Characters in "The History Boyrs"

Posner- is in love with Dakin. He watches and follows him. Dakin is aware and not interested. Posner is in part distraught, but also appears to enjoy the pain of unrequited love.

Dakin -is the leader of the boys. He is Hector’s and Irwin’s favourite. Posner loves him. Dakin is the most advanced of the boys – apart from Rudge he is the only one having sex. He understands the game which Irwin is teaching them to play with history.

Scripps- acts as narrator in the play. He introduces a number of the scenes, and some of the characters. His role is also to reveal the thoughts of some of the characters – both Dakin and Posner tell him things, and therefore us. This works because although Scripps observes and reports, he does not really take much part in the action. This suits his eventual career as a journalist. Scripps’s background part is emphasised by the fact that he is the one who plays the piano to accompany the other boys when they sing or play the film game.

Rudge- is the least clever of the boys. The teachers regard him as a lost cause, and are very surprised when he gets in. He is the most hardworking, as shown by the effort he puts into writing down and doing what his teachers say. This hardworking characteristic is the key to his success as a self-made man in the building industry – a career which the others look down on, but which he is proud of. He excels at sports – and points out that playing golf can be more of an asset than all the brains of the other boys.

Timms- is the class clown. He teases Irwin in particular – although it is Dakin who gets told off for it.

The other three boys- are not established as strong personalities. Appropriately they become magistrates and headmasters in their careers. They all take part in the classes and provide the quick-witted repartee which is a feature of Hector and Irwin’s lessons.

Comparing Irwin and Hector's views on Education

In the play “The History Boys” Allan Bennet makes the audience consider the contrast between the teaching styles of Irwin and Hector, Hector, is an entirely different person from Irwin, playful, rule breaking, he appears at first to be a lively and rule breaking and his personality is revealed through his views on education however on the other hand Hector is the opposite to Irwin because Irwin is more serious and he is more strict with the boy.

Hector in the play is seen to be a unique type of teacher who doesn’t follow what he is told to teach by the curriculum. He believes that “all knowledge is important” Allan Bennett makes it clear to the reader that this is what Hector aims to do in his classroom, Hectors’ classroom is often chaotic and very much enjoyable yet effective considering Hectors objectives to teach the boys about life and give them a broader education and understanding about life. However Hector doesn’t focus on teaching the boys History so from this I can infer that he feels that focusing on knowledge is more important than focusing on the one subject he is meant to be teaching.

The character of Irwin however is presented by Bennett as a teacher who is very focused on the objective given to him by the Headmaster, Irwin’s teaching style however is a more traditional one, and Allan Bennet creates this feeling to the reader when Irwin is handing out exercise book “Dull. Abysmally Dull” when referring to the boys work, this is another difference between teaching styles of the two characters as in the first instances in the classroom of Irwin and the boys, the boys get disapproval from their teacher which they aren’t used to whereas in the first instance with Hector the boys received cong.ratulations “felicitations to you all” Hector embracing the boys which differs from Irwin’s teaching style. Irwin also proves himself to the boys, Dakin especially “useful not like Hector’s lessons.” Dakin says this in realisation that Irwin is actually helping him more than Hector is in preparation for the Oxbridge exam, this shows that Irwin’s views on education is that it is that it is important and it’s useful and important for examinations.

A place i know

I can remember it like it was only yesterday; even though I’m in England now I still reminisce about the year I had. From the air I knew when I was over the country; I’d look down and see many mighty trees and the greenness of the land. I remember getting out of the plane on my own with the lady flight attendant, it was such a different experience from usual. I almost felt like I didn’t belong… Left, right I kept taking glances in the airport and all I saw were large numbers of people, who were the same ethnicity as I, but I still didn’t feel like I belonged. .. Left, right. ‘Emily hold the bag properly man’ these the first words I could clearly understand. I felt a little hope; maybe I would be able to communicate after all? In my head everyone spoke a different language to me. Ten minutes of waiting in arrivals and finally I see my Dad for the first time in seven months. He reaches over to give me a big hug, I see my brother who does the same.

Ok, when arriving to my auntie’s house (the one that I would be living in) I was really nervous and didn’t know what to expect. I walked along the corridor and it seemed to be quiet. My brother opened the sitting room door and I swear I could see half of my family from my mother’s side. I was really startled by this, to know that everyone was waiting for me and took the time out just to come and meet me gave me that sense of belonging which had died in me. I truly felt overwhelmed because I had never had this strong united family and now I was suddenly exposed to it.

I started school and it was a very different experience for me as I had to cover all of my books in wrapping paper. Over the next few weeks I saw many children going to school who had luggage bags as school bags, kids who couldn’t afford shoes and I remember some walking without any shoes on the hot and broken tarmac roads. This really stirred up emotional feelings in me. This wasn’t the worst of it because these kids had to drag themselves and their massive cases for miles.

I can honestly say my journey to Africa was a unique one because I was daily oscillating between a poorer neighbourhood and a private school in town and I got to see how different people think, act and behave in these varying environments. In the poorer neighbourhoods kids were more alive.

Taxis were a big art of my time in South Africa however they were very different to the ones I was used to in England which have a maximum of six seats. South African taxis have fourteen but that didn’t stop an extra six people coming in! When I was going to school I had to take three taxis and the worst thing about it was that my Mom only showed me the way to get to my school once. It’s hard to explain but if you wanted to take a taxi you would have to do different hand gestures to the Taxi driver with your hands up and they might stop for you if they were going were you wanted. I often got embarrassed because I would literally have to shout the destination at the driver but every time I did no one understood my pronunciation; people would either give me a surprised look and start talking about me, or the taxi driver would ask me to repeat myself and I’d end up being the talk of the taxi ride with people asking many questions about England. For getting to school I had to use two hand gestures, the first one would’ve been a closed fist with my pointing finger aimed directly at the ground with a few circulation movements which told the driver that you wanted to go somewhere local. The second hand gesture was a closed fist aimed at the sky which would tell the driver that I wanted to go to town in Springs where my school was. I also had to use various other hand Gestures for getting to different places; I felt like I was learning a whole new language.

After a couple of months at school my brother wanted to take me to Carnival City, a casino and arcade which we always went to when I was younger. To be honest it was just as eccentric and colourful and as full of energy as I had remembered. There were a lot of young people playing games and we also decided to go to the go- carting zone which was really fun because unlike in England people take the races very seriously. I could tell because of the looks which were being shared between myself, my brother and the boys who were in the line. There was one tall boy who kept looking at us, he couldn’t keep his eyes off us because we were his competition but he looked nervous too. The race had to be stopped because of too much chaos on the lanes. 

In South Africa there is a soap that is very popular, the soup is called generations and it is much like the EastEnders of South Africa, nearly every night at 8:00 pm we as a family would watch it, quite often when my other family would come around, for me it would be like watching to soaps because of the fact that everyone was so loud and lively that there is no way we could ever watch a soap in total silence. The liveliest character in my family has to be my aunt Charity, I say this because she is a very loud and funny and she also always wants the attention to be focused on her, my aunt is the type of person who would stand in front of the TV when the most dramatic scene of the soup that everyone has been waiting to see comes up. Overall I would say that my journey to South Africa really broadened my view of the world.