LITERATURE PRACTICE EXAMINATION JUNE 2011 Working with the

LITERATURE PRACTICE EXAMINATION JUNE 2011 Working with the text writing an interpretation Heather Maunder and Georgie Todman, adapted from the VATE 2009 SRD Examination lecture by Margaret Saltau and Heather Maunder 1 3/19/2018

RESOURCES • VCAA website • Past exam papers and assessor’s reports • Insight Literature for Senior Students • Remember, your best resource is the text itself! 2 3/19/2018

THE EXAM 2 hours 15 minutes 2 essays on 2 different types of texts : Ian Mc Ewan’s novel Atonement and Dario Fo’s play Accidental death of an Anarchist 3 3/19/2018

THE RUBRIC: Use one or more of the passages selected as the basis for a discussion of the text. 4 3/19/2018

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA 1. Understanding of the text demonstrated in a relevant and plausible 5 interpretation. 2. Ability to write expressively and coherently to present an interpretation. 3. Understanding of how views and values may be suggested in the text. 4. Analysis of how key passages and/or moments in the text contribute to an interpretation. 5. Analysis of the features of a text and how they contribute to an interpretation. 6. Analysis and close reading of textual details to support a coherent and detailed interpretation of the text. 3/19/2018

USE THE PASSAGES TO SUPPORT AN INTERPRETATION OF THE TEXT. It all depends on ‘support’. 6 3/19/2018

ESSENTIALLY, YOU NEED TO DEMONSTRATE HOW THE PASSAGES ILLUMINATE THE TEXT 7 3/19/2018

How the passages illuminate the text Ideas and experiences Form and genre Language 8 Context Setting Characters 3/19/2018

NOVELS Structure: purpose of chapters and sections Interweaving narrative threads Shifting narrative point of view. Is there a dominant voice? How has the author utilised genre to explore concerns and set up patterns of expectation for the reader? 9 3/19/2018

Plays How does stage directions dictate manner and method of characterisation and plot? How does dialogue influence interpretation 10 3/19/2018

IDEAS AND EXPERIENCES • What is the writer saying about human behaviour? • What ideas is the writer exploring? • e. g. What does Atonement suggest about truth and lies? • What is the Mc Ewan's position on: family; morality; marriage; hypocrisy; romantic love; social inequalities; identity? How do we know from this passage? 11 3/19/2018

LANGUAGE • What is the authorial voice? Is there a variation between passages? Omniscient third person? Effect? First person? How reliable is the narrator? [This is important, for example, in Atonement] • How is dialogue used? Or are conversations reported? • Use of figurative language? Is there a sustained metaphor/motif/symbol? Why? 12 3/19/2018

LANGUAGE (CONTINUED) Do the passages reveal character through the nuances of particular words? Use of formal or colloquial language; public language, or the private language of the individual? Richly evocative, intertextual / pared down, spare language? 13 3/19/2018

“PLAUSIBLE” REASONABLE, VALID An interpretation or point of view for which you can (and do) produce textual evidence If your interpretation is not plausible, you will not achieve a high grade. Solid knowledge and understanding of the text will make plausibility a given. 14 3/19/2018

HIGH QUALITY WRITTEN ANALYSIS 15 Presents an interpretation Draws this interpretation from the selected passages Comments on how textual features create meaning Moves out to the wider structure and concerns of the text Uses language that shows awareness of nuances in the text 3/19/2018

16 Use words precisely: make each one earn its place on the page. Do not be verbose, save energy with economy of expression. No waffle or wastage. 3/19/2018

WEAK EXAM ANSWERS Retell the story Paraphrase the passages Ignore the passages Write about last year’s passages Express ideas so badly that the reader has to guess what is meant Have not been checked and corrected 17 3/19/2018

CONVEY A SENSE OF THE WRITER AT WORK Use the author’s name! (Surname please) Comment on what the author is saying And how they say it. For example: Shakespeare has Hamlet speak in prose as he says flatly, “the readiness is all”, no longer railing against “out of joint” time, suggesting a new fatalism. . . 18 3/19/2018

AND … Larkin’s juxtaposition of formal and colloquial language highlights the contrast between the persona’s safe, ordered life and the freedom implied in “He chucked up everything / And just cleared off. ” 19 3/19/2018

What do you do on the day? 20 3/19/2018

PLAN YOUR ANSWER Read the selected passages several times Highlight, underline, annotate: this becomes your plan Note key moments, telling dialogue [if any], that compelling image, motif, symbol Draw links between the selected passages Make links from the passages to the author’s concerns and the text as a whole 21 3/19/2018

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ASK YOURSELF What is the context of each passage? Who is speaking? Who else is present? Whose point of view are we invited to share? How? What is the setting? What is significant here? How is this significant in the text as a whole? 23 3/19/2018

DECIDE Which passage/s you will focus on The order in which you intend to discuss the passages How to start your essay Which links will structure your interpretation What would make a punchy conclusion. 24 3/19/2018

Starters! Focus on text! Start with a compelling quote or startling image Quote an exchange of dialogue Focus on one of the author’s central concerns that is evident in the passages: In Sugar and Other Stories, Byatt questions our ability to free ourselves from the past. It does not matter which passage you start with. 25 3/19/2018

IN AN OPENING SENTENCE, IT IS POSSIBLE TO: Engage with the passage/s Engage with the motifs used to convey meaning by the author Demonstrate an awareness of the author at work Show that your response is complex by qualifying any simplistic interpretation of binary oppositions Show the specific illuminated the text as a whole Point to the direction of the rest of the essay Use an appropriate and precise vocabulary. 26 3/19/2018

AVOID Outlining the plot Listing what the text is “about” eg love, loyalty, passion, power, jealousy. . . Listing the main characters Pre-prepared paragraphs that are not drawn from the selected passages. There should not be a contrast between your introduction, and the rest of your essay. 27 3/19/2018

Provide a WORKING introduction 2010: Too many students offered only a very general introduction which was far too long and often seemingly prepared prior to sighting the passage/s. It also had little relevance to the concerns and techniques which there were opportunities to discuss. 28 3/19/2018

CAN YOU IMPROVE In Atonement, Briony tells a lie which ruins Robbie and Cecelia’s lives. Finish these openers: In Atonement, Mc. Ewan …………………. . In Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Fo………. . 29 3/19/2018

Some starters In the opening scene of ‘Hedda Gabler’, Ibsen deliberately makes use of several titles to create an impression of Hedda before her entry. “Home is so sad. ” The “bereft” house Larkin personifies in this short, bleak poem symbolises the sense of loss and abandonment also evident in “Love Songs in Age”. The metaphor of the spun sugar in the title story of Byatt’s collection evokes the brittleness and intricacy of the narrative she weaves from her own life. The earthquake , although not present directly in Murakami’s characters’ lives, represents for each a disturbance to their equanimity. 30 3/19/2018

From 2008: The delicate, fragile and ‘docile’ Catherine is painstakingly described by the narrator in the first passage to portray the cruelty of both her Aunt Penniman and her Father in the second and third passages. 31 3/19/2018

An effective opening paragraph “In ‘Hymn to Christ, ’ ‘To his Mistress’ and ‘Song’ the densely textured irregularities of tone, pace, diction and imagery enact Donne’s conflicting impulses as he grapples with the problems and the paradoxes of the human condition. ” 32 3/19/2018

“DH Lawrence’s three novellas ‘The Fox, ’ ‘The Captain’s Doll’ and ‘The Ladybird’ are, on the surface, an exploration of the tumultuous nature of sexual politics amidst the shifting social climate of the Great War. However, … (VCAA) 33 3/19/2018

If you struggle to start: It is evident in these three passages, as it is in the entire novel, that … In Atonement/Accidental Death of an Anarchist Mc. Ewan/Fo explores … The text deals with … This is shown in passage one, as … If you start with a quotation, sustain your discussion using it as a ‘coat hanger’. 34 3/19/2018

Connect! But how? Foreshadow your next point? Link your paragraphs If Laertes’ first impulse is to action, honourable or not, an even stronger contrast with Hamlet is seen when we examine Fortinbras. . . If Morris and Dr. Sloper use Catherine in their ruthless pursuit of their own wills and desires, Mrs. Penniman also contributes to her niece’s suffering for purely selfish motives. 35 3/19/2018

Good linking words include furthermore, if, moreover, not only, in contrast, the consequences of … can be seen in Or: “In passage three, we see the consequences of the decision made in passage one … 36 3/19/2018

Writing tips Weave your quotations throughout your commentary, and keep them short. Use the terminology that you have learned to describe literary devices and their effects. This is metalanguage. Use words correctly Spelling and punctuation do matter 37 3/19/2018

Remember, “Eats shoots and leaves”. Punctuation creates meaning. Dicken’s contend’s / Dickens contends In Keat’s poetry … 38 3/19/2018

• There’s a great difference between a character being “stripped” of dignity, and his being “striped”. • A character might be “hoping”, but, we hope, not “hopping”. • A “careless” character is different from a “carless” character 39 3/19/2018

Do not confuse heroine divulge effect content decent to simplistic idle material wreaks eludes led throne 40 heroin diverge affect contempt descent too simple idol materialistic reeks alludes lead thrown 3/19/2018

USE APPROPRIATE FORMAL LANGUAGE THAT SAYS SOMETHING! 41 NOT! Stabs him in the back … has morphed into a more caring man… She was a bit thick Harsh reality, good/bad, Puts forward Holds strong morals 3/19/2018

ANY USE OF SLANG OR JARGON DEVALUES YOUR WRITING Briony had some relationship issues? The Manic was a nut job. USE LANGUAGE APPROPRIATE FOR THE TASK. 42 3/19/2018

We don’t like • Clichés and ugly, vague language – • death was the last nail in Lear’s coffin; sadder but wiser; lied through his teeth; bitter and twisted; she can count on herself; he was always there for her; the author puts forward; he displays that; found herself, at least Catherine knows she can count on herself. • … 43 3/19/2018

• We DO like - • “the author articulates what his characters cannot” • “This passage is an example of Emma’s wilful misinterpretation of …” • “the ambiguity of identity” • “It is at this point that …. ” 44 3/19/2018

Build word banks Literary features Mood evoked Tone Values Attitudes or views Words (strong verbs) that denote what the author is doing: constructs; positions the reader; juxtaposes!!!; suggests; contends …. . 45 3/19/2018

CONCLUSIONS Your conclusion should signal the end of your response It should draw together the threads of your argument in some way You could comment on the end of a text A powerful quotation can be a powerful ending, if you haven’t also started your response with a quotation. 46 3/19/2018

AND… this conclusion? In ‘Antigone’, Sophocles asserts that it is the human condition to search for meaning in a world where suffering is inevitable, and the gods seem unknowable. Ultimately, the play suggests the need for human beings to exist in mutual respect, adhering to the natural and sacred laws of a world that is ever in flux.

48 “Fortinbras speaks the final words of the play, his praise for the “sweet prince” both enforcing the sense of loss that Hamlet’s death brings, and emphasising, through the empty formality of his language his own limitations and paradoxically, his suitability to deal successfully in this world. ” 3/19/2018

INTERPRET! Interrogate your texts by Niggling out the nuances in the language Tease out meaning Explore, explicit examples to Reinforce your Planned, precise Reading with Evidence from The text! GOODLUCK 49 3/19/2018