The English Teacher Page #2

and law school's something.

You can make a left

at the next block.

Right here.

Home sweet home.

Thank you.

I am so sorry.

Oh, it's fine.

Don't worry about it.

Jason, if I can do anything to help,

you know...

I'd love to read

your play at least.

Yeah, sure.

Uh, I could

drop it by school.

- All right.

- Yeah?

Okay. Bye, Ms. Sinclair.

Thank you.

Bye.

Thanks.

It was the best of times.

It was the worst of times.

It was time

to hand in your quizzes.

So now that I know that you've

all finished A Tale of Two Cities,

let's talk about

Sydney Carton's death.

Now why would

he switch places

with a man condemned

to the guillotine?

Why does he

sacrifice himself?

Fallon.

I think it's really cool,

you know.

'Cause he does it

for Lucie.

Even though she married another guy,

he still loves her so much

that he'll die

to save her husband.

It's...

It's totally unselfish.

Very nice. Yes?

Ms. Sinclair? Have you

ever written anything?

Like a novel or a play

or something?

No. No, I'm not a writer.

I'm a reader.

And we need plenty of those.

I think it is

only a true artist

who can give voice

to the human experience.

I'm sorry, but if Dickens

was such an artist,

couldn't he come up

with an ending

where this guy doesn't

have to kill himself?

I think you're

missing the point.

Sydney Carton's death is,

as Fallon said, a selfless act.

The only satisfaction

he receives is knowing

Now this is something that people

understood in Dickens' time.

Today we've lost touch

with classical virtues,

like honor,

selfless action,

the purity of a love

that asks for no reward...

Oh! Hi!

- Oh, my goodness.

- Sorry to interrupt.

- No, no, no. Come on in.

- No, no, no...

Everyone's gonna be

so excited to meet you.

- No, no, no.

- Please, please. No.

Class, I have

a surprise for you.

This is Jason Sherwood.

He's a former student,

and a graduate of the Dramatic Writing

Program at NYU.

And I'm sure many of you remember

reading his wonderful story,

The Hidden Court.

Oh.

Sorry about that.

Um, I just came

to drop this off...

Oh, that's terrific.

Thank you so much.

- You're welcome to join us.

- Oh, no, I'm okay.

I'm just gonna go.

You guys should feel very lucky to have

Ms. Sinclair as a teacher.

I had many genius

writing teachers at NYU,

and she's up there

with the best.

Thank you.

- Bye.

- Goodbye.

Okay, I admit it.

I bribed him to say that.

All right, Noble Sacrifice.

- Dr. Sherwood!

- Yeah.

I saw your son today.

Uh, I'm Linda Sinclair.

- I was Jason's English teacher...

- Yeah, I know who you are.

Yeah, Jason's back home.

He told me all about New York.

It's very sad.

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