The Last Spin By Evan Hunter Unit Learning

The Last Spin By Evan Hunter

Unit Learning Intentions By the end of studying this text you will be able to: • Analyse characters and their relationship • Discuss how the setting contributes to themes and plot of the story • Analyse the language used to create certain effects • Explore and discuss themes of the story • Select relevant quotations to show certain themes/features of the story • Construct and write a critical essay

The Last Spin This is a short story set in America about gang violence. It tells the story of 2 boys – Danny and Tigo – who are from rival gangs who have been elected by their gangs to play a game of Russian Roulette to avoid too much violence on the streets.

The Last Spin Learning Intentions By the end of the lesson you will be able to: • Show an understanding of the plot of the story • Show an understanding of the structure of the story.

The Last Spin Task One – The Plot Write a summary of the story in your own words. Be sure to include the significant details of the story. Your summary should be between 50 and 100 words.

The Last Spin For Example “The Last Spin” by Evan Hunter is about 2 boys called Danny and Tigo who have been elected by their respective gangs to solve a dispute by playing Russian Roulette. They are in a basement, taking turns to fire the gun and as the story progresses they realise they have a lot in common and become friends. They both decide to leave their gangs and Tigo suggests the next should be the last but sadly Danny is killed.

The Last Spin Task Two – The Ending Think about the ending of the story. Write the answers to the following questions IN FULL SENTENCES 1. Did you expect it? If not, what did you expect? 2. Do you think it was satisfying? Give reasons for your answer. 3. Why do you think Evan Hunter chose to end the story this way?

The Last Spin The story builds towards a climax (or turning point) – a significant moment in the story where tension is at its highest and the outcome of the story is determined. • What do you think the climax of the story is? • In what way is it a turning point?

Themes Learning Intentions By the end of the lesson you will be able to: • Explain what themes are in the story • Justify your ideas with reference to the text.

Themes As you already know, every text has a purpose behind it – a message of viewpoint the writer wants to communicate to their readers. Today we are going to explore themes of the story. What do you think themes of the story are?

Themes Some themes: • violence/gang violence – N, K, C, H, K • peer pressure – C, L, C • friendship – S, R, C • desire for escape – S, A, L • innocence – J, S, D, A

Themes Now, in your pair/small group, identify parts of the story that highlight your allocated theme. Be prepared to share your answers with the class, and to make notes on the other themes that others in the class have explored.

Characters Learning Intentions By the end of today’s lesson you will be able to: • Describe the characters’ personalities • Pick out examples from the text to justify your ideas about the characters

Characters This story could be described as intimate – there are only two characters and they are sitting in a room for the whole story. The story is very heavy on dialogue to give us an insight into the characters’ personalities and feelings. Today, we explore them.

Characters The class are going to be split in two – one half looking at Danny, the other at Tigo. In your jotter, make detailed notes on the character you have been allocated. You can choose how you lay this out (bullet points, mindmap etc) but your notes must contain the following information:

Characters • A profile of the character and how he changes throughout the story (use the “beginning, middle and end” structure) • Quotations to support each of your claims about the character. In an essay you must be able to justify your opinions so this is good practice!

Characters For Example Danny • Start – doesn’t want to connect with Tigo – “The boy sitting opposite him was his enemy” – repeats “enemy” to enforce Danny’s feelings.

Setting and Language Learning Intentions By the end of this lesson you will be able to: • Comment on the setting and how it contributes to the overall impact of the story • Identify features of the language used and how they contribute to the overall impact of the story.

Setting and Language As has been stated before, this is a very intimate story in that it is quite small scale. In what way do you think the setting contributes to themes/ideas/plot of the story?

Setting and Language The setting is a “small basement room” where the two boys are sitting at either side of a table. This suggests the division between them – the table separates them in the same way that their jackets do. The fact that the room is in a basement suggests how claustrophobic the place would be, mirroring how “trapped” the boys are by their situation. They are almost buried before the story even begins by being underground, suggesting that neither of them will escape no matter who dies.

Setting and Language The language used in the story is quite basic. There is very little “fancy” description – no similes or metaphors etc. Why do you think that might be?

Setting and Language One possible reason is to let the characters lead the story – the dialogue is the most evocative and tells the story more than the narrative. The characters’ personalities are revealed through their actions and words as opposed to the narrative voice telling us. This allows us to connect more with the characters as we learn about them more gradually.

Setting and Language Take a moment to look back through the story and find the parts that contain description or examples of figurative language. Why are these parts described in detail but not others?

Setting and Language Parts/things described in detail: • jackets – different colours indicates different gangs therefore sets up “enemy” relationship • Tigo – D’s focus is on him because of their situation. Prepares us for their relationship and adds to shock with D is killed as we expect it to be T. • gun – a lot of focus on the gun because the boys are obviously very aware of it, and it is the only prop used. Its use drives the story onwards. • Tigo’s reaction when Danny is killed – the first instance of figurative language gives this moment impact as the violent imagery gives it prominence and highlights T’s pain.

Critical Essay Learning Intentions By the end of this task you will be able to: • choose an appropriate question from a past paper • construct an argument in response to the essay question • select relevant areas of the text to discuss (in the form of quotations)

Critical Essay This is one of the last critical essays we will write. It will be done as a practice and will be started in class and finished as homework.

Critical Essay - Reminder For the first essay we wrote on poetry I taught you the 5 stages to writing an essay. What are they?

Critical Essay - Reminder 1. Read the question – BOTH parts 2. Identify the key words – write them at the top of your answer paper 3. Plan the essay – decide on main points, the order you will discuss them in and what evidence you will use 4. Write the essay – using the PEA structure 5. Check it over – does it make sense? Fix any mistakes – technical accuracy can fail an essay.

Critical Essay - Reminder I want to see evidence of ALL of these stages in the essay you hand in. Past papers Int 2 – 07, 08, 10, 11, 12 Past papers Int 1 – 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, (12)

PEA Structure- Reminder P stands for… POINT – the first sentence of your paragraph highlighting the main points in your argument (using key words from the task). E stands for… EVIDENCE – the reference to or quotation from the text that proves the point you’ve made. A stands for… ANALYSIS – your explanation of HOW the evidence proves the point you have made (using key words from the task).

Success Criteria To be successful your essay should: • Follow the PEA structure • Use key words from the question in your point and in your analysis • Only use quotations that are relevant to the task • Analyse in as much detail as you can • Summarise the points you’ve made in your conclusion • Make a judgement on how successful the writer has been in relation to the task.