A Lesson on a Tortoise Post-reading activities

A Lesson on a Tortoise1
by D.H. Lawrence2

Understanding the story

Use these questions to check that you have understood.

Before the lesson

1. How does the teacher feel?
2. Who is Joe?  Why is he in the class?
3. Where does the teacher put Joe before going out
of the classroom?
4. Who has come into the classroom in his absence?
5. Did they have permission to come into the
classroom?
6. Why doesn't the teacher send them back out?
7. What does he ask them to do?
8. Where are the other students?

The class
9. How many students are there in his class?
10. In what way is it a mixed class?
11. Which group does the teacher think is particularly difficult? Why?
12. Does he enjoy teaching them?

The lesson 
13 How do the students react to Joe?
14. How does the teacher calm them down?
15. What does the teacher want? Does he get it?
16. Is he paying attention to his class? Why/Why not?
17. At this point what is the mood in the classroom?

1
From: Twentieth-Century Stories. Macmillan Literature Collections. Edited by Mark Irvine and Ceri
Jones. ©Macmillan, 2011.
2
It is highly advisable that whenever you read a literary work you check the author’s biographical
information.
A Lesson on a Tortoise

The rubbers 
18
19.
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25.
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32 

33.
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38.

1.
2.
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5.

a.
b.
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e.
f.
m
o
rb
v
d
h
c
e
p
fita
A
n
w
s
W lti
Why do the boys want rubbers?

u
What is the teacher's first reaction to their request?
Why does he get so angry?
Who is he angry with?
Are you surprised at his reaction? Are the students surprised?
Why does he accuse Marples?
How does Marples defend himself?
What effect does this have on the teacher?
Why does the teacher decide to punish Wood?
How does the boy react?
How does the teacher justify himself?

What do the boys do for the rest of the lesson?  

What is the mood in the class now? 

After the lesson 

Post-reading activities

Whose suggestion  is it that all the boys write the name of the thief on pieces of paper? 
Does the idea work? 

What do they not do that they would normally do at the end of the lesson? Why? 
How does Ségar feel about being accused? 
Does he admit to the theft? 
How does the teacher punish him? 
What does the teacher do before leaving the classroom?  
How does the teacher feel as he leaves the classroom? 

Language study 

Would 
 
The modal auxiliary verb would has many functions, some of which can be seen in the story. 
1 Look at the list of functions of would. Which do you think are present in the story?
 
to talk about an imaginary situation in the present 
to talk about an imaginary situation in the future  
to talk about tendencies or habitual actions in the past 
to talk about the future in the past 
to talk about a determination to do/not do something in the past 

2 Match the bold text in the story extracts below (a-f) with functions from the list in exercise 1. 
I knew the boys would enjoy sketching him. 
I felt pleased with myself, knowing that the boys would be delighted with the lesson. 
They would lie till it made my heart sick if they were charged with offence. 
They were willing, and would respond beautifully to an appeal. 
Yet I knew he would be dishonest again, when the opportunity arrived. 
I asked Wood to write his knowledge on a piece of paper, and I promised not to divulge.
A Lesson on a Tortoise Post-reading activities

He would not. 

3. Rewrite the following sentences using would.  Then match them with the functions in exercise 1 
1. I knew he was probably going to regret his decision for the rest of his life. 
2. She refused to help him with his family commitments. 
3. If i was offered a good job, I might move to another country. 
4. Even if I had a lot of money, I can´t imagine leaving my job. 
5. In the evenings we used to sit around the fire and tell stories. 
 
Word formation
 
The story describes a brief moment which is charged with emotions and shifts in mood. Many abstract
adjectives and nouns are used to describe those emotions and the attitudes of the main characters.

 
4. Look at the list of adjectives on the left below. Who or what in the story does each adjective
describe? 
Adjectives Nouns
agitated agitation

angry

frank frankness

humiliated

insolent insolence

obedient

silent

slack slackness

weary

5. Complete the second column of the table above with the nouns deriving from the adjectives. 

6. Look again at the table in exercise 4. There are four noun endings. What are they? Can you think of
any other nouns with these endings? What is the adjective for each of those nouns? 
Could they be used to describe anyone or anything in the story?
  
7. Choose the correct form to complete the following extracts.
1. The last lesson of the week is a weary/weariness to teachers and scholars. 
2. I was too good-tempered to send them out again into the Playground, too slack/slackness with
the great relief of Friday afternoon. 
3. The actors were of different fibre, some gentle, a pleasure even to look at; others polite and
obedient/obedience, but indifferent, covertly insolent/insolence and vulgar.
4. I was quivering with angry/anger and distress.
5. I looked round the class in great agitated/ agiation.
6. This Frank/frankness was painful.
7. There was dead silent/silence, they all watched me.
8. He hung his head, and looked so humiliated/humiliation, a fine, handsome lad, that gave it up.

Adverbs of manner with direct speech 

A large part of the action in the story is told through dialogue, and the author often uses adverbs and
adverbial phrases to clarify the emotions behind the words. 
A Lesson on a Tortoise Post-reading activities

8 Look at these extracts. Practise reading the direct speech using the appropriate emotion. 
a. 'Well —l' I said indulgently. 
b. 'I've never 'ad no rubbers' — he almost shouted back, with the usual insolence of his set. 
c. 'Well!' I said, feeling very wretched. 

9 Look at the extracts in exercise 8 again. Match the adverbials in bold with their type (1-3) below. 
1. present participle clauses (-ing verb + object, complement or adverb) 
2. prepositional phrases (preposition + noun phrase) 
3. -ly adverbs of manner 

10. Rewrite the sentences below so that the meaning stays the same. 
1. 'Please get back to your sketching,' I said quietly. 
'Please get back to your sketching,' I said in ……………………….. voice. 
'Please get back to your sketching,' I said, speaking ………………………. 

2. 'He won't bite you!' he said, with much scorn. 

'He won't bite you!' he said …………………..ly. 
'He won't bite you!' he said, speaking ………………………… 
3. 'Again!' I cried, turning to the class in passion. 
'Again!' I cried,  …………………….ly. 
'Again!' I cried, with …………………………

Literary analysis 
Plot 
I Number the main events below in the order they happened. Which do you think was the one  most
important event?
a. The lesson finished. 
b. The monitor told the teacher there were only eleven rubbers left. 
c. The boys wrote the name of the thief on pieces of paper. 
d. The teacher spoke to the thief. 
e. One of the boys asked for a rubber. 
f. The teacher called one of the boys to the front. 

2. Do you think the teacher's reaction was reasonable? Why/Why not? Do you think he handled
the situation well? What else could he have done? 

3. What do you think will happen in the future? How do you think the teacher will feel teaching
the same class on Monday morning? 
4. The story is called A Lesson on a Tortoise. What lessons were learnt in the story? By whom? 

Character 
5. How many people are there in the story? How many of them are named? Who are they? What
is their role in the story?
 
6. Who do you think are the three most important characters? Why? What do we learn about
these characters? What more would you like to know about them? Which character do you feel you
know best? Why? 

7. Think of the teacher. What do you know about him? Do you know his name, his age, whether
or not he's married, if he has children? Why aren't we told this information?
 
8. Think of Wood. What do you know about him? In what way might his behaviour be considered
unusual? Do you sympathize with him? Why/Why not? 

9. What about Ségar — do you think he is guilty? Why/Why not? In your opinion, has the teacher
assessed Ségar's character correctly? Has he treated him fairly? What do you think the teacher would
have done if Ségar had confessed to the theft? How would this have changed the end of the story? 
A Lesson on a Tortoise Post-reading activities

Narration 
10. Who tells the story? I low would the story have been different if it had been told from the point
of view of: 
a. the boy who asked for a rubber? 
b. the monitor? 
c. Wood? 
d. Ségar? 
11. What the advantages of using a first person narrator? What aspect of the story comes through
more strongly because of this choice? 

Style 
12. Read the first paragraph again. What feeling is emphasized in this paragraph? In what way does
it prepare us for the story? 

13. In the second paragraph a mood change is signalled by the word but. What adjective/s would
you use to describe the new mood? Choose three words that sum up the atmosphere. How
does the description of the tortoise's behaviour add to the general atmosphere? 

14. Look at the description of when the boys enter the classroom and crowd around the tortoise.
Notice the adverbs that are used to describe the boys' behaviour and how they capture the mood.
Notice the use of direct speech. What image do you get of the class? 

Similes and imagery 

Lawrence's style is very rich in similes and imagery, particularly when he is creating atmosphere, or
describing the reactions and moods of his characters. 

Similes are used to compare a person or thing with another, using the preposition like or as and focusing
on similarities and characteristics that they have in common: 

The rest of the Gordons sat upright in their desks, like animals of a pack ready to spring.
 
Lawrence is describing the reaction of the boys. He compares them to a pack of animals. By doing this he
shows us how the teacher feels about these particular boys (he sees them as a group rather than as
individuals) and about his role as a teacher (someone who has to control and tame wild animals).

15. Look at the similes What is being described? What is it being compared with? What IS the effect
created by the comparison.  
a. The light, the thick, heavy golden sunlight... spread on the desks and the floor like lacquer. 
b. The charm of the afternoon was smashed like a fair glass that falls to the floor. 
c. My anger fell like a bird shot in mid-flight.  
d. The sordid streets near the school felt like disease in the lamplight 

Which of the similes is your favourite? Why? 

We use the term imagery to talk about the specific words and phrases used in a description to create an
image of something. 
16. Look at the following description from the story. Notice the imagery that is used in describing
the sunset. Which adjective is repeated? What associations does this word have? How does this  add to
the description? What other adjectives are used to describe the sunset? Compare them to the adjectives
and imagery used to describe the town. What does this tell us about the teacher's frame of mind? 

I could see facing me through my window, a great gold sunset, very large and
magnificent, rising up in immense gold beauty beyond the town, that was become a low,
dark strip of nothingness under the wonderful upbuilding of the western sky. The light,
the thick, heavy golden sunlight which is only seen in its full dripping splendour in town,
A Lesson on a Tortoise Post-reading activities

spread on the desks and the floor like lacquer. I lifted my hands, to take the sunlight in
them, smiling faintly to myself, trying to shut my fingers over its tangible richness.