Lesson Nine: “The Great Disappointment”
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What's on for today and why?
In Chapters Nine and Ten, the relationship between Nico and Aaron begins to bloom; Nico is lying to everyone in her life about who she's hanging out with, in order to be able to spend her Sundays with Aaron. They continue their “experiments,” though at first it seems as if Nico is concentrating more on being with Aaron than on trying to get over her grief. Both mourners watch Casablanca in a sick attempt to try and get over Margaret's love for old movies, but in the end, both are left sorely disappointed. Nico then goes with her father on his expedition to find “The Great Disappointment,” as promised; however, “the great disappointment” turns out to be the strain that has been put on Nico's relationship with her father. In addition, Nico cynically mentions to her father that she found the poem that Margaret was named after, which only led Nico to realize that she no longer thought the way her father did about life anymore; now, she lived in reality, as opposed to the fantasy world that existed in Goldengrove.
Today, the students will be looking at clips from Casablanca, in order to find the connections between the movie and the dialogue between Nico and Aaron. The line between “experimenting” and actually feeling something becomes blurred for both while watching the movie; its plot becomes a metaphor for their lives, and both feel the need to “keep the distance” between each other. Prose heavily describes certain scenes from the movie in the novel, and relates them to Nico and Aaron's situation. By exploring this, the students will be able to analyze both the genre of film and and its effects, and the language that Prose uses in order to describe film. Though students watch films in the classroom, they are usually seen in their entirety, and then discussed; by only showing certain clips of the movie, the students will be able to focus on the task at hand, and will pay close attention to the film, in order to try and analyze its relation to the occurrences in the text.
What To Do:
1. Discussion of Homework:
The class will discuss the assigned reading from the night before, and will look at the prompt questions they were asked to consider. They will focus specifically on Nico's reactions around Aaron, and how she feels upon discovering that she would be spending time alone with Aaron in his studio. Are they still bonding solely over Margaret? Or has the relationship progressed into something bigger? As Nico is getting closer to Aaron, she is getting further away from her family. Who needs her support more, and why? How has Nico's relationship with her father changed, and what is the real “great disappointment”? After the class has come to some conclusions, they will look at parts of Casablanca, in order to find the connection it has to the novel.
2. “Here's looking at you, kid”:
The class will watch a selection of clips from Casablanca, pausing after each one to discuss its significance. Why this movie? What did it mean to Aaron and Margaret, and does it now mean something different to Aaron and Nico? How does Prose describe the movie within Chapter Nine? Why do you think she makes these stylistic choices, and how do they affect her narrative? If Casablanca was never mentioned in the novel, would the novel be the same? Would it be lacking something? Why do you feel this way? Is Nico Ingrid Bergman? Is Margaret? Why?
The film, which will be treated as “evidence” of the change in Nico and Aaron's relationship, will be analyzed closely by the class. At the end of the viewing, the class will discuss how the film could have been seen as a “great disappointment” for both Nico and Aaron; though the film connects them both due to its subject matter, each character sees the film in a different way. The class will discuss both that difference, and how one movie can connect three people in three completely different ways.
3. Homework:
For homework, the students will be reading Chapters Eleven and Twelve, and will be completing their eighth journal entries. In addition to this, they will have a “mini film assignment”; each student will be asked to go home and watch another clip of Casablanca, via YouTube. The trick, however, is that they will have to watch the clip without any sound. Then, once they feel they have become familiar enough with the clip, they will write a new dialogue between the two characters, pretending that the characters are either Nico and Aaron, or Margaret and Aaron. Using the insights they discovered in class, the students will create a dialogue between the two actors that is representative of the relationship that the characters in the novel have with each other. This assignment should be no more than one page in length.
While reading Chapters Eleven and Twelve, the students should keep the following questions in mind:
1. Why do you think it takes Nico so long to discover her mother's addiction? How does she react? Is she surprised, or is it almost as if she expects it? Explain.
2. What does Nico assume about Elaine? Is she justified in her assumption, and why?
3. Do you think Nico's obsession with Aaron is more about her feelings for him, or her feelings for Margaret? Has it turned in to a teenage girl's crush? Or is Margaret still involved? Explain.
4. Has Nico lost her identity at this point in the novel? If so, who has she turned into? Cite examples from the text.
5. Discuss “the Margaret card”. Why does Nico use it, and what does it symbolize?
6. Why do you think Elaine is still covering for Nico? Do you think it's out of guilt for something she has possibly done, or sympathy for Nico? Explain.
How Did it Go?
Today, the students were able to look at film as both an art form, and a connection between characters. Through watching clips of Casablanca, the students were able to draw conclusions and make inferences as to the progression of Nico and Aaron's relationship; hopefully, through a comparison of the film clips and the way Prose describes the film in the novel, the students will be able to make parallel connections between the two, and will understand how the film connects to the plot. Using clips from the movie, rather than playing the whole movie straight through, is an extremely effective technique when trying to incorporate film into the classroom. Instead of having bored, disengaged students, the students are actually watching the movie for a purpose, and are (hopefully) alert enough to see the connections that the movie has to the plot of the novel. In addition, the class was able to look at the relationship that Nico has with her father, and how it has changed from the beginning of the novel to now. The students should be able to see this change, and should also be able to analyze the change that Nico sees in herself. Though all of the characters still speak of Margaret and mourn for her, the students should be beginning to realize that the lives of the different characters are starting to veer in different directions; though everyone is still devastated over Margaret's passing, they have stopped leaning on each other for support.
