Trip to Greenwich University

First and foremost, we would personally like to thank The University of Greenwich for having us. With the picturesque panorama of London’s boasting skyline and the supreme symmetrical structure of the 1890s university (who proudly claim the likes of Malorie Blackman and Charles K. Kao as graduates), the opportunity bestowed upon us to attend a lecture given by Dr Justine Baillie; a senior lecturer who specialises in American fiction and African-American writing.

At daybreak, we ventured off through the busy roads of the world-famous town, Greenwich, known for the traditional location of the Prime Meridian, our eyes captured by the ethereal historical landmarks such as the archaic building, the National Maritime Museum, and the world famous Cutty Sark.

 Dr Baillie introduced us to her mindset through bullet point notation of “key dates”, “the development of American writing” and “the American frontier.” Her encyclopaedia of knowledge of American history such as, the Declaration of Independence and the 1620 Arrival of Pilgrims at Plymouth enticed us to do some background research on the historical context of our literature texts. From the interwar classic, The Great Gatsby, to Steinbeck’s realist fiction novel, The Grapes of Wrath, and lastly the renowned drama, A Streetcar Named Desire, Christ the King’s English Language and Literature classes were bewitched to attend more of the University of Greenwich’s twilight lectures. Although the upper sixth class did not find the lecture as useful due to already having further knowledge around the texts, on the other hand, the lower sixth had more to take from it.