Braithwaite“With detailed reference to any 3 incidents in the book, show how Mr Braithwaite changes the behaviour and attitudes of the class.” When Mr Braithwaite first encounters his class they are an unruly group of people who never manage to keep a teacher for long. They were mostly unkempt and scruffy and weren’t very well educated as Mr Braithwaite found out on his first day, “ Twenty-six of the class were girls, and many of their faces bore traces of make-up inexpertly or hurriedly re-moved, giving to their youth a slightly tawdry, jaded look… The boys were scruffier, coarser, dirtier… the same wary sullenness” (PG 49 para.2) “Palmer sat down, looking at me questioningly. His reading was shockingly bad. Benjamin’s effort was not much better, nor was that of Sapiano, Wells or Drake.”(PG 51 para.1) Mr Braithwaite failed to make much of an impression on his class when he first arrived. In their weekly review all that was mentioned was a new ‘blackie’ teacher. Mr Braithwaite realised that his class went through phases with him. The first one being the silent treatment, where his pupils did everything that was asked of them, but without enthusiasm or interest. The second phase was the ‘noisy’ treatment, where lessons would be interrupted and there was general unruliness. The first incident in the book, which changed the behaviour and attitudes of the class, was in the noisy treatment phase, when one breaktime, Mr Braithwaite discovered a sanitary napkin burning in the fireplace of the classroom. The room was smoky and there was a huddle of people around the fire laughing and joking. Mr Braithwaite was disgusted by this and ordered the boys out of the room so he could speak to the girls. He told them his feelings about the incident, how he was “Sickened by their general conduct, crude language, sluttish behaviour and of their free and e...
