Excitement You Can't Hold In

Class date: Wednesday, Jan. 27th

As of today the students have forced me to restructure my class.

Can you remember the last time you met a friend for lunch, or picked up your child from school, and before you can even say hello they're bursting with exciting news they want to share. Now imagine fifteen such individuals all eager to share with you their thrilling news. Today, that's what I experienced, and I decided I had to adjust the way I conduct class.

As part of the daily ritual, whenever a teacher walks into the classroom, the whole class stands up and remains quiet while they are greeted by the teacher. As soon as I walked in, the excited uproar of comments over last night's reading started. I couldn't help but be swept up in the excitement and break with the ritual to listen, just a bit:

"Mr. Travers! Mr. Travers! It was dramatic!"

"It was disturbing!"

"I was scared!"

"It was sad! Tragic!"

It was all I could do to get everyone under control to greet me appropriately!

So, what was it that made the class so enthralled by last night's reading?

Three of the main characters, whose motivations we've studied in isolation of each other, came clashing together in an intensely dramatic few pages.

Claude Frollo, obsessed with Esmeralda, and jealous of Phoebus, finds out that the gypsy and the captain are to rendez-vous. The priest tracks Phoebus and is able to hide in the room where the lustful captain is to meet the enamored gypsy. (For more on Frollo's obsession, refer to the entry titled "Illustrating a Soul")

This is the first meeting between the two. Esmeralda, wholly in love with Phoebus, wants to be instructed in Phoebus's religion so that they may be married. However, Phoebus dismisses such a notion as nonsense and slinks his arm around her waist. At this point, Andy reminded us of the "opposite" views of love the two of them have. (For more on Phoebus's vs. Esmeralda's attitudes towards love see the entry titled "Opposites Attract?")

Meanwhile, the hidden Frollo, seething with jealousy, tests the point of a dagger against the tip of his finger. Several students, at this point of our discussion, uttered concerned moans.

As Phoebus leans in for the kiss Esmeralda is finally willing to allow, the demonic priest towers over Phoebus, stabs him, and kisses Esmeralda as she faints.

When Esmeralda wakes, she sees Phoebus’ body being carried away and hears, “She’s a witch who just stabbed a captain.” Several students sighed--Phoebus is probably dead, the wicked murderer escaped, and Esmeralda is blamed!

How could I blame the students for bursting with excitement after having reading that chapter? In fact, I'm now reserving a couple of minutes at the beginning of every class to hear their reactions!

Art Class- Part II (of two)

Class date: Tuesday, Jan. 26th

As we began class today, one student (I'll call her Rebecca) sheepishly asked if she could retrieve her literature binder which she had forgotten in another classroom.

"Perfect!" I thought to myself, "This will help illustrate the theme of today's class."

She was a little nervous because she would have to walk into a class already in session to retrieve her binder. I asked her how she felt about going. "Embarrassed!" she said. “Everyone will be staring at me!”

Upon her return we inquired how it went (yep, she noticed the stares), and we turned to some art.

We started by looking back at the three artworks we had examined during Thursday's class ("Art Class- part 1 of 2"). Despite showing vastly different subjects, the students noticed the similarities between Father Joseph, Ruby Bridges, and Venus:

1. Each of these characters was the center of attention.

2. They all seemed to be oblivious to the attention.

We then looked at a new painting:

Admiration

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_(1825-1905)_-_Admiration_(1897).jpg

In the center of a bevy of young women, a young boy (with wings) stands soaking up the attention. Cupid, the young boy, is being gazed upon adoringly and, as Adan put it, “he looks flattered by all the attention.” At this point I asked the students to recall a time when they had enjoyed positive attention. I saw several smiles of recollection: showing off a beautiful dress, receiving applause at a recital, etc.... In the painting, the young women corral their favorite god hoping to be the next one he pierces with his arrow, and he enjoys the attention.

Then came a slide of this same Cupid side by side with Joseph, Ruby, and Venus. After a few moments, I started hearing the "oohs"and "aahs" of realization--the similarities and, especially, the difference were becoming clear.

Unlike Joseph, Ruby, and Venus, Cupid is fully aware of the attention paid him--he is self-conscious... just like, as the students figured out, Rebecca was while retrieving her binder.

Whether the attention paid them was positive or negative, Joseph, Ruby, and Venus were, on the other hand, oblivious to it. They weren’t even ignoring the others--which implies awareness--they were “in their own world”—unself-conscious.

So what did this identification of being self-conscious versus unself-conscious have to do with The Hunchback of Notre Dame?

Hands were being raised as lightbulbs were turning on. Before they said too much about Esmeralda, I showed them one more painting--actually, the lower half of a painting: a crowd of rugged looking medieval folk shouting and pointing up at something. As the students were starting to remember the scene, I showed the top half: Esmeralda offering water to Quasimodo on the pillory oblivious to the agitated crowd.

http://www.insecula.com/PhotosNew/00/00/06/36/ME0000063667_3.JPG

Though a seemingly minor trait of Esmeralda's, she might not have been capable of her "sublime" act were she self-conscious.

For pre-teens feeling the pressures of conformity and popularity, Esmeralda provides an image of self-assurance under scrutiny.

Illustrating a Soul

Class date: Monday, Jan. 25th

Today in Class we got to know the most enigmatic character of the novel—Claude Frollo. Part of the class likes him, the other part isn't sure. Part of the class thinks he hates Esmeralda, and another part thinks that he likes her.

Throughout his life Frollo has been a dedicated priest and a devoted brother. And though he has expressed hatred towards Esmeralda, whom we all like, he did save the infant Quasimodo when others were bent on burning him alive. And in spite of the Parisian populace thinking he is sorcerer, he is committed to his pursuit of divine knowledge, alchemy.

In this chapter we discover that some powerful feelings are interfering with his pursuit of alchemy.

As he tries to work, two names keep coming to mind, “Esmeralda” and “Pheobus.” He cannot concentrate--he is tortured with desire and jealousy. He, a priest, is in love with a gypsy girl.

Later in the scene, as he consults with a fellow alchemist, he notices a fly caught in a web in the corner of a window. To the bemusement of his colleague, he begins to explain how the fly and spider are a reflection of himself. And, having just seen him struggle in his concentration, we were able to piece together the metaphor.

Frollo, as he explains, is the little fly fluttering towards the sun outside—a naïve pursuer of divine knowledge. The fly, on it’s way to enlightenment, is suddenly caught in a web with a spider lying in wait. The spider, again, is Frollo—another part of him: his obsession with Esmeralda. He is a man fighting his feelings as he strives for his goal, and losing.

Having strong emotions keeping us from concentrating is a state of mind the students were all able to identify with. We will soon see how Frollo handles his feelings. But with Frollo's own sinister metaphor, the fly does not seem to have much of a chance against the spider.