What Mrs Wheeler and I learned on our day out in LondonBy Mr Burn

1. Choose your questions well

a. You have to complete three essays in two hours, and each one places different

demands on you:

i. Part A (odd numbered questions) require you to look closely at how authors

craft their stories

ii. Part A (even numbered questions) require you to engage in a debate about

how a text can be interpreted

iii. Part B requires you to write about an aspect of narrative across the other

three texts you have studied

b. Hence, be careful to choose your questions carefully. Be very attentive to the even

numbered questions of Part A, which can catch even good candidates out. Also,

make sure that your choice of question for Part B actually allows you to write

interestingly about the other texts. Some shuffling may be required!

2. Part A (odd numbers) – How does the writer tell the story?

a. Start by ‘pinning down the story’

i. For example: “In section three of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Coleridge creates the first crisis of the narrative , where the

consequences of killing the albatross become clear in the game

between Life-in-Death and Death’s mate. The nightmarish mood

and terrifying imagery set the tone for the subsequent sections of

the Mariner’s penance.’

ii. Do this early on, make sure you keep using the writer’s name throughout

your essay.

b. The structure of the story is a good starting-point for your analysis. Think about

how the events are organised, how the narrative echoes earlier events or

foreshadows later incidents. It’s often tempting to go into agonies of analysis over

single words, noting archaisms and alliterations, symbolisms and themes in the

tiniest syllable, but unless you make the connection to the story as a whole your

efforts will be in vain.

c. Think about narrators – without one a story simply cannot be told. A poet such as

Browning seems to have found the storyteller more interesting than the story itself,

and many writers are acutely interested in who tells the story, as part of our

response to the narrative as a whole. Don’t just say ‘the narrator is a homodiegetic,

omniscient narrator’ and leave it at that – explore how the narrative voice is created,

and how it functions in the text.

3. Part A (even numbered questions) – To what extent do you agree that…?

a. This question invites you to engage in a debate about how a text can be read. You

will be given an interpretation of the text, and your essay should assess the

strengths and weaknesses of that interpretation. A clear, focused argument is

essential, so spend a bit of time planning one.

b. The interpretation offered in the question may be one you strongly disagree with.

However, you must spend about half your answer engaging with that interpretation

before you start offering your own.

i. For example, you might see a question that looks like this:

1. “Gatsby is the hero in Fitzgerald’s novel.” To what extent do you

agree?

ii. You may think this is the silliest thing ever said of the book, but you must

evaluate the evidence in the novel which could be adduced in support of

the statement. Then you can offer your interpretation.

c. Sometimes a question might invite many different interpretations. You are better

off writing about one or two, than trying to cover lots and lots.

d. You are assessed on AO4 (context) here, but the board has given this a specific

meaning. They do not want ‘bolted-on’ historical context. The context is set up in

the question.

i. Let’s think about the question above – “Gatsby is the hero in Fitzgerald’s

novel” – it would be easy here to churn out side after side of ‘context’ about

the American Dream, but the context set up in the question is one of

heroism, that is, the literary concept of heroism, or the figure of the hero in

different types of narrative.

1. So, you could write about Gatsby as a ‘tragic hero’, or how Nick’s

narrative makes Gatsby seem like a romantic hero, or how his self-

sacrifice for Daisy is an ‘heroic’ act.

2. You could also argue that Gatsby is only heroic because Nick

presents him that way, or that in the world of The Great Gatsby,

heroism is as empty a concept as love, value or any other ideal.

3. You may also consider how he is the ‘hero’, but that only goes to

show how corrupt Fitzgerald believes America was at the time;

ii. As you can see neither of those approaches mentions The American Dream,

and it is certainly the case a good answer wouldn’t have to.

4. Part B – the ‘Big B’ question

a. You must write about the other three texts (don’t repeat the text from Part A)

i. Make sure that you choose a question and texts that actually allow you to

write interestingly for an hour.

b. There is no expectation that you should compare the texts – in fact, comparisons

are often superficial distractions from the real business of analysing texts.

c. You don’t have to write exactly the same amount about each text – you could write

up to 50% of your essay on one text, as long as you write in substantial detail on the

other two. (It may be the case that there is more to say about one than the other

two – in which case, say it!)

d. The questions will always ask you about some aspect of authorial method, and you

need to make sure you answer the whole question.

i. If the question is about how characters are created, then you need to write

about what the writer does.

e. You should aim to write 3-4 sides for this. Don’t feel like you have to write a lot.

Final Thoughts:

5. Use quotations

6. Make life easy for the examiner – show them you are answering the question

7. Answer the question.