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How does living in a global village
affect the attitudes, values and
beliefs of individuals and
communities?
In the text, what are the roles and
uses of media and technology in
the global village?
What attitude do people in your
text have to the media and
technology in the global village?
How and in what ways does living
in a global village influence the
ways we communicate, engage and
interact with each other?
2009 Paper 2 Section III Module C – Elective 1: The Global Village
Here are the assessment criteria for 2009 (left hand column):
In your answer you will be assessed on
how well you:
•
Demonstrate understanding of the ways texts and
meaning are shaped by context
•
Organise, develop and express ideas using language
appropriate to audience, purpose and context
So you need to know:
•
•
•
•
The context of each text
The ideas in each text
How context affects meaning in each text
How to write for specific purposes and
audiences
The question Individuals living in a global context may encounter obstacles, but may also gain
significant rewards.
Do you agree with this perspective?
In your response, refer to your prescribed text and at least ONE other related
text of your own choosing.
What it
requires
•
•
•
Explore the obstacles and rewards from living in a global context as
conveyed in your texts
Personal response required: allows for negative or positive view
Refer to a related text as well as the prescribed text.
Sample response: Film
Prescribed text: The Castle, Rob Sitch, 1997
Related text: The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga, 2008 (prose fiction)
Global village is defined
and linked to question:
key terms for obstacles
and rewards
Rapid changes in transport and information technology during the last fifty
years mean that we now have easy access to all parts of the globe, either
instantly and virtually via internet communication or physically, through
cheap and reliable air travel. This has given all nations and societies a better
knowledge of each other and brought the world closer to what could be
called a ‘global village’, where the physical divisions of national borders and
vast distances can be ignored and cultural differences are eroded by
familiarity. This global cultural and economic mingling has advantages and
disadvantages for everyone concerned. In the global context, one person’s
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Cambridge Checkpoints HSC Standard English
obstacle can be another person’s reward.
The Castle, directed by Rob Sitch in 1997, is a gentle satire of innocence
struggling to survive in a globalised world. While we are asked to admire
the Kerrigans for their simplicity and innocence, we are also reminded that
they need to be less naïve and learn to deal with the demands and interests
of powerful global corporations. Fortunately for the Kerrigans, powerful
legal help arrives in the form of Lawrence Hammill, who offers to help
them because he is attracted by their innocence and knows they cannot
possibly win without him.
Word community is
linked to idea of global
village
In this ‘Daryl versus Goliath’ struggle, the global force is Airlink, hoping to
expand its runways to cater for more global travel and increase its global
market share. It is not interested in community, but determined to win at
minimal cost to itself, with whatever bullying and intimidation is deemed
necessary. The Kerrigans’ local community supports their stance, as shown
by the police officer’s blind eye to the theft of the gates, but believe that
no-one can really achieve anything in the face of powerful multi-national
interests. In this case the term ‘global village’ can be read as an oxymoron,
a contradiction in terms, where the smallness of the village is no match for
the might of the global force.
Words reward and
obstacle link essay to
question
Sharing a fence with the Tullamarine runway, the Kerrigans are reminded
constantly of their place in the global village. While it is clear that the
airport is a ‘reward’ for those who use it and the corporation that profits
from it, and while film viewers would see living right next to an airport as
an ‘obstacle’, things are less clear-cut for the Kerrigans. For Daryl, the
planes symbolise optimism and progress, even if only one member of his
family has ever taken up the opportunity to travel and see some of the
world. There is also ‘reward’ in the fact that they have been able to create
their spacious dream home precisely because the land at Highview Crescent
is so cheap. Even though they have the world literally across the fence, they
are not interested. They have everything they need in their own home,
street and local community.
We are reminded of the smallness of the world and how we are in some
ways becoming one large global village when Tracey and Con describe their
trip to Thailand. Their plane flights are about what they ate and what they
watched, described as an experience much the same as watching a video in
the lounge room at home. Their experiences in Thailand are those that they
could just as easily have had by staying in Melbourne. They are in a foreign
country, but looking for and excited by the familiar and they have no
difficulty in finding their own Western suburban life duplicated in
Bangkok.
Context of text and its
issues in prescribed
text followed by the
same for the related
text in the next
paragraph
The film also reminds us that the process of turning the world into a global
village has been happening for a long time and that those who are winners
and losers in this process change over time. The references to the Mabo
Native Title case remind us that just as the Kerrigans have a powerful,
seemingly unstoppable giant wishing to take their land for (almost) nothing,
so did the Australian Aboriginal people experience the same thing when
the English declared the entire continent ‘terra nullius’ and therefore theirs
for the taking. Airlink is simply another colonial power, but its interests are
money rather than land. The context is now different: people are taken
over by commercial interests rather than by national interests.
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Aravind Adiga’s 2008 novel, The White Tiger, is set in the new, globalised
India. The action moves from place to place, showing the contrast between
new and old India. Laxmangarh, Balram’s home village, is in one of the
poorest and least developed regions of India; he describes it as the
‘Darkness’. Bangalore, the seat of India’s economic miracle, where he is
writing his letters to Chinese Premier Wen Jibao, is the ‘Light’. The novel
charts Balram’s progress from Laxmangarh to Bangalore.
Audience referred to
with word we
Specific link to
question
Related text and global
village
We learn early in the novel that Balram is a murderer, but far from feeling
shame and guilt about this, he is boasting to Premier Wen that it shows his
‘entrepreneurship’. Balram sees himself as a symbol of the new,
Westernised India. He is a self-made man who will do whatever it takes in
the global village to get ahead. In Balram’s case, because of his lowly
upbringing, this means that if he has to betray his family and murder his
employer, he will. The new consumerist, entrepreneurial world offers him a
‘reward’, a way out of the confining Indian caste system. He is writing to
the Chinese Premier because he sees India and China as the future of the
world, two countries that will continue to make progress and leave the
West behind.
Despite this, Western-style product consumption and the western life-style
are what Balram and everyone else aspire to. Balram’s employer, Ashok,
spends most of his time in shopping malls. Ashok’s wife, Pinky, dresses in
the Western style and behaves like a Western woman – she has left all
Indian traditions far behind. She and Ashok live in Gurgaon, a Westernstyle compound of office towers, shopping malls and apartment blocks
where the real India is rarely seen. The global, brand-name consumerism of
the wealthy Indians inside these compounds allows them to imagine that
they are not in India at all. However, this illusion is maintained only by the
vast numbers of mistreated servants who labour ceaselessly for their
masters’ benefit. Ironically, the new India of global economic success is
propped up by the ancient India of a cruel and exploitative caste system.
For Indians such as Balram, globalisation offers a way out of this
oppressive tradition. His progress is symbolised by the cars his employer
allows him to drive: first, an Indo-Japanese Maruti Suzuki and finally, the
all-foreign Honda City. Had he remained in his traditional caste of sweetmaker, he would never have been allowed such opportunities. It is also in
his role as chauffeur of the Honda City that he seizes his opportunity and
murders Ashok.
Conclusion: the
obstacles and rewards
are not always fair or
clear cut – links both
texts
In both The Castle and The White Tiger, the global context offers both
obstacles and rewards. The Kerrigans overcome the obstacle of the global
corporation by remaining firmly focused on the importance and values of
their own small community. In The White Tiger, the rewards still seem to
go unfairly to those who already have a social and economic advantage. On
the other hand, globalisation also opens the way to replace an ancient form
of discrimination and exploitation, the Indian caste system, with a more
universally understood system of disadvantage, the gap between rich and
poor in a consumer society.
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Cambridge Checkpoints HSC Standard English
Working with the sample response
Read the Notes from the Marking Centre that appear below with annotations. Then complete the
questions.
Conceptual means based
on ideas
Social context refers to
the society in a particular
setting and how the ideas
of the society affect the
ideas in the text
Historical context refers
to the time that something
is set and how the ideas in
that time affect the text
A sustained response
keeps developing the idea
Integrate reference to
techniques by making
these part of the sentence
and always supporting a
point
In the better responses, candidates engaged with the question on a
conceptual level, recognising the significance of the social and
historical context of their prescribed text.
They were able to write a sustained response using well-selected
textual features with an integrated reference to techniques while
employing an informed, persuasive voice. They formed a thesis which
discussed the interplay between ‘obstacles’ and ‘rewards’ in a discerning
manner with strong, valid links between the text(s) and the question.
Weaker responses generally referred to two or more texts, though
relying on simple narrative features to respond to the question. Often
there was only a direct link to the question at the start and conclusion
of the response. Texts were often treated in isolation from each other
and the question, with the choice of supporting texts often limiting
candidates’ ability to engage with the question and/or concept in a
meaningful way.
1. Using the information from the notes above, complete these sentences.
To write an effective response I should
………...………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
I should avoid
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
When I write about my related texts I should make sure to
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Now copy this table and find answers from the notes above.
Valued in a “better response”
Features of a “weaker response”
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3. Do your own writing: Rewrite the sample response as a speech.
Although the essay is the most common form of response in the HSC examination, in past years
some questions, particularly in Module C, have asked students to respond in a different text type.
Take one sample response and rewrite the response as a speech – you can use exactly the same
arguments as are offered in the response, so that you can focus all your attention on the text
type.
Speeches have the following features:
Organisation:
Introduction, usually with a ‘hook’ to grab audience attention. This is a ‘signpost’ for the main idea
of the speech
Development of argument point by point, using examples to support ideas
Conclusion that convinces the audience of the correctness of the argument, calls on them to
commit to an idea or action, or similar.
Language:
Register is formal, but conversational
Style is personal and inclusive
Tone may be serious, humorous, warm, etc.
Purpose is persuasive, informative and entertaining.
MARKING GUIDELINES Criteria
• Argues effectively in response to the perspective offered in the statement
• Bases the response on relevant textual detail
• Organises, develops and expresses ideas effectively using language appropriate
to audience, purpose, context and form
• Argues competently in response to the perspective offered in the statement
• Bases the response on sound textual detail
• Organises, develops and expresses ideas competently using language
appropriate to audience, purpose, context and form
• Argues adequately in response to the perspective offered in the statement
• Bases the response on adequate textual detail
• Organises, develops and expresses ideas adequately using language appropriate
to audience, purpose, context and form
• Responds to aspects of the statement
• Presents a response with limited textual knowledge
• Attempts to organise and express ideas with limited appropriateness to audience,
purpose, context and form
• Attempts to describe aspects of texts and/or society
• Demonstrates elementary textual knowledge
• Attempts to express ideas with an elementary understanding of language and/or
form
Marks
17–20
13–16
9–12
5–8
1–4
4. Use the marking guidelines to assess the response. Award a mark and justify your mark in the
style of a teacher’s comment.