12 ENG: Getting to grips with the essay topics!
Remember – to get started, do the following:
Step 1 = turn the essay topic into a SPECIFIC question.
Your job in the essay is to answer that question.
EG: ‘Analyse how a main character OR individual matures and takes action in a text (or texts)
you have studied.’
BECOMES
‘How does Amir mature and take action in ‘The Kite Runner’?
Step 2 = identify any subsidiary questions.
This helps you because YOU get to define the parameters in which your essay works, AND it gives you something
more to say in the introduction! One or two are enough.
EG: what does mature mean in this text?
what does ‘take action’ mean in this text?
Today’s task
In your pairs, go through yesterday’s essay topics and complete steps one and two. You both need to agree on the
specific details, so you may find your partner arguing the case for using a different character or idea from what
you wrote down yesterday.
(1)
Analyse how the growth OR breakdown of a relationship(s) affects the climax in a text (or texts) you
have studied.
(2)
Analyse how the writer(s) has influenced your opinion of a choice made by a character OR individual
in a text (or texts) you have studied.
(3)
Analyse how the setting of a text (or texts) you have studied influenced your understanding of the
ideas in the text (or texts). (Note: Setting may include reference to time, place, historical or social
context, or atmosphere.)
(4)
Analyse how an idea is developed in a text (or texts) you have studied.
(5)
Analyse how the writer(s) has created impact in a section of studied text (or texts).
(6)
Analyse how symbols are used to develop an idea in a text (or texts) you have studied.
(7)
Analyse how techniques of a genre or text type make a text(s) particularly effective for you. (Note:
Genres and text types may include short story, novel, types of poetry and song, drama script, print or
non-fiction texts.)
Step 3 = write the four-sentence introduction
Analyse how a main character OR individual matures and takes action in a text (or texts) you have
studied
BECOMES
‘How does Amir mature and take action in ‘The Kite Runner’?
what does mature mean in this text?
what does ‘take action’ mean in this text?
This is how you’d turn these notes into a short but meaningful introduction:
‘When famous author John Marsden wrote ‘Manhood: the Big Gig’, he talked
about the need for young men to ‘defeat’ their fathers elders as a way of growing up.
In the novel ‘The Kite Runner’, Amir does eventually mature and ‘take action’.
Khaled Hosseini’s protagonist matures by finally gaining redemption for allowing his
childhood friend Hassan to be raped and abused twenty-six years earlier. In finally
confronting the character who did this to Hassan, Amir takes action physically, in the
way he should have done all those years ago.’
Task:
In your pairs, use the notes you made
on Wednesday to write introductions for
essay topics 1, 2, 4 and 5. Write them
on the new A3 sheet I have given you.
Step 4 = RETURN TO STEP 1 QUESTION and use it to develop an OUTLINE of the body paragraphs
‘How does Amir mature and take action in ‘The Kite Runner’?

Physically (3)
You should come up with TWO SHORT answers to the question –
only do three if you can think of three. It won’t mean you get a
lower grade.

Mentally

Emotionally (1)
(2)
Baba’s Death = made Amir finally ‘grow up’ and be
independent – not dependent on others for the first time
= “Now he was gone. Baba couldn’t show me the way
anymore; I’d have to find it on my own.” (pg152)
Falling in love with Soraya
Step 5 = Take the notes and quotes on your OUTLINE and write a paragraph
The first major way in which Amir ‘matures’ through this novel is emotionally. One of the most important emotional
experiences he goes through is the death of Baba, when Amir is an adult living in America. Baba’s death makes Amir
understand something new; “Now he was gone. Baba couldn’t show me the way anymore; I’d have to find it
on my own.” This quote shows how Amir has realized how alone he is in the world now – even though he is
married to Soraya. When Baba dies, Amir knows he needs to become a man once and for all. Without Amir
coming to this difficult realization, he would never have been ‘man’ enough to return to Afghanistan when
Rahim Khan calls. The maturity Amir is forced into when Baba dies in a way, prepares Amir for the rest of
the events in the novel. It signals a new stage of Amir’s life and status as a man. This quote made me feel
hope for Amir, because I could see that he might finally grow up enough to gain redemption. It made me
think that there might now be a chance for Amir to be redeemed for letting Hassan be raped twenty-six
years previously. It also made me think about how hard it can be to be an adult in the modern world if
you’re not ready for all of the responsibilities that come with maturity. I think this moment works really well
in the novel, as it keeps readers going so they can find out if Amir DOES finally change and mature
emotionally.