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CHAPTER FIVE: DATA ANALYSIS
the situation. The object offers the potential of meaning making, but this is not
realised in situations in action. Some more examples help in understanding
the potentials in using objects.
The boy who died in the fire also had a teddy which was brought into
the drama and used in creating a memorial in the railway station. In the second
session the group members found the father of the boy in the station who
questioned them and finally left with his son’s teddy. This was discussed in
the focus group:
T: Why did the Dad take this Teddy away?
P1: So he has a memory of his son.
P2: So he can investigate further.
T: What does he think of when he looks at it?
P1: His son.
P3: How he died.
P4: How he embraced his son.
P2: Maybe he wants to throw it out, get rid of it.
T: What do you mean?
P2: Or maybe he wants to burn it? There are places where they burn dead people.
P5: Maybe he feels that it is like his son because this was his son’s favourite toy and
it makes him feel like his son is still alive.°*?
The object provides a scaffolding for the participants to see from the father’s
perspective retrospectively, though during the session they were not very
interested in or empathetic towards the man. This quality could be used
more consciously during the lessons. The object was charged with meaning
and value, and the fact that participants saw extremely different things in it
highlights that the action’s meaning was left open for interpretation.
Similarly, the brick used in different situations became an object of
significance as it carried additional meaning through its role in the story.
“It would remind us that we can’t tell the truth to anyone else. That we know
the truth, but we can’t tell it. Because then we would break a promise”.°**
Ihe participants connected this with when they made the memorial to
the dead boy using the brick and the teddy. Ihe meaning made by participants
is complex here too, but there were no possibilities created for them to
change these meanings through action in situation, the meaning making is
intellectual rather than artistic.
643 F G2.
644 Tbid.
+ 194 +