Chapters XVI – XXI

1. Read the chapters, study the vocabulary units and use them in a situation of your own:

- to cover up one’s tracks

- to earn one’s living

- to bombard smb with questions

- to be taken aback

- to walk with one’s head among the stars

- придавать значение (ch.XVI)

- приобрести репутацию (ch.XVII)

- объект насмешек (ch.XVIII)

- понимание живописи (ch.XVIII)

- вызвать интерес (ch.XIX)

- быть равнодушным к славе (ch.XXI)

- проявить профессиональный интерес к кому-либо (ch.XXI)

2. Answer the questions:

- What was the reason for gossips about Charles Strickland?

- Why couldn’t Mrs. Strickland accept the truth about her husband’s leaving the family?

- What happened to Strickland’s children?

- What is the narrator’s attitude to the family of Stroeve?

- What happened to Strickland in 5 years? (circumstances of living, painting, dreams)

3. Find information about the following points and discuss it with the group

a. Dirk Stroeve (find cases of irony in the description)

- appearance

- character

- attitude to wife

- painting, talent

- contradictions in his character

b. Blanche Stroeve

- appearance

- behaviour

- attitude to Strickland

4. Discuss with a group and express your own opinion on the following statements:

- …happiness ennobles the character sometimes, but suffering makes the man petty and vindictive (ch.XVIII)

- “Why should you think that beauty, which is the most precious thing in the world, lies like a stone on the beach for the careless passer-by to pick up idly? Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul. And when he has made it, it is not given to all to know it. To recognize it you must repeat the adventure of the artist. It is a melody that he sings to you, and to hear it again in your own heart you want knowledge and sensitiveness and imagination” (ch.XIX)

- “Life isn’t long enough for love and art” (ch.XXI)

5. Give a discription of Stricklands’ life in Paris during five years using the vocabulary from task 1.

OPTIONAL EXERCISES:

6. Describe the situation in which the following phrases were uttered, explain how they characterize the characters:

- “Mrs. Strickland was a woman of character” (ch.XVI)

- “She is so pretty. I’m sure she will marry well” (ch.XVII)

- “If he is in real want, I’m prepared to help him a little” (ch.XVII)

- “But isn’t she wonderful? ” (ch.XIX)

- “The fact remains that he is a great artist” (ch.XIX)

- “I might not feel inclined to sell one” (ch.XX)

- “-Are you happy? ” “-Yes” (ch.XXI)

7. Read the sonnet by W.Shakespeare. Say if it reveals Dirk’s attitude to his wife.