FIFTIETH GATE GENERIC ESSAY
Explain how your set text and TWO other related texts of your own choosing represent
history and memory.
The complex relationship of history and memory has been highly debated by various
composers. This is too generic you need to be way more specific here It is however inevitable
that the history of documented evidence and personal recollections are both equally vital in
achieving overarching accounts of an event. GOOD Thus, Mark Baker’s non-fiction text,
‘The Fiftieth Gate’, the BBC article titled “North Korea continues to brutalise its people and
yet we continue to do nothing” by Emily Deyer and the podcast interviewing Charles Stewart
represents flaws of both facts and recollections to instil their crucial interrelationship. By
manipulating a variety of forms and techniques, all composers greatly insinuate the crucial
role of history and memory in fulfilling an overarching and accurate account of human
events. Strong introduction
The Fiftieth Gate encapsulates Baker’s journey to validate the experiences of his parents in
the Holocaust with factual evidence and thereby represents personal recollections as often
unreliable, fragile & highly subjective. Very direct topic sentence good! In describing his
grandfather, Leo Krochmal, Baker demonstrates that time ravages humans’ ability to control
their memories and experiences. He reveals with animal imagery “Old age tarnished his noble
aura as his mind fell prey to dementia” to imply the weakness of memory as it ‘fell prey’,
implying the destructive and inescapable force of old age, thus making him less reliable than
documented evidence. Good exploration of imagery Baker’s tone of pity further evokes
empathy for Leo. Additionally, Baker’s reflecting on his and others reactions to the childhood
stories of his mother, Genia is revealed in “we had never believed her when she told us she
was once rich, very rich, tremendously rich” where the symbiosis of high modality and
asyndeton reflects Baker’s steadfast reluctance to believe the recollections of his mother as
they appear to be exaggerated as implied with the use of repetition. Baker also reveals his
uncertainty in Yossl’s accounts as he relays “Hinda and Leibush were married in Weirzbnik”
I pass him their wedding certificate that was buried in an old archive in central Poland” and
his reply “This I do not remember”. Whilst Baker uses verisimilitude in emphasising the
origins of where the documentation came from to add realism and accuracy to his statement,
his employment of brevity in revealing his father’s reaction creates a contrast to the accuracy
and detailed nature of documentation in revealing past events. cut this down a bit – it’s a bit
TOO wordy. Baker thus represents recollections as subjective in that they can be selective
and also inevitably diminishing.
Supportive of Baker’s implications, the podcast interview for Charles Stewart,
reiterates the issue of unreliable, selective memory, and therefore the crucial role
of accurate details and recorded evidence of history, in validating such
representations. this is too wordy and not clear it needs a bit of changing Charles blames
the fragmentation of history on the selectivity of memory as the reality of Stewart’s father
was starkly different to the memories of those around him. Stewart had been told by his
mother that his father was a “businessman, very wealthy, had a very good background a man
of bearing” his repeating of “very” and the listing of attributes, creating a sense of
certainty in the nature of his father. However, his true form as later uncovered through
research and study such as the material that “related to him taking his own life” and
the event being a “celebrated pursuit around the world”, indeed exposes him as a
“charming and considerate conman” as offered by Fidler, the collective use of pauses
and alliteration dramatically evincing how selective memory can disguise flawed truths,
and thus the fragmentation that occurs when memory and history aren’t balanced.
WAYYYYY to long hahahahaha Stewart definitively remarks, “then all of a sudden we
realised that the story that we had been told wasn’t quite true”, using inclusive pronoun and
slow pace to highlight that most agreed that truth can be omitted and selected by a favourable
perspective. Additionally, his reference to “dream-like recollections” employs a compound
term to reinforce how memories, like dreams are often fragmented. Good Thereby leading
Stewart to imply that physical evidence and relevant historical details are essential in
constructing both history and context as they create direct links to correct memory.
Fantastic conclusive statement
Throughout Baker’s journey of undertaking roles as a mediator between the past,
present and future, he becomes newly enlightened of the value of personal recollections,
and thereby begins to represent recollections as valuable assets that add a personal
dimension to accounts. the more you write the more confusing this becomes Baker is able to
illustrate the impact that personal recollections have on an individual, particularly Genia as a
direct quotation “Nightfall to me is sadness and darkness and I just can’t disconnect my past”
where she uses low modality to convey the extent to which memories haunt her to the present
day. Furthermore, Baker’s inclusion of his grandmother, Hinda’s account of death camp in
Belzec “we push through the doors toward the shed like brides headed for ritual purification”
incorporates an ironic simile in order to evocatively convey the unique and mixed emotions
attached to her experience, that cannot be conveyed through documents or words. Get’s better
here Additionally, in the event where Baker and Yossl visits the graveyard, Baker asks a
rhetorical question “Can you hear, or do the screams from the mass graves drown out the
sounds and melody of Wierzbnik in its innocence?” that incorporates sensory imagery to
emphasise memories as reality and therefore the eternal power of recollections of personal
experience. Genia’s realisation of the importance of her memories is exposed in her
emotional statement “so always remember it, and your children will remember it. They will
survive, they will sing and they will dance” where she uses asyndeton to illustrate the way
our memories will be passed on to our generations and give them a sense of freedom. Thus,
Baker reveals the representation of recollections as valuable as they not only add a personal
dimension to written accounts but they are relatable and passed on. Good girl but still a bit
wordy – you need to get jane’s essay and see how she’s written it!
Whilst Emily Deyer’s BBC article echoes Baker’s valuing of personal recollections she
additionally represents documentation of history as skewed and highly unreliable as
certain facts can be overlooked and unofficially recorded. Indeed the byline of the
article “The tale of Shin Dong-Hyuk North Korea’s only concentration camp escapee,
exposes the regime’s real face, writes Emily Deyer” points out the main purpose of the
article in allowing the recollections of the individual to prove the corrupted nature of
certain facts, as further reinforced by the use of alliterative terms “regime’s real face”.
Good Deyer’s inclusion of the truncated line “North Korea state officials continue to
deny the existence of the camps.” directly mirrors the fragmentation of truth when
history is not acknowledged, and thus evinces the value of individual recollections in
shedding light on human occurrences. Fine Moreover, a direct quote from Hyuk “Just
because people cannot see this, they find it difficult to believe that such things are going
on at the moment” sees the use of colloquial diction to appeal to others of the basic truth
that just because certain details are not officially declared, it does not mean they cease
to exist. Thus Deyer represents history as flawed in that events can simply not be
recorded and details can be deliberately overlooked. Concise – this is a good paragraph!
Therefore, through the conflicting representations of recorded evidence and
recollections, we are given great insight into the complex relationship of history and
memory. We come to a conclusive understanding that neither history nor memory are
infallible representations of the past- each are flawed in that they are under the
influence of purpose, perspective, context and mode of communication. However, when
considering the benefits of both concepts together, history and memory interplay to
creative a more overarching account than considering either one independently. Strong
conclusion
your writing in this essay is a bit confusing for now – you need to try make it more
concise. Get Jane’s essay and try write a f more concise like her!
Otherwise your content is ALL perfect – it’s just your writing for now that’s bringing you
down!