E.R. Braithwaite, To Sir With Love, New Windmill Series, 1978. First published in: 1959. Number of pages: 184.
Reason for choosing this book
It was the choice of the teacher. She reads several chapters and we had to read the other chapters at home.
Plot of the novel
Braithwaite is a black man who looks for a job. He applies for several jobs, but he isn’t taken on every time, because he is black. An old man advises him to become a teacher. So he lands up in Greenslade School in London’s East End.
It’s hard for him to interest the class. When the girls set a sanitary napkin on fire, he loses his patience. He decides to handle the kids like adults. He addresses the girls as ‘Miss’ and the boys by their surnames. So he gets a great connection with the class. One day during the P.T. lesson Denham wants to box with Braithwaite. Braithwaite wins the ‘match’. Now everybody in the class respects him.
Braithwaite would like to take the class to a museum. He obtains leave from the headmaster to go with another companion. Braithwaite asks Gillian Blanchard, a teacher he feels attracted to. The excursion was a great success.
One day Patrick Fernman, a boy from Braithwaite’s class, is picked up by the police. Braitwaite goes to the lawsuit. The pronouncement is that Fernman doesn’t have to go to prison.
On Gillian’s birthday Braithwaite and Gillian go for a dinner in Chelsea. Braithwaite is discriminated against by a waiter there. Gillian gets angry at Braithwaite, because he didn’t say anything to the waiter.
There is a new teacher at the school: Mr. Bell. Mr. Bell gives P.T. lessons. One day Buckley has to do a to much difficult jump over the buck. The boy crashed on the floor. Potter gets angry at Mr. Bell and threatens him with a metal-bound. Mr. Bell and Potter do apologise later.
On 6 December Seal is absent, because his mother died. The class collect money for flowers for Seal, but nobody wants to bring these flowers, because he has a coloured skin colour. Braithwaite is very disappointed. While Braithwaite comes to Seal’s house, he sees that almost the whole class is there. He is touched.
At the end of the year the students have to say goodbye to Braithwaite. Pamela gives him a parcel with the message: TO SIR, WITH LOVE and underneath, the signatures of all of the students.
Climax
There are a lot of climaxes in this book. For example: The talk with the old man, the sanitary napkin on fire, boxing with Denham, the excursion, the lawsuit, dinner in Chelsea, Buckley’s crash in the P.T. lesson of Mr. Bell, almost the whole class by the house of Seal and the parcel from the class.
Meaning of the title
To Sir, With Love is the message on the parcel the class gives to Braithwaite.
Main characters
* Ricardo Braithwaite: This is the main character. Braithwaite is a black man, who is a
teacher at Geenslade School. He has not really changed, maybe he doesn’t get angry anymore at people who discriminate against him.
* Gillian Blanchard: Braithwaite’s girlfriend, also teacher at Greenslade
School.
* Alex Florian: The headmaster of the Greenslade School.
* Pamela: A student who has fallen in love with Braithwaite. She stands up
for him, while people make discriminating remarks.
* Mr. Bell: The new P.T. teacher at Greenslade School.
Theme
The main theme in this book is racism. Braithwaite is a black man, who is discriminated against by some people. I think the message is that you may not discriminate against people with a different skin colour.
Author
Braithwaite was born in British Guyana in 1920. He attended Queen’s college there, City University of New York in 1940 and Cambridge in 1949, where he received a Master’s degree in Physics. During World War II he also enlisted as a Royal Airforce Pilot. Despite his extensive training, however, Braithwaite, like several other disillusioned black men after war, could not find work in his field and reluctantly took up a job as a schoolteacher in London’s East End. His experiences were memorialised in this book. He is now retired in Washington.
Personal experience
The incident were the whole class is present at Seal’s house, while they all said that they won’t give the flowers, touched me the most. I remember the death of Sandra’s sister. Almost the whole class came to the silent walk.
My opinion
I like this book, because it was not to difficult to understand. It also was realistic, Braithwaite tells about his own experiences. A lot of things happen, that makes the book interesting, instead of boring.
Choices
A. What is the setting of the book?
The story takes place in London’s East End. Normally people who live in East End are lower class people, so are the students at Greenslade School.
D. Do you like the main characters?
I like the main characters, because they are realistic. While you read this book, you see the characters. I like Braithwaite, because I think it is difficult to ignore people who discriminate against you.
G. What type of work is it?
This book is autobiographical. The author is also the main character in this book. He tells his experiences the Greenslade School. This book is sometimes romantic (the relationship between Braithwaite and Gillian), but also full of hate sometimes (the discrimination against black people).
REACTIES
1 seconde geleden
K.
K.
die uittreksels en boekverslagen kunnen wat uitgebreider zijn. er zit niet genoeg informatie er in. het is heel oppervlakkig geschreven. dank u
13 jaar geleden
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