Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← English
EnglishThe nineteenth-century novel28 min★★★ difficulty

Social and historical context in the novel

Nineteenth-century novels were often published in instalments and read aloud at home. Both facts left marks on how they are written.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Reading: Read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, including whole books and plays, and texts from the English literary heritage
  • Reading: Draw on knowledge of the purpose, audience for and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Draw on knowledge of the purpose, audience for and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs

Key learning points

  • • Serial publication
  • • Industry, reform and readership
  • • Purpose beyond entertainment
  • • Reading against the grain

This lesson at a glance

  • 28 minutes
  • 16 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

knowledgepurposeaudiencecontextwriting

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 16 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 16

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Social and historical context in the novel

An English teaching video on this topic from First Rate Tutors. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Draw on knowledge of the purpose, audience for and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 16

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Serial publication

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 16

Learn

Serial publication

Many novels appeared chapter by chapter in magazines. That is why chapters often end on an unresolved question, why casts are large, and why key traits are restated: readers waited a month between parts.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 16

Learn

Industry, reform and readership

Rapid industrial growth, factory and public health reform, and expanding literacy shaped both subject matter and audience. A mill town novel published in this period speaks into an active public argument about working conditions.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 16

Quick check

Why do many chapters end on an unresolved question?

6

Quick check

Part 6 of 16

Quick check

How should context be used in an essay?

7

Reset break

Part 7 of 16

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 16

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Purpose beyond entertainment

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 16

Learn

Purpose beyond entertainment

Writers frequently intended to move readers towards sympathy or reform. Identify the purpose and you can explain choices: a child observer is used because sympathy travels faster through a child's eyes than a statistic.

10

Explore the idea

Part 10 of 16

Learn

Reading against the grain

Context also lets you notice silences: whose work is never described, who never speaks. A confident response can admire a novel and question what it leaves out.

11

Quick check

Part 11 of 16

Quick check

Why might a writer choose a child observer for a novel about industry?

12

Quick check

Part 12 of 16

Quick check

‘Reading against the grain’ means:

13

Challenge round

Part 13 of 16

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

14

Challenge round

Part 14 of 16

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Rapid industrial growth, factory and public health reform, and expanding literacy shaped both subject matter and ____.

Identify the ____ and you can explain choices: a child observer is used because sympathy travels faster through a child's eyes than a statistic.

____ also lets you notice silences: whose work is never described, who never speaks.

15

Mastery quiz

Part 15 of 16

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Social and historical context in the novel

4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Why do many chapters end on an unresolved question?

  2. 2. How should context be used in an essay?

  3. 3. Why might a writer choose a child observer for a novel about industry?

  4. 4. ‘Reading against the grain’ means:

16

Lesson round-up

Part 16 of 16

Lesson round-up

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Quiz score

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Points this lesson

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Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

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Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Extract

The last bus

The bus shelter smelled of wet coats. Mira pressed her timetable flat against the glass, as though staring at the numbers might make the 9:42 appear. Rain tapped the roof in small, impatient fingers. Somewhere behind her, a shop shutter came down with a sound like a full stop.

She had been brave all day. She had been brave in the corridor, brave at lunch, brave when the register reached her name and nobody looked up. Being brave, she decided, was mostly a matter of keeping your face still.

Headlights swung around the corner and lit the puddles gold. Mira picked up her bag. Tomorrow she would say something. Tonight she would simply go home.

Original extract written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Find two words or phrases that show how Mira is feeling, and explain what each one suggests.
  2. How does the writer use the weather and the sounds to build the mood? Use a short quotation.
  3. Write the next paragraph in the same style, keeping the writer's short sentences at the moments that matter.

  • Reading response

    Reading

    Read the extract again, then write about how the writer makes you feel that way. Use a short quotation and explain your choice of words.

    2 paragraphs (PEE)

  • Extended writing

    Writing

    Write your piece in full, then redraft the opening so it hooks the reader.

    250–350 words

  • Reading log

    Reading

    Note the book, the pages you read and one thing you noticed about the writing.

    20 minutes' reading

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 16 · Watch & discover

How this is going

  • Not looked at yet

    Read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, including whole books and plays, and texts from the English literary heritage

  • Not looked at yet

    Draw on knowledge of the purpose, audience for and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs

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