Exploring the impact of War on Alfred in "Propping Up The Line".

Hello and welcome to today's lesson.

It's great to see you again.

My name is Mr. Young, and I'm so glad that you've decided to join me again for another lesson on "Propping Up The Line".

So just as a reminder, you will need your copy of the book in front of you, which can be found in "Stories of World War I" published by Orchard Books.

So shall we get started? So, today's lesson has a very clear learning outcome.

So let's take a look at what it is.

So by the end of today's lesson, everybody should be able to explore Beck's presentation of Alfred's trauma.

And remember, Beck is the writer of "Propping Up The Line".

And just as in any lesson, we have some very important words, our keywords.

So these are really, really important for today's lesson.

So I do encourage you just to pause the video, jot these down if they are new to you, because we're gonna be using them quite a bit.

So our keywords are psychological, so of the mind, if something is psychological, it affects the mind.

So certain injuries from World War I can be psychological.

PTSD, an acronym for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a mental health condition.

So lots of soldiers experience PTSD because of the traumatic things that they witnessed in World War I, debilitating, weakening, if something is debilitating, it is weakening you in some way.

Pernicious, harmful, destructive, or invasive.

So pernicious is not a good thing.

And finally, manifest.

So to show through emotional or physical reactions.

So fear could manifest itself in certain emotion, certain actions like trembling, for example.

So we have two very clear learning cycles today.

Our first one is all about World War I and PTSD.

So in many ways, world War I was kind of one of the first times in history that PTSD had been experienced on such a grand scale.

And we're gonna unpick that in relation to Alfred's story in "Propping Up The Line".

And then we're gonna look at a very specific question in learning cycle two, which is, how does Beck present trauma? How does he present trauma in his story? So let's get started with learning cycle one.

So "Propping Up The Line" explores the long-term physical damage of experiencing a gas attack in World War I.

So Alfred has a painful, debilitating cough.

He can only work in the summer and he doesn't reach old age.

Beck clearly wants to present these physical effects.

Indeed, his author's notes speak of his grandfather, who's the inspiration for the story and describes how his lungs were harmed by a gas attack.

And this ultimately shortened his life.

So World War I was really kind of the first major conflict to use gas as widespread as it was.

And this had a really, really negative effect on soldiers that witnessed it and experienced it, like Alfred.

However, Beck's short story also explores a psychological illness called PTSD.

So let's unpick that in in a little bit more detail.

So P means post, so it's after.

T means traumatic, so if something is disturbing or distressing, S is stress.

So a physical or emotional reaction to pressure or threat.

And finally, D is disorder, a physical or mental illness.

So PTSD can manifest itself, that means present itself in a number of different ways.

But some common symptoms include the following things.

So we might experience nightmares, hallucinations, and flashbacks, severe anxiety, complete emotional and physical breakdown, an inability to speak or move, and panic attacks, fear, and unstable moods.

These are very, very typical things that somebody experiencing PTSD may encounter, may experience.

So consider these moments then from "Propping Up The Line".

So we have the first one here.

Alfred decides to tell no one about his experiences of war.

And we've got those words burden and locked from the story, which kind of suggests to us that he feels weighed down by the experience and doesn't want to inflict this on anyone else.

Also got the idea that Alfred listens to Alice washing clothes and then all of a sudden he starts hearing the splashing and the vomit, which is not, you know, something you would typically associate with washing clothes.

And the sound of water splashing reminds him of Jonesey's reaction to the gas attack.

It effectively just transports him back straight to the moment that he witnessed that traumatic death of Jonesey.

Alfred sees a cart loaded with junk.

So a typical sight during this kind of period in England, people going around with their cart, collecting kind of rubbish effectively.

And we straight away see these words million and piled from Alfred, which kind of shows that he confuses his experiences at war with now.

He thinks there are corpses on the cart.

He thinks it's exactly the image that he witnessed in World War I.

And finally, a man reminds Alfred of Jonesey, where he speaks about should and could, this repetition where he feels guilty about what happened to Jonesey, effectively feeling that he was at fault in some way that he could have saved him.

So my quick discussion for you is, how does Alfred's PTSD manifest itself? How does it manifest itself here? Really challenging question, but really excited to see how you get on with this one.

So hit that pause button, have a quick discussion or jot down some ideas if you're working independently.

And then do push play when you'd like to proceed.

Okay, well done, some really fantastic discussions taking place there.

Really well done for linking it back to that contextual discussion we just had about PTSD.

I'm hearing lots of people talking about flashbacks and kind of memories, which is a key part of PTSD.

We certainly see that with Alfred here, don't we? And I'm also hearing some really good things about panic attacks.

You know, it seems like Alfred is experiencing that quite a lot, particularly when he witnesses anything that reminds him of that traumatic gas attack.

So really well done for picking up on that.

So Beck's short story is part of a body of literature which explores returning soldiers with PTSD from World War I.

So it's quite a common thing that comes across in the literature about World War I.

Some of the most famous explorations are found in the poetry of Wilfred Owen, a soldier who was treated for PTSD himself.

So we've got this example here from Wilfred Owen's poem, "Mental cases".

So let's read it.

"Always they must see these things and hear them.

The batter of guns and shatter of flying muscles, carnage incomparable and human squander.

Rucked too thick for these men's extrication, therefore still their eyeballs shrink tormented back into their brains because on their sense, sunlight seems a blood smear, night comes blood-black, dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh." Really powerful poetry there for moment, isn't it? So we've got this really clearly running through, this kind of links to PTSD.

So we've got this line here, "Rucked too thick for these men's extrication." So the traumatic memories of war are two intense to escape.

Wilfred Owen is basically saying, you know, these memories are something you can't forget effectively.

So quick discussion question for me then, please.

How does Owen present the cause and effects of PTSD? So in this short extract from "Mental Cases", how does Owen present the cause and the effects of PTSD? So hit that pause button, have a quick discussion, jot down some ideas, push play when you'd like to proceed.

Okay, once again, some fantastic discussions taking place.

Well done for everybody who's kind of linking key details in that poem to the causes and effects of PTSD.

So Owen's exploration of PTSD was, in many ways, quite radical for its time.

So let's unpick that a bit more.

So in the early 20th century, the treatment of mental health and psychological illness was at a very early stage.

People often associated symptoms of PTSD, which was then known as shell shock, with personal weaknesses or cowardice, you know, being afraid, rather than a debilitating condition needing careful treatment.

Some thought those manifesting symptoms were faking them in order to get outta the war and many were denied the Army pensions due to them.

So a really, really challenging kind of experience for those kind of experiencing PTSD.

There just isn't much kind of public perception or public sympathy or empathy for those experiencing that condition.

So quick check for understanding for me then, please.

In what ways does Alfred's PTSD manifest? In what ways does it appear? Is it a, an inability to speak? Is it b, intrusive thoughts? Is it c, nightmares, or is it d, a debilitating cough? So hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to see which is correct.

Okay, great job to everybody who identified it as b and c.

So it's not a, because alpha can continue to talk when he returns, and it's not d because although he has a debilitating cough, that isn't really a symptom of PTSD, that's a physical symptom of the gas attack.

But he certainly experiences intrusive thoughts and nightmares as well, doesn't he? Okay, we have reached our practise task for learning cycle one.

So let's take a look at what it is.

So I would like you to complete the following sentence stems using the prompts as support.

So let's take a look at those stems. The first one is, many soldiers returning from World War I suffered from PTSD because, and then I would like you to complete that by thinking about that question, what features of trench warfare might have caused PTSD? What was really unique about that conflict that might lead to kind of disproportionate numbers of PTSD? Our second sentence then is, "Many soldiers returning from World War I suffered from PTSD but." So my question to guide you there is, how was PTSD considered by many in the early 20th century? So what kind of sympathy, or lack of sympathy perhaps, could a soldier experiencing PTSD expect? And our final sentence stem is, "Many soldiers returning from World War I suffered from PTSD so." And the question I would like to guide you with that one is how has the exploration of PTSD become a part of war literature? Are there any contextual links, any links to any famous poets perhaps that you could put into that question? So really excited to see how you got on with this one.

So hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to move on to some feedback.

Okay, fantastic effort on that task.

Really, really well done.

It's lovely to see you linking your kind of contextual knowledge, your knowledge of the text into one to produce some really excellent bits of writing.

So we've got some self-assessment questions to guide us then, please.

So the first one I would like you to think about, have you considered the threats and conditions of trench warfare? Have you considered the gas attacks and going over the top and all of these things that were very unique to World War I in your discussion of PTSD? That's my first self-assessment question.

Your next one is, have you referenced common views about psychological conditions? Have you kind of reflected on the fact that people at home in the home front simply did not have any knowledge of PTSD? And in fact they were actually quite hostile towards it, almost linking it to kind of cowardice and being afraid.

And finally, my last question is, have you referred to the body of literature about PTSD, notably Wiled Owen? Have you kind of made reference to all of those fantastic things he speaks about in his poems, kind of referencing early PTSD amongst soldiers? So hit that pause button, complete those self-assessment questions now, and then do push play when you'd like to proceed.

Okay then we have now reached learning cycle two where we are going to link our fantastic knowledge now of PTSD and trauma to answering a very specific question about "Propping Up The Line".

And that question is, you've guessed it, it's the learning cycle title, how does Beck present trauma? So let's get started with that one.

So Lucas is going to answer this question, he's going to answer that question.

So how does Beck present trauma? And Lucas has done the following things, so he is annotating it in the following ways.

So he has picked up on that word how that is a really important word because it's all about exploring Beck's methods and for example, his language choices.

So that's kind of telling us how to approach the question.

We've also got this idea here, trauma.

So our focus for our answer for all of our fantastic ideas is going to be on trauma.

So really, really important annotations there from Lucas.

So Lucas develops his annotations further with some questions, and those questions are, which references, so quotations, plot points, to the short story would best help me explore trauma? And what context would help me understand how Beck presents trauma? How might readers react to his presentation? So my question for you is, how would you answer Lucas's question? So those questions are really, really great from Lucas to help him kind of understand his thoughts and ideas and kind of get them ready for that really fantastic essay that he's going to write.

So my question for you is, how would you answer Lucas's questions below? So hit that pause button, complete the task, and then so push play when you'd like to proceed.

Okay, fantastic Discussions to kick us off in learning cycle two, I'm really enjoying all the different things that I'm hearing.

So for example, all of those kind of groups of students that are discussing the ideas that, you know, how Alfred reacts when he returns home, how he links seemingly kind of everyday things to the death of Jonesey could be a really good thing to include in an essay about trauma.

And there's also this idea, you know, these contextual points we could make about how PTSD just wasn't really understood by people at home.

It was quite in its infancy, particularly in treatment and understanding.

These could be really, really effective things that we could put in our essay.

Well done for picking up on them.

So Lucas uses his annotations to draught a paragraph.

So let's take a look at what Lucas has written.

Lucas says, "Beck presents trauma as pernicious, impacting all areas of Alfred's life.

Beck includes two incidents in which seemingly harmless aspects of daily life remind Alfred of the horrors of war.

Washing sounds like Jonesey's vomiting that he heard during the gas attack, and a cart loaded with clutter is full of a million corpses.

The incidents move from the specific, one man, to the general, a nation of men, showing that Jonesey's death comes to reflect the death of all boys to Alfred." It's a really good start there from Lucas.

So Sam gives two what went wells and one even better if, and they are, I like your clear topic sentence and that is a really good clear topic sentence, isn't it? I like how you explore Beck's methods.

So that's a really kind of intelligent way to look at it, kind of looking at the individual but also the collective kind of casualties of World War I, and Sam has given the even better if of, your analysis should include context to develop your ideas.

There's not a huge discussion of context there, is there, currently? So here is Lucas's redraft.

Lucas writes, "Beck presents trauma as pernicious, impacting all areas of Alfred's life.

Beck includes two incidents in which seemingly harmless aspects of daily life remind Alfred of the horrors of war.

Washing sounds like Jonesey's vomiting that he heard during the gas attack, and a cart loaded with clutter is full of a million corpses.

The incidents move from the specific, one man, to the general, a nation of men, showing that Jones's death comes to reflect the death of all boys to Alfred.

Significantly, Beck includes Alice's reaction to Alfred's description of the cart, who seems more alarmed that Alfred has shared this information with Nell than that he's forced to relive it.

Through this reaction, Beck perhaps speaks to the lack of understanding of psychological illness in the early 20th century.

Whilst Alice cares for Alfred's lungs, she offers no emotional support.

And Alfred comes to realise his trauma is a burden he must carry alone.

It's a really fantastic redraft there, including a really insightful contextual comment.

So quick discussion for me.

How has Lucas responded to Sam's feedback? So hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to proceed.

Okay, really well done on that.

I gave you a little clue, didn't I, when I referenced the contextual point? But we've got this fantastic contextual point at the end about how Alice is just unable to kind of offer Alfred the psychological support that he needs.

She seems very, very caring towards his lungs and his cough, a kind of physical illness that Alfred has.

But she seems totally oblivious to the kind of psychological pain that he's experiencing.

Very, very typical for soldiers returning from World War I.

So great job for picking up on that.

Okay, so check for understanding for me then, please.

Which pupil has best included context? Let's have a look at what they've said.

Lucas says, "Beck presents trauma as invasive, ordering the way Alfred sees the world.

When he hears the washing, he's reminded of Jonesey's vomit.

In this way, Beck contributes to the body of literature about PTSD and like Wiled Owen, one of the most famous World War I poets, develops the idea that the true trauma of war is rucked too thick for these men's extrication." Whereas Sam has said, "Beck presents trauma as invasive, altering the way Alfred sees the world.

When he hears the washing, he's reminded of Jonesey's vomiting.

Jonesey' died in a gas attack and the word splattering shows just how intensely Alfred remembers the attack.

Gas was used in World War I, and it was much feared 'cause it was so debilitating.

It was part of the trauma of trench warfare.

So two really good paragraphs, but which one best includes context? Hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do play it when you'd like to see which is correct.

Okay, great job if you identified it as Lucas's point, Lucas makes some really insightful points here about PTSD and trauma and linking it to Alfred's experience.

We'd say Sam's are a little bit too general talking about gas attacks, not really linked to PTSD or trauma.

Well done for picking up on that in your own work.

Okay, we have reached today's final practise task.

Let's take a look at what we are going to do.

So we are of course gonna answer that question, aren't we? How does Beck present trauma? So my task for you is as follows, there are two parts to this task.

Number one, rewrite and improve the paragraph below using Sam's feedback.

And secondly, write your own paragraph using another example from the story.

So the paragraph is as follows, Beck presents psychological trauma as powerful, just like physical trauma.

When Alfred makes toast at home, he is reminded of army rations.

And Beck describes his voice as harsh.

Nell reacts feeling like his anger is a stone.

And the EBI given was your analysis should include context to develop your ideas.

So really excited to see how you get on with this final practise task of today's lesson.

So hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to move on to some feedback.

Okay, really well done.

Trauma is such a pivotal part of this story and it's lovely to see you writing really nice, really developed responses in relation to that.

So let's take a look at how we could have approached this task.

So let's consider Lucas's earlier example, which included context.

So we're not gonna read the whole thing, but let's just read that very last bit in green that shows the context.

So Lucas has written, "Alice's reaction to Alfred's description of the cart, who seems more alarmed that Alfred has shared this information with Nell than that he's forced to relive it.

Through this reaction, Beck perhaps speaks to the lack of understanding of psychological illness in the early 20th century.

Whilst Alice cares for Alfred's lungs, she offers no emotional support.

And Alfred comes to realise his trauma is a burden he must carry alone.

So a really fantastic contextual point.

So my task view then is to identify where you too have included context in your response.

So for the very last time, hit that pause button, complete that self-assessment, and then do push play when you'd like to bring this lesson to a close.

Okay, thank you very much for such a fantastic lesson.

My goodness, we have learned a lot today, haven't we? So let's just recap all of those great things that we have focused on in today's lesson.

So firstly, Beck is interested in exploring both the physical and psychological effects of World War I on Alfred.

Secondly, some of Alfred's actions and thoughts suggest he has some form of PTSD.

Many soldiers suffered from PTSD, or what was then known as shellshock, following World War I.

PTSD was not well understood in the early of 20th century.

And finally, Beck's short story is part of a body of literature which explores the experiences of PTSD caused by World War I.

It's been an absolute pleasure to teach you today, and I really look forward to teaching you on another lesson in this sequence.

So thank you very much and goodbye.