The School of Life

I denne study guide finder du hjælp til at analysere novellen “The School of Life” af Lauren Keenan. Teksten har været brugt til den skriftlige eksamen i Engelsk B på HF den 19. maj 2022. Udover hjælp til analysen finder du også et summary samt hjælp til fortolkning af novellen.

Hvis du har brug for hjælp til Assignment 1-5 fra den skriftlige eksamen på HF B den 19. maj 2022, kan du læse vores vejledning her.

Uddrag

Her kan du læse et uddrag af vores study guide:

Symbols

The plant nursery can be seen as a symbol of Marcus’s potential transformation from a young bud into a flower. However, Marcus fails to take advantage of the nurturing environment the plant nursery could provide. Instead of learning about how the real world works, how other people live, and connecting with his roots, Marcus remains self-absorbed and unchanged.

Similarly, the title “The school of life” can also be seen as symbolic. Marcus’s father wants him to work at the plant nursery so Marcus can learn about where he comes from (ll. 24-26). However, Marcus sees his job as a punishment and fails to understand what he may learn from it. Instead of learning about the real world from “the school of life”, Marcus remains stuck in his worldview and does not change.

Another symbol could be Marcus’s impractical clothes. Marcus arrives at his new job at the plant nursery wearing “a pressed T-shirt, clean jeans and new Vans” (ll. 4-5), while his colleagues are wearing practical clothes for a manual labor job. In this way, Marcus’s clothes symbolize how out of touch he is with the real world because he does not consider that a job at a plant nursery would mean getting your clothes dirty.