Today was a really good way to get back into the swing of being non-sick for school activities; instead of going out on the town after our morning discussion of Oliver Twist, we watched a movie version of it. No, it wasn’t the musical, but it was still very engaging. It was also really long and in black and white, but I definitely don’t dock it for being that way, considering how much I enjoyed it. It stuck very close to the book, which is sometimes difficult to do when transposing a text to film. I really don’t have all that much to say about what we did in class, but I love Oliver Twist as a text.

What I can say, and what this morning’s discussion was mostly about, is that Nancy is a very difficult character to work and come to terms with. The stereotype of a fallen woman redeeming herself in the eyes of society and God was too thorny for the era Dickens wrote in, forcing him to kill her off at the end. Despite how awful it is to see her death, especially at the hands of the one person she tried not to betray, it was the only way for her story to end without upsetting the audience of the book. Then again, Dickens stripped away the Romantic ideals of the charming rogue with his depictions of Fagin and Sykes, so a little extra controversy probably wouldn’t have hurt the text too much.

Tomorrow will be another easy-going, all-class day, particularly because we have to cover the Tempest before we go to Stratford-Upon-Avon on Thursday. I am so completely exuberant over the prospect of seeing Stratford, and I’m not sure how well I’m going to sleep the night before, all excitement considering. For now, though, it’s time to sleep and think thoughts of Henry V and the Tempest. So, good night, and I’ll check in again tomorrow!