Part 2

Summary of the plot via simple images:

First Love

To retell the plot of the short story, one may distribute pictures into several groups who discuss the events portrayed on them.

Intertextuality. Allusions

Plot – points to discuss

1. Faculty meeting and miscellaneous

How are the professors described (SATIRE)?

Comment on Howard’s speech against Monty’s lectures, his defeat and humiliation.

Emerson Hall dinner. Howard at home talking to Kiki.

Levi in Boston, visiting Chou.

* How strange it was to see streets where everybody was black! It was like a homecoming; except he’d never known this home. And yet they all hurried past him as if he were a local – nobody looked at him twice. (p. 356)

Analyse the character of Chou and explain why Levi feels so ‘attracted’ to him.

Comment on Kiki’s visit to the Kipps. What is her opinion on Monty’s behaviour to Chantelle and opportunities for other black students?

Points to discuss:

1. pretext - E.M. Forster: Howards End

My largest structural debt should be obvious to any E.M. Forster fan; suffice it to say, he gave me a classy old frame, which I covered with new material as best as I could. (Zadie Smith)







2. style -common features

3. plot - parallels, common themes

Carlene = Ruth Wilcox
Kiki = Margaret Schlegel
Carl = Leonard Bast

4. plot - extra elements added by Smith

5. parallels

* opening - emails/ letters
* love affair - Jerome+Victoria / Helen+Paul
* antithetical families - Kipps + Belseys / Schelegels + Wilcoxes
* friendship - Kiki+Carlene / Ruth+Margaret
* sudden death - Carlene / Ruth
* helping the 'poor' - Carl / Leonard
* legacy - Carlene: painting / Ruth: house

6. allusions to:

music
paintigs
literature
art
TV / film

Postcolonial context

Plot – points to discuss

1. Escalation of problems

Levi and the Haitians. What is Kiki’s opinion on his involvement? What does the belonging to the Haitians mean for Levi?

Comment on the climax at the student party (Carl, Zora, Victoria).

What does Carl reveal about Monty? How does this information contrast with his public image?

Erzulie – Levi stealing, discovering Carlene’s message.

2. Conclusion

How did Howard’s and Kiki’s marriage evolve in time?

Why is the Howard’s lecture so important for his career?

What does Kiki’s presence in the audience signify about their marriage?

How does the novel end? What kind of ending is it?

Interpret the connection between Kiki and Rembrandt’s picture of Hendrickje. What does it suggest about future events?

Points to discuss:

1. the racial / ethnic profile of the Belseys

2. problems of identity, exile, confusion, otherness

3. Kiki and her identity

Kiki vs. Wellington's community
Kiki vs. immigrants, African- Americans

3. Levi and his identity

* Levi vs. Haitians
* Levi vs. Wellington

4. Monty and his opinions on race and minority groups

5. Howard and his problems to deal with issues concerning race

6. symbolical meaning of Hector Hippolyte's painting 'Maitresse Erzulie'

7. Zadie Smith's attitude towards diversity

Allusions

Style. Tone.

Plot – points to discuss

1. Carlene + Kiki

Comment on Carlene’s and Kiki’s developing relationship.

Carlene’s death. Comment on Kiki’s reaction.

What happens after Carlene’s death in the Kipps family? What does Carlene’s legace reveal about the family members? What does this revelation differ from Jerome’s impressions of the Kipps in his emails?

What happens during Carlene’s funeral?

Who is Chantalle?

2. Howard and Victoria

Comment on Howard’s visit to his father.

What is Harold’s opinion on Kiki (a racist comment)? How does Howard react?

Comment on the relationship between Howard and Victoria.

Points to discuss:

1. diction

* compare the registers of Howard - Levi - Zora and other characters
* What does the language they use signify about the character? Does it characterize him/her to certain extent? If yes, how?

2. the problem of imitation - for what purpose?

* Levi
* Kiki
* Zora

3. the influence of diction on the overall atmosphere of the text

4. tone

Allusions

Part 5:

Point of view.

Plot – points to discuss:

1. The Bus Stop

What position does Zora occupy among her classmates?

· “She prepared a face” (p. 209) – “famed for being opinionated, a ‘personality’” (ibid.)

What is The Bust Stop? Try to think of the symbolical meaning of the place.

Claire’s perspective / on her class, Howard and their affair, Kiki (“goddess of the everyday”, p. 227), Carl.

2. Boston

Comment on the time shift.

Describe the siblings’ meeting in Boston.

Analyse Levi’s perspective – black market (Haitian, Dominican, Felix – Angola, Chou.)

3. Rembrandt class

Katherine Armstrong – What is her impression of Howard? Can we generalize it?

Explain the allusions to Rembrandt’s paintings: Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, Seated Nude.

Comment on Howard – Victoria relationship.

4. Claire’s poetry class

How does Carl feel in the class? How do the other classmates perceive him?

Claire vs. Zora – the faculty meeting.

Points to discuss:
1. narrative technique - exemplify

Are there any shifts? If yes, why does the author use them? For what purpose?

Allusions

Part 4: plot (frozen images)
Part 4: posters