1. The Go-Between
Chapters

2. Chapter 18: Marian
Work in groups to prepare notes and quotations for a class debate about Marian. Context: How do you think attitudes towards women have changed since 1900 (when the novel is set) and when it was written (1953)?
Marian is a victim of her mother’s social ambitions – she is to be pitied
Marian is ruthless and undeserving of the reader’s sympathy
“Did Marian love her? That I could not tell: I had seen them watching each other like two cats.”
“Only I knew how much calculation underlay her apparent inconsequence, and all my thoughts of her were steeped in green and poisoned”.

3. The inaccessibility of language
Many Victorians were factually uniformed and emotionally repressed when it came to sex. Hartley uses this chapter to highlight how inaccessible the world of adult emotions is to children. Think about the symbolic importance of:
Marcus’s joke
The smoking room pictures
Context:
To what extent do you think class impacts on attitudes towards sex in The Go-Between?

4. Homework: Critical material
Read the article Miscommunication, language development and enculturation. Highlight the examples of misunderstandings and miscommunications in the novel ready for a class discussion next lesson.

5. The History Boys
The world of The History Boys is also sexually repressive but in a different way.
Which characters are sexually repressed?
How does Alan Bennett make it clear that this is damaging?

6. Ted What is the impact of Ted’s letter?
How does Hartley suggest that both Trimingham and the Maudsleys may at least suspect Marian’s affair with Ted (either here or elsewhere in the novel)?

7. Chapter 19: the build up of tension
What techniques does Hartley use to make it clear that Leo will not be able to leave Brandham Hall?
Read the description of Leo at the end of the chapter (pages ). What ideas do you have about Hartley’s use of symbolism?
Read the description of Ted on pages 198 – 200.
How does Hartley use imagery here?
How does Ted’s treatment of Leo differ from that of the characters at the Hall?

8. Homework: essay
What is suggested about the consequences of a sexually repressive society in The Go-Between and The History Boys?