What is Gcse English Literature?
1.
A GCSE (General Certificate of Education) that you can take in school. You will study a play and a book that your teacher will do his/her best to ruin by a.) forcing you to embarrassingly read them out loud in class, and b.) forcing you to over-analyze them whilst ignoring their immediate, aesthetic value.
But this is not always the case. If you are doing the foundation level (like I did) you will be thought of as too much of a retard to be able to read. Instead you will watch some pretentious film adaptation on an old TV not worthy to be shot at by a drugged-up Elvis Presley.
Either way, you will come away with an extremely negative view of classical literature. However, you may be lucky enough to rediscover it in later life and enjoy it properly.
GCSE English Literature Teacher: "So what can we see in Jessica's defiance of her father that is reminiscent of a 20th centry movement that has changed so much?"
Student: "Fascism?"
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