english@kkc

If you are in Year 11 you will have to write three literature essays at the end of the year. In this post I will give you a few tips on how to write a good essay.

When writing a literature essay you should:

• select topics carefully to ensure so that you can deal with the demands of the topic before beginning
• •take note of the key words in bold to guide your answers
• •keep to the topic
• •avoid trying to use rote-learned essays from previous years’ papers
• •use the planning space provided and structure your ideas
• •support your ideas with appropriate evidence / examples from the text
• •provide sufficient evidence to enable you to achieve the standard, using the suggested minimum word length as a guide
• •understand the requirements of the standard eg in the short texts essay you must answer on at least two texts, and your answers need to show sufficient balance across both texts
• answer both parts of the topic and refrain from presenting only a plot summary
• •proof-read your answers, particularly for extended texts. Often a student’s punctuation lets them down.
• Students also often include detailed examples as “add ons” using only commas, resulting in rambling “run on” sentences. There is also a tendency for students to use conjunctions to amplify ideas, which results in long, grammatically incorrect sentences.

The exam answer is from the 2006 Short Texts paper. It is an annotated script made available by NZQA to help students understand the way a paper is graded. The essay is considered to be an example of a ‘medium’ excellence-not perfect but showing enough perceptive understanding.

Now’s your chance to let it all out!

Are you a budding cartoonist, critic, artist, reporter, designer, writer or photographer? Get your work into New Zealand’s biggest daily paper with The College Herald.

They are looking to feature work from as wide a range of people as possible. All ages, skills and viewpoints are welcome. It could be something you did for a class assignment ages ago, or it could be something you’ve created specially for The College Herald.

This year they are encouraging students to submit work online - though you may still submit by mail if you wish.

Either way, it’s very important that an English teacher authorises each individual student entry. When you enter online, your entry automatically gets forwarded to your English teacher for approval. If you are entering by mail, please ensure that your teacher’s name, faculty and email address is supplied on the entry form. Every mailed entry form must be signed by the teacher concerned.

They’re looking for anything that says what you want to say. This could include:

Articles, Letters to the editor, Photographs, Cartoons, Interviews, Poetry, Music reviews, Film and TV reviews, Investigative journalism, Painting, Collages, or Graphic design.

Year 11 students are working on either poetry or short story studies at the moment. To help with this I have added a link to a NZQA approved excellence exemplar for Achievement Standard 90055. The essay was not written by a student from the College and it is not a ‘perfect’ excellence.

The essay was written in 2006 in response to the question,

“Describe at least ONE interesting language technique in EACH text. Explain how EACH technique helped you understand an idea (or ideas) in EACH text.”

Go here to access it.

For Rose!

Here are some quotes from the film ‘Heavenly Creatures’:

Juliet Hulme: Only the best people fight against all obstacles in pursuit of happiness.

Juliet Hulme: All the best people have bad chests and bone diseases. It’s all frightfully romantic.

Pauline Parker: She is most unreasonable. Why could not mother die? Dozens of people are dying all the time, thousands, so why not mother? And father too.

Pauline Parker: [voiceover, from her diary] We have decided how sad it is for others that they cannot appreciate our genius.

Pauline Parker: Oh, I wish James Mason would do a religious picture! He’d be perfect as Jesus!
Juliet Hulme: Daddy says the Bible’s a load of bunkum!
Pauline Parker: But we’re all going to heaven?
Juliet Hulme: I’M not! I’M going to The Fourth World… it’s sort of like heaven. Only better, because there aren’t any Christians!

[Of Pauline's ‘problem']
Doctor Bennett: Chances are she’ll grow out of it. If not… well, medical science is progressing in leaps and bounds. There could be a breakthrough at any time!

Pauline Parker: [narrating] We realised why Deborah and I have such extraordinary telepathy and why people treat us and look at us the way they do. It is because we are MAD. We are both stark raving MAD!

Pauline Parker: [narrating] This notion is not a new one but this time it is a definite plan which we intend to carry out. We have worked it out carefully and are both thrilled by the idea. Naturally we feel a trifle nervous, but the pleasure of anticipation is great.

Juliet Hulme: Stick it up your bottom!

Juliet Hulme: Bloody Bill’s sniffing around Mummy something chronic!
Pauline Parker: I thought he was supposed to be terribly ill.
Juliet Hulme: That’s what we were led to believe.

Pauline Parker: [narration] The next time I write in this diary, Mother will be dead. How odd… yet how pleasing.

Pauline Parker: It’s a three act story with a tragic end.

John: I love you so much Paul. Do you love me as much as I love you?
Pauline Parker: Of course I do, Nicolas.
John: My name is John.
Pauline Parker: Oh, but I like Nicolas so much better!

Juliet Hulme: [speaking too brightly of the murder of Honorah Parker Rieper] I think she knows what’s going to happen. She doesn’t appear to bear us any grudge.

Juliet Hulme: [Juliet has just arrived at her new school. For French class she has taken the name Antoinette] Excuse me, Miss Waller, you’ve made a mistake. “Je doutais qu’il vienne” is in fact the spoken subjunctive.
Miss Waller: It is customary to stand when addressing a teacher,
[pause]
Miss Waller: Antoinette.
Juliet Hulme: [stands] You should have written “vînt”.
Miss Waller: I must have copied it incorrectly from my notes.
Juliet Hulme: [stands] You don’t need to apologise, Miss Waller. I found it frightfully difficult myself until I got the hang of it.

Juliet Hulme: Affairs are much more exciting than marriages.
[Then, with disgust]
Juliet Hulme: As Mummy can testify.

[shortly before the murder]
Juliet Hulme: [admiring the view that includes the path down the hill, where the murder occurred] Isn’t it beautiful?
Pauline Parker: Let’s go for a walk down here. Come on, Mummy!
Honorah Parker Rieper: Oh! No, I’d like a cup of tea, first. Come on!
[the girls reluctantly follow her into the tea-house]

[last lines]
[the last lines show scenes of the murder intercut with b&w shots of Juliet being taken away by her parents on the ship. Pauline and Juliet are sobbing and screaming for each other; and the girls scream as they beat Honorah Parker to death]
Juliet Hulme: Gina!
[sobs as she reaches a hand over the ship railing]
Pauline Parker: Juliet, don’t leave! I’m coming! Don’t go! You can’t! Oh, no!
[as the girls cry and reach helplessly toward each other, Juliet's parents come and stand on either side of her, trying to comfort her]
Juliet Hulme: I’m sorry…
[Pauline screams, and the b&w scene fades into the murder scene]
Pauline Parker: No!
[That last bloody shot fades into the credits]

[first lines]
[Director Peter Jackson opens with the scene that should, logically, end the film: that is, the moments immediately following the murder. The girls Juliet and Pauline run screaming up the hill-path to the tea-house, sobbing and covered in blood. The scene is intercut with b&w visions of the two running across a ship deck to meet Dr. and Mrs. Hulme, whom they both refer to as their mother, as the first three exclamations of "Mummy!" demonstrate]
Juliet Hulme: Mummy!
Pauline Parker: Mummy!
Juliet Hulme: Mummmmy!
[the scene changes from the ship to the hilltop tea-house. The girls are screaming hysterically as the tea-house woman runs out to see what the noise is all about]
Pauline Parker: It’s Mummy! She’s terribly hurt!
Juliet Hulme: Please! Help us!

Quotes taken from IMDB. For more go to Heavenly Creatures script.

Pointers for writing a good exam essay:

• know your quotes.
  Make sure you are armed with a range of accurately remembered quotations and/or points of evidence (eg plot events/comments on narrative point of view). Correctly remembered quotes will help you remember the important themes more easily!
• know your stuff.
  What are the themes and important messages of the texts you are looking at ?
  What techniques used by the writer are easiest and most useful to comment on ?
• know your question.
  Be very careful to pick out the key terms from the question and mention them (sometimes rephrased) throughout your essay.
• know your structure.
  Go for a three part introduction; followed by the body of the essay which contains the answer to the question; and a conclusion
  Introduction (key terms of question; identification of selected character/incident/theme/structure; the brief statement of the relationship between what you have identified and the question.
  Middle - this is where you would answer the question (and in the process show your ability to understand and appreciate the effectiveness of the text)
  Conclusion where you show how the evidence you’ve provided has answered the question - and where you say something evaluative about the text as a whole.
• know the time -Keep an eye on the clock, allowing time to write a very quick plan for each essay!

Your essay introduction should do three things:

1. Show that you have understood the key terms in the question
2. State which character(s)/scene(s)/theme(s)/incidents/etc you are going to discuss - depending on what the question has asked you. (If, for example, the question asks about an important character, identify the character you are going to concentrate on; or if the question is about a theme of interest to Year 11 students, identify the theme you are going to discuss…)
3. Show briefly how the character(s)/theme(s)/incident(s)/scene(s) is/are related to the question. (For example, that you are going to show that the important character does have a real influence on the theme/s of the novel - if that was what the question asked…)

Most war poetry conveys a sense of anger. ‘Futility’ by Wilfred Owen conveys a sense of sorrow. You need to know what techniques Owen used to achieve this and consider how successful that this poem is in expressing his disillusionment with the war.

The sense of sorrow in the poem is created through the tone. The poet does not come through as angry or bitter but with a sense of sadness and resignation. Owen carefully chooses words to do this. ‘Gently’, ‘rouse’, ‘warm’, ‘whispering’ help achieve this effect, as they are very gentle. On top of this the poet seems to regard the soldier as a very important person. This is important because so many soldiers were sent like cattle to their deaths for little gain. They were led by incompetent generals who maybe gained a few yards of territory for the loss of many of their men.
Owen divides the poem into two verses. In the first he seems hopeful that the soldier will live:

‘ If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know’

However in the second verse Owen asks the question of what is the point in life among the carnage.

‘O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth’s sleep at all?’

As this comes at the end of the poem it gives the lines extra emphasis and makes the reader think more deeply about the waste of War.

Golding wrote ‘Lord of the Flies’ to show a very pessimistic vision of mankind. In the past some writers tended to take the view that if left to their own devices man would organise himself into effective groups that would act in a civilised manner. However ‘Lord of the Flies’ chillingly explores what Golding considers to be the reality. That is if there were no laws and no authority then man would descend into savagery and exploit the weak. The group mentality would swamp individual morality with terrible consequences. Ralph weeps for the loss of innocence because he is faced with the knowledge of just how horrific man can be.

I have posted a level one ‘Heavenly Creatures’ essay below.

Describe a situation or event in the text that shocked or surprised you. Explain how visual and/or verbal features were used to make you feel shocked or surprised.

A shocking event in the film ‘Heavenly Creatures’ directed by Peter Jackson was the murder of Honora Rieper by her daughter Pauline and friend Juliet Hulme. Jackson used sound, point of view camera shots and a flash-forward to make the viewer feel shocked and horrified by the murder.

The use of sound is perhaps better described as the absence of sound. The murder scene is eerily quiet. Jackson chooses not to use overly dramatic musical accompaniment, or particularly loud sound effects as one would usually expect in the climactic scene of a film. All that the viewer hears is the sound of the brick smashing into Honora’s skull, and the girls yelling and screaming as they beat her. Jackson wants us to hear the scene as Pauline and Juliet would have. When they were murdering Honora, there wasn’t an orchestra in the background. Jackson makes this event so shocking by letting us hear it as it would have been heard. The murder becomes not some dramatic moment in a story, but a real event that occurred in the foothills of Christchurch. It is so shocking because it becomes real.

The murder is shown to us in a series of point of view camera shots, to shock us by showing the murder from all three characters perspectives. We see close up shots of the bloody faces of Pauline and Juliet, of Honora lying on the ground, and of the brick being flung. Not only do we experience the murder through the ears of those present, but Jackson shocks us by showing us the murder through their eyes too. By seeing things from each character’s perspective, Jackson helps us to understand some of what the characters must have been feeling. How awful it must have been for Honora to watch her daughter, covered in blood, flinging a brick at her own mother’s head. It is shocking to us that the girls could continue with the murder when we see, through the point of view shots, how horrendous it must have been. We cannot understand how they could commit such an awful crime.

Jackson uses the convention of flash-forward to further shock us at the brutal murder of Honora. At the beginning of the film, we see Juliet and Pauline running up a hill, covered in blood. Pauline cries ‘It’s Mummy! She’s terribly hurt!’ The viewer realises that something awful has happened to ‘Mummy’, and as the film progresses, we discover the plans of Pauline to ‘moider’ her mother. But it is still hard to believe that she will actually carry out her plan. Jackson uses flash-forward to show us that Pauline does in fact murder her mother. Somehow, knowing all along what the outcome will be makes the murder even more shocking. Jackson wants us to be horrified that Pauline and Juliet have the internal drive to go through with the murder.

Jackson makes the murder of Honora Rieper even more shocking through the use of sound, point of view shots and flash-forward. He shows us the murder through the eyes and ears of the characters, helping us to experience it in a real and shocking way. And we are shocked that the horror that we knew must be coming does actually occur; that Pauline and Juliet have enough hate for Honora to go through with her murder.