Feminist Criticism on the novel Charlotte Gray By Kevin Shen

Author Sebastian Faulks Born in 1953 British novelist and journalist Won many awards: British Book Awards Work: Bridsong (1993)

What is feminist criticism? Play the video [2 mins] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-e6Izn26f0

Feminist Criticism Feminist criticism is literary criticism that deals exclusively with female characters, women’s issues and how the female roles in a story, novel or play affect the plot and other characters.

Movie Trailer The novel Charlotte Gray is later made into a movie Play the trailer [2 mins] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FArIXwOU58

Charlotte Gray Plot Summary Meets up with Peter and falls in love Peter’s plane is lost over France Charlotte resigns her job and gets training to become a spy She goes to France to complete missions and sets out to find Peter’s whereabouts Meets the French resistance contact, Julian

Plot Summary (cont’d) Completes many missions Passes secret messages Blows up the Nazi’s trains Has a complex relationship with Julian Can’t trace Peter, so comes back Later, Peter manages to escape and returns to England They reunite in the end

Character Analysis Charlotte Unlike most stereotypical female at the time Strong “all this time she had lost sight of Peter’s face in her mind, [then] suddenly in her dream it had been cruelly restored” (Faulks, 162) Determined “my love, don’t worry, I’, coming to get you” (Faulks, 102)

Character Analysis (cont’d) Peter Handsome British Royal Air Force airman Not much about him in the novel Julian Charlotte’s contact (the French Resistance) Warmhearted (like to help people) Strong

Activity Divide into groups of 4, 5 people, create a 30 seconds mini-skit that shows how women were portrayed in the 1940’s or in modern times. You have 3-5mins to prepare.