Signe, Jeanette, Line S.

1. divide the text into sections:

A) page 128 l. 1 – page l. 10 not a sound sleeper
B) page 128 l. 10 – page 128 l. 15 a london suburb
C) page 128 l. 15 – page 128 l. 32 scratch and scrabble
D) page 128 l. 32 – page 129 l. 2 MICE?!
E) page 129 l. 2 – page 129 l. 26 what to do – who to ask?
F) page 129 l. 27 – page 130 l. 24 first time shopping in Wanstead
G) page 130 l. 25 – page 131 l. 22 mice traps
H) page 131 l. 22 – page 132 l. 7 RATS?!
I) page 132 l. 7 – page 134 l. 9 men from the council
J) page 134 l. 8 – page 134 l. 31 super rats!
K) page 134 l. 32 – page 135 l. 17 dig up the living room

2. Narrator:

The narrator is the main character Indrani, as an i-narrator.

3. Characsation of Indrani:

Indrani is an asian woman living with her husband and 2 children in their new home, in a London suburb.

She has no social relations the new place, is a home going mother and takes care of their youngest child Hanif. When she first find out about the mice, she doesn’t know where or who she can turn to, and ask what she can do about it - at the same time she wants to seem perfect and normal so she doesn’t want to go over to her neighbor even though she seemed so nice the day the family moved in (page 129 line 12-13)

Indrani gets more independence in the story, probably because she doesn’t want to tell her husband Kumar about the rats so she has to do something herself, but also because she doesn’t want people in the area to think badly about her and her family - she ends up feeling embarrassed when she goes to buy mice traps (page 130 line 16-17)

Although she seems more independence when she goes to buy the mice traps, and also buys new shoes and cheese for the traps she hides it all away when she gets home. Not just the trap and the chesse - but also the shoes, which tell us her husband can’t know about her using money.

4. physical setting and social setting

the story takes place in Wanstead, which is a Suburb in London.
it is “upper class” and the family lives in a big semi-detached house. It is not a place for poor people and a bit “high class”.

5. Symbolic of the rats:

The rats are a symbol of integration from the white majority’s view. The term “Super Rats” could be a way of saying even though they immigrated and started a life there - they are still rats! Just rats in fancy houses and rats with money.

We first get a hint of racism when Indrani goes to buy mice traps. “What are Asians doing in nice houses like those. Turning them into slums by the sound of it” - page 130 line 16-17

The following episodes where we hear racism is home at Indrani when the people from the council are over at their home.

“They came over on the ships, you see. From out East, so they say. Still you’d know all about the I suppose.” - page line ????

“ Very unreliable, rats. Dead smart - but unreliable. Know what I mean?”

Page 133 l. 28

“The main thing is to send them back where they came from, and then pretend they aren’t there” page line??

6. Interpret the title of the story – what significance does it have?

Just below the surface is a way of judging people, like they are hiding something just below the surface, also a way of judging other cultures and background. In the story we hear that Indrani and her family is Asiens, so therefore the British will never see her family the way a brit is, no matter how hard they try to fit in.

7. Some of the themes:

- Racism (page 135 line 14-16)
- Moving/adjusting to a new place (the whole text)
- Hate crime? (page 132 line 43-44)
- life as a “rat” in other people eyes. (page 135 line 14-16)

Rune W.

1.

1: A light sleeper. (P.128 L.1-15).

2: Mice! (P.128 L. 16- end of page P. 129 L.1-11)

3: What to do? (P.129 L.12-33)

4: The City and the shame. (P. 129 L. 34- end of page P. 130 L.1-23)

5: What to do with the cheese? (P.130 L. 24- end of page P.131 L.1-12)

6: The secret revealed. (P.131 L. 13-end of page P. 132 L.1-3)

7: From out east. (P.132 L.4-42)

8: Burglary. (P.132 last 3 lines P.133 L.1-20)

9: The way of the rat/immigrant (P.133 L.21- end of page P.134 L.1-29)

10: How to get rid of the rats/immigrants. (P.134 L. 30- end of page P.135 L 1-2)

11: Know what I mean? (P.135 L. 2- end of page)   

2. What type of narrator does the story have?  First person narrator “I watched in horror as he pulled out the trainers” (P.131 L.5)  

3. Characterize Indrani: She is an Asian woman living with her husband and two kids in London; she is scarred of her husband’s reaction to the rat infestation.  

    Cultural background: she is warring a rose pink sari (P.129 L.37). Her clothing suggests she might be and Indian woman.  

4. Physical setting: Brick lane in London

Social setting: In the better end of the middleclass, they own a shop and have a nice big house (P.128 L.16-19)

5. The rats symbolize: Immigrants/filthy intruders

6. Just below the surface: like the rats from the sewers just below the surface of the house, the immigrants lure from the ghettos and they intrude on the middle class like the rats intrude on the house.   

7. Themes: immigration, racism, clash of cultures, women’s place in an Asian household.    

Kristoffer

Lene

1)

P 128, l 1-30 move about in the night

P 128, l 31- P 129, l 26 evidence of mice

P 129, l 27- P 130, l 23 hunt on mice traps

p.130, l 24- P 131, l1-23 Emty mice traps

p. 131, l 24-l 43 Not mice, but rat’s!

p. 132, l 1-21 ratscatcher

p. 132, l 22-41 ?

p.  133, l 18-40 reason to the rats.

P133, l 41- P. 134, l 29 rat’s nest.

2)

First-person narrator

3)

Indrani is prodent person, she is embarrassed, and goes to the shop alone even it is the first time. She is also embarrassed for he husband.

4)

5) In Europa is rat’s related for poverty, black plague and  nasty places.

But in the Eastern is rat’s an symbol on fertility

Afleveret 15:42

Morten B. Poulsen

1. Divide the text into 10-15 sections and give each section a title. Write the titles in your answer along with references to pagenumbers and line numbers, example: Proof of mice (p. 128, l. 38 - p.129, l. 11).

1. Sounds in the night (p. 128, l. 1 - p. 128, l. 30)
2. Burgled by mice (p. 128, l. 31 - p. 129, l. 11)
3. What to do? (p. 129, l. 12 - p. 129, l. 26)
4. Getting traps (p. 129, l. 13 - p. 130, l. 23)
5. Following night, no capture (p. 130, l. 24 - p. 130, l. 45)
6. Kumar finds out (p. 131, l. 1 - p. 131, l. 36)
7. Time to call the Council (p. 131, l. 37 - p. 132, l. 41)
8. Burglary at the shop (p. 132, l. 42 - p. 133, l. 12)
9. Bad news (p. 133, l. 13 - p. 134, l. 18)
10. King rat (p. 134, l. 19 - p. 134, l. 29)
11. Hope to find the crack (p. 134, l. 30 - p. 135, l. 9)
12. He said a funny thing (p. 135, l. 10 - p. 135, l. 17)

2. What type of narrator (fortæller) does the story have?

- 1st person narrator, from Indrani's point of view.

- Subjective, she is part of the story.

3. Characterise Indrani – what is her cultural background and what kind of person is she?

- Her name is Indrani. She is married to Kumar and have two kids, Hanif and Laila.
- She lives under her husband's rules.

- She is from India - "(..) they looked a little funny with my rose-pink sari." (p. 129, l. 36-37), 

- Very nervous, wakes to every sound.

4. Comment on the story's physical setting (hvor foregår historien?) and its social setting (hvilke(t) social(e) lag foregår historien i?).

Physical setting:

- It takes place in Wansted, England. A middle class suburb. Indrani and Kumar have moved from a lower class apartment in Brick Lane.

Social setting:

- From a low-class neighbourhood to a high-class white-dominated neighbourhood.

5. What do you think the rats symbolise in the story? Remember to argue (kom med gode argumenter).

- The rats symbolizes the immigrants. "You have to keep the place clean otherwise you'll never get rid of them", they are seen as sort of filthy group of people or race, and the only thing to do about it, is to "clean up" the mess.

6. Interpret the title of the story – what significance does it have?

"Just below the surface"

- Could indicate the underlying racism that runs in the higher society.

- The truth is hidden or never spoken about (Immigrants will never be thought of as British)

7. Write at least 4 themes that you think this story deals with.

- Immigration

- Culture conflicts

- Racism

- Prejudice

Tina

1.
1. Not a sound sleeper (P. 128 L. 1 - P. 128 L. 8)
2. Scratching and scuffy noises (P. 128 L 8- P. 129 L. 2)
3. How to get rid of the mice? (P. 129 L. 2 - P. 129 L. 21)
4. Mouse trap (P. 129 L. 21 - P. 129 L. 26)
5. The shop (P. 129 L. 26 - P. 130 L. 2)
6. Mouse trap and cheese (P. 130 L. 2 - P. 130 L. 23)
7. Hide the trap (P. 130 L. 23 - P. 130 L. 32)
8. Cheese gone, no mice (P. 130 L. 32 - P. 130 L. 45)
9. Kumar findes trainers and cheese (P. 131L. 1 - P. 131 L. 12)
10. A rat in the trap (P. 131 L. 13 - P. 131 L. 36)
11. Another rat (P. 131 L. 36 - P. 132 L. 6)
12. Help (P. 132 L. 6 - P. 132 L. 41)
13. Broken into the shop (P. 132 L. 41 - P. 133 L. 7)
14. Super rats (P. 133 L. 7 - P. 134 L. 18)
15. Dig up the living room (P. 134 L. 18 - P. 135 L. 17)

2.
First person narrator
3.
She is from India, married to kumar, have 2 children, she is a nervous lady, wakes to every sound, takes care of her children, live under her husbands rules!
4.
Middle class, suburd near London!

5.
The rats symbolise immigration, the council workers are racist!

7.
Immigration, racism, culture,

Jakob

Task 1:

1. Sounds in the night (p. 128, l. 1 - p. 128, l. 30)
2. Burgled by mice (p. 128, l. 31 - p. 129, l. 11)
3. What to do? (p. 129, l. 12 - p. 129, l. 26)
4. Getting traps (p. 129, l. 13 - p. 130, l. 23)
5. Following night, no capture (p. 130, l. 24 - p. 130, l. 45)
6. Kumar finds out (p. 131, l. 1 - p. 131, l. 36)
7. Time to call the Council (p. 131, l. 37 - p. 132, l. 41)
8. Burglary at the shop (p. 132, l. 42 - p. 133, l. 12)
9. Bad news (p. 133, l. 13 - p. 134, l. 18)
10. King rat (p. 134, l. 19 - p. 134, l. 29)
11. Hope to find the crack (p. 134, l. 30 - p. 135, l. 9)
12. He said a funny thing (p. 135, l. 10 - p. 135, l. 17)


Task 2:

First-person narrator from Indrani's point view.
" From then on, I was to embarrassed to go anywhere except to places where you can help yourself." (p. 130, l. 3-4)


Task 3:

Indrani is from India, which we see in the quote "(..) they looked a little funny with my rose-pink sari." (p. 129, l. 36-37)
A sari is Indian women's clothes.
She is a nervous person who has a lot of thoughts about what the neighbours would think if they discovered that they have mice, it says "I am not what you call a sound sleeper, being somewhat of a nervous disposition when it comes to noises at the night, and what with burglaries and people putting horrible things through letter boxes, you can't be too careful." (p. 128, l. 1-45) and "(..) didn't fell like going to her and saying "Excuse me, I think we have mice and what can be dine about it?" She might have screamed and thought we were dirty or something." (p. 129, l. 16-18).
Indrani is also kind of scared or submissive to her husband. She does not tell him about her discovery, because she is afraid of his reaction, which is seen in the following quote "So I lay there for a long time worrying and thinking I would say nothing to Kumar, or he would say I was a bad housewife, and what should I do to get rid with of them." (p. 128, l. 40 - p. 129, l. 2)


Task 4:

 The story takes place in England, Wanstead which is a suburb to London.
And socially it takes place in the higher middle class, it says "(..) where the suburbs are green and leafy and the houses expensive (...)" (p. 128, l. 13-14)


Task 5:

The rats symbolize invaders which in this context means immigrants. Kumar and Indrani lives in a neigbourhood where mostly British people lives and people does not think Kumar and Indrani belong there, which this quote shows us "What are Asians doing in nice houses like those? Turning them into slums by the sound of it." (p. 130, l. 16-17). It makes it obvious that the British people does not fancy immigrants in such a nice neigbourhood.
 The British people sees the immigrants like rats which the man for the Council makes quite clear with his comment in the ending of the text, it says "Anyway, we can't kill them all.The main thing is to send them back where they came from, and then pretend they ain't there. Know what I mean?" (p. 135, l. 14-16) And "They came over on the ships, you see. From out East, so they say. Still you'd know all about that, I suppose." (p. 132, l. 16-17).


Task 6:

The title has two meanings. The first one, the rats lives straight under us. And second, the xenophobia is straight under the surface of people's mind. It is not visibly all the time but sometimes it comes out in different ways. An evil comment, like the quote from the task just above. Also the racist attack on Kumar's shop.


Task 7:

Xenophobia

Clash of culture

Immigration

Fear

Jesper, Philip

Just below the surface

1. Divided in to Sections.
• First section: Being nervous, page one, line one to the end for the first part.
• Second section: Small intruders, page one, line 31 to page two line 26.
• Third section: The walk of shame, page two, line 27 to page four, line eleven.
• Fourth section: Rat infection, page four line twelve to page five, line three
• The Fifth section: Wanted help, received racism. Page five, line four to page six, line seven.
• The sixth section: Smart rats, page seven, line eight to page eight, line eighteen
• The eighth section: Rats become synonym with people, page eight, line nineteen to page nine,until the last line.

2. The kind of Narrator.
• The narrator is a first person narrator, who tells the story through her eyes; “I am what you might call a sound sleeper”, line one page one. “My legs felt wobbly I asked him how long he thought it would take”, page nine line three. The “I” and “MY” tells us that it a a first person narrator, and that we experience the story through her eyes.
  3. Characterization of Indrani.
• Indrani is a nervous lady, with a an Indian background, she is quite paranoid; “I am what you might call a sound sleeper”, page 128 line one. She wakes up to every sounds, even the sound of a little mouse/rat scratching in the kitchen downstairs. It is only a person who that is constantly on guard, that wakes up like that. Page 129, line 35: “ She looked funny in her rose pink sari” , Indies clothe. That is one prof of here being Indian. She cares a little to much about what other people thinks of her; “I sad up in my bed. It was mice! Here in our nice new home, I was hearing mice. I felt so ashamed. It was not that the kind of kitchen that should be having mice”. Page 128, line 34.
  4. The physical setting, where are we.
• We are placed in a suburb, in the upper class. The little family, Indiran, Kumar and their two kids have a store and a nice big semi-detached house. It is placed in one of the suburbs of London.
  5. The Rats symbolizes immigrants in UK; “They came over on the ship you see. From out east, so they say” Still you´d know all about that, I suppose. I have never been out east, as you put I,” I said a little frostily”. Page 132 , line 15
  6. Just below the surface
• Culture conflicts in modern society, it all just smoulders right under the surface.
  7. Themes of the Story.
• Immigration
• Culture conflicts
• Racism
• Prejudice  

Vicky, Henrik, Line P

1.       p. 128, l. 1 – p. 128, l. 15: ”Not a sound sleeper”
p. 128, l. 16 – p. 128, l. 30: ”Scratching and scuffy noises”
p. 128, l. 31 – p. 129, l. 11: ”It was mice!”
p. 129, l. 12 – p. 129, l. 26: ”Opinion confirmed, what do to?”

p. 129, l. 27 – p. 130, l. 23: ”At Sainsbury’s”
p. 130, l. 24 – p. 130, l. 32: ”Setting the trap”
p. 130, l. 33 – p. 131, l. 12: ”Hiding the problem from Kumar”
p. 131, l. 13 – p. 131, l. 36: ”Rat race”
p. 131, l. 37 – p. 132, l. 6: ”Calling the Council”
p. 132, l. 7 – p. 132, l. 41: ”They came over on the ships”
p. 132, l. 42 – p. 133, l. 7: ”Intruders”
p. 133, l. 8 – p. 134, l. 29: ”Underground rushhour”
p. 134, l. 30 – p. 135, l. 2: ”So what do we do next?”
p. 135, l. 3 – p. 135, l. 17: ”Just below the surface”

2.       A first person narrator - The narrator talks to you and are a part of the story. Showed at p. 128, l5 - 8, where Indrani talks about her husband and talks to the reader.

3.       Indrani is very worried (p. 128, l. 3: […]people putting horrible things through letterboxes, you can’t be to careful.”) and dependent on others. (p. 129, l. 24: ”[…] Kumar always takes me shopping.”) She cares about what other people think about her, and easily gets embarrised. (p. 130, l. 3: ”From then on I was too embarresed to go anywhere except to places where you can help yourself.”)

4.       The story takes place in Wansted, a middle class suburb in England where Indrani and Kumar have moved to from the city where they lived in a lower class apartment.

5.       The rats symbolizes the immigrants. We can see that when the Council workers comes to Indrani and Kumar’s home to sort out the rat problem. You can almost change the word rats with immigrants and the text will still make sense in a racist kind of charater.

6.       "Just below the Surface" hints to the underlying racism that hunts the middleclass or higher class society. Just below the surface could also mean that the "ugly" truth hides or gets hidden.

7.       Immigrants, racism, clash of cultures, women’s rights, sweeping the problems under the rug instead of facing them.

Christian Jørgensen

2) First person narrator: “I” asked him how he could tell all this.( It is also a short story).

3) Her name is Indrani. She is married to Kumar and have two kids (Hanif and  Laila). She lives a life ruled by her husband. She is afraid to disappoint her husband: “ I would say nothing to Kumar, or he would say I was a bad housewife” (last line on page 1 – First line on page 2) Indrani and her family are Asians. They just moved to their new house in Broadmead. She seems like a caring housewife, who is taking care of her kids.

4) The story takes place in one of the more civilized neighborhoods in London: “ I had no idea that there was this sort of thing in a place that was supposed to be civilized” (last page L. 7-9).

Social Settings: From the story we can tell that Broadmead is one of the more civilized neighborhoods. Such thing as mice in the house is not supposed to happen, and Indrani and her husband are afraid of what the neighbors might think. Kumar: “We will tell no one about this” (page 4. L. 33)

5) The rats symbolize the white majority’s view on integration (Indrani and her family is looked at as rats): Anyway, we can’t kill them all. The main thing is to send them back where they came from, and then pretend they ain’t there. Know what I mean? Oh yes, this time I knew exactly what he meant” (Last page. Middle section) – Racism.

6) Title: Just below the surface – I think, that the title is a way to judge other people’s background and culture. In this story, Indrani lives with her family on London. However, since they are Asians, they will never be seen as British, no matter how British they become.

7) Themes: Class of culture, Integration, Racism, Repression.    

Rune Laursen

1. Divide the text into 10-15 sections and give each section a title. Write the titles in your answer along with references to pagenumbers and line numbers, example: Proof of mice (p. 128, l. 38 - p.129, l. 11).

1.Not a sound sleeper (p.128, l.1 - p.128, l. 8)
2.A living problem (p.128, l.8 - p.128, l. 37)
3.The research  (p.128, l. 37 - p.129, l. 19)
4.The mall (p.129, l.19 - p. 130, l.23)
5.A secret (p.130, l.23 - p.131, l. 12)
6.Kumar´s turn (p. 131, l.12 - p. 132, l. 3)
7.The council (p. 132, l.3 - p.132, l. 41)
8.The burglary (p. 132, l. 41 - p. 133, l. 12)
9.Clever rats in the sewer (p. 133, l. 12 - p. 134, l. 29)
10.Send them back (p. 134, l.29 - p.135, l. 17)

2. What type of narrator (fortæller) does the story have?

- First person narrator

3. Characterise Indrani – what is her cultural background and what kind of person is she?

- She is Asian. She is a quite and worring mother. Others oppinions mean alot to her. She is not that well educated and she is not working, but taking care of the house and kinds.

4. Comment on the story's physical setting (hvor foregår historien?) and its social setting (hvilke(t) social(e) lag foregår historien i?).

- It is in England in a town called Broadmead, Their social setting is above averged

5. What do you think the rats symbolise in the story? Remember to argue (kom med gode argumenter).

- The rats symbolise "bad things" in the way that even if you live in a nice house and in a good part of the city. It does not mean that everything in your life is "perfect" even wealthy and happy people have troubles.

6. Interpret the title of the story – what significance does it have?

"just below the surface" To me it is both the meaning of the rats living Below the house. But can also be interpret as even though it looks fine on the outside (if it is a house or a person, doesnt matter), it does not mean that everything is as good as it seems. Because when you get inside the house or get to know a person there is almost allways something you wouldent have seen coming, even though it is just below the surface.

7. Write at least 4 themes that you think this story deals with.

- Integration, fear, immigration, rascism 

A-Team (Alex 1 & 2)

1. Divide the text into 10-15 sections and give each section a title. Write the titles in your answer along with references to pagenumbers and line numbers, example: Proof of mice (p. 128, l. 38 - p.129, l. 11).

1. Not a sound sleeper (p.128, l.1 - p.128, l.
2. A living problem (p.128, l.8 - p.128, l. 37)
3. The research (p.128, l. 37 - p.129, l. 19)
4. The mall (p.129, l.19 - p. 130, l.23)
5. A secret (p.130, l.23 - p.131, l. 12)
6. Kumar´s turn (p. 131, l.12 - p. 132, l. 3)
7. The council (p. 132, l.3 - p.132, l. 41)
8. The burglary (p. 132, l. 41 - p. 133, l. 12)
9. Clever rats in the sewer (p. 133, l. 12 - p. 134, l. 29)
10. Send them back (p. 134, l.29 - p.135, l. 17)

2. What type of narrator (fortæller) does the story have?

• Subjective Narrator
• 1'st person

3. Characterise Indrani – what is her cultural background and what kind of person is she?

• She is from India.

• Has a husband (Kumar) and two children (Hanif and Laila)

• Lives a life ruled by her husband, he controls her completely.

• Isolated: “… what you read in the papers they put through the door …” No contact to the

outside world.

• Childlike. See above  and -> “ … I’m not sure what leafiness or double garages have to do with it.”

4. Comment on the story's physical setting (hvor foregår historien?) and its social setting (hvilke(t) social(e) lag foregår historien i?).

• Physical setting: India -> England (Wanstead)
• Social setting: From a low-class neighbourhood -> High class white-dominated

5. What do you think the rats symbolise in the story? Remember to argue (kom med gode argumenter).

• Felthy (beskidt)

 " you have to keep the place clean otherwise you'll never get rid of them"

• Racism

the assistant says, "Oh is it". She seems surprised that Indrani lives in a neighbourhood like that.

6. Interpret the title of the story – what significance does it have?

• I think it has something to do about when indrani and her family moves from a low-class to a high-class neighbourhood.. It significance that they're just below the surface: which means under the high-class fellas..

7. Write at least 4 themes that you think this story deals with.

• Clash of Culture

• Marriage

• Racism

• Immegration

Just Below the Surface, virtuel d. 18. dec. 2012

You may answer the following questions in pairs, groups or alone - it's up to you. Write your answers in a blog post with your name(s) as the title. Give it the label (etikette) 'Just Below the Surface'. Remember to post when the lessons end (15.35).

IMPORTANT: Please remember to support all your answers with quotes from the text.

A rat in a London drain.

1. Divide the text into 10-15 sections and give each section a title. Write the titles in your answer along with references to pagenumbers and line numbers, example: Proof of mice (p. 128, l. 38 - p.129, l. 11).

2. What type of narrator (fortæller) does the story have?

3. Characterise Indrani – what is her cultural background and what kind of person is she?

4. Comment on the story's physical setting (hvor foregår historien?) and its social setting (hvilke(t) social(e) lag foregår historien i?).

5. What do you think the rats symbolise in the story? Remember to argue (kom med gode argumenter).

6. Interpret the title of the story – what significance does it have?

7. Write at least 4 themes that you think this story deals with.

See you Thursday :) TL