. . . . . that Space Cadet Glow . . . . .



Ideas, everybody, ideas ...
Below are some classroom ideas on how to approach "The Wall" 
(written by students).
We'd love to receive more methodological 'sparks of divine fire'.
How would YOU like to present 'The Wall' to YOUR students???
Note! You don't have to be a teacher to join in!
AND - as usual when reading poetry - just forget everything you 
have been told about THE meaning of the text. It's your own experience
which is the real thing - for you!

Some examples:

1. The Thematic Approach

I'll just try to outline some of the more basic ideas presented by my
students when working with the essential question:
'What is this really about?"

   'PSYCHOLOGICAL' interpretation
             - It's about the eternal conflicts between GOOD and EVIL 
               in Man's mind
             - It's about how interaction with other people might wound
               you so violently that you choose isolation as self-defence
             - It's really about mobbing
               
   'SOCIAL' interpretation
             - It's about how society alienates and mentally breaks down
               individuals (and)
             - How modern society creates a basis for extreme organizations
               like e.g. the neo-Nazis 
             - It's about how money and power represented by the Capitalist
               system and the Establishment ruin 'ordinary lives' 
             - Actually, it is about the established generation's efforts to
               raise obedient and submissive, brainwashed and disciplined 
               citizens who willingly accept the established order by crushing
               every spark of their originality, individuality and creativity. 
             - Really? It's definitely about everybody's 'modern life'.
               We are simply crushed  by the increasing demands for more
               efficiency. We get too much to do and we can't maintain our natural
               social networks any longer, and we replace the 'Empty Spaces' with 
               junk, drugs and traditional human ill-behaviour (racism, scapegoats,
               prejudice, discrimination, etc. etc. - The Old, Eternal Stuff).

    'RESULT'               
             - a feeling of 'emptiness' - not to belong - being an outcast
               creating a desire for order, unity, discipline and community,
               and an urge for gaining acceptance through action against those
               who don't fit in. 

    'MESSAGE'
             - Negative: It all goes in circles. Nothing may really be done.
               Human nature is in general negative, and usually leads us 
               towards a rather gloomy fate.
             - Positive: The 'Trial', and the end of the movie, indicates clearly
               a hope for the future, especially represented by the children in the
               last scene.


                               Essay by Petter Pettersen


Essay by Stine Ersvik

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