HOW TO TEACH A DOLL'S HOUSE TO KCSE CANDIDATES

A DOLL’S HOUSE-IS IT RELEVANT IN THE KENYAN CURRICULUM? 

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A number of Kenyan literature tutors have raised concerns over the suitability of Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play A Doll’s House.

A few teachers argue that the book may impress on the learners the idea of divorce as a problem solving measure.

One literature teacher remarked: “It is quite difficult to discuss marriage and divorce with your fifteen year old form 3 student.”

Does A Doll’s House revolve around marriage and divorce?

A Doll's House KCSE analysis 

On the surface that may seem like the case, however, a keener look reveals a play about how majority of women in conservative patriarchal societies are oppressed by repressive laws, norms, customs or traditions. This play is relevant in Kenya today because women face more hurdles than men since the society is largely patriarchal and most men are still chauvinistic.

The objective of studying literature in the Kenyan curriculum is to make learners appreciate the universal human values such as self-sacrifice, selflessness, love, family values, honesty etc.

In literature good deeds are usually rewarded whereas evil is punished.

In A Doll’s House good characters like Nora and Mrs. Christine Linde are rewarded for their kindness whereas bad characters like Torvald Helmer suffer.

The value of self-sacrifice is highlighted through Nora, the protagonist, when she borrows 250 pounds in order to take her ailing husband to Italy for a rest after he overworks himself and falls dreadfully ill. This is a show of selflessness since she procures the loan under stringent and difficult circumstances. In this male dominated society, women are not allowed to borrow money without express permission from the husband or father.

She tells Krogstad; “You put so many heartless difficulties in my way  ...” (P 40)

Nora is forced to forge her father’s name. She had tried asking Torvald to borrow but he is sternly against loans and debts. He says: “No debt. No borrowing.” (P 3)

After a year in Italy, Torvald recovers from his illness. This is the outcome of Nora’s selflessness. Her husband gets ‘as sound as a bell’ (P13). She says: “the trip was to save my husband’s life” (P 40)

Therefore the didactic value here is that selflessness/self-sacrifice and love is always rewarded.  That’s the take home message from that episode that the students ought to learn.

Krogstad manages to blackmail her concerning the forgery because the society is judgmental based on its repressive influence. Is it an unpardonable crime for a person to commit a misdemeanour with the view of saving a loved one’s life?

It raises the question of individual vs society. The society would judge Nora harshly for borrowing the loan and for the forgery. Nora does a prudent thing that any sensible person under the circumstances would do for the sake of a loved one.

Sometimes the individual is right when the law or society is wrong. Krogstad says the “law cares nothing about motives” to which Nora asks: “Is a wife not to be allowed to save her husband’s life?” (P 41)

The text also raises the concern of deception. Any relationship or association (marriage/work/friendship/business) is bound to fail in the absence of sincerity/frankness/honesty.

The Helmer’s relationship is an illusion of a happy marriage. It’s built on lies and pretense. Torvald seems like a loving benevolent husband but in reality he is vain, conceited and selfish. He only cares about his reputation and what other people say or think about him. He falsely promises to protect Nora selflessly in case of any danger. He says: “I have often wished that you might be threatened by some great danger so that I might risk my life and everything for your sake” (P 102). This is the deceptive nature of appearance.

Nora risks everything for Torvald’s sake but he is ungrateful. When Torvald learns about Nora’s secret, he does what we all expect of him. He selfishly insults her and even bars her from raising their children. He calls her a hypocrite, a liar, a criminal … (P 104)

Torvald only thinks about himself and his happiness. He says: “Now you have destroyed my happiness. You have ruined my future” (P 104)

He only cares about his reputation and appearance. “Very likely people will think I was behind it all.” (P 103) He doesn’t care about Nora’s needs or happiness. He says: “all that concerns us is to save the remains, fragments, the appearance …” (P 105)

Torvald does not stop to think that Nora sacrificed herself for his own sake. She says: “I did it for love’s sake.” (P 42)

Nora is shocked to learn where she stands is her husband’s esteem. He perceives her as a play object/a doll/decoration like the Christmas tree. He says that a woman’s sacred duty is to take care of her husband and children.

When she chooses to leave him, she does so in pursuit of reasonable opportunities for self-fulfillment. Leaving her children is also an act of sacrifice. “Deprave my little children? Poison my home?”(P 48)

Ibsen tackles the issue of how individuals (regardless of gender or social class) struggle to cope in a judgmental, repressive society. Nora’s subservient role in the suffocating marriage symbolizes how society sometimes strangles individuals’ ambitions or aspirations through needless laws and cultural/societal norms.

In H.R. Ole Kulet’s Blossoms of the Savannah the Maa shed off some negative cultural aspects such as throwing the dead and dying to the hyenas (P 128), or emuata a culture that demanded that young brides (isiankikin) wear painful, heavy copper wires around their limbs. (P 263)

In Margaret Ogola’s The River and the Source the Luos have since shed off cultural practices such as removal of six lower teeth and wife inheritance (tero).

All these practices were licit and necessary in the wisdom of the society at the time but they are no longer in practice because they are needless and unnecessary.

Slavery was once legal in law in the UK until 1833 when it was abolished!

It’s is possible that man-made laws maybe be flawed and repressive. Therefore trying to defend Torvald by saying that Nora broke the law and that he was only innocently abiding by the acceptable norms in society is laughable. A man should have the wisdom to question meaningless traditions while upholding useful cultural or societal norms.

We should guide our learners to see that selflessness is a virtue and is always rewarded whereas selfishness is a vice and results in pain or agony.

Do you know this secret method to hack Literature Paper 3 essay questions? 


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SECRET METHOD TO HACK KCSE LITERATURE ESSAY QUESTIONS

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In Blossoms of the Savannah by H.R. Ole Kulet, hapless Ole Nkipida is faced with the dilemma of confronting either a marauding lion and risk being mauled/eaten alive or fighting off a vicious python.

Literature teachers in Kenya today are equally faced with a similar dilemma.

The question begs; which is the best method to use when teaching English 101/3 literature to secondary school students?

If you are one of those within the literature sphere then you should be familiar with the term episodic approach. Literature cognoscenti, especially seasoned examiners, advance this method as the best way to dispense literary knowledge to learners. 

However, critics of this method feel that teaching literature using the episodic approach is doing injustice to the study of literature and they choose instead to front the so called old style of teaching set books where the learners are taken through the plot, themes, characters and styles. Let’s call this the old approach.

Episodic Approach vs Old Approach

So which between the two methods is more effective?

Well, there’s no straight answer to that. Episodic approach vs old approach is an illusion that we seek to debunk in this article.

Syllabus

In 2006 the KNEC syllabus changed but teachers refused to change with it. The trends in testing English 101/3 have since changed, and we teachers ought to change our methods of delivery as well.

The main objective of teaching set books to leaners according to the KNEC syllabus is to make the learners appreciate universal human values in literary works.

Since reading is one of the four skills taught in English, other vital objectives include:

a)     Read and comprehend literary materials.

b)    Read and analyze literary works from Kenya, East Africa, Africa and the rest of the world.

c)    Enjoy reading literary and nonliterary materials.  

d)    Analyze characters and themes from selected novels and plays.

Literature is mainly tested in paper 2 and paper 3.

In teaching English 101/2, you are required to use the so called old approach. The questions always revolve around the plot of the novel, the characters and characterization, themes and languages use (stylistic/literary devices).

While handling the seen passage (literary appreciation) the learner acquires the features of the literary text e.g. the setting: time and place, or when and where a story happens; the plot: the flow of events in the story (including the conflict and resolution); characters: the participants in a story and their character traits; themes: subject matter; styles and language use.

When leaners simply cram these features, then the learning process ceases to be useful after completion of their four year course.

In testing English 101/3, the nature of the questions do not require the learners to simply analyze characters, themes and styles. The questions usually revolve around moral values-certain actions and their outcomes.

Episodic approach

The best way to approach this paper is by the use of the episodic approach. Some critics who haven’t understood how this works think that a novel or a play is simply chopped into a series of disjointed episodes and studied independently.

This could not be farther from the truth!

Usually, the episodes are formed around moral values. In an episode, we study a character’s action and its outcome, and then we come up with an evaluation of its didactic value. Usually good actions are rewarded whereas bad deeds are punished or they go unrewarded.

In literature we only see good or bad and nothing in between. In literary works we have good characters or bad characters. In A Doll’s House, when Nora Helmer borrows 250 pounds to take her ailing husband to Italy for his own sake, the values that a student espies are selflessness, compassion, self-sacrifice, determination and love.  The outcome of these virtues is success or a reward.

In Blossoms of the Savannah we learn through Resian that determination, resoluteness, courage, strength of will pay off. She fights off Olarinkoi when he attempts to rape her. Nabaru says: “You fought on. You had the will to live.” (P 232)

Both Nora and Resian succeed. Nora’s husband recovers and Resian manages to join Egerton University against odds such as early marriage and FGM.

Virtuous characters such as Nora, Resian, Nabaru and Juana often succeed while evil ones like the doctor, Olarinkoi and Torvald Helmer are always unrewarded or they are punished.

We should impress upon students that in life they are at liberty to make choices. The decision one makes, however, comes with consequences.

Since 2006, set book questions in paper 2 never test plot, themes, characters and style. When preparing students for KCSE KNEC exams, giving students notes on the above features is preparing them to fail. The main purpose of literature is to create morally upright individuals who respect human values. You cannot achieve this with notes on Nils Krogstad’s character traits, for example.

SAMPLE KCSE LITERATURE QUESTIONS

ENGLISH KCSE 2006  ESSAY QUESTION

"Racial and religious prejudice only cause misery" Write a composition in support of this statement drawing your illustration from the Merchant of Venice. 

ENGLISH KCSE 2017  ESSAY QUESTION

Contentment and humility are the secrets to happiness. Write a composition in support of this statement drawing illustrations from The River and the Source.

ENGLISH KCSE 2018  ESSAY QUESTION

With illustrations from Bertolt Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle, write a composition entitled: Self Centerdness does not pay. 

ENGLISH KCSE 2019  ESSAY QUESTION

Desire without limits can be a source of agony both to ourselves and our family members. Using illustrations from The Pearl, write an essay in support of this statement. 

From the KCSE questions above, we can see that KCSE KNEC paper 3 focusses on a character’s actions and the consequences. Therefore, teachers should guide learners on values or lack of them and their outcomes.

For example;

·        Kino is greedy, as a result he suffers; The Pearl by John Steinbeck

·        Self-sacrifice is always rewarded like in the case of Nora and Mrs. Linde; A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

·       Irresponsible decisions have serious consequences like in the case of Olarinkoi; Blossoms of the Savannah by Henry Ole Kulet

·        The effects of war in “The president” in Memories we Lost; etc.

The episodic approach is not a vehicle to teach values but a means to help students analyze a text critically with a view of mastering it to the point of making informed choices that can help them beyond their life in school.

How to execute the episodic approach

1.     Students should read the whole text aloud with the supervision of a teacher. Allow them to enjoy the story. They may have pencils to underline and note any useful parts.

2.     They should then read it as many times as possible on their own for further comprehension.

3.     Guide the learners on how to come up with episodes and ask them to identify the episodes.

4.     Learners may study specific episodes on their own or with the supervision of a teacher. Ask some questions to test their comprehension e.g. what is the name of Olarinkoi’s village?  

Learners must master the nitty-gritty details since KNEC KCSE exams require a candidate to back up every claim with sufficient illustration from the text. The devil is in the details.

We can conclude that there's is no battle between the episodic approach and the so called old approach. One is indispensable for paper 3 while the other is useful for paper 2. 

Back to you mwalimu, which method do you prefer? 

Watch this video on how to answer KCSE essay questions on Blossoms of the Savannah. 

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