National 5 English Essay - Paula Brown's new snowsuit

Hello,

Is anyone doing Paula Brown for the essay? If so, what kind of questions do u guys think will come up this year?

Cheers

Reply 1

RockGirl19

I'm not doing Paula Brown, but is it prose? If so, the range of questions you could get may be about theme, character, setting, conflict, opening, turning point or ending. We were also told to mostly revise theme and character, as they're the most likely to come up. Also, for the other essays you should be referring to how each of the factors contribute to your understanding of the theme.

Reply 2

Joseph32

Original post by RockGirl19

Yes Paula Brown is Prose. I don't think think Theme or character would come up as it came up last year.

We have the option of also doing Macbeth, But I'm not very good at it, So that's why I was just asking.

What section are you doing? Prose, Drama? etc

Reply 3

RockGirl19

Original post by Joseph32

We studied Romeo and Juliet, and then Lord of the Flies. I'll probably do LOTF cos I feel like I have to constantly explain Shakespeare :frown:

. I heard that "important human emotion" has come up with drama a few times but not with prose, so we might get that?

Reply 4

Joseph32

Original post by RockGirl19

We studied Romeo and Juliet, and then Lord of the Flies. I'll probably do LOTF cos I feel like I have to constantly explain Shakespeare :frown:

. I heard that "important human emotion" has come up with drama a few times but not with prose, so we might get that?

You mean this question?:

"Choose a novel or a short story or a non-fiction text or group of texts which deals withan important human issue (such as the abuse of power, conflict between good and evil,loss of freedom or hatred between individuals or groups).Show how the author reveals the issue through the portrayal of people and eventsthroughout the text, and show how your understanding of the issue has deepened."

Reply 5

RockGirl19

Original post by Joseph32

Yep.

Reply 6

Joseph32

Original post by RockGirl19

Yep.

Either that or setting. I'm hoping for setting to come up this year :biggrin:

What about the poems, what ones are you doing? I'm doing Duffy.

Reply 7

RockGirl19

Me too

. I'm hoping Havisham, Valentine or Anne Hathaway will come up because you can tie them all together with the theme of "love" for the 8-mark question.

Reply 8

Joseph32

Original post by RockGirl19

Me too

. I'm hoping Havisham, Valentine or Anne Hathaway will come up because you can tie them all together with the theme of "love" for the 8-mark question.

Great! I don't think Valentine will come up as it came up last year, But you never know. I'm hoping for Havisham or Anne Hathaway as well. Anything but Midas lol.

Reply 9

RockGirl19

Oh Christ yes :h:

. It's so long! Although to be fair my teacher gave us a prelim from another school where one of the questions for Havisham was to explain in your own words what the term "bite awake" was referring to. There were a few awkward answers to that.

Reply 10

Joseph32

Original post by RockGirl19

Oh Christ yes :h:

We got Havisham for our prelim as well lool, But I don't think that was one of the questions lol

Reply 11

RockGirl19

Are you taking English next year?

Reply 12

Joseph32

Original post by RockGirl19

Are you taking English next year?

Yes

Reply 13

Cherryangel26

I've done almost full mark essays for theme/realistic character questions for the Paula Brown essay.

I found it hard to do a key incident one.

I'm not really sure how to do other types. Any tips?

Reply 14

Joseph32

Original post by Cherryangel26

I've done almost full mark essays for theme/realistic character questions for the Paula Brown essay.

I found it hard to do a key incident one.

I'm not really sure how to do other types. Any tips?

Key Incident would be the scene were Paula falls and accuses Sylvia or if you really wanted, you could try doing the cinema scene, However I'd stick to the first option.

Say the question in the exam was:
"Choose a short story which has a key incident. Give a brief account of the incident, and by referring to appropriate techniques, show how this incident is important to the text as a whole.

For key incident, my paragraph plan is as follows:

Intro - State the title, author, genre and then briefly describe what happens when Paula Browns falls i.e (She ruins her new snowsuit and then accuses Sylvia.....Due to her accusations, Sylvia begins to see the harsh reality of our world etc etc...)

Para 1 - Prior to the accusation i.e when she just falls.
So one of your quotes could be the kids reaction to her falling, So how the kids "Froze... as if they were playing statues"

Another quote could then be how she begins to realise that her "childhood" is slowly coming to an end.

Para 2 - How Paula is embarassed and angry and looks for someone to blame.
One quote could be how she "Fixed" her eyes on Sylvia, which suggests that she spotted who to blame. Then you can talk about how Sylvia is weak and is an outsider by playing her superman games compared to the others, So therefore she would be a perfect target.

Then choose another quote which could show how Paula Brown "Reveals her true colours".

Para 3 - When she finally accuses Sylvia and the injustice Sylvia then has to endure as a result of her accusations.

There's a lot of quotes to choose from in this paragraph, So you could go with the quote where the kids throw a snowball highlighting betrayal etc....

This paragraph is the key one, as it's where you'll do most of the writing lol.

Para 4 - The aftermaths/consequences of the event and how Sylvia is left to acknowledge the harsh reality.

Again there's lots of quotes that you can choose. You can talk about how her uncle essentially betrays her.

And your finally quote would then have to be on how she is forced to accept the reality of our world, So you could choose this quote:
She felt the "the black shadows creeping up... Like a flood tide"

Then do your conclusion as usual.

Hope it helped!

(edited 7 years ago)