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7 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Institution within an Institution, 14 Feb 2006
It's a rare thing that the movie is better than its source material, but I think (at least for American audiences) that this is true for this novelette.This is a simple story of the life of an English boarding school teacher, a reminiscence from the vantage point of old age, where the accomplishments and disappointments of his life can be properly seen in their entirety. Starting as a young teacher whose main problem is maintaining discipline in the classroom, who still has at least a few ambitions of becoming headmaster at a possibly more prestigious school, Arthur Chipping is portrayed as an average person with perhaps a proclivity to being dogmatic and unyielding in his opinions and methods of teaching. As he grows older, the ambitions recede, replaced by an acceptance of his place within the system, but his rigidity in outlook becomes more pronounced till he marries. His wife's influence does much to make Arthur not only more accepting of other viewpoints, but a kinder, more compassionate man, whose fairness and length of service does much to endear him to his students. Further events in his life eventually lead to his becoming something of an institution, a fixture as much a part of the school as the walls. The character of Arthur is obviously well defined and is easy to empathize with. However, for American audiences that are not very familiar with the English school system, there is a vagueness about the school, how it is run and the profound influence it has on its students, a lack of background information and clear portraits of the students that really needs to be there to properly understand Arthur's story. This is where the various movie versions of this story surpass this book, as this background can be easily shown in that medium, whereas the book assumes the reader already knows this type of information. Even with this failing, however, both the respect that Mr. Chipping eventually earns and the overriding theme of the constancy of the institution shaping the lives of its students into proper English gentlemen can be easily seen and appreciated. This book is quite short, but within its confines it manages to define both its major character and a system of learning very well. For those who attended similar institutions, its ending may very well produce some tears and a feeling of `that was my teacher'. Others not familiar with this type of school may find their time better spent watching the movie.
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