Year 8 Language & Literature

Student as creator

by Annabel Grigg, Teacher of Language & Literature

On Friday 17 November students went to see Kenneth Branagh’s new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic novel Murder on the Orient Express  as part of our unit ‘The Scene of the Crime’, in which we have put a magnifying glass to the genre of Detective Fiction.

Having read another of Poirot’s tales Triangle at Rhodes,  the group was ready to see how true to Christie’s description of the ‘extraordinary looking little egg-headed Belgian detective’ Branagh would be. Other than perhaps not being quite as egg-shaped or peculiar as his literary predecessor, they were happy with Branagh’s very serious moustache and pompous demeanour. The twist at the end of the film was well executed and some students are now planning to apply similar ideas to their own stories.

The Year 8s have begun stage two of the unit: Student as Creator. Please read some of the following profiles of detectives they’ve imagined, who are in the process of solving crimes in stories to be finished by the end of the term:

PROFILE by CAMPBELL COWELL

Detective: Dominic Gardner

Nationality: English

Language use: Uneducated with poor grammar.

Personal traits: 92 years old, smart, has his own motivation, never eats, sadist, multiple personalities, scheming, paranoid

Physical appearance: Old and decrepit, rags for clothing

Backstory: Once was an important politician, now lives on the streets after his house burned down and all his family was killed

Relationships: His dog, a mongrel living with him on the streets

Motivations: Enjoys other people suffering in jail; likes to prove people wrong, sense of self-importance.

PROFILE by SAM ADAMS

Detective: Bluey

Nationality: Australian

Personal traits: A man in his late twenties who was named after his deep blue eyes; his name also represents his life because he is a depressed person who is very shy; much higher IQ than anybody else but nobody actually knows that because he doesn’t talk to anybody

Backstory: He had no friends when he was growing up because his parents died of a snake attack which was Bluey’s own snake; after that experience, in his mind, he has never trusted anyone again

Relationships: He was adopted by a policeman, Michael, who had lost his own son; Michael encouraged Bluey to help him with the detective work and trained him in martial arts.

PROFILE by SAM SKILBECK-HAWKES

Detective: Chad Phantom

Nationality: American

Personal traits: Likes to flex and interrupt people at the worst moment; has a catch phrase, “That’s gonna leave a mark”; brags about a statue of himself

Physical appearance: Always wears a terrible latex suit

Relationships: A wife who he constantly forgets exists.