2010 HSC
Paper 1 Area of Study
Using the Board of Study website
and sample answers from
CAMBRIDGE CHECKPOINTS
Mel Dixon and Deborah Simpson
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Section I
Question 1 a) Describe how the image depicts the idea
of belonging or not belonging to a family. 2
In better responses, candidates engaged well with the
visual elements of the text and established a link
between the visual and how the concept of belonging or
not belonging to family was depicted. Weaker responses
attempted a description of the image without addressing
the ‘how’ aspect in the question.
Criteria
• Describes how the image depicts the idea of belonging
or not belonging to a family 2 marks
• Attempts to describe how the image depicts the idea of
belonging or not belonging to a family 1 mark
suggestions
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Families offer a sense of belonging but can also be limiting. This is
suggested by the image Family Sculpture by John Searles. The
similarity in the head shapes which incline inwardly towards each
other suggests a strong bond but the organic shapes and different
colours of the bodies which seem to float away from the centre
suggest a struggle against the constraints of belonging. The image
therefore illustrates the paradox of belonging which gives a sense of
unitybut can also be restrictive.
Consider:
What are the visual techniques in the text?
How does each visual technique illustrate belonging?
How does each visual technique illustrate not
Text two — (b) ‘… I was more aware of our difference.’
Explain the speaker’s relationship with his brother. 2
In better responses, candidates clearly explained
the nature of the relationship, using textual
support to provide depth to the explanation.
Weaker responses tended to provide a recount
of the relationship.
Criteria
• Explains the speaker’s relationship with his
brother 2 marks
• Attempts to explain or explains in a limited way
the speaker’s relationship with his brother 1
mark
Sentence starters
Lack of mutual respect
(Understanding/acceptance)…
 The dysfunctional, strained relationship…
 …feelings of inadequacy and inferiority…
 …simultaneously idolizes and resents…
 The symbolic use of doors and clothing…
 Essentially, the main character feels…
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Alternative response
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In the metaphor of standing outside a
door, the reader is conscious of the
author’s sense of exclusion from his
brother. While he starts with a negative
anecdote about his brother’s oppressive
nature in handing down his clothes, the
persona uses positive adjectives about his
brother who wore his clothes “with ease”,
“blended in” at school and had a “natural
ability” at sport. This all suggests envy of
his brother, and reinforces the statement
that he admires his brother.
Text three — non-fiction SISTERS
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In strong responses, candidates focused on the portrayal of
friendship as an alternative source of belonging. They used textual
references insightfully to identify issues in the text and went beyond
literal interpretations to provide points about the idea of friendship as
an alternative to family in establishing a sense of belonging. In
weaker responses, candidates tended towards explanation with less
apt choices in textual referencing and made more generalised
statements about friendship and/or families.
Criteria
• Discusses with aptly chosen textual references how this text
portrays friendship as an alternative source of belonging 3 marks
• Explains with some textual references how this text portrays
friendship as an alternative source of belonging
2 marks
• Describes aspects of friendship/family/belonging/not belonging 1
mark
Sentence starters
The speaker uses emotive language to…
 The connection with Beth is emphasised
through…
 Lack of connection with her “real sisters” is
painful, as shown…
 She acknowledges…
 By exploring the similarities she feels…
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Suggestion for your opening lines
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The lack of belonging experienced by the
speaker in relation to her “blood sisters” is
juxtaposed with the friend who is metaphorically
described as being of “one skin” which explains
how the composer sees friendship as an
alternative form of belonging when the
connections with family are broken or weak. The
composer explores the acceptance and
understanding the speaker feels for her friend by
emphasising their similarities in light of the
differences with her sisters…
Text four – Poem
(d) ‘This is the record of our desired life.’ 3
Explore the speaker’s attitude to the family photo album as
a record of belonging.
Question 1 (d)
In better responses, candidates examined elements of the text in
order to interpret the text holistically. Explorations of the text’s
meaning were supported by apt references that revealed the
complexity of the speaker’s attitude. In weaker responses,
candidates dealt with the text on a more literal level and often
misinterpreted the attitude of the speaker or failed to refer to it at all.
Criteria
• Explores effectively with aptly chosen textual references the speaker’s attitude to
the family photo album as a record of belonging 3 marks
• Explores with some textual references the speaker’s attitude to the family photo
album as a record of belonging 2 marks
• Describes with limited textual references, the speaker’s attitude or general aspects
of family/belonging as depicted in the poem 1 mark
Sentence starters
The speaker sustains a tone of…
 The use of metaphorical images to…
 The tone of the poem is…
 She believes that photo albums…
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suggestions
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Within the photo album that forms the title of the poem is contained
a “record of a desired existence”. The use of the adjective
(“desired”) is important as the poem is about the difference between
the reality and the images that are contained in the album as a
family maps out the life that they live. The speaker lists the formal
occasions for photos (“weddings, graduations, births and official
portraits”) but then follows with descriptions that highlight the falsity
of the experience through such language as the word “rigid”, the
exaggeration in the phrase “too buoyant”, the adjective “tinny” and
the explanation of staged scenes and artificial beach. These words
emphasise that the album is not about reality, but about the
“desired” reality. In contrast, the speaker talks about “aimless
nights”, “tears” and “brittle lost intentions” which fail to be recorded in
the album of family life. The lack of importance of any family event is
indicated by the enjambment and lack of capitalisation for each line,
which reduces life events to a more prosaic but continuous level.
Near the end, the use of the homonym “negative” (meaning both
something that is not positive and the original image) is a further
statement about the ambiguity of the realities we construct.
Ultimately, what the speaker is telling us is that we make choices
about the past that we belong to and the events that we share
Texts one, two, three and four – Image, Nonfiction extracts
and Poem
(e) Analyse the ways distinctive perspectives of family and
belonging are conveyed in at least
TWO of these texts.
In stronger responses, candidates analysed the distinctive perspectives
provided in the texts and understood that ‘ways’ could be conceptual.
They avoided generalisations and effectively addressed all elements
of the question and provided aptly chosen textual evidence in support.
Weaker responses tended towards explanation and textual referencing
was limited.
Criteria
• Analyses effectively ways in which the distinctive perspectives of
family and belonging are conveyed in at least two texts marks 5
• Analyses adequately ways in which the distinctive perspectives of
family and belonging are conveyed in at least two texts marks 3–4
• Demonstrates limited understanding of perspectives of family and
belonging and/or limited understanding of how perspectives are
conveyed marks 1-2
Sentence starters
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In both text two and three, the composers delve into the…
Whilst text two, presents……, text three, offers another….
In text three, the composer uses a variety of literary techniques to
purport…
In contrast, in text two, the composer conveys…
In conclusion, both text two and three, explore the …
The texts reflect disparate and distinctive perspectives of family and
belonging...
This evocatively suggests that belonging to a family…
In contrast, the other three texts reflect some of the more….
Thus it may be understood that perceptions of belonging…
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Family and belonging but they also similarly attack accepted notions of family as a positive and
harmonious unit of belonging. Extracts two and three both deal with sibling relationships of
different genders and extracts one and four look at the way the whole family unit operates. The
three written texts are from the first person perspective while the visual text uses an abstract
image to create a sense of family. In Like My Father, My Brother, Michael Sala shows the family
as a competing and antagonistic unit leading to a “rage”, while Drusilla Modjeska suggests in
Sisters that the family is a source of misunderstanding with “mismatched memories”, the sisters
feeling “abandoned and bereft” and the persona feeling “expelled and exiled”. Sala speaks from
the point of view of a younger brother whose grievances about being made to buy ill fitting handme-downs (“they never sat on me properly”) reflect an insecurity about being “solitary” and not
fitting in with the wider community. Modjeska, in contrast, is the older sister and her experience is
about a sense of exclusion from the younger sisters who are separated from her by physical and
emotional distance.
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In both the non-fiction extracts, friendship is considered a positive relationship but for Sala it is
unattainable because of his personality, while for Modjeska friendship provides a meaningful
alternative to “blood” sisters. Friendship is not a consideration in the other two extracts which
focus on the family unit. The visual extract suggests through the outflowing shapes of the body
contrasted with the intimate position of the heads, the delicate balance between the group and the
individual needs in a family. The family portrait that emerges has an overall effect of unity just like
the photos in the album, “the record of our desired life” in the poem “Looking in the Album”. Both
these extracts deal with the image of family that we project to the world. There is a consciousness
of the family as a construction that perpetuates the idea of people united and belonging together,
“Pleasant, leisurely on vacations … showing / in our poses that we believed what we were told”.
Memories become an integral part of the way we see the family unit in all the written extracts. In
the poem we are told about negative memories of “brittle, lost intentions”, moments and the
“wilderness of ourselves” where the individuals felt a lack of family bond. Negative moments are
removed from the image of the family created in the album, which captures “formal times” and
shows a perfect family with even children’s hair showing the“recent marks of combs.”
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There is a tension between belonging and not belonging to family, which is evident in all four
texts. There is also a clear assumption of the family unit as being the place where belonging is
expected to take place. As we can see, however, in all the extracts, belonging to family can be a
struggle.