Lesson Two

Marrakech by George Orwell

•study of the text

Paragraph 1What is your first impression about this place after you read it?We can see poverty of the place and unsanitary condition of this city

Paragraph 2

What can we learn by reading Para. 2? How the dead people are buried in MarrakechCan you pick out some words or phrases you think the author

used well to present the vivid picture?mourners wailing a chant, corpses wrapped in a piece of rag,

carried on a rough wooden bier, friends hacking a shallow hole, dumping the body in it, flinging some dried-up earth over it, no grave stone …

all the facts show that the human life here has no value at all.

Paragraph 3

• --Please find out one important figure of speech –rhetorical questions used in this para.?

• --And how about the tense used in this para.?• --And where is the thesis statement of the whole lesson in this para.?

Paragraph 3

there is one important figure of speech used in this para ----a string of rhetorical questions

What is the effect by using the rhetorical questions here?To show the writer’s uncontrollable outrageAnd he wants to expose the evils of colonialism and imperialism.

Paragraph 3

What is the tense used in this Para.? What does it mean?The author used simple present tense here. The situation described still exists now –their lives are still poor and

miserable .

Paragraph 3 What is the thesis statement in Para. 3?

All colonial empires are in reality founded upon this fact.

---All the imperialists build up their empires by treating the people in the colonies like animals not human beings.

So this thesis is going to be supported by more illustrations and examples in the following parts.

Paragraph 4--7

the author just presents us a dramatic scene about –an Arab navvy begging for a piece of bread

what is the author’s intention to describe the government employee’s bad situation?

Even an employed laborer goes starving, so you can imagine the plight of the poorer people in this place.

Paragraphs 8-15

what did Orwell want to illustrate to the readers?In Para. 8-15?

The plight of the Jews in a colonial country. Their fate could be worse than that of the natives.

Para. 8•Ghettoes : • A ghetto is a part of a town or city in which many poor people or many people of a particular race, religion, or nationality live in isolation from the majority group in the town or city.

Paragraph 8

• The crowded and unsanitary living conditions for Jews.

Paragraph 9

• The bad working conditions for Jews.

Paragraph 10

• Orwell presented us one specific scene about the Jewish people’s frenzied rush and clamouring for a cigarette.

• There are many words used vivid and impressive such as frenzied rush, clamouring for, crawling out, groping in the air

Paragraph 10

• What’s the author’s purpose to describe their crazy for a cigarette?• Just to expose that they work so hard maybe day and night, they felt

tired and exhausted and boring.

Para11-15

• the natives’ hostile attitude to the Jews.

Para11:A good job Hitler wasn't here

It was lucky for the Jews that Hitler had not come to this place. If he had, the Jews would have been exterminated as they were in Poland and other European countries.

Para15:Witchcraft

• Orwell is probably referring to many occasions in the 1600's in both England and America when innocent women were often burned or practiced other cruel punishment for witchcraft.(such as hanging, drowned in the lake, stuck with needles ) By the very nature of the charge it was impossible for the accused to defend herself.

Para15:• Why Orwell mentioned the old women who were burned for

witchcraft? • Just comparison --Jews have the same fate as the old women who

practiced the witchcraft. They were prejudiced and hated by the natives

Paragraphs 16-17

What is described in Para16-17? The hardworking but invisible people

What tone does the author use in Para16 and 17?

Bitter and ironic.

Para.17

• It is only because of this…• “This” here stands for the fact that people always miss the peasants

labouring in the fields because they have the colour of the earth. It is only because of this reason that these poor starved countries are accepted as tourist resorts.

So we can see the white people just regard their superiority as granted, they literally don't even see the wretched people of the third world and are so insensitive that they actually treat those countries as tourist resorts where they enjoy themselves and were oblivious to the suffering all around them.

Para17:What does Morocco mean ...

• Morocco being a French colony, to many Frenchmen Morocco has no more meaning than a place where they might find a government job, buy an orange grove with their money or invest his money. To an Englishman Morocco means nothing but a romantic, mysterious country which he has read in the novels. Camels, castles are the romantic bits in his mind by the novels.

Paragraph 18

• difficult cultivation of the poor soil.• Please find out some facts to support the main idea of this para.18.

Para. 19-21

• Miserable life of old women

•The writer is describing objectively about the physical appearance of the old woman, Notice his choice of words.

• (old; mummified; tiny; shrink to the size of children; reduced to bones; leathery skin; bent double…)

para. 20 Why does the author expatiate on the miserable fate of the

donkeys? Are their any similarities between the donkeys and the old women?

What are they? • Donkey and Woman

• Both are overloaded.• Both are willing creatures(obedient).• Both are small.• Both are ill-treated.• Both have an miserable end. (donkey thrown to the dogs, humans

thrown into a nameless grave.• Implication --- To arouse the readers’ sympathy and anger. Women /humans are worse

treated.

• Comparison and contrast

Paragraph 21

• Orwell showed his own attitude and manner—that is –and sympathy for the suffering people. very angry and criticizing the evils of the colonialism and imperialism.

Paragraphs 22-26

What is the main idea of Para 22-26?

Degradation/humbleness of the native people

Para22-23

• Gave a description of the black troops in general.

How does the author put forward his idea?By a contrast between the soldiers (infantry) and the storks The blacks: passive, depressed, silly southward) the birds: glittering, white, pure, lofty

Para24:

•Give a specific description of one black soldier individually.

para24

• But the look…• the look the young Negro soldier gave Orwell was not what Orwell

was expecting. One would expect the blacks in the colonies to look at the white colonists in a hostile, contemptuous or sullen manner, but the boy gave a look of respect. This surprised Orwell very much.

Paragraph 25

How long before they turn their guns in the other direction?How much longer before they turn their guns around and

attack us?

Paragraph 26

Every white man there had this thought stowed somewhere or other in his mind. Every white man ， the onlookers ， the officers on their horses and the white N ．

C ． Os ． marching with the black soldiers ， had this thought hidden somewhere or other in his mind ．

the soldiers (infantry) and cattle

comparison between the soldiers (infantry) and cattle• --these black soldiers were just like cattle. Don’t think, don’t ask

questions, but follow their masters blindly.

Discussion• 1. The organization of this text.• 2. What and where is the central thought or thesis

expressed?• 3. How does the author achieve the thesis How does the author achieve the thesis

(objectively)?(objectively)?• 4. How does the author develop his essay? • 5. How does Orwell show his outrage at the misery of

the native people successfully?• 6. what causes their poverty?• 7Orwell used to say that the things of value are

always political. Is this essay political? Why?

1. The organization of this text• 1) Para.1-3: the burial of the poor inhabitants• 2) Para. 4-7: an Arab Navvy begging for bread• 3) Para. 8-15: the miserable lives of the Jews• 4) Para. 16-18: the hardworking but invisible

people and difficult cultivation of the poor soil• 5) Para 19-21: the old women carrying firewood• 6) Para 22-26: degradation/humbleness of the

native people

2. What and where is the central thought or thesis expressed?

• Orwell denounces ( 谴责 )the evils of colonialism or imperialism by mercilessly exposing the poverty, misery and degradation of the native people in the colonies.

• This central thought or thesis is stated by Orwell in the middle of paragraph 3---"all colonial empires are in reality founded upon this fact".

3. How does the author achieve the thesis (objectively)?

• Orwell shows poverty, misery and degradation ( 退化 , 堕落 ) of the native people in the colonies by describing:

• a. the burial of the poor inhabitants • b. An Arab Navvy begging for bread • c. The miserable lives of the Jews • d. Cultivation of the poor soil • e. The old women carrying firewood• f. native people’s respect for the colonizers)---

humbleness and degradation

4. How does the author develop his essay?

• This thesis is supported by various independent examples or illustrations of the people’s poverty and suffering.

• Specific---general---specific---comments

5. How does Orwell show his outrage at the misery of the native people successfully?

• Orwell describes objectively the suffering and misery of the colonial people in Marrakech, yet he manages to show that he is outraged at the spectacle of misery.

• a. through the clever choice of the scenes he describes;

• b. through the tone in which he describes these scenes;

• c. through the appropriate use of words;• d. by contrasting human beings with the animals

6. The causes of their poverty•1. Colonialization

"All colonial empires are in reality founded upon this fact" (para.3; 17)

•2. Racial discrimination "The people have brown faces -- besides there are so many of them" (para.3 ) "He is the same colour as the earth, …" (para.16)

•3. Black people's ignorance He showed his profound respect to his enemy. " He ... has feelings of reverence before a white skin" "Only the Negroes didn't know it“

•4. Poor natural conditions

• 7. Orwell used to say that the things of value are always political. Is this essay political? Why?

•

• All of Orwell's works are concerned with the sociopolitical conditions of his time, and Marrakech is no exception.

• In this essay Orwell denounces ( 谴责 ) the evils of colonialism or imperialism. He mercilessly exposes the poverty, misery and degradation ( 退化 , 堕落 ) of the native people in the colonies. These people are not considered nor are they treated as human beings.

Writing style-subjective Exposition

• An expository paper explains or explores something, such as the process of making a machine, the causes of a natural or social phenomenon, the planning of a project, or the solution of a problem.

• The purpose or intention of the writer of exposition (informative writing) is to inform or explain.

Methods of Exposition

•Things can be explained by•---Definition• --- Listing (process)• --- illustration (Examples)• --- Classification•--- Comparison and contrast• --- Analysis (cause and effect)

judge

• “One Country, Two Systems”• The second jobs• The life on campus is interesting• Why does a young man not want to marry a capable young woman?

features of exposition

• Limit the subject• Prepare enough material• Present the facts in proper order• The accuracy and clarity of words• Make the essay touching

Writing strategies

1. simple words, simple statements to convey deeper meaning

2. the use of rhetorical questions which is very effective in conveying his anger

3.Clever choice of the scenes4. The tone 5. Comparision and contrast