SACE Stage 2 ENGLISH STUDIES
SCHOOL No: 322
TASK SHEET
SACE No: 378168J
Assessment Type 2: Individual Study
Response: paired texts –
and
The Road to Wigan Pier
by
George Orwell
Get Carter
by
Mike Hodges
Context:
an individual study of two texts chosen sequentially – the first within the context of student interest
and enthusiasm; the second within the context of ideas generated by the first, under teacher
guidance – and developed through the collection of support material designed to analyse various
aspects of both texts.
Task:
write a maximum 2,000 word critical essay that explores the constructed nature of texts and the
influence of sociocultural contexts on reader responses by answering a question created by yourself
and generated by your collection of support material on both texts.
Topic: (write out your question)
Explore the ways in which George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier and Mike Hodges’ Get
Carter use setting to create empathy for the socially outcast of Northern England.
Learning Requirements
Assessment Design Criteria
1. analyse texts, demonstrating
depth of understanding through
the identification of the
structural, conventional, and
stylistic features used by
authors
Knowledge and Understanding
2. understand that the
interpretation of texts is
influenced by the interplay
between what the author
presents in the text, the context
in which the text was generated,
and what the reader, viewer, or
listener brings to the text
3. compare and contrast the ways
in which texts are constructed
4. use evidence to develop and
support critical reasoning in the
form of sustained argument
5. compose texts that engage the
reader, viewer, or listener
6. express ideas clearly and
accurately in a range of
appropriate forms.
KU1. Knowledge and understanding of authors’ use of stylistic features
and language techniques to communicate ideas and influence the
reader’s response.
Capabilities
Learning
KU2. Knowledge and understanding of ideas, values, and beliefs in texts.
KU3. Knowledge and understanding of the textual conventions of
different text types.
Analysis
An1. Analysis of the interplay between what authors present in texts and
the experiences, ideas, values, and beliefs of readers.
Personal
Development
An2. Analysis of the similarities and differences in texts, in comparative
exercises.
An3. Analysis of the ways in which language techniques are used to
influence opinions and decisions in texts.
Work
Application
Ap1. The use of language skills and techniques to create coherent texts
that address the meaning and intention of the task.
Ap2. Recognition of connections between texts, and an integrated
approach to comparing and contrasting texts.
Citizenship
Ap3. The use of evidence from texts to develop and support a response.
Ap4. The use of textual, structural, and conventional features of selected
text types and forms of presentation to convey meaning.
Communication
Communication
C1.
Accuracy, clarity, and fluency of expression.
C2.
Appropriate form and register for audience and purpose.
Students can refer to the rubric provided over the page to identify the performance standards that they need to
demonstrate to reach their highest possible level of achievement in this task.
Knowledge and
Understanding
A
15
14
13
Knowledge and understanding of a wide
range of ways in which authors use
stylistic features and language
techniques to communicate complex
and familiar ideas, and to influence the
reader’s response.
Detailed knowledge and understanding
of the ideas, values, and beliefs in
familiar and unfamiliar texts.
Knowledge and understanding of the
ways in which creators and readers of
familiar and unfamiliar texts use a range
of textual conventions to make
meaning.
B
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Analysis of complex connections
between personal experiences,
ideas, values, and beliefs, and
those explored in familiar and
unfamiliar texts.
Use of a wide range of language skills and
techniques to create sophisticated and coherent
texts that address the meaning and intention of the
task.
Fluent and precise writing
and speaking, using
appropriate style and
structure for a range of
mainly unfamiliar audiences
and contexts.
In comparative exercises, a
perceptive analysis of connections
between texts, based on analysis
and synthesis of similarities and/or
differences.
Perceptive analysis of a range of
ways in which authors use
language techniques to influence
opinions and decisions in familiar
and unfamiliar texts.
In comparative exercises, a perceptive recognition
of connections between texts, through responses
that integrate discussion of texts and move easily
between them.
Detailed and appropriate use of evidence from texts
to support responses, with textual references
incorporated fluently in discussion.
Knowledge and understanding of some
ideas, values, and beliefs in familiar,
and some unfamiliar, texts.
In comparative exercises, a clear
analysis of connections between
texts, based on analysis of
similarities and/or differences.
Appropriate use of evidence from texts to support
responses, with textual references incorporated in
discussion.
Knowledge and understanding of a
narrow range of ways in which authors
use stylistic features and language
techniques to communicate mainly
familiar ideas, and to influence the
reader’s response.
Knowledge and understanding of some
ideas, values, and beliefs in mainly
familiar texts.
Knowledge and restricted
understanding of some simple stylistic
features and language techniques used
by authors to communicate mainly
familiar ideas, and to influence the
reader’s response.
Knowledge and understanding of some
familiar ideas, values, and beliefs in
familiar texts.
Knowledge and understanding of a
restricted range of simple stylistic
features and language techniques used
by authors to communicate familiar
ideas, and to influence the reader’s
response.
Analysis of a range of ways in
which authors use language
techniques to influence opinions
and decisions in familiar, and some
unfamiliar, texts.
Analysis of simple connections
between personal experiences,
ideas, values, and beliefs, and
those explored in familiar texts.
In comparative exercises, analysis
of connections between texts,
based on some understanding of
similarities and/or differences.
Descriptive analysis of a number of
ways in which authors use
language techniques to influence
opinions and decisions in familiar
texts.
Reference to simple connections
between uncomplicated personal
experiences, ideas, values, and
beliefs, and those explored in
familiar texts.
In comparative exercises, answers
that make partial comparisons and
contrasts.
Reference to some ways in which
authors use a narrow range of
language techniques to influence
opinions and decisions in familiar
texts.
Recognition of a simple connection
between a straightforward
personal, experience, idea, value,
or belief, and that explored in a
highly familiar text.
Identification of an idea, a value, or a
belief in familiar texts.
In comparative exercises, answers
that make a simple comparison or
contrast.
Knowledge and understanding of the
ways in which a creator or reader of a
highly familiar text uses textual
conventions to make factual meaning.
Reference to the way in which an
author uses language techniques
to influence opinions and decisions
in a highly familiar text.
Appropriate use of form
and register to convey
mostly complex meaning in
a range of unfamiliar
contexts.
Skills in using the textual, structural, and
conventional features of text types for a range of
familiar and unfamiliar contexts, audiences, and
purposes.
Use of a range of language skills and techniques to
create clear and coherent texts that address the
meaning and intention of the task.
Knowledge and understanding of a
restricted number of ways in which
creators and readers of a narrow range
of familiar texts use some textual
conventions to make simple or factual
meaning.
E
Communication
Analysis of some complex
connections between personal
experiences, ideas, values, and
beliefs, and those explored in
familiar, and some unfamiliar,
texts.
Knowledge and understanding of some
of the ways in which creators and
readers of a range of familiar texts use
textual conventions to make simple or
factual meaning.
D
Application
Knowledge and understanding of the
ways in which authors use stylistic
features and language techniques to
communicate complex and familiar
ideas, and to influence the reader’s
response.
Knowledge and understanding of the
ways in which creators and readers of
mainly familiar texts use some textual
conventions to make meaning.
C
Analysis
In comparative exercises, recognition of
connections between texts, through responses that
compare and contrast texts in an integrated way.
Skills in using some of the textual, structural, and
conventional features of text types for a range of
mainly familiar, and some unfamiliar, contexts,
audiences, and purposes.
Use of language skills and techniques to create
texts that address the meaning and intention of the
task.
In comparative exercises, recognition of some
connections between texts, through responses that
compare and contrast texts, usually in a sequential
rather than an integrated way.
Competent use of evidence from texts to support
responses, with some use of textual references in
discussion.
Skills in using some of the textual, structural, and
conventional features of some text types for familiar
contexts, audiences, and purposes.
Use of some language skills and techniques to
create texts that partly address the meaning and
intention of the task.
In comparative exercises, some awareness of
connections between texts, through partial
responses that mainly deal with texts separately.
Some use of evidence from texts to support a
response, with use of a narrow range of textual
references.
Mostly fluent and precise
writing and speaking, using
appropriate style and
structure for a range of
mostly familiar audiences
and contexts.
Appropriate use of form
and register to convey
complex and simple
meaning in a range of
familiar and unfamiliar
contexts.
Generally fluent and
functional writing and
speaking, using appropriate
style and structure for
familiar audiences and
contexts.
Appropriate use of form
and register to convey
simple meaning in a narrow
range of familiar and
unfamiliar contexts.
Achievement of a level of
fluency in writing and
speaking, in a mainly
appropriate style.
Occasionally appropriate
use of form and/or register
to convey simple meaning
in familiar contexts.
Skills in using some of the textual, structural, or
conventional features of a text type for a familiar
context, audience, or purpose.
Attempted use of a restricted range of language
skills and/or techniques to create a text or texts that
attempt to address the meaning or intention of the
task.
In comparative exercises, identification of limited
connections between texts, through fragmented
responses that deal with texts separately.
Restricted use of evidence from texts to support a
simple response, with limited textual reference.
Skills in using the textual, structural, or conventional
features of a text type for a highly familiar context,
audience, or purpose.
Emerging development of
fluency in an occasionally
appropriate style.
Occasionally appropriate
use of form and register to
convey literal meaning in
highly familiar contexts.
SACE #: 378168J
English Studies
Word Count: 1,845
Explore the ways in which George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier and Mike Hodges’ Get
Carter use setting to create empathy for the socially outcast of Northern England.
In the investigative journalism of George Orwell’s book The Road to Wigan Pier and the brutish 1970’s crime
drama of Mike Hodges’ film Get Carter, setting is used to create empathy with England’s northern working
class. Hodges and Orwell both use a conflicted ‘protagonist’ at odds in different ways with their surroundings.
Orwell explores a self-appraisal of his own socio-economic guilt as a middle class outsider, while Hodges’ uses
a working class avenger in the form of Jack Carter, the film’s main character. Another aspect of setting which
Hodges and Orwell use is in the contrasting portrayal of sympathy. The exploration of setting through a tragic
mode is also common to both texts’ portrayal of the socially outcast. But while Orwell slowly lures the reader
into the tragedy of a desperately bleak and monotonous lifestyle, Hodges effectively uses the framework of a
revenge tragedy to expose the protagonist’s vulnerability in a town he knows very little about since he left.
Orwell and Hodges use a conflicted protagonist at odds with their surroundings to create empathy for the
socially outcast of Northern England. Orwell explores his own self-analysis of middle-class guilt and Hodges
uses a form of working class revenge revolving around the main character. In analyzing the effect of setting on
empathy for the socially outcast ,Orwell uses a steady self-analysis of his own middle-class guilt, after a fairly
lengthy discussion on this it becomes apparent to the reader that he actually slips into a state of empathy for
the people immediately around him. The empathy that becomes visible to the reader in the second half of the
book is derived from much deeper roots than a mere visit to the northern towns of England. Orwell analyzes
how his own empathy begins to evolve into a form of shame and disgust, as noted by Dr. N.R. Sawant who
observed that Orwell’s approach in the book goes beyond describing poverty by revealing his own compassion
and disgust at the affront of human decency represented by squalid housing. Thus Orwell’s response to his
surroundings whilst on his investigative stay in northern England was one of both empathetic research as well
as a method of socio revenge. Hodges’ lead character Jack Carter is motivated by a man-hunting revenge, but
one led through the working class immediately surrounding him. Carter lets his own cool, steely, and
untouchable guard down during the middle section of the film where he begins to empathize for the
hardworking, gritty people around him, who are coincidently members of his family and close friends. More
importantly, also related to this is Carter’s revenge. As the film appears to steadily progress towards its climax,
Carter’s thirst for revenge increases incrementally. Through the circumstances within which he finds himself,,
a rundown crammed terraced house with an over sensitive, over charging owner; ‘joker’ gangsters whom he
initially deems annoying rather than threatening, and a general sense of secrecy on Carter’s part - the
Newcastle town drives him to breaking point and eventually revenge, not only for his brother, but for the huge
difficulty and effort he has faced since he arrived in the town. Additionally, and the key element of this
revenge of sorts, is the fact that Carter strongly empathizes with his brother upon realizing he was a victim of
setting and socio cultural origins. This is most apparent when Carter suddenly stabs Thorpey, the nervous
messenger of Cyril Kinnear. Cinematically, Hodges uses the scene as a sort of epiphany for Carter, a sudden
realization and the panic and anger that are associated with that, resulting in Thorpey’s death. Carter feels
the injustice relays back to the working class people he is surrounded by believing that his brother was a
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English Studies
Word Count: 1,845
victim of the social outcasts and the circumstances associated with them. More importantly, the incident with
Thorpey becomes a focus for Carter’s recognition for the oppression suffered by the working class.
Orwell and Hodges create empathy for the working class through their contrasting portrayal of sympathy;
however they also show how they have a deep thirst to display their motivations of sympathy. They do this
predominantly through setting. Orwell uses his work in The Road to Wigan Pier on the social outcasts of
northern England to display a desire to expose the “labyrinth of poverty”. After publishing the book Orwell
wrote “Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly against
totalitarianism and for democratic socialism.” Thus Orwell expressed his empathy for the socially outcast
through his writing, which in turn, only served to grow his hunger for democratic socialism. An example of
Orwell using the ugliness of his surroundings to generate sympathy in him was in the Newcastle area, where
he commented that “Northerners have got used to that kind of thing and do not notice it”. This is where the
main truth in his writing lies, he feels an empathy for the people around him because they seem completely
blind and oblivious to their surroundings as well as things like their livelihoods, and simply cannot see that this
is what is continually pushing them into a state of depression, sadness and an overall feeling that they cannot
escape. The labyrinth of poverty that Orwell uses so well to evoke true empathy mirrors that of Hodges in Get
Carter. Hodges makes great use of a power figure to create a sense of inferiority amongst the social outcast
through Jack Carter. The product of his time, as a hardened gangster with apparently endless experience,
Carter’s commands respect. This immediately sends the people around him into the state of inferiority that
becomes ever more apparent as the film progresses. This is not done merely through speech; body language
and appearance also have a heavy influence. A major episode displaying this has people immediately stop
what they are doing to look at Carter the moment he enters the local pub; keeping their distance as if by
instinct. As soon as he steps to the bar the barman asks “What’ll it be sir?” to which Carter replies “Just a pint”
and instantaneously the barman brings the drink and does not even bother Carter. This shows how the use of
a power figure can create a feeling of immediate inferiority even on mere appearance. Hodges has done this
by using a lighting technique that becomes more apparent throughout the film; he casts Carter in a darker
light and at a slightly higher height giving a physical image of superiority to add to the conversation between
Carter and the Barman. Suschitzky also uses the darker light to give a sense of mystery, further protecting
Carter’s identity in the town and giving the barmen a sense of threat through the unknown, meaning that he
would serve the drink as he doesn’t know the consequences of not doing as Carter asks. Furthermore, Hodges
also plays around with the power surrounding Carter through the evident use of setting. In the final scenes of
the film Carter is seen scampering around the back streets and crowded areas of Newcastle in blood thirsty
revenge. As he is moving around the city he is imbued with power by both Hodges and his cinematographer
Wolfgang Suschitzky, through the use of camera angles and lighting that isolate Carter from the characters
around him with a commanding and authoritative look, particularly in the scenes where he comes up against
three other gangsters and defeats them. However, in the final scene of the film Carter is seen to be relieved,
walking alone down the pile of coal and about to throw his shotgun away. This is where he is shot and the film
abruptly ends. It is a metaphor for Carter’s time in Newcastle, Carter being shot represents him becoming as
worthless as the slag surrounding his dead carcus. More importantly, it is a short snippet of how the use of a
power figure is turned around in a very short space of time. It shows how the viewer becomes able to feel a
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great amount of empathy towards Jack Carter whereas for the majority of the film it has been made obvious
that Carter is in an empathetic mood towards the people around him; this is because he sees them as not only
social outcasts, but dregs of society, despite him being a noted gangster which is not considered to be a highly
noble profession.
Orwell and Hodges both explore the role of the outcast in their texts’ social settings through the use of a
tragic mode George Orwell uses a steady form of tragedy to gently lure the viewer into what his beliefs are,
eventually turning the audience’s interest in the people of northern England into one of tragedy for them,
realizing the monotonous lives in which they are forever encased. Orwell stayed in northern England visiting
many different towns and cities for quite a long period of time. Orwell structured the book arising from this
research into a first section describing the lives of the people he is studying in detail. The reader gains a sense
of empathy as Orwell describes his own with the people he is studying, in dismal settings such as a small shop,
or a coal mine. Orwell’s descriptions gradually build an awareness of their tragic life style, doing the same
tasks over and over and not being allowed an imagination in such a small, narrow world. This narrow
mindedness that Orwell uses so effectively also underpins the tragedy surrounding Jack Carter as he moves
through Newcastle. Hodges and cinematographer Suschitzky present stark images of barren scenery and
horrid factories that give the viewer an idea of what it would be like to exist in the tragedy of a depressed
1970’s industrial England. The repetition of such scenery creates a sense of tragic inevitability in the lives of
people of the town, exacerbated even further by the sense the film creates of their lack of awareness that
they are stuck inside the trap for their whole lives. They try to fill the void that they are missing in their lives in
various ways; the majorities appear to drink heavily whilst others take more drastic measures such as turning
to the life of a fully-fledged criminal.
In The Road to Wigan Pier and Get Carter George Orwell and Mike Hodges use the theme of setting in a
broader sense to create a form of empathy. This is cleverly done in several ways. Firstly, a form of contrast is
used by both author and director, with Orwell using a fascinating example of his own appraisal of his middleclass guilt, which can be paired with Hodges use of a form of working class revenge via his protagonist Jack
Carter. Also, a contrast exists in the portrayal of sympathy. Orwell uses his findings on the social outcast as a
desire to expose the labyrinth of poverty whilst Hodges uses a power figure. Another major point in the two
texts is the use of tragedy to create a certain type of empathy for the reader and viewer.
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