The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 and 3/4

Reading Chart

Author: Sue Towsend

Title: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole

Publisher: Penguin Italia

Section 1: the work

Genre:

“The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole” is a teenagers book:it took about all problems Chat an adolescent may have such as a divorce in family, a very mean teddy-boy (called Barry Kent), a romantic and passionate love and firts of all: spots!!

Style:

The style of narration is really various. Togheter with the ironic/comic style, ho gives the narrations an easier resding, we can find also a realistic style because in the story there are many events ( the marriage of Lady Diana, the war Between Britain and Argentina) really happened.

Source:

In”The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole” the action start with the adrian’s New Years resolutions who will bring our protagonist to do many choisies (for exemple enter in a grog called “The Samaritains”).

Narrator:

Internal/ Firts person/ Intrusive

Main characters:

Adrian Mole: Adrian is a boy like other who luves in a small english town. In his path of life, shown in his diary, he describes all of the things who are happening arounding and inside him. His personality change in tris partycullary momoment of his life, infact his ideas and opinions became richer. Adrian find fault with his society, with his county and its political, economic and social sistems.

Pandora: She is Adrian’s firts love: she is a pretty girl with “the hair the colour of treacle, and it’s long like girls should be”. But the most important thing of Pandora is the personality: she is a strong girl infact she fight to defend per opinions. Besides she is a godo feminist because she promoute an qualità between men and women, an objective who still not be reached in our society!

Bert Baxter: He is an old man really untidy and, thing Chat Adrian dose like so much, he is a comunist. After all, Adrian will comprend that Bert is a good person, and and then, Adrian will accept Bert's political opinion.

Grandma: Adrian is really fond of his grandmother. She will stay with Adrian when his personality will be upset.

Barry Kent: He steal money and other stuff to Adrian, but, when Adrian's grandmother break into Barry's hous and she reproach him, he end his "activity". For this reason, all his scholl-mates conside him a stupid.

Adrian's Parents: They are a relly funny characters of the story. Somethimes they may seems like an awkards parents. Besides they aren't really present during the Adrian's formation-path. Maybe it's even for this reason that Adrian dosen't consider them like a models of life, infact during his diary he talk about his parents like two stupids and patetic peapole.

Plot:

"The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole is a jump into the troubled life of an adolescent. The story begin with the Adrian's new resolutions whwn hw promise to help the poor and ignorant. for this reason he enter in a group called "Samaritains" and there he will help a funny but strange old man: Bert Buxter to whom Adrian will dedicate one of his funny poema. While Adrian's parents are getting divorce. The life of Mole's

family in enlivening by Mr. Lucas, a man who lives in a near-by cottage. Infact it will born a love-story between Adrian's mother, Pauline, and Mr Lucas, but this love will end really soon. Infact Pauline will caome back to stay with Adrian's father. Even at the school the problems are so much. Here, between the geography lessons and a cooking course, he met Pandora, the girl who will became his future but hard love. Besides Adrian is victim by an arrogant and mean teddy-boy named Barry Kent and after Adrian is involved in a punitive intervention by headmaster Scruton the most meanest villain of the story. Then Adrian form with his friends the "Pink Brigade" a radical group where they discuss "thing like war, peace and the ultimate destruction of capitalist society. In this moment Adrian publish a new journal called "The Voice of Youth" with esilarant article "Barry Kent: the truth!!".

After all, notwithstanding the many problems who surround the life of this young boy, Adrian live many and fantastic adventures!!!

Setting/Histotical Background:

For about the historical background we can say that the story take place in England in 1980: a most important period for all the Britain. On July 29th Adrian wrote about the Royal Wedding and he taught about this events like a patriotic moment for all english people. Infact he helped Mr. O'Leary with the preparations for the Royal Wedding street party and besides he saw the Royal Wedding reparts seven times on telly!!!

During the developement of the story we can observe that Pandora, Adrian's and Pandora's mother took part to many women's groups. In this period, after the ideal proposed in 1968, the feminist movement are really deffused. Besides on April 3rd Adrian wrote that Britain is in war with Argentina.

Social status:

Adrian belongs to the working class because we can see that his father is an uneployed, and, only after some rebukes from Adrian's mother, he can find a job. Opposite; we can considerate her in the upper class, infact she does horse riding and she has even a horse!!!

Section 2: personal response

Is the title consistent with the content?

Yes it is, because in his diary Adrian took about his most secrte feelings, fears, confessions (for exemple he reveal only to his diary about his magazines "Big and Bouncys").

Relevant points/Particulary effective passage:

I think that a very touching particulary could be when Adrian talk with Mr. Vann (at page 96), "the Careers teacher". In this scene Adrian ask to Mr. Vann wich O levels he to write a commedy for television. Mr. Vann answer him that for to be in telly you don't need any qualification, you just need to be a moron. Unfortunatly Mr. Vann's words are so much true.This sentece explain to us what kind of people makes the TV, the most important comunication and formation means of our society. It's really important even when Pandora say to Adrian that she will not marry at twenty years hold because she don't want to become an housewife. Infact she want come true herself before, like a working woman and only after like a mother. This is a really important particular because in eighties........ many women were an hosewife. The same Adrian and Adrian's father don't like his mother's decision to looking for a job because he think that she would be unsuitable.

Evalutation:

I think that the book was really funny and instructive because Sue Townsend describe many sad event with a comic style. Sue Townsend can make you smile with pages of her book. She can talk about political, social and family problems with the simple eyes of a teen and not like an adult. Besides in this book she can describe very well Adrian's personality infact I think that she have shorn in her life the same successions and feelings of Adrian. For the other characters I think that the author were really accurate to describe their personality and their feelings. At last a most important thing were the style: it is really clear and simple but ovviusly for an italian reader like me it was really difficoult to search on dictionary to compriend many senteces.

Section 3: the author

Biography/Works:

Sue Townsend in an english author and she was born in 1946. She works about teatre's arrangement and cinema.she wrote many books such as "The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (1984), "True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole (1898), "Adrian Mole: from minor to major" (1991),The Queen and I"(1992), "Adrian Mole: the Wildness Years" (1999) and "Number Ten" (2002). She was Britain's bestselling author of the 1980s. She lives in Leicester.

Maria Enrica Peluso