Twenty Five Classes or Bust: Honors English 9





I visited the 9th grade Honors English class of Mrs. Newell as they were discussing George Bernard Shaw's famous play, Pygmalion, based on the famous myth where the sculptor Galatea falls in love with his own creation.  In Shaw's very funny play--the inspiration for the musical My Fair Lady--the protagonist Henry Higgins, a phonetics professor, wagers that he can teach a Cockney girl, Eliza Doolittle, to speak like a duchess at a garden party.

The famous painting:
Pygmalion and Galatea
by Jean Leon Gerome

I sat in on a fascinating seminar discussion that revolved around the nature of idealism, the power of language, an analysis of the psychology of each character, and the oedipal nature of the relationship between Henry and his mother.  Mrs. Newell and the students were nice enough to let me read the parts of Henry Higgins and Nepommuck!