How does he account for the failure of the expedition?

The trip was already planned ahead. They just arrived at the wrong time of the year. Thats why the mission was a failure. They were very unlucky in terms of the weather conditions all the other stuff, such as, the food and equipment was perfect.

What is Scott’s main concern at the very end?

At the very end Scott’s main concern is about his mens psysical conditions. He’s not worried about the food so much because that was very well planned out.  

What does Scott say about the English character?

Scott says that the english character is very patriotic, taking care of other than themselves, un-selfish and gentlemen.

Why does Scott address it “to the public”? Try to define who he means by “the public”.

He wanted to tell the world what they went through in pole, because it wouldn’t be fair to all the “victims” of the  expedition that they would die in vain and not get any recognition.

Compare the style of the diary to the style of the letter to the public. In what ways to they differ?

The diary is very objective, the letter is “deeper” in some sort, he talk on a different level almost like, he want to make them heroes.

What does the text tell us about the moral ideas of explorers - of Scott’s and his men’s attitude to death, fame, honour, their country?

We do not hear about it. They are focused on their target to get where they need to and then we do not hear about their emotions.

What is Scott’s main concern at the very end?

He was very concerned about the food. They did not had enough food to survive all the way to the depot. That is also why we don’t hear from him after march 29. He writes that it was the last day where he had enough power to write.

Describe Oates’ death on March 16.-17

When they are walking Oates gets sick so they make a camp to see if he will get better. After a couple of days he still didn’t feel too good so some night he just took off and the crew never saw him again.

Describe the men’s situation in terms of

a.     their physical surroundings

They are located in no-mans-land and they are all by themselves. It is very cold and it is hard for them because they need to carry a lot of supplies. 

b.     the state of their provisions

They have enough food for only two days of travel but since they are three days away from the location with more food they are in shortage of food. 

c.      their physical condition

They have a lot of problems because of the cold weather. They get a lot of frostbites and that makes it hard for them to walk. Scott does not have a lot of problems until one day when he gets frostbites on his right foot. 

d.     their mental condition

Their mental condition is very unstable.  They loose their good sense of thinking pretty fast. After that they turn into animals who just wanna survive. 

Make a list of the men who accompany Scott on his expedition and keep track of their fates.

Capt. Scott - He dies

Dr. Wilson - Dead

Evans - Dead

Oates - Dead

Bowers - Dead

Who is he writing for?

The sender is a British explorer writing in his diary. He writes to keep a journal about the events that happened on the expedition. But he may also be writing to let other people know about it.

What characterizes Scott’s writing style?

He writes in pretence. He writes with a good structure. He takes it day by day and describes it very correctly. He is very objective in his way of writing and he does not write with a lot of emotions. 

What genre is the text?

It is a diary because we follow him every day. He also writes in first person and in present. So we see it in the structure of the text.

Work assignment

This i our work assignment and we will try to answer it over the next couple of weeks

Working with Scott’s Last Entries and Message to the Public

First of all:

Create a blog (one for each group) and make sure that you invite each other so that everybody is able to write in the blog. Also invite me (hh@hs-gym.dk)

You can choose whichever platform you like - blogger.com is the one I am most familiar with…

Then:

Answer the following questions and write down your notes in the blog (one entry for each question). Take turns writing so that everyone gets to be familiar with the blog.

1)   What genre is the text?

2)   What characterizes Scott’s writing style?

3)   Who is he writing for? Analyse the text according to the communication model (sender/text/channel/receiver).

4)   Make a list of the men who accompany Scott on his expedition and keep track of their fates.

5)   Describe the men’s situation in terms of

a.     their physical surroundings

b.     the state of their provisions

c.      their physical condition

d.     their mental condition

6)   Describe Oates’ death on March 16.-17. What were his last thoughts? How did he announce what he intended to do? Why did the others not stop him or go after him?

7)   What is Scott’s main concern at the very end?

8)   What does the text tell us about the moral ideas of explorers - of Scott’s and his men’s attitude to death, fame, honour, their country?

Based on the work above:

Individually:

Write down some initial ideas for a short story based on the real life account you have just been working with.

-       Who could be the main character?

-       What kind of narrator would you choose?

-       What about the composition?

-       What do you need to remember for the plot, the atmosphere, the language?

Next:

Read the other text, Scott’s Message to the Public

In groups (and write your answers in the blog):

1)   Compare the style of the diary to the style of the letter to the public. In what ways to they differ?

2)   Why does Scott address it “to the public”? Try to define who he means by “the public”.

3)   How does he account for the failure of the expedition?

4)   What does Scott say about the English character?

5)   What is Scott’s main concern at the very end?

Individually:

Take into consideration what you have been talking about concerning the Message to the Public and, based on that, write a new entry in the blog in which you modify (or add to) your initial ideas for a short story. You can also get inspiration from what the others have written about their ideas.

FINALLY:

Write a short story (approximately 700-1000 words) based on / inspired by the two texts by Scott.

Hand in the story in lectio (May 7^th).

I correct the story with regard to grammatical errors, and after having revised it, you must publish your story in your blog.