Peg that tent

I was going to do some poetry yesterday but attendance was rather small, so I didn’t, but be ready for some on the first day back – and also we’ll start “A View from the Bridge”, so do have this with you.

In this week’s class we thought about that literature essay (please do hand it in if you haven’t yet…) and I gave out an exemplar essay (written by me, so obviously I think it’s quite good).

The essay question was:

Choose a novel in which a central character’s experiences lead to a deeper understanding not only of others but also of himself or herself.

Discuss the ways in which the character is made to attain self-knowledge and a better understanding of other people.

So it means:

Show HOW (ie talk about the writer’s techniques) the writer shows us that …

Barnaby comes to understand himself more (which involves saying what he thought of himself at the beginning, when this changes and what he thinks of himself by the end…)

and how she shows us that…

Barnaby comes to understand others (eg Sophia, his mother, Martine – not necessarily all of these)

The best way to do it, in my opinion, is simply to start at the beginning of the novel and stop at the end – not telling the story apart from when necessary - though some minimal storytelling will be helpful - but picking out ONLY the bits about not understanding (himself/others), beginning to understand (himself/others ) and then understanding (himself/others).

And you need to remember all the time to keep SECTing or something along these lines, and especially to keep pinning the essay down to the question.

I said yesterday – and it’s an analogy that I find quite helpful – that you might like to think of your essay as a tent that keeps trying to fly away (this is when you waffle off the subject).

Read over what you write as you write it, and pin it down to the question by brief comments to MAKE it relevant, eg “Here we see another example of conflict… This shows vivid creation of character…. This shows a turning point…” – depending on what the question is, of course. Use the words of the question, or variations of them as tent pegs! And these “pegs” can be added afterwards if you forget to put them in at the time - as long as you can squeeze them in.

(You have no idea how hard it is to find pictures of tents flying away. For some strange reason, most people don't seem to stop to take photos of this. Presumably they're busy chasing the tent.)

Remember that you may know why you wrote something, but the marker isn’t a mind reader. Be very definite about making the relevance of what you’ve written very obvious to the dimmest examiner.

If you weren’t at class, email me and I’ll send you the sample essay.

Do some revision after New Year but have a good holiday and I’ll see you on January 7.

Happy Christmas

A one-subject post today since I’m busy, you’re busy, we had a fairly one-subject class and you’re probably not even reading this.We discussed critical (literature) essays and I tried to impress on you the idea that you must:

* Answer the question (both bits – there are usually two parts)
* Bear in mind that the whole point of the essay is to show HOW the writer has written the text
* Show that you’re doing this by using terms that describe techniques (theme etc)
* Write as fluently and correctly as possible.

Most of what we call “questions” don’t actually have a question in them at all. They’re really arguments – you’re arguing that the author has indeed done what’s mentioned in the description, and showing how he/she has done it.The “questions” will be in the form:

Description of text: “Choose a novel which is influenced by the presence of a powerful or overbearing character.”
Instruction: “Show how the writer creates the impression of this character and discuss to what extent you felt you could sympathise with him/her.”

And at the top of each section of the exam you’ll also find a little box reminding you to write about the literary techniques.

So you might like to think of the question as if it said: “Show how (ie by his/her use of theme, language, setting, characterisation) the writer creates the impression of this character and discuss to what extent you felt (through his/her use of theme, characterisation, structure) you could sympathise with him/her.”

You don’t need to discuss all the techniques. You do need to discuss some. But there’s no point in just regurgitating the notes. You need to discuss literary techniques only as far as they’re relevant to the particular argument of the essay.

You can assume that the marker will have read the text, but – as far as the exam is concerned – may have a hazy memory of it, so do tell little bits of the story to make points about them. Don’t tell bits of the story merely to fill up the page.

You MUST quote to back up some of your points. In a exam, five quotes would be the minimum for novels and plays – lots of quotes needed for poems. Using direct evidence (ie things that happen or a paraphrase of what people say) is good too.

While answering these “questions”, it’s useful to keep a little formula in mind and to follow it – not necessarily slavishly and not necessarily in this order, but as a possible approach if you feel yourself waffling off the topic – as is so easy to do:

SECT – this means
Statement – say something about the text
Evidence – give evidence from the text to back up what you say
Comment – say a bit more about your evidence if necessary
Technique – try to link this to a literary technique.

Eg

S. Anne Tyler shows us that Barnaby is unsure about his trustworthiness.
E On the very first page, he mentions that his customers see him as “a man you can trust”, while he himself is not so sure.
C This shows the lack of self esteem which troubles him throughout the novel
T and introduces the theme of trust, which is a central issue.

Certainly a lot of unsupported statements will not gain very many marks.

I then showed you a sample essay on “A Patchwork Planet” and asked you to write (how cruel! in the last class before Christmas!) the following essay:

Choose a novel in which a central character’s experiences lead to a deeper understanding not only of others but also of himself or herself. Discuss the ways in which the character is made to attain self-knowledge and a better understanding of other people.

Homework is to do this essay and to raise a glass to the SQA on January 1. Think about Barnaby and his year of change…

If you want the SECT handout, the “PP” notes or the sample essay, please email me: pdonaldson@stevenson.ac.uk

There is a class on December 17, by the way, despite what this post used to say. Christmas confusion had set in slightly.


The four ages of Santa
1. You believe in Santa
2. You don’t believe in Santa
3. You are Santa.
4. You look like Santa.

Finishing "A Patchwork Planet"

Today we went over some of the handout on Close Reading questions - please read it if you weren't there!

We then finished going over “A Patchwork Planet”. In chapter 13, the Gaitlins have a Thanksgiving dinner during which Pop-Pop tells everyone how well they’re doing, including Barnaby: “He’s a good, good boy”. Barnaby is tempted to put his hands on his sister-in-law’s bottom – you should recognise his tendency to do inappropriate things and cause needless offence on social occasions – but is interrupted by his mother, who gives him the money back and tells him how she really felt about having to pay off his burglary victims: totally humiliated because she feels they looked down on her socially. He doesn’t really take this in at the time and tears up the cheque.

His mother then tells his father about Barnaby’s refusal to take the money and he once again snubs her – “… your tiresome fishwife act”. What other comment of his does this remind you of? Should he have said this?

Sparked off by Sophia’s mentioning her “ne’er-do-well” cousin-in-law, Barnaby produces a huge list of synonyms for scoundrels – presumably because he’s been storing them up in his mind as descriptions of himself. Does he say them as a sort of apology to his mother, maybe? Is he admitting that he was wrong? Or is he just saying that he feels he’s been made to feel like this?


His father tells Pop-Pop about the Corvette. Pop-Pop is shocked but nobly says that the car “was yours to do what you liked with”.

On the way home in the car, Sophia brings up the question of money again – she’s unhappy that he tore up his mother’s cheque, but refuses to discuss the question of her (flour bin) money. All at once, Barnaby finds her irritating: her fluffy face, her bossy hands, her silly voice, her Crock-Pot dinners and general predictability; her lack of curiosity about the passport. This is really the end for their relationship.

There is then a flashback to the circumstances of Pop-Pop’s giving Barnaby the Corvette: after he locked the family out of the house and set fire to the curtains. He gave it because “I can’t think of anyone better, son” – and this act of trust appears to have reformed Barnaby as far as burgling is concerned, anyway. We now see why the car was so important to him.

In chapter 14 Barnaby goes to Mrs Alford’s and finds that she has died. He is shown her patchwork which is “makeshift and haphazard, clumsily cobbled together, overlapping and crowded and likely to fall into pieces at any moment” but also “pretty, in an offbeat, unexpected way”. Since this is the title of the book, we have to assume that Barnaby sees this as a symbol of his life – ramshackle but all right really. (Possibly the same could be said of most of our lives?) Barnaby realises that he has come to value people like Mrs Alford who “keep their good humour and gracious manners”.

He doesn’t invite Sophia to the Gaitlin Christmas dinner and declines his mother’s suggestion that he should give Sophia a family ring, but he and his mother have reached a better understanding and he muses that “it hadn’t been much fun loving someone as thorny as me”.

He and Martine are getting on better too and when he tells her about Sophia’s money being in the flour bin, she says, “What: is she out of her mind?” She trusts him completely; in fact it turns out that it was she who alerted Barnaby’s clients to the original accusation so that they asked him to do extra work for them. Martine then takes the initiative to go and collect the money. Mrs Glynn surprises them and Martine, thinking quickly, pretends that she has asked them to come and then forgotten.

Mrs Glynn must have phoned Sophia, because she then phones Barnaby, highly indignant. He puts the phone down – almost without meaning to, “my body proceeding without me again”. You should remember other times when he mentions such tendencies.

In chapter 15, he takes Sophia’s money to the station (where he knows she’ll be) and gives her a packet for Natalie (which he knows she’ll take) with a piece of paper tucked inside (which is supposed to contain Natalie’s phone number but which is actually a message). This mirrors the station scene at the beginning and shows us the Anne Tyler’s careful structuring of the novel: this last scene wouldn’t work without the first scene having happened.

Then he goes to Mrs Alford’s to help clear up and to collect the Twinform, which Mrs Alford has willed to him. He imagines it (himself?) dressed in a suit – smartly. Is this his future self?

The novel ends just after he unscrews a figure-of-eight mounting plate from the wall. This reminds him of Martine’s dungaree clasps and when she comes in he says (quoting from the Shakespeare sonnet) “Haply I think on thee”. Remember that this means “Perhaps I’m thinking about you” – which suggests that Martine may in fact be the one for him. She seems to understand; on the whole she does understand him (and she trusts him) though she can’t possibly be recognising the quotation. Notice the structuring of the novel, though: the sonnet clue was planted some time ago, though possibly only alert readers would actually realise what happens here.

At the station (Barnaby assumes) Sophia reads the message: “Sophia, you never did realise. I am a man you can trust”. At last he feels sure of this, and doesn’t want the woman in his life to be someone who doesn’t trust him.

I will supply you with copious notes next week, but before then, please write (for homework) some notes of your own on one or two themes of this novel. The ones I suggest are trust, change, money/possessions/class, age and love, but feel free to think of other themes that you feel you could substantiate by textual reference (ie mentioning how the themes emerge in the plot / language).

Thinking

We did a little exercise on context, linking and imagery questions and on the whole this was well done. Splendid! If you’re still not sure, check the Language Skills book (see last week’s post).

We then looked at chapters 11 and 12 of “A Patchwork Planet”. In chapter 11, Barnaby visits Opal for her birthday, but the present (chosen by Sophia) falls flat and Opal is cold in the park in her party dress, so she goes home again. He has to wait for Sophia to give him a lift home, which gives him time to think about his marriage. He wonders if perhaps he should have stayed with Natalie and she might have “become the right person”. On the way home in the car, he and Sophia have an argument: she wants him to apply for a job at her bank and is clearly unhappy that he doesn’t earn much; especially since she has “lost” her money in her aunt’s flour bin and for some reason won’t go and retrieve it. (Why do you think she doesn't?)

In chapter 12, he thinks a lot about the problems brought by old age. Then at Mrs Cartwright’s, he and Martine are turning a mattress and end up standing very close to each other. He hears the clink of her overall clasp (on what occasion did he last mention this? – p. 186) and she asks him “How do you get your mouth to turn up at the corners that way?” (How does she feel about mouths? – p. 27). He replies flippantly and changes the subject quickly not wanting to be late for lunch with Sophia. Martine picks a fight with him on the way home and he – apparently – doesn’t know why.

Of course, Anne Tyler knows why. Never forget that this is a novel. Anne Tyler pulls all the strings.

Then we looked at various types of Close Reading questions from a handout which we’ll look further at next week.

Getting it right

Today we thought more about Close Reading and the absolutely standard questions that you really need to be able to get right. Please check out the “English Language Skills for Higher English” book: page 9 onwards for context questions, page 11 onwards for linking questions and page 36 onwards for imagery. You might as well get these frequently-occurring questions right and scoop up the marks that less-clued-up students get wrong. Believe me – most students waste marks by NOT doing these questions the SQA way.

In “A Patchwork Planet”, we mainly just had time to look at chapter 10, in which Barnaby sells the car to Len Parrish and hands over the money to his mother. He’s very reluctant in the end to let the car go, which shows us its importance to him. To his disappointment, the handover of the money falls flat: his mother is suspicious as to where he got it and his father is shocked that he has sold the Corvette.

Then the reader finds out that Mrs Glynn has found the money that she thought was stolen – she’s just misplaced it. Barnaby is very forgiving, but Sophia seems surprisingly upset. It turns out that she has withdrawn her savings and put them in the flour bin to protect Barnaby. He immediately realises that this seems to be proof that she really thought he’d stolen the money, but he’s disarmed by Sophia’s reference to the O Henry (above) story in which a young married couple each secretly sell their most prized possessions (the girl’s long, beautiful hair and the man’s pocket watch) to buy presents for each other (a clasp for her hair and a chain for his watch). Sophia likens this to her pointless sacrifice of her savings, and Barnaby is distracted from her obvious lack of trust in him by the romantic way she puts this: “You are your gift to me, Barnaby”.

We then looked at a bit of chapter 11, in which Opal’s birthday falls flat as far as Barnaby is concerned and he is left in the park, waiting for Sophia. He thinks about marriage and thinks that he should have stuck to Natalie, and, he thinks, she would have become “the right person” for him.

What do you think is the significance of this thought in the context of the story?

Trouble with women

Yesterday we began our study of poetry with Thomas Hardy's "The Voice", in which the poet imagines that he hears the voice of his dead love (actually his wife of many years). The rhythm is very important here - it bounces along at first as if the poet is hurrying excitedly to catch sight of the woman, but then gradually slows as he begins to doubt what he hears. Then it changes completely to an irregular beat in the final verse, which mirrors his stumbling to a halt, discouraged - before the last line, when he seems to hear her again.

There's also a lot of alliteration and asssonance in this poem - choose an example and tell us the effect, as you see it. We also noticed the feminine rhymes, which give an echoing, rather chanting effect.

At the beginning of chapter 9 of "A Patchwork Planet" there's an abrupt turning point in Barnaby's fortunes when Sophia's aunt accuses him of theft.
He's terrified when a policeman comes to interview him - he presumably thinks that his past record may count against him.

We noticed his childish reactions to this unfair accusation - what does he do? - give an example in a comment.

However, Martine persuades him to come out to work (what does she say, exactly?) and tells him her plan that he should sell the Corvette and buy Everett's truck with her.

And then, apparently to Barnaby's surprise, they start kissing and end up in bed together. Afterwards, Barnaby remembers an occasion when he was married to Natalie and she was angry at him for being late home when - for once - it wasn't his fault. His attitude then was, "If you think I'm such a villain, just watch: I'll act worse than you ever dreamed of." What is the relevance to his current situation?

The chapter ends wonderfully well, with Mrs Dibble telling him that all his clients support him and that she wants him to buy the business off her when she retires. He then contacts Sophia to apologise for... not returning her calls. At the end of the chapter, rather like at the end of the previous one, he feels that "I really might have moved on in my life". So this turning point in the structure seems to have been reversed and he's on course again.

See me waving?

It would be really nice if some different members of the class would answer when I ask a question in class, as well as on the blog. I very much appreciate those who do; but it would be good to have any idea what's going through the heads of those who don't. Are you riveted by what's going on? Are you in a complete daze? Are you thinking about the one you love? It's hard to tell from your faces.

Anyway, above we have the river Seine, and in the Close Reading we began this week, the writer says that Parisians see the Seine ...

... and Venetians use the Grand Canal - as a focus for their city, whereas for Londoners, the Thames ...

is a "twisty ruler", defining what is North London and what is South London, and measuring the distance between East and West London also. He uses various other words to reinforce this idea.

He mentions too that the Thames has featured in literature (he cites Dickens) as a spooky place where dark deeds happen.

Vauxhall Gardens, on the south bank, used to be a place for bad behaviour. This picture is a bit small, but it shows dancing, flirting and other such wicked practices.

What, by the way, does implacable mean?

What is the difference between practice and practise?

Please look at this website - there will be a test on this language feature on Wednesday! http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/

In "A Patchwork Planet", Barnaby tells us more about his meeting with Natalie, who offered him a glass of lemonade using "quaint" language - what does she say, what does "quaint" mean and why does this appeal to him at that stage of his life?

Their relationship has progressed and Barnaby has now spent time in Sophia's rather pretty spool bed (with curly, turned bars at the head and foot).

She goes to dinner with his family and makes a good impression. He thinks again about the time he met her, with her feathered coat.

Why have I ended this with a picture of a hand?

Please comment, answering at least one question. I've put these in bold, to make them easier to spot.