FINISHED!
This essay was a redraft! So it only took me an hour to finish it!
I'm so happy I could float be floating on a clud. Yes, I spelt cloud wrong for my own happy reasons.
Physics homework next!
Anyway, I'm going to post this torturous essay since it was a redraft and my teacher may as well have written, "You tried, but you failed." as ac omment, and because I worked my off in school and at home with my feet in lovely feet warmers and .
Critical Essay for ‘Gregory’s Girl’ Huda 3A
The author of the novel, Gerald Cole shows how the two main characters, Gregory and Dorothy relationship progresses through a novel. At the beginning Gregory is naïve and fascinated by Dorothy. But by the end of the novel, Gregory realised what love actually is.
The novel is about Gregory, the main character, who realises that he is missing something in his life. At the beginning of the novel, Gregory is a daydreamer and is very curious as to what the feeling of ‘love’ is. Through the novel, it shows how Gregory overcomes his teen years as he tries to get himself closer to girls. Once he believes he is in love with Dorothy he does as much as he can to get her to notice him and have her feel mutual feelings. The minor male characters in the story, whom are Gregory’s friends, are also slowly maturing. They too, are planning on having relationships with girls.
At the beginning of the novel, Gregory decided it was his time to look for love, because he felt something was missing in his life:
“Gregory Underwood was happy.
It wasn’t the fulfilled man’s quiet feeling that all is well with the world. It wasn’t the sudden benediction granted by a sudden moment of great triumph or unexpected good news. It was sudden, yes, unexpected –certainly- but it came from nowhere.”
Gregory realises here, at the very beginning, that he wants a lot more out of life, and he wants to experience falling in love. The parenthesis shows that Gregory is finally maturing and that he wants to change his life, if not for the better. I can empathise with Gregory as he is growing up and find the need to be independent. He also wants to be treated like an adult.
Gregory’s first interaction with Dorothy happens as you reach chapter four of the novel. Moreover, Gregory’s first encounter with Dorothy leaves him astounded:
“Suddenly all five male footballers were ungainly puppets, their strings jerking out of rhythm. The girl weaved between them, weaved bobbed, danced and shot like a track suited goddess.”
The use of metaphor here is effective as it describes how to poor male footballers were. At the same time, the simile shows how majestic Dorothy is when she is playing football. This shows the reason for Gregory’s new found interest.
This encounter sparked curiosity and wonder in Gregory as he asks himself about her, at this time, he is clearly infatuated:
“How had he never noticed her before? How could he have gone through his entire school existence without stumbling over such an image of a person? Why had he never seen her at work with a football?”
The repeated use of question marks indicates how Gregory is questioning himself as to why he had never noticed Dorothy before. Gregory is also very intrigued by Dorothy’s football skills. It is easy to understand how Gregory is in love with Dorothy, especially with her added skill in football. At the time the novel was written, it was considered most unusual for a girl to be a great football player like she was.
As Gregory’s infatuation grows rapidly, his friend –Steve- proves to be very unsupportive, and makes it clear that he does not encourage whatever Gregory thought he was feeling:
“”OK it’s love,” said Steve, unimpressed. “Go and attain her then. Amaze her with your suave charm and striking good looks. Oh, I forgot, you’re the goalkeeper, she’s the striker.”
At first, it seems Steve is encouraging Gregory to ask Dorothy out on a date, but with the use of italics in the ‘she’s’ it suggests a mocking tone. To me, it is as though, Steve thinks Gregory has no chance at all with Dorothy. Steve starts to make a point, when he adds that it is Dorothy who is the striker and not Gregory, the striker is considered one of the most important positions in the game of football. It seems Gregory is so crazy about Dorothy that Steve turns sarcastic, and mocks him.
From Gregory’s first encounter in chapter four of the novel, Gregory starts to make more and more encounters with Dorothy as you reach the middle of the novel. When he is asked to train with Dorothy and after listens to her tell tales about Italy, and meeting a person called Renaldo, he wonders if love is really this difficult:
“He wondered idly if Renaldo had had gone through the same purgatory. Love, he decided, was really quite hard work.”
Gregory started to find it difficult to be in love. I feel Gregory is lacking the right understanding of the actual concept of love, which I find saddening.
Through the middle of the novel, Gregory is slowly gaining more confidence around Dorothy, and decides to try as her out on a date:
“”Also, -“Gregory’s voice leapt an octave alarmingly –“would you like come out with me?” There was terror in his eyes but Dorothy simply nodded.”
Gregory is astounded when Dorothy agrees to go on the date with him. The parenthesis emphasises Gregory’s uncontrollable nerves, that he is clearly trying not to show, but is not succeeding. This may be a turning point for Gregory as he finally found the courage to ask Dorothy out on a date.
At the end of the novel, Dorothy disappointed Gregory by not turning up on their date, but even so, at this point, he then realises someone else who may and seemed to be a more suitable match for him:
“Then he recognised Susan at once, and was pleasantly surprised at how nice she looked out of uniform. She’s hardly registered with him except as one of the Dorothy clique.”
This is when Gregory finally realises Dorothy is not going to be a good match for him, and that he and Susan are a lot more compatible as they have a lot more in common. Cole effectively shows that Gregory did manage to find love by the end of the novel.
Then as the story reaches its end, Gregory dates Susan, and is happy:
“Whatever mysteries of love –or football- existed, one fact alone shone like a beacon in a world of confusion: incredibly, improbably, Gregory Underwood was happy.”
As you can see the simile highlights how happy Gregory is by the end of the novel, just by going on a date with Susa. Gregory has finally found love in his life. At the end of the novel, Cole empathises how happy Gregory is at the end.
This novel is about Gregory, hence the title ‘Gregory’s Girl,’ it was based at a time when it was most unusual for a girl to be good at a ‘manly’ sport like football. Although, I see the relationship between Gregory and Dorothy reaching no further than friends throughout the novel. I find the sudden dramatic plot twist in the novel very intriguing, as instead of Gregory and Dorothy being together at the end it is him and one of Dorothy’s friends, Susan.
Yeah... it .
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