JED PARRY
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT HIS
CHARACTER?
I TOTALLY AGREE…
I TOTALLY DISAGREE…
• Our understanding of Parry’s character is limited.
• McEwan creates a convincing character in Jed.
• Parry represents religion without a sense of morality.
ANNOTATE THE EXTRACTS FOR IDEAS ABOUT HIS
CHARACTER AND FOR LANGUAGE
EXTRACT 1
'This was when I noticed Jed Parry was watching
me. His long Bony face was framed round a
pained question. He looked wretched, like a
dog about to be punished. In the second or so
that this stranger's clear grey-blue eyes held
mine I felt I could include him in the selfcongratulatory warmth I felt in being alive. It
even crossed my mind to touch him
comfortingly on the shoulder. My thoughts were
up there on the screen: this man is in shock. He
wants me to help him.' (P20)
EXTRACT 2
'He was tall and lean, all bone and sinew, and he looked fit. He
wore jeans and box-fresh trainers tied with red laces. His bones fairly
burst out of him the way they hadn't with Logan. His knuckles
brushing against his leather belt were big and tight-knobbed under
the skin which was white and stretched tight. The cheek bones
were also tight and high-ridged and together with the pony-tail
gave him the look of a pale Indian brave. His appearance was
striking even slightly threatening,
but the voice gave it all away. It was feebly hesitant, neutral as to
region, but carrying a trace, or acknowledgement, of Cockney - a
discarded past or an affection. Parry had his generation's habit of
making a statement on a rising inflection of a question - in humble
imitation of Americans, or Australians, or, as I heard one linguist
explain, too mired in relative judgments, too hesitant and
apologetic to say how things were in the world.' (P24)
EXTRACT 3
'Dear Joe, I feel happiness running through
me like an electric current. I close my eyes
and see you as you were last night in the
rain, across the road from me, with the
unspoken love between us as strong as
steel cable. I close my eyes and thank
God out loud for letting you exist, for
letting me exist in the same time and
place as you and for letting this strange
adventure between us begin...'
EXTRACT 4
'...For you knew our love from the very
beginning. You recognised in that glance
that passed between us, up there on the
hill after he fell, all the charge and power
and blessedness of love, while I was dull
and stupid, denying it, trying to protect
myself from it, trying to pretend that it
wasn't happening, that it couldn't happen
like this, and I ignored what you were
telling me with your eyes and every
gesture.'
COMPETITION: ODD ONE OUT
PART 1
• As a group annotate the Odd One Out example below, taken
from Appendix II of Enduring Love, finding as many reasons as
you can as to why each example could be the odd one out.
‘Our love! First bathing me, then
warming me through the pane.’
‘Thank you for loving me,
thank you for accepting me,
thank you for recognising
what I am doing for our love.
‘…when the sun comes up
behind the trees they turn
black.’
COMPETITION: ODD ONE OUT
PART 2
• As a group, select the best line from your respective
extracts to represent the heart of Jed’s character.
• As a group, construct an Odd One Out (as in the
example on the previous slide), using the line you
selected from your respective extracts and a further
2 lines from the quotations on Jed you each
gathered for homework across a range of chapters.
• Your aim is to create the greatest challenge for the
other groups to find “odd ones out”.
JOE AND JED – HOW SIMILAR ARE
THEY?
‘With Joe in charge of the narration,
there’s even a point where we wonder
(with Clarissa) for moment whether Jed
might be the product of Rose’s
disturbed imagination. The two names
Joe and Jed, even suggest alter egos.’
A genius for misery, New Yorker
magazine
McEwan creates in Jed a character who is
diametrically opposed to Joe in terms of his
background and his beliefs. This helps to add to
our interest in Parry as we follow the effects of their
interaction on Joe’s life.
BOXING MATCH:
MCEWAN CREATES IN JED PARRY A CHARACTER WHO IS THE
COMPLETE OPPOSITE OF JOE ROSE
Red Corner: Jed is a completely different
character to Joe
Blue Corner: Jed and Joe are similar characters
When preparing consider:
• The words each character says
• Their actions
• The way they are described by others
MCEWAN CREATES IN JED PARRY A CHARACTER WHO IS THE
COMPLETE OPPOSITE OF JOE ROSE
Rebuttal – explaining why 1 team disagrees with another team.
Part 1
1. Red team: argument 1 (Jed is completely different to Joe - 2mins)
2. Blue team’s rebuttal (1min)
3. Red team’s response to rebuttal (1min)
Part 2
1. Blue team: argument 1 (Jed and Joe are similar characters – 2mins)
2. Red team’s rebuttal (1min)
3. Blue team’s response to rebuttal (1min)
Part 3
1. Red team: argument 2 (2mins)
2. Blue team’s rebuttal (1min)
3. Red team’s response to rebuttal (1min)
Part 4
1. Blue team: argument 2 (2mins)
2. Red team’s rebuttal (1min)
3. Blue team’s response to rebuttal (1min)
Part 5
1. Red team’s closing comments (1min)
2. Blue team’s closing comments (1min)
HOMEWORK
•Read chapters 13-24
•KNOW THE BOOK!
•Your knowledge of the
book will be tested next
week
REFLECTION
• What is Jed’s role in the novel?