necessary (so accelerating the inevitable

Take part in our next release of the “SHS Essay Writing Prize – sponsored by Friends of Shrewsbury High” in 2019.

9

9

29

SCRIBBLE

The Civil Rights Movement and Literature

Richard Wright

Gwendolyn Brooks

By Divya Balain

James Baldwin

Ralph Ellison

T

E

Lorraine Hansberry

he 1950s and 60s in Amercia was a time of political unrest with the Civil Rights movement on the rise - a wave of tension and discontent was sweeping the nation and forcing the white

authority to acknowledge the institutional racism that was holding African-American citizens back.

arly forms of African-American literature including slave narratives and those generated from the Harlem Renaissance paved the way for a new wave of literature that reflected the themes of struggle and liberation that was prevalent in every aspect of the civil rights movement.

Literature gave a voice and platform to AfricanAmericans who felt a disconnect to the system that favoured white Americans and provided a platform for resistance. The civil rights movement marked historical changes in laws in the US, but also was a time of historical breakthroughs for black writers, political advancements reflected in

With a surge in self -pride, determination and justice came a sense of liberation and freedom for African-American authors to write literature that captured the frustration and exposes the racism and hardships they had to live.

30

Harlem resistance is an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that spanned during the 1920s and 1930s. However, the ideas that originated from this movement lived on for a long time. During this period of time, it was known as “New Negro Movement“.

the barriers broken down in literature – for example in 1959 Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in The Sun was the first play by an African-American woman to reach Broadway. Similarly, Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize, she did so in 1950 for her poetry collection Annie Allen which explored themes of race, death and womanhood and a change from romantic, idealistic thinking to a more realist approach - something that must have resonated with people who were seeing their society in a new light.

I

n addition to an advancement in civil rights, a large migration of African-Americans from the south to northern cities – e.g. Chicago – caused an explosion of independence, empowerment and vibrant culture that spread into the literature created. Two of the most important books to come out of the civil rights era from African-American authors were Richard Wright's Native Son (1940) and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (1952). Invisible Man explores issues like black identity as well as themes of invisibility - Ellison's narrator in the novel states

"All my life I had been looking for something and everywhere I turned somebody tried to tell me what it was". This idea of identity must have resonated deeply with people involved in a movement based in bringing forward their own presence and identity and being seen as equals. Part of the plot involves the narrator having to take part in a battle royal for white entertainment in order to receive a scholarship, this seems symbolic of a wider racial degradation and exploitation that contributed to the sense of frustration and anger felt by black people in America, eventually leading to the civil rights movement. However, Invisible Man was not a novel written for social protest – unlike Native Son.

N

ative Son was a groundbreaking novel following 20-year-old Bigger Thomas living in Chicago. It became an immediate bestseller it focuses on the effects of racism on the oppressed and the oppressor and was undoubtedly influential. In the novel, Bigger Thomas commits very extreme, heinous crimes

SCRIBBLE and yet Wright in his novel does not apologise for them, instead exposes the inevitably behind them that is systematic. Wright’s novel is a key novel of the Civil Rights era, partly because Wright’s aim was to ensure that white readers would not feel pity or sympathy for the character and instead recognise their complicity in a racist society, he would not allow white readers to “assume that they were not in

any way responsible for the situation that AfricanAmericans found themselves in” – as Caryl Phillips states in the introduction to the novel. In this way, Native Son is the epitome of a civil rights novel as its purpose was truly to expose the racial divide and harm racism has on society in a way that would evoke change. Later on, people began to criticise the novel, rejecting the portrayal of Bigger Thomas as a stereotype. However, Caryl Phillips argues that

“Richard Wright’s ability to have us empathize with this man...(and) to understand what has motivated his brutality, is the greatest achievement of the novel”. Bigger Thomas conforms to stereotypes

This pushback against another institution seems inevitable at a time of unrest against oppressive forces and a cultural enlightenment to the tools used to oppress. Moreover, in James Baldwin’s novel Go Tell It On The Mountain, the Church is shown as a source of inspiration as well as a source of hypocrisy in terms of morality and repression. This captures the complex relationship that many AfricanAmericans must have felt towards Christianity. For example, while Martin Luther King accepted the Christian faith and baptism in his message and life, Malcolm X rejected it, calling it a religion for the white man - “Brothers and sisters, the white man has

brainwashed us black people to fasten our gaze on a blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus! We’re worshipping a Jesus that doesn’t even look like us!” - and instead accepting the teachings of the Nation of Islam. In this way, Baldwin captured the complex dilemmas individuals faced when trying to carve out their own identity yet still trying to advocate the same cause.

of being a black murderer and rapist, yet he is a victim of his society – Wright highlights the toxic nature of racism that makes a savage, violent action the only way to react in a suffocating society. The focus on causes of crime makes the novel powerful, highlighting the danger of racism to black people as well as showing the impact it would have on white people as well, thus Wright manipulates his message to be relevant to a white audience and make it more impactful as a result.

Civil Rights Activists Martin Luther King & Malcolm X

O

ne interesting aspect of novels to come out of the Civil Rights era was the portrayal of religion.

Traditionally, Christianity has been closely intertwined in African-American culture providing a sense of hope and relief. Despite this, in Native Son religion is portrayed not in an uplifting way but rather as an ‘opiate of the black masses’, hymns are shown to be ineffective and the Church is portrayed as being another power institution that doesn’t help anyone, the ineffective teachings of the church on Bigger Thomas’s life expose the vapid and shallow nature of the Church in Wright’s opinion as being ineffective in the fight for justice.

32

Silloutte of Martin Luther King

A

frican-American Literature released in the 70s and 80s (after the peak of the civil rights movement) had had time to gain increased perspectives and research to explore the same themes and emotion from the civil rights movement in different ways – resulting in novels that were in some ways more unique takes on previously explored struggles. Toni Morrison was the first African-American to win the Nobel prize in literature 1993 – showing how an advancement in civil rights helped establish a place for AfricanAmerican authors and their works to be respected.

She released her first novel The Bluest Eye in 1970 and her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Beloved in 1988. The Bluest Eye focuses on self-esteem and identity and is an original take on “how hurtful racism is”, the novel exposes the weight placed on white beauty standards. Similarly, Beloved focuses also on psychological effects, this time on the impact of slavery and is based on a true story of Margaret Garner, who killed her baby in order to avoid being the child being forced into a life of slavery. The focus on history and the impact of racism merged with an interesting plot provides original novels with a fascinating perspective on race and history that

could only be born after a time of incredible social change and shifting attitudes.

African-American Nobel Prize Winner in Literature Toni Morrison

SCRIBBLE

Budding A Level Literature students in Year 11 were given the opportunity to submit some creative writing examples to this edition of Scribble. First up is this entry from Dani Hales titled ‘The Journey’. It focuses on a bus journey home and the narrator’s contemplation about what she sees and experiences as she travels along.

The Journey l ‘Why does it feel like time slows down when you’re moving?’ I wonder, locking eyes with a portly man, hobbling to his usual nocturnal settlement – the pub’

so quickly when you stop?’ I contradict as I acknowledge the woman’s sharp yet affectionate ‘goodbye’ to one of her apparently naughty children on the phone (Tim, I believe accidentally opened the kitchen door onto his brother’s face, no blood, just bruises, it’s clear the mother’s hoping ice cream will fix all of it).

An arrogant groan and reluctance to accelerate initiates the bus’ on-going journey. I begin to wonder back into my thoughts of the past, realising my time for contemplation is expiring as I near my bus stop.

When night succumbs the earth, everything just goes… black.

An overwhelming, claustrophobic black cloud of nothing, as if it’s protecting the sky. Darkness intertwines itself through every alley, it reflects off every window, it’s absorbed into every cinema screen or monochrome billboard that uses the ominous colour as an advantage. I continue to inquisitively stare out of the dusty, decade-old windows, appreciating all pathways of life as I am carelessly driven past. Streetlights create a warm yet harsh resistance to the darkness, providing guidance for all human nightlife below. Rubbish bags dapple the pavements, leaving only secluded spots for the homeless; every one we drive past ingesting some concoction of drug, its manipulative chemicals creating the false impression of a pleasurable life, although in reality they are painfully crumbling away.

For one last time, I glanced out of the translucent window, observing strangers oblivious to my eye’s presence, going about their lives believing they had a sense of purpose.

An overwhelming sense of comfort approached me as I recognised my mother’s childhood home on the outskirts of my neighbourhood, minty green in colour with a vast front door, which suited the regular gatherings we used to have when my life didn’t contain responsibilities. As three seconds felt like three hours, I cast my eyes upon a new object they became fascinated by, the stop button.

A sudden jolt of the contraption I am being carried in snaps me back to reality. A woman to my left is glaring, in the same place I was glaring at, twiddling her thumbs with a look of concern painted across her aged face.

My stop approaches rapidly so I rigorously snap my mind out of its past trance and willingly press the greasy button, initiating a piercing yet tranquil ring to acknowledge my desire to exit from the boredom trap.

A woman in front of me, hair tied back into a neat yet casual plait is sternly shouting (but subtly) down the phone to (I’m guessing) one of her six children. She’s wearing a thrown-on emerald ‘mom’ dress – a baggy one that no female would ever contemplate buying in a store. The roots of her hair have strands of shimmering grey, toned down by her seemingly recent caramel highlight ‘touch up’.

The bus gently decelerates to a harsh stop. I stand up enthusiastically, pat down my grey pleated school skirt, aggressively hurl my rucksack onto my now germ induced back (thank you, public transport), and scurry along the narrow walkway to hop off. As it groans once again and pulls to drive away, I watch intently its boasting turquoise back, outlined with its red intricacies and stifle a sigh as my longing for contemplation of life while glaring out of a window, vanishes.

‘Definitely more than five’ I think, encouraging myself with a gentle, cheerful chuckle; you know, to not protrude in any other passengers’ absentminded thoughts. We’ve been tentatively waiting at this traffic light for a while now. Time is of the essence in present day… ‘Why do things happen

34

SCRIBBLE

Next up is another creative writing submission from Year 11 student Amy Watton.

Her Story ‘Jamie’, is an account of a cleaner’s experiences working in a mental health facility. However, it seems that the memories the narrator shares of the experience are no as conventional as they first appear...

Jamie l “Wow, that’s cool, you have to tell us more about your a way to escape from them without using violence. How they experience, an overview for the listeners. Are there any scary had expected us to manage that I have no idea, but thankfully stories or encounters in particular that will wake everyone up I was never attacked. on this dreary Monday morning?”

“The hospital I worked at had its mental health facility detached from the main building. To get to it you had to walk down the hill from the main building. The out building its in is two storeys. The upper part is for officers and the lower is the patient area. We have two sections: A and B. Section A is for the more severe cases of mental illness and Section B is for the more mild forms including people who have made suicide attempts. Every time I was sent down there, I worked in Section A.

Cold, dim corridors , the air leaden with a sense of disquietude, of allienation...

The first part of the procedures for the day was getting the keys from the security guards; every door in the facility was to be remained closed and locked so there was no chance of a patient escaping. If you needed to leave, and a patient blocked the door, or they were nearby enough so they could potentially slip out with you, you had to find another way around or wait for them to move. This happened a couple of times to me but it was never much of an issue.

The second thing about the procedures that made this a difficult place to work was how we cleaned the rooms. We had to take our housekeeping trolley and wedge it into the doorway to block the patients coming in whilst we worked.

Whilst we were cleaning we had to keep an eye on our trolleys to make sure patients didn’t come up and mess with them. A few years before, a patient actually tried to drink the bleach off of another housekeeper’s trolley.

The third procedure: it dealt with if a patient cornered you or attacked you, which was a very rare occurrence but had happened in the past. As we were not allowed to defend ourselves if such an event happened, we would have to yell for a security guard, a doctor or a nurse and if that didn’t work, we would have to try and talk the patient down ourselves or find

35

‘Working’ there was terrifying and borderline unhealthy; constantly on edge and feeling like they knew…they knew why I’ was there and it was all a game, they were just mocking me. By far one of the most difficult things I’ve tried to do. All I could do was wait and hope…needed to make them go away… the voices…I needed to help Jamie.

“In fact, during my first week working down there, there was a woman who refused to put her clothes on.”

“Really? Jesus,” “Yeah, they had her locked in solitary confinement for three days because of it. The confinement rooms were down a small, narrow hallway with large glass doors at the end and they would take irrepressible patients in there and strap them down to these padded reclining chairs until whatever problem there was had been resolved. They had cameras in the room to monitor the patients, but due to the woman’s nudity, they kept a post-it note over the screen and would lift it up every once in a while to see how she was doing. But, the worst patient for me personally was there for the entire time I worked down there.

He would talk to himself, which was the normal for the most of the patients, and usually sat in the common area.

Often when I had to go near him, I was behind the chair he was sitting and he was always facing an empty chair talking to nobody in particular. Without warning he would begin to have some sort of psychotic episode…

All of a sudden he let out this strained, stilted and slightly warped laugh that grated on my ears, slowly transitioning into a soul maiming scream of “shut up! Be quiet! Go away!”

He would relax, body slumping in his seat and then he would start to shake, muscles convulsing as if his body was trying to decide whether it wanted to tear apart limb from limb or curl up into a defensive ball like a cockroach. …The situation kind of freaked me out so I always hurried

SCRIBBLE

out the room when it got to that point.”

“I don’t blame you, this happened often? Did he do anything else?”

“Often enough for it be a regular occurrence…another day the same guy was humming to himself. It was a Christian song like one learned at Sunday school. He was lying down and then he just went stiff as a board…

It was as if the iron cast shackles of his tortured mind had chained him up, restricting all possible movement, no breath taken in case the pressure made him explode. Again the screaming would restart, ripping open the psychological scars and fishing inside, despairing and desperate for a mere sliver of sensation of something living. I was trying to get close to him whilst mopping the area and I knocked the bucket over in shock from the sheer unadulterated howls of pain. No! Jamie don’t, don’t cry I’ll take you away from here I promise! I can help! Please! The panic seemed to stretch its talons towards me and I felt my throat close up, constricting and binding itself into knots, making me claw at my neck like some deranged animal. The doctors ran in shoving me away from him. All I could do was stagger away. …I just walked away. I was never allowed to lay a hand on a patient, only alert the authorities, even then only if completely necessary. And I was never attacked or cornered by any of the patients thank God but working in that place…I couldn’t cope with it so I was grateful when my boss told me I never had to work down there again.”

Miss Hale’s Recommended Reads

Women & Power by Mary Beard presents a bold

manifesto for women’s liberty, exploring the deep roots of misogyny and offering a revolutionary roadmap for change. Her examples range from the classical world to the modern day, from Medusa and Athena to Theresa May and Hillary Clinton. Beard explores the cultural underpinnings of misogyny, considering the public voice of women, our cultural assumptions about women’s relationship with power, and how powerful women resist being packaged into a male template

I stumbled out of the room, away from Jamie; it pained me too much to be near him. I decided to wait in an abandoned corridor for the panic to die down until I was well enough to go back to Jamie. An all too familiar crawling sensation slithered through me, the feeling of not being quite alone. That’s when I heard it, the tell tale clicking sound. The pincers. The creaking carpeted by the whispering laughs coming from the joints. Then I saw it. Thin glass like skin stretched tight over spindly legs, attached to a black tulip body.

We’d met before; this intruder was no stranger to my mind.

It had met Jamie too but as a voice, a scream. No voice ever came out of its mouth for me, no, it would lumber towards me, my head would be in its gaping mouth, a cavern of last breaths and sighs, its jaw would crack, forcing me to look down its repulsive gullet. Then I’d collapse, knees buckling and crashing to the floor.

The security guards found me a little while later and dragged me to the doctors who had ‘subdued’ Jamie. They know they know they know. They know that I’m one of them.

“Well thank you for your time, our guest today has been Alex Miller on BBC Radio 4, next up we have The Archers.”

l 36

Purple Hibiscus by by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the debut novel from the author of A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Lessons. A haunting tale

focusing on the promise of freedom, and the pain and exhilaration of adolescence. The limits of fifteen year old Kambili’s world are defined by the high walls of her family estate and the dictates of her repressive and fanatically religious father. When Nigeria begins to fall apart during a military coup, Kambili’s father, involved mysteriously in the political crisis, sends Kambili and her brother away to live with their aunt. In this house, full of energy and laughter, she discovers life and love - and a terrible, bruising secret deep within her family.

SCRIBBLE

Words of Protest, Words of Freedom: Poetry of the American Civil Rights Movement and Era, edited by Jeffrey Lamar Coleman

The first comprehensive collection of poems written during and in response to the American civil rights struggle of 1955–75. Featuring some of the most celebrated writers of the twentieth century including Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Lowell, and Derek Walcott - this anthology presents a varied and vibrant set of voices, highlighting the tremendous symbolic reach of the civil rights movement within and beyond the United States.

The Portable Beat Reader, edited by Ann Charters

The perfect starting point for anyone who wants to get a flavour of the main Beat generation writers: Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder. In poetry, fiction, essays, song lyrics, letters, and memoirs, this collection captures the energy and exhilaration of a movement that began in late 1940s America.

Precious Bane by Mary Webb is the story of Prudence Sarn, born

at the time of Waterloo in the wild country of Shropshire. Prudence Sarn is a wild, passionate girl, cursed with a hare lip - her ‘precious bane’. Cursed for it, too, by the superstitious people amongst whom she lives. Prue loves two things: the remote countryside of her birth and, hopelessly, Kester Woodseaves, the weaver. The tale of how Kester gradually discerns Prue’s true beauty is set against the tragic drama of Prue’s brother, Gideon, a driven man who is out of harmony with the natural world.

The Virago Book of Women and the Great Ward, edited by Joyce

Marlow A fascinating and varied collection of women’s writing on the Great War drawn from diaries, newspapers, letters and memoirs from across Europe and America. Starting with material from 1914, this collection outlines the pre-war campaigns for suffrage and then the demand from women eager to be counted amongst those in action.

Contemporary accounts and reports describe their experience on the field and reactions to women in completely new areas, such as surgery as well as on the home front. Familiar voices such as those of Vera Brittain, Millicent Fawcett, May Sinclair, the Pankhurst family and Beatrice Webb, make this anthology a truly indispensable guide to the female experience of war.

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

Based on a lecture given at Girton College, Cambridge and first published in 1929, A Room of One’s Own interweaves Woolf’s personal experience as a writer with themes ranging from Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë to the silent fate of Shakespeare’s gifted (and imaginary) sister, and the effects of poverty and gender inequality on female creativity. The essay argues for both a literal and figurative space for women writers and is Woolf’s most powerful feminist writing, justifying the need for women to possess intellectual freedom and financial independence.

37

SCRIBBLE

Meet The Team

01

02

03

04

05

06

38

01

M O L LY HUXLEY

02

MEG HEANEY

03

ESTHER DOWD

Editor

Deputy Editor

Contributor - Year 12

English Literature, Geography, Fine Art I have continued my editorial role in this edition and have been so proud of what we as a magazine team have created.

This edition is full of exciting insights and articles from literary competitions to female poets of the First World War and I have had the pleasure of overseeing everything.

English Literature, Maths and Biology Having recently introduced the “SHS Essay Writing Prize” to the High School, we’ve received a wonderful range of essays on a wide scope of figures who have changed the world. Find the two overall Junior and Senior winning essays who argue that Alexander Fleming and Rosa Parks have changed the world we live in today!

I also wrote an essay for this edition all about the impact of Literature. The question of ‘Does Literature Change Anything?’ begs the exploration of literature as a catalyst – as an aid to change – to enable literature’s impact to be that which inspires and encourages societies evolution and growth.

English literature, History and Classical Civilisation As a contributor to Scribble I write an article for each edition about a famous Shropshire writer. I really enjoy writing for Scribble as it allows me to develop my writing skills and I learn a lot about inspirational figures of English Literature who have come from Shropshire.

04

MADELINE WILLIAMS

Contributor - Year 12 Studying Biology, Chemistry and English Literature I have written about female poets writing in WW1 and have delved into differing perceptions on their poetry both past and present.

06

KIRSTY EADES

Contributor - Year 12

07

AMY WAT T O N

Contributor - Year 11

05

D I V YA BALAIN

Contributor - Year 12 English Literature, Chemistry, Religious Studies, Biology I wrote an article about civil rights and literature – looking at how advancements in civil rights impacted the literature produced at that time.

08

DANI HALES

Contributor - Year 11

English Literature, Geography and Psychology I wrote up an interview in this edition: 15 Questions with Ms Sharrock.

ROBIN ALDRIDGE

RORY ALLEN

ALEX HALE

B E T H A N I E LO R D

T I F FA N Y PA R D O E

Contributor

Contributor

Contributor

Contributor

Graphic Designer

A A R I FA K H A N O M

Proof Reader

S C R I B B L E Independent Day School 32 Town Walls I Shrewsbury I Shropshire I SY1 1TN I 01743 494000 www.shrewsburyhigh.gdst.net Follow us on Instagram scribbleshs

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Shrewsbury High School

@scribble_shs