Section One: Dennis Lehane's whakapapa

Dennis Lehane is an American author who was born on the 4th of August 1965. One of his novels, Shutter Island, has been turned into a film and takes the reader on a psychological thriller. It is important to understand who Dennis Lehane is in order to understand his writing.

Pick at LEAST THREE of these sources and be able to write about what motivated George Orwell to write his stories.

Section Two: Important Context for Dennis Lehane

Dennis Lehane published Shutter Island in 2010 but it is set in 1950s America. It paints a grim picture of psychiatric care in the 1950s and is painted against the backdrop of the Cold War between Russia and America. Read the following links and find out more about the context in which Harper Lee writes as this will help you understand her writing better.

Section Three: Close reading Shutter Island

Read Shutter Island for the first time. As you do, complete this task:

1. Character map - on a piece A3, write down each of the characters as you come across them. Draw arrows between the characters to denote their relationships and add in adjectives that describe each character and at least one quote for each characters.

After completing your first reading of Shutter Island, complete these tasks to set you up for a close analysis.

1. Audience positioning. Write down five words that describe how you feel after reading this book. For example, sad, happy. These adjectives will become your tools for discussing the impact on the audience. So always keep them in front of you.

2. Figure out of the theme. What's this story about? To do this, work through these questions:

   1. Who's the main protagonist?

   2. What challenges do they face?

   3. How do they face these challenges?

   4. How do they change over the course of the narrative?

   5. What main ideas are thrown up by the adventures of the protagonist and what do you learn about these ideas?

3. Some big questions to consider about Shutter Island (Source: Lit Lovers)

• 1. Both Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule arrive at Ashecliffe with different motives than their official one, which is to find a missing patient. What are their underlying reasons in coming the the asylum?

• 2 How would you describe the two men, Teddy in particular? What are his traits? What "baggage" do both men bring into the investigation? In other words, what are their background stories? And how do personal issues affect their professional work?

• 3. What traits in Chuck does Teddy find unsettling?

• 4. Water plays an important role in this mystery-thriller. Explore its various incarnations and how it affects Teddy's psyche, as well as the setting and mood of the novel. Start, perhaps, with young Teddy's experience on his father's fishing boat.

• 5. What were your reactions to the hospital's medical director, Dr. Joseph Cawley? In what way does he appear suspicious, even perhaps unethical? What is Cawley's method for treating mental patients, and how does it square with the prevailing treatment of the 1950's?

• 6. How does Lehane make use of Teddy's psychic state to create tension and uncertainty and to drive the plot?

• 7. Comment on the passages in which Teddy recalls his love for Dolores, his wife. How does he describe his feelings for her?

• 8. The story takes place in 1954, during the Cold War. Why might Lehane have used that time period in which to set a story about madness, scientific experimentation, and life-threatening weather? What are the symbolic implications of the setting?

• 9. The plot of Shutter Island is filled with cryptic clues, twists, turns, and complications. Looking back, at what point were you thrown off track? Was there any point when you began to fit pieces of the puzzle together? Or were you mystified from start to finish?

• 10. What was your experience reading this book? Was it difficult to put down? Were you on the edge of your seat? Does Shutter Island deliver—does it live up to its reputation as a mystery-thriller? . . . Or did you find the story predictable and/or manipulative?

4. Think about which chapter you remember best. It is now time to reread this chapter, thinking about these things as you go:

• 1. What is the title of the chapter?

  2. Who is the main protagonist of this chapter? What are they doing, thinking about, reacting to?

  3. Identify TEN main quotes from this chapter - note these and justify why you have chosen each one.

  4. Identify language features that the author employs in this chapter and explain why you think she used it.

Resources to help you analyse the story

Section Four: Some other takes on Shutter Island - stretching your thinking

It's important to stretch your thinking on your book by reading some other people's interpretations of it. Have a read of these reviews and interpretations and then complete these questions:

• What do your reviews say about your text?

• What do the reviews say about the theme and characters?

• What do the reviews say about why the book was written?

• What questions do you start to think about as you read these reviews?

Island of No Return - Reviewed by Anthony Rainone

Review: Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane - E.F. Sunland

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane - Valerie Macewan

Shutter Island's ending explained - David Cox

Behind Bars "Shutter Island" and "A Prophet" - Anthony Lane

Section Five: Research

Below are the Level Two and Three research options. Work with your teacher to ensure that you are on the right pathway.

Level Two Research

Level Two research asks you to pull an issue out of your text and learn more about it so that it increases your understanding of your text. Click this link to find out what you need to do.

Level Three Unit Standard Written Texts Research

Level Three Unit Standard research asks you to use articles and book reviews to learn more about the author and what they are writing about so that it increases your understanding of your text. Click this link to find out what you need to do.

Level Three Achievement Standard Critical Texts Research

We are now going to stretch our thinking of the text by engaging in critical text research. What this means is that we read how experts have interpreted, understood and thought about the text so that we can understand better ourselves. Below are some critical texts that relate to this text and to understand what the research project is asking you to do (as well as how to do it), click here.

The following are critical texts that relate to Tu. Some will have a direct link, naming the novel directly, and others will be linked by the insight they provide about the background or motivation of the author to write her story.

In no way should you read all of these, cover to cover. You need to be more strategic; look at the titles, read the contents page to pick which sections of the book are best to read, skim and scan to identify sections of chapters that you need to read closely and take notes from - look for keywords from your questions, use subheadings to identify relevant sections.

Not all of these critical texts will answer your questions; so look for the ones that do. Pick three to four to read and take notes from.

Also, if you find that you aren't answering one of your questions, and/or your reading is taking you in a new and unexpected direction, simply change your questions and hypothesis in line with what you are reading - this is what research is; learning and changing what you think as you learn more.

• Amrullah, Andi Abualief. (2017). The Analysis of the Characters in Denis Lehane's Shutter Island.

• Aissou, Katia. (2019/2020). A Psychoanalytic Study of Trauma in Relation to Guilt in Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island.

• Puisys, Laimonas. (2014). Representations of Madness in the Cinema: Three Contemporary Cases.

• Redmon, Allen H. (2015). 'After Everything I've Seen...': Rewatching Shutter Island as a Knowing Audience.

• Sabouri, H. & Sadeghzadegan, Majid M. (2013). Distress and Psychological Distortions in Dennis Lehane's "Shutter Island".