I JULY 2013
DIOCESAN COLLEGE
Reading and Viewing
Language structures
and conventions
with particular reference to
Paper Two (Literature)
CAPS Document pages 22 – 28
Pre-reading / Reading /
Post-reading
THE LITERATURE PAPER
General issues:
1. Contact time with the actual texts:
candidates must be more familiar with the
texts than with the filmed versions
2. texts must be contextualised
(PRE-READING ACTIVITIES)
The American Dream / the Roaring
Twenties for “The Great Gatsby”
the Russian Revolution for “Animal Farm”
South African history, particularly
with reference to Protest poetry
The Norton Anthology
of Poetry defines
a protest poem as
“An attack, sometimes indirect, on
institutions or social injustices”.
Steve Biko
Nelson Mandela
Hector Pieterson being carried by
Mbuyisa Makhubo
Neil Aggett
Students
march in
Soweto,
June 16,
1976
WEEPING
Written by Dan Heymann (Copyright
Bright Blue)
I knew a man who lived in fear
It was huge, it was angry, it was
drawing near
Behind his house, a secret place
Was the shadow of the demon he
could never face
He built a wall of steel and flame
And men with guns, to keep it tame
Then standing back, he made it plain
That the nightmare would never ever
rise again
But the fear and the fire and the guns
remain
It doesn’t matter now
It’s over anyhow
He tells the world that it’s sleeping
But as the night came round
I heard its lonely sound
It wasn’t roaring, it was weeping
And then one day the neighbours
came
They were curious to know about the
smoke and flame
They stood around outside the wall
But of course there was nothing to be
heard at all
"My friends," he said, "We’ve reached
our goal
The threat is under firm control
As long as peace and order reign
I’ll be damned if I can see a reason to
explain
Why the fear and the fire and the guns
remain"
Apartheid Legislation in South Africa
Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No 55 of
1949
Group Areas Act, Act No 41 of 1950
Bantu Education Act, Act No 47 of 1953
Reservation of Separate Amenities Act,
Act No 49 of 1953
Separate Representation of Voters Act,
Act No 46 of 1951
The Soweto Uprising, June 16, 1976
Language structures and
conventions (pages 26 – 27)
1.
What is tragedy?
2.
What defines a tragic character?
3.
The importance of foreshadowing.
4.
The key concept of irony.
5.
The difference between a drama and a
novel.
6.
The difference between tone and mood
Language structures and
conventions (pages 26 – 27)
In the dramas:
1. the impact of stage directions
2. the power of dramatic irony
3. the role of the soliloquy
In the novels:
4. the importance of characterisation
5. the actual sequence of plot i.e.
structure / organisation of text
What to do with the question?
Account for = Why?
•Give reasons for / explain why things are
as they are
Discuss
•Analyse, using various arguments for and
against
•Examine in detail, bringing in related facts
or arguments
What to do with the question?
Comment on
Relevant possibilities include:
•explanation of allusions (references) or
difficult words
•linking with the context or main themes
connotations and impressions
•establish the effect / significance / irony
/ ambiguity / level of language etc
What to do with the question?
Explain?
•To make clear, by means of examples or
description
Identify:
•Give the most important characteristics of
Illustrate:
•Explain or make clear by concrete
examples, comparisons or analogies.
What to do with the question?
Read ALL the questions and highlight key words:
a) direction words instruct the candidate as to
what to do
e.g. discuss, comment on, explain, justify
b) knowledge words relate to the broad area of
knowledge required to answer the question
c) restriction words – restrict the candidate to
specific details or aspects of the broad subject
area e.g. line references; “in this passage”
VALID FOR THE 3 / 4 MARK QUESTIONS
AND THE ESSAY
QUESTION 7: ANIMAL FARM
(The statement is the knowledge)
The characters in the novel, Animal Farm,
are so flawed that the idealism of the Seven
Commandments cannot be made into a
reality.
In a well-constructed essay of 400 – 450
words, critically discuss (Direction)
the extent to which you agree (Restriction)
with this statement (Knowledge).
In Chapter 9, Nick Carraway (the narrator) says:
‘They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they
smashed up things and creatures and then
retreated back into their money or their vast
carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them
together, and let other people clean up the mess
they had made.’
Critically discuss the validity of the narrator’s
comment in the wider context of the novel.
Post-reading Problems
1. Rewriting the contextual passage as the
essay
2. “Creative” essays
3. Mixing of texts and genres
4. Inappropriate language / SMS speak
5. Statements made without substantiation
or evidence from text (but from film)
6. Story telling (description) versus analysis
(discussion)
Post-reading Problems
7. Past tense instead of present tense
8. No differentiation between title and
protagonist e.g. Othello
9. Misspelling of characters’ names:
Diasy, James Guts, Orthella, Desdimona,
Desderoma, Desdimonia, Destimona,
Riderago, Mertile, Mertill, Murtil
10. Misspelling in general: hankershiff,
hangerchief, hankishift; tradgedy;
soliloquay
Just for fun ... or not!!
Tom belives that marraige is only vowels
The sheeps are stoopid
Desdamona is a young vinecian hairess
Dr Eckleberg is the doctor that delivered
Tom and Gatsby’s baby
Othello becomes one of Iago’s porns
Othello is the left tendant of Venus
There is a higher archy in Venis
Orthello was angered by Destimona’s
infertility
Ijago awcastrated the hole thing