The Key to the Cottage

Right now the main point of contention between Lady Chatterley and Mellors, the gamekeeper, is the key to the cottage. He doesn't live in the cottage, to him it is simply a workplace. She wants to come there from time to time to "just sit a little while." This whole section of the book is a tug of war that doesn't limit itself to words. There's some really magical description by Lawrence. The tension between them in the scene is something one can see with the mind's eye as clearly as the weather. The reader can get a sense that Mellors is itching inside, desperate to both embrace and get rid of Lady Chatterley. The scene is also a microcosm of a venus versus mars debate--how do men and women communicate. I didn't get as far as I wanted last night, but other interesting parts of what I read were the gossip the nurse brings to Sir Clifford, and the subsequent relationship between the nurse and Sir Clifford. I wish I had more time to read!

I was thinking this morning of why I love my teaching job so much. There's a new film coming out called "Freedom Writers" about a teacher and underachieving students. I think all of those films--even the one's based on a true story--are overly exaggerated. There's been a hundred films with the same theme and, frankly, from the stand point of a teacher, they've all been failures. I say so because they emphasize so much on the "miracle moment," the moment when the most rowdy and disrespectful student turns into the genius next door. In real life (and this I say after over 10 years teaching) it is not like that at all. One loses students in the process; one cannot save them all. One tries but it is really impossible. To ignore this fact is irresponsible and no amount of political correctness or "feel good" liberal-minded policies can override that.