Year 11 grapples with Rebecca

The exam text Rebecca was the subject of some frank exchanges during a Year 11 after-school Harkness discussion in late November.

During the event, which precluded the involvement of teachers, the students made contributions and then used evidence from the text and their own analytical skills and evaluative judgement to challenge or add to other students' comments.

The questions they addressed included the following:

• In what ways does the limited narrative perspective affect the reader’s judgement of Maxim/Rebecca/the narrator?

• Do you find yourselves feeling more sympathetic towards the narrator, or impatient with her? Why?

• To what extent do you think justice is served in Rebecca?

• Du Maurier’s writing is often criticised: ‘Du Maurier is arguably a writer of limited and erratic resources... Her insistent, rhythmic prose, piling up detail and visceral imagery, is excessive but it creates atmosphere’ (Theo Tait). How do you assess her style?

• Du Maurier said that she wanted to write a ‘psychological rather than macabre’ tale. Does she achieve this?

The discussion continued unbroken for 45 minutes, and the material should provide the gathered students with plenty to enrich their understanding and prepare them for the summer exam.