The passionate year

This story is about a young teacher Kenneth Speed (who is the central character) who came to work in Millstead Boarding school for boys. The author tells us about his first work day. In this school students had a custom to rag at a new teacher during the prep. Speed was very nervous when he came to class. The author expressed his nervous condition by the epithets: «nervous», «an atmosphere of subdued expectancy», «keenly conscious» and simile: «as if he were sitting on a powder-magazine» to express the emotional state of the main character. But a teacher had a strong will and didn’t let pupils make jokes at him . The theme of the text is the relations between school teacher and students. James Hilton showed us how important to make a first impression. Not to make a fool of yourself and to put children off if it was necessary. Also he showed how difficult to gain a firm standing for a young teacher.