Entre Les Murs

Entre les Murs
1) Democracy?
a. The class is filled with of people diverse background
2) Integration
a. Wei vs Souleymane
a.i. Wei’s parents portrayed as attempting to assimilate themselves by learning the language
a.ii. Souleymane’s mother who does not speak any French and does not seem inclined to assimilate into the society with her traditional garb and insistence on speaking her mother tongue. The languages divide as a reflection of a bigger divide?
b. The formal French language and the language of the banlieue
b.i. The imperfect subjective tense which is used in formal French writing in the ‘high’ literature text and the ‘snobs’ as juxtaposed by the language of the streets which the students used ‘ babtou’
b.i.1. The language of the students in stark contrast to the language of Francois Marin
c. The teachers and students playing a game of soccer together
c.i. Interaction regardless of their different ‘roles’ in the system
d. The school field
d.i. The ‘natural’ segregation of the students according to their background
3) French Republican education system
a. Failure at imparting academic knowledge
a.i. Henriette claiming that she has not learnt anything
a.ii. Esmeralda saying that she has not learnt anything but reading Plato which Marin did not expect
a.iii. Assuming that everyone was at an equal pace and equal academic capabilities
a.iii.1. Burak’ mother who commented that they could push capable students harder
b. Failure of moulding French citizens
b.i. Rejection of the French identity
b.i.1. French but not proud of it
b.i.2. Being French as being white.
4) Immigration
a. The issue of immigration
a.i. Wei’s mother being arrested for being personne sans papiers