Similarities and Differences

In the novels Regeneration and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, both Barker and Louis De Bernieres use historical characters to challenge traditional views of society. Barker uses Sassoon and Rivers; De Bernieres uses Mussolini, Metaxas and Carlo. De Bernieres uses Carlo to represent how the pressure of society can affect someone. He presents Carlo as someone alienated and shunned. Furthermore, both Sassoon and Carlo hide their homosexuality. The authors have done this to show how society can silence people through the strong expectations of males.

Louis De Bernieres is more open in presenting historical characters as being homosexual to challenge society’s views whereas Barker uses a more subtle way and only suggests homosexuality. An example of this is when Sassoon wants to go back to the war because he wants to help his men (theme of ‘love between men’) whereas Carlo wants to go to the war to find a partner. A more obvious example is De Bernieres choice of chapters ‘L’Omossesuale’ which means the homosexual in Italian which is a direct way of talking about his homosexuality in contrast with Barker who only hints the historical characters homosexuality.

Louis De Bernieres openly mocks historical characters. In chapter two, Mussolini’s dramatic monologue is used to present him as a stupid, arrogant and self centered character. However, Barker presents Rivers as a compassionate and nurturing “male mother”. This clearly shows the different styles in the treatment of historical figures between the two authors.

Similarities and Differences

In both of the novels, “Regeneration” and “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin”, they use non-fictional historical figures to present their point. They use the characters and add fictional characteristics that allow the author to present the ideas of homosexuality.

The similarities in the use of fictional historical figures between the two authors, Barker and de Bernieres, are that they both do not agree and tolerate the way society expectation treats the characters. For de Bernieres’ character, Carlo, he is hiding his identity of being a homosexual person by writing letters and Barkers’ character, Sassoon, he is hiding his identity of being a homosexual by not admitting to it. This suggests that they are both being silenced or muted by society and their expectations on the male role.

The differences between de Bernieres’ and Barkers’ fictional historical figures are their patriarchal characteristics. De Bernieres presents his patriarchal character through Mussolini who has characteristics such as arrogance, ignorance and stupidity that creates a very hateful patriarchal character. Barker does present a patriarchal character who is Rivers a nurturing, caring and compassionate towards his patients.

Another difference is the reason that Sassoon wants to go back into the army at the near end of the novel of Regeneration is that he wants to protect his men which therefore shows a more plutonic relationship where as Carlo wants to join the army to fall in love with a man which he does which is more like a romantic relationship.

Another difference is the amount of fictional information that the author involves in the characters. Barker uses non-fictional historical figures that are not well known universally whereas de Bernieres uses a more widely known non-fictional historical figure. Barker interprets more of his own personal opinion of the character to present her message through the novel whereas de Bernieres does place his own personal opinion of how the characters are in reality, however it is at a more realistic rate and thus agreed by the reader and so his messages are at some extent more easier to be agreed by the readers.

Year 12 A1 Work - Monday 5th October lessons 5 and 6

Choose one of the following essays and complete it by the end of the double lesson:

1. Carlo is presented as nothing more than an 'alien in [his] own race'. To what extent to you agree / disagree?
2. Carlo, in CCM,  is presented as being more accepting of his own sexuality than Sassoon is, in Regeneration. How far do you agree with this statement?

Complete it by the end of the lesson and leave it on my desk in Room 305.

Similarities/Differences in treatment of historical figures

In the novels 'Regeneration' and 'CCM' both Barker and de Bernieres use their characters to challenge society’s views on homosexuality. Similarly, they both explore the effects that societies views have on the men who are homosexual and how they are dealt with (Sassoon,Rivers,Graves and Carlo)
However, Barker portrays characters such as Sassoon and Rivers as more dominant figures who appear to us to be very patriarchal and poses more masculine qualities, where as de Bernieres presents Carlo as having more feminine characteristics like being reflective, sensitive and emotional. An example of this is the mere fact that Carlo writes letters, not to other people, but to himself and these letters include his personal and emotional thoughts and feelings about the war and his love for Francesco.

Another noticable difference between the two authors is that style in which the novels are writen in order to present historical figures. While Barkers style is more serious, de Bernieres is much more of a mockery especially towards characters like Mussolini in chapter2. When discussing the topic of the homosexuality of the characters, Barker is much more evasive, as in the reader almost has to guess and speculate that characters such as Sassoon and Rivers are in fact homosexual. It is not made perfectly clear to us or discussed openly although there are certain hints and suggestions that lead us to this conclusion. De Bernieres on the other hand is much more open to the notion of homosexuality, the simple fact that he titles his chapters with Carlo as "L'Omosessuale" shows this. Carlo as a character also willing admits to being in love with a man.

Similarities and Differences

Both Barker and de Bernieres use the characters as a way of critisising and challenging society. One of the most noticeable similarities is the use of homosexuality as a way of challenging society’s views and the effect of these views on the men involved.

However Barker’s and de Bernieres’ style of writing and approaches to the characters are very different. Barker uses the homosexual characters of Sassoon and Rivers to portray strong, and patriarchal figures, to challenge stereotypical views of homosexuality, however de Bernieres does not challenge the stereotype so much as use it to help portray the character of Carlo as a very sensitive, emotional and reflective character.

Finally, Barker’s style of writing is very upfront and serious, where as de Bernieres uses satire and mockery to poke fun at certain historical figures (Mussolini), both of these styles of writing being very effective.

Similarities and Differences

In Regeneration, Pat Barker, and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres use historical characters in their novel. In Regeneration, there are Rivers and Sassoon and in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, there are the Duce, which is Mussolini and Metaxas, Prime Minister of Greece. The similarity of both of this novel in using historical characters is that the opinions and thoughts of the character are all expressed to the reader. Pat Barker uses narrative viewpoint to put the reader to observe the conversation and understand the character feeling. Louis de Bernieres uses dramatic monologue for the reader to be the listener to the Duce. De Bernieres uses different style to viewing Metaxas, it is similar to Barker narrative viewpoint. Other similarities such as, they have comment theme of war, mocking on society and homosexual.

The differences are the depth of Pat Barker and Louis de Bernieres uses the character. Pat Barker had to be careful not to overuse the historical character since she wants to make it as real as possible. Different to Louis de Bernieres, he uses as much as possible the way to mock the character or impress the reader as possible. And Barker set her novel on World War One and de Bernieres set his on World War Two therefore the storyline as well the message deliver are different. Also Barker main location is in the Craiglockhart the hospital and the war scenes are only shown through conversations and dreams, opposite to de Bernieres, he has many different location in his novel such as the battlefront and Kelafonia.

Similarities and Differences in treatment of actual historical figures in regeneration and CCM

The similarities of Barker and De Bernieres is that they both represent people who were actually one way or another, a part of the war. A fact to point out is that they both show that homosexuality was common in both world war 1 in Regeneration and world war 2 in CCM. In Regeneration, Sassoon and Rivers are both homosexuals, but they are not really elaborated however in CCM, Carlo homosexuality is clear and shows that he is in love with Francesco.

The difference between Barker and De Bernieres is that Barker represents the historical characters who helped in the war, like Sassoon who was in the front lines and Rivers as a doctor trying to cure patients to make them fight again. However De Bernieres mocks the historical characters, and they are the political leaders like Mussolini and Prime minister metaxes.

Different approaches to historical characters

In Regeneration, Barker had used the historical figures to represent and convey messages that criticises society. The same is done in CCM, where Bierniers uses historical figures such as Carlo to represent the shunned affect of being a homosexual. However, as both authors use these figures to convey the same message, they are portraying a different representation of each character. For example; Barker's portayal of Rivers, Sassoon and Graves are of strong, and bold/'big' characters within the novel. They are seen as patriachal as well as influencing the dynamic events in the novel. However, Biernieres had used Carlo to portray a very timid, emotional and reflective character. In other words, Biernieres had allowed Carlo to be a more feminine character rather than a bold character like that Barker would have done.

Another noticeable point on how these authors approach their characters differently are; Barker using a more conservative and passive mockery of historical figures or attitudes, unlike Biernieres who openly mocks these character to show his disagreements. This is shown through the dramatic monologue of chapter 2 in CCM (The Duce), here he had portrayed Mussolini as a mad man who was humourous to the reader because the character was utterly whimsical and irrational. As for Barker, the representation of social mockery was done in a more seriouse manner through the character of Yealland; an arrogant, domineering and cruel character.

Aftermath

10 years after the end of World War Two, Kefalonia was hit by four earthquakes. The largest of all four was measured 7.5 Richter. 100.000 people in the island population flee from the earthquake, 25,000 stayed behind and 600 died. All the historical castles and mansions were all destroyed. Only two houses and a bridge were luckily survived the earthquakes. Fortunately, they received help from Britain, USA, Norway and Sweden. However the beauty of the island was somehow lost in the processed of rebuilding the towns. A town called Sami was rebuilt; it was rebuilt to look like an English resort town. The earthquake was heavily had an impact on the village of Assos, it was completely destroyed into rubble. The French helped to rebuild this town. Before turned into a museum, the monastery of St. Andreas in the earthquake suffered from untold damages.

These earthquakes had many impact on the people as well. Not only that they lost their houses, but maybe as well as their family, people who’s died in the earthquakes. They lost their history and their traditional as the castles were destroyed and the town was rebuild to look like English town. The Greek are believers in God, the monastery of St. Andreas destroyed and turned into a museum hinted that somehow they were losing their belief.

Kefalonia: The catastrophic earthquake of 1953 on Kefalonia Greece, Ionian, http://www.greeka.com/ionian/kefalonia/kefalonia-history/kefalonia-earthquake.htm, 24 September 2009

GREECE AND GREEK

GREECE AND GREEK : THE HISTORY

CHARACTERS

APOLLO

Greek God of the Sun

· Apollo is known to be creative, handsome and pro-civilisation.

· Curly gold hair.

· He’s the son of Zeus and Leto.

· The sun usually symbolises Apollo.

· Apollo’s twin sister is Artemis who is the goddess of the hunt and wild things.

APHRODITE

Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty

· Beautiful perfect young woman

· Has a girdle that is magical in the sense that it compels love

· Daughter of Zeus and Dione

· She rose from the sea and had a sexual attractiveness that enticed people walking by

PENELOPE

Wife of Odyssey

· Associated with faithfulness

· Odyssey goes and fights in the Trojan War

· Penelope waits 20 years for his return

· Whilst waiting she turns down 108 soldiers’ marriage proposals

ODYSSEUS

King of Ithaca

· Husband of Penelope

· Spent 10 years in the Trojan War

· Created the strategy of the Trojan Horse where the Greek army snuck into Troy under cover of darkness.

HERCULES

· Son of Zeus

· Famous for his strength

· He was known as a hero, champion, and a great warrior

· Known for a club and lion skin

ATLAS

Bearer of heavens

· He led the Titanes in a rebellion against Zeus

· Then condemned to bear the heavens upon his shoulders

· He had been appointed guardian of the pillars that held earth and sky

· God who instructed mankind in the art of astronomy (used by farmers and sailors in navigation)

HOMER AND ‘THE ODYSSEY”

· The Odyssey is about the homecoming of Odysseus to his wife Penelope

· He is famous for being deceiving as he constructed the Trojan Horse plan

· He chose to return home to lead a normal life

HISTORY OF KEFALONIA

· Largest Ionian island in western Greece

· Named after mythological figure Cephalus.

· Celphalus arrived on the island as a refugee from Athens.

POLITICAL FIGURES

Benito Mussolini - Born in 1883 and died in 1945. He replaced Italy’s democratic government and founded the Italian Fascist Party in 1919

• In 1939 Mussolini became friendly with Nazi Germany
• Increasing co-operation with Nazi Germany lead the ‘Pact of Steel’ in 1939.
• Influenced by Hitler, Mussolini began to introduce anti-Jewish legislations in Italy.
• Greco-Italian war: 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941
• Hitler warned Mussolini against attacking and was furious when he disobeyed because Hitler had to postpone the attack of USSR by weeks to help him.
• The Greek Army counter-attacked, forcing the Italians to retreat and by mid-December, the Greeks occupied nearly a quarter of Albania, tying down 530,000 Italian troops. In March 1941, a major Italian counter-attack failed. In the first days of April the Germans attacked Greece and the Italian army resumed its attacks while the Greek Army retreated. On 20 April, the Greek army surrendered to the Germans, and on 23 April 1941 the armistice was repeated including the Italians, ending the Greco-Italian war.

Emanuele Grazzi - responsible for presenting the ultimatum of Mussolini to the Greek Prime Minister, Ioannis Metaxes.
This ultimatum was presented to Metaxas in Greece on October 28, 1940, at dawn (04:00 AM), after a party in the German embassy in Athens. In it, Grazzi demanded that Greece allow the Axis forces to enter Greek territory and occupy "strategic locations" or otherwise face war. Metaxes replied with the answer no and so in response to his refusal, Italian troops were stationed in Albania and attacked the Greek border at 05:30 AM. This was when Greece joined WWII

Ioannis Metaxas – a Greek general appointed Minister of Greece
Metaxas tried to keep Greece out of World War II but this was made impossible when Grazzi sent an ultimatum from Mussolini demanding occupational rights in Greece. Metaxas replied with "Alors, c'est la guerre" ("then it is war").

Axis Powers
The Axis Powers is a military alliance between Germany (Adolf Hitler), Italy (Benito Mussolini) and Japan (Tojo Hideki). It was officially founded in September 1940 with the signing of the Tripartite Pact. The minor Axis countries were Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. Its goals were to achieve immense expansion through aggressive warfare and to destroy Soviet Communism.

Pact of Steel
The ‘Pact of Steel’ is an alliance between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy signed on May 22, 1939 in Berlin. This Pact was made with the assumption that a war would break out in next few years. The Pact consisted of two parts;

• continuing trust and cooperation between Italy and Germany
• a joint military and economic policy. The Pact of Steel meant that Germany or Italy were obligated to aid the other country in the event of war being declared. They also had to collaborate in military and wartime production. To make peace, any of the countries needed the agreement of the other.

The Aftermath

The impact of the 1953 earthquake in Kefalonia

The 1953 earthquake in Kefalonia was actually made up of four large earthquakes, the largest measuring up to 7.5 on the Richter scale. The effects of the earthquake were numerous. With 600 dead and 100,000 people relocating off the island, only 25,000 people were left to rebuild the island, however they did receive international help from Britain, the United States, Norway and Sweden.The damage was tragic, the earthquake destroying the old castle and all the mansions on the island, only two houses and a bridge survived the disaster. Although the island was rebuilt, they were unable to recapture the beauty the landscape once had. Some of the villages escaped the effect of the earthquake but others, such as the village Assos, were completely destroyed. However, one of the positive outcomes of the earthquake was the discovery of the underground lake of Melissani.

Reference:http://www.greeka.com/ionian/kefalonia/kefalonia-history/kefalonia-earthquake.htm

Kefalonia in WW2

The occupation of Greek island Kefalonia during WW2:

- In 1864, Kefalonia had become independent.
- Only to be dominated by Germany and Italy during WW2.
In World War II, the island was occupied by the Axis powers. Until late in 1943, the occupying forces were mostly Italian - the 33 Infantry Division Acqui plus Navy personnel totaled 12,000 men. Germany was also present by contributing a troop of 2,000 Nazi soldiers. The island was not involved in combat until the Allies had stopped Italy with an Armistice in September 1943. Confusion followed on the island, as the Italians were returning home, German forces rebelled against the idea as they didn’t want the Italians to leave still in possession of munitions, which could potentailly be used against them. The Italian forces were hesitant to turn over weapons for the same reason, as German reinforcements were sent to the island to enforce their strength, the Italians dug in and, eventually, after a referendum among the soldiers as to surrender or battle, they fought against the new German invasion. The fighting came to a head at the siege of Argostoli, where the Italians held out. Ultimately the German forces prevailed, taking full control of the island, and five thousand of the nine thousand surviving Italian soldiers were executed as a reprisal by German forces. While the war ended in central Europe in 1945, Kefalonia remained in a state of conflict due to the Greek Civil War. Peace returned to Greece and the island in 1949. Throughout the period of WW2, Kefalonia had been used as naval and troop basis while the Great Powers in Europe fought, for a small island, Kefalonia had suffered greatly and therefore peace was greatly celebrated in the year of 1949, four years after the ‘end’ of the Great WW.

Reference:
- http://kefalonia.foi.org.uk/history.php
- http://www.in2greece.com/english/places/summer/islands/cephalonia.htm

Preparation for lesson on Monday, 28th September

Year 12 - A reminder that you need to have read at least to page 127 before Monday's lesson. In addition, you should re-read Chapter 2: 'Duce' and Chapter 5: 'The man who said "No"'.

Don't forget to post your research findings!

Greek Involvement in WW2

Greece Involvement in WW2
Greece was involved in WW2 from October 28th 1940. That was when Italy invaded Greece from the state of Albania. Fortunately, Italy got pushed out of Greece back into Albania. This defeat of the Axis Powers forced Hitler to mobolise his German troops into Greece on April 1941. There was a great battle, to control the Greek forces which took six weeks and delayed the German invasion of the USSR. Some historians considered this the turning point of WW2 because this brought a winter state of battle for the German troops when against USSR which the German troops was not adapted to.
The German invasion of Greece was quick. However the Greek forces resisted on the island of Crete with immense force that caused Fallschirmjäger the elite German battalion the casualties of nearly 7,000 men. These heavy losses eradicated the hope of a successful and massive airborne invasion of the USSR and further expansion in the Mediterranean saving Malta Gibraltar Cyprus and the Suez Canal from other airborne invasions.
After the occupation of the Axis Powers, when they thought Greece was under their control a large scale resistance movement developed in the country. The resistance movement tied down large numbers of Axis divisions. However, due to political tension between the resistance groups, a civil conflict amongst them arose in late 1943 until the spring of 1944.
The exiled Greek government contributed greatly to theWW2. They formed their own military forces and fought alongside the British forces in the Middle East, North Africa and Italy. The Greek Merchant navies supplied the Allied forces with war merchandise.
Mainland Greece was liberated by the occupation of Germany when German forces withdrew after facing the advancing Red Army in October 1944. German garrisons still continued to hold out in the Aegean Islands until after the war ended. The country was overwhelmed by war and the harsh treatment during the occupation of Germany. Its economy became hyper inflated and many buildings and homes were left in ruin. Greece suffered the casualties of 300 000 men during the occupation and the Jewish minority was almost completely exterminated in the Holocaust. The civil war between the British and American-sponsored conservative government and communist guerrillas followed soon after.
The Greek contribution towards resisting the German troops in the islands of Crete delayed the German invasion of the USSR which allowed a winter state of Battle which gave the USSR a high advantage. Furthermore the fierce Greek forces made the Fallschirmjäger suffer the casualties of 7,000 men. This was extremely successful because this was the elite German battalion that was a part of a massive airborne invasion of the USSR. Many historians still believe that the source of the turnover in WW2 was due to Greek contribution. On top of that the Greek forces also contributed by resisting the Axis power and having an exiled Greek government that fought with the British Army in North Africa, Italy and Middle East. The same exiled Greek government supplied the allied powers with war merchandise as well.
Sho Suzuki and Daniel Lee

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