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AQA AS Eng Lit A- Unit 1-17th May 2013

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Reply 20
Does anyone have any idea what a 'Text In Translation' is?
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I don't think it is a text that has been translated from another language as you may suggest.
Original post by OliviaBara
I have done the plays; (general summary of some themes - you will need to read these or find out more)

Struggles and the mind:
Journey's End (The Struggle with how people see your identity and how you've changed (mainly WW1 experience that affect people's lives) R.C Sheriff
A Street Car Named Desire (Desires + Madness - trying to create a new identity because you cannot cope with your past)

Class:
Top Girls (Gender : Women rising to the 'Top') Caryl Churchill
An Inspector Calls (Class: socialist responsibility for other people and wealth) J.B Priestly

These are the books I have done;

The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-time (Asperger syndrome (disability struggle) Mark Haddon

Of Mice and Men (Crooks - Racism and internal worsening of the struggle to be around people who he think will judge him) - ''Why if I say somethin', it's just a ****** sayin' it'' + You got no rights comin' in a colored man's room. You got no rights messing around in here at all.'' John Steinbeck

The Handmaid's Tale (Loss of identity - ''Handmaid's'', ''Wives'' and ''Marthas'' - new names to group the women (neologisms - new created words by the state in the book) Dystopian future novel. Opression by the state on the people. Margaret Atwood

The Colour Purple (Coming of age genre (Bildungsroman) + structural change of language (bad grammar to worse throughout the novel) that represents or is even in parallel the development and self-determination of the character as they manage to progress and achieve their aims) - ''Albert: Who you think you is? You can curse nobody. Look at you. Your black, you're poor, you're ugly, you're a woman, you're nothing at all!'' ---> "I’m poor, black. I may even be ugly. But dear God, I’m here!" <-- Self Determination and resistance to Albert. Alice Walker

Poems:

Refugee Blues ( The outsider - Discrimination)
Funeral Blues ( Sexuality - homosexuality)
W.H Auden

I haven't done a lot of poetry and some other things I have read but not studied in detail are;
-Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
-Mrs Dalloway (Virginia Woolf)
-The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)
-Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell - really good for structural technique as it is set in 6 different places and times and represents many themes such as the reoccurance of slavery throughout each chapter although the times have changed you can still be a 'slave' to your boss for example)
-The Lovely Bones (explores death, not sure how I could link to the struggle for identity however it mentions rape so that could be an issue that someone will have to deal with after) - Alice Sebold
-Affinity (explores lesbians in the victorian era (different attitudes than now) but also a crime/mystery novel) - Sarah Waters

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I've read the majority of these! :biggrin: I did Auden's poetry, And Still I Rise, The Fat Black Woman's poems (the last two deal with similar themes).

The Colour Purple, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Spies for prose :smile:

Top Girls, A Streetcar Named Desire, Child of the Divide for drama.

All books I thoroughly enjoyed reading; they all raise great themes as well! I think that the majority of them sort of takes the reader on a journey of transformation (i.e. The Colour Purple (from Celie being sexually exploited to being a fully autonomous woman), Oranges (Jeanette finally deciding to leave the church due to her sexuality). They also show the quest for identity too :smile:

Quite worrying to think that the exam is only in 7 days -.-
Reply 22
Original post by justanotherindigo
I've read the majority of these! :biggrin: I did Auden's poetry, And Still I Rise, The Fat Black Woman's poems (the last two deal with similar themes).

The Colour Purple, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Spies for prose :smile:

Top Girls, A Streetcar Named Desire, Child of the Divide for drama.

All books I thoroughly enjoyed reading; they all raise great themes as well! I think that the majority of them sort of takes the reader on a journey of transformation (i.e. The Colour Purple (from Celie being sexually exploited to being a fully autonomous woman), Oranges (Jeanette finally deciding to leave the church due to her sexuality). They also show the quest for identity too :smile:

Quite worrying to think that the exam is only in 7 days -.-


I know... :/ I did some Auden today 'O What Is That Sound?'' and ''Unknown Citizen'' I think I prefer him to Carol Ann Duffy although the other Lit1As have Owen Sheers and Maya Angelou (I think).

I know about the transformation, I think a lot of Carol Ann Duffy's poems do that, like the women in ''the diet'' who becomes skinny and then fat again (or it so implies) and 'Tall' and ''The woman who shopped'' who becomes a shopping mall. I believe the term is ''Bildungsroman'' which is german for coming of age and that theme of that turning point that occurs in someone's life that is really noticeable.

What stands out to me about The Color Purple is that I can see that the structure of it fits in nicely with its form because Celie's writing is not very literate and gradually she gets better and better, alluding to the idea that she is overcoming her struggles.

I have never studied 'Spies' or 'Child of the Divide', could you give a little outline of each? And do you have any notes/ideas for ''Still I rise'' as I am an annotating it :smile:

If you want to discuss anything then I can email you or message? Discussing helps me to reflect and develop a better response later.
Reply 23
Does anybody know the amount out of 150 (60 coursework, 90 exam) it would be to get an A in English Literature?
At the moment my coursework is 57/60 (marked by teachers) but that may change due to the examiner's opinion.
Original post by OliviaBara
I know... :/ I did some Auden today 'O What Is That Sound?'' and ''Unknown Citizen'' I think I prefer him to Carol Ann Duffy although the other Lit1As have Owen Sheers and Maya Angelou (I think).

I know about the transformation, I think a lot of Carol Ann Duffy's poems do that, like the women in ''the diet'' who becomes skinny and then fat again (or it so implies) and 'Tall' and ''The woman who shopped'' who becomes a shopping mall. I believe the term is ''Bildungsroman'' which is german for coming of age and that theme of that turning point that occurs in someone's life that is really noticeable.

What stands out to me about The Color Purple is that I can see that the structure of it fits in nicely with its form because Celie's writing is not very literate and gradually she gets better and better, alluding to the idea that she is overcoming her struggles.

I have never studied 'Spies' or 'Child of the Divide', could you give a little outline of each? And do you have any notes/ideas for ''Still I rise'' as I am an annotating it :smile:

If you want to discuss anything then I can email you or message? Discussing helps me to reflect and develop a better response later.


Duffy's poems a great, because the majority is about transformation and you've chosen a great example :smile: The Woman Who Shopped is another, and it signifies Duffy's hate for capitalism and the use of female bodies in the process. I would also argue that throughout the collection, Duffy is providing a voice for the women i.e Beautiful- it was men that devised the fairytales and so Duffy is displaying the feminine aspect. Some poems recall the positioning of women throughout history, the position of women as mothers (quite traditional), the rise of feminism etc... It's quite good overall :smile:

Also, for the Colour Purple, the letters become longer which symbolises that fact that she cannot attain her happiness in a compact manner. The flow and tone of the sentences display her autonomy and satisfaction.

Oh yeah sure, same! I will PM you and we can exchange info :biggrin: :h:

Original post by OliviaBara
Does anybody know the amount out of 150 (60 coursework, 90 exam) it would be to get an A in English Literature?
At the moment my coursework is 57/60 (marked by teachers) but that may change due to the examiner's opinion.


You'll need 120/150 for an A grade :smile: That's a great result, I got 55/60 and I hope that it doesn't change...my teacher is known for lenient marking :cry2: :frown:
Reply 25
Original post by justanotherindigo
Duffy's poems a great, because the majority is about transformation and you've chosen a great example :smile: The Woman Who Shopped is another, and it signifies Duffy's hate for capitalism and the use of female bodies in the process. I would also argue that throughout the collection, Duffy is providing a voice for the women i.e Beautiful- it was men that devised the fairytales and so Duffy is displaying the feminine aspect. Some poems recall the positioning of women throughout history, the position of women as mothers (quite traditional), the rise of feminism etc... It's quite good overall :smile:

Also, for the Colour Purple, the letters become longer which symbolises that fact that she cannot attain her happiness in a compact manner. The flow and tone of the sentences display her autonomy and satisfaction.

Oh yeah sure, same! I will PM you and we can exchange info :biggrin: :h:



You'll need 120/150 for an A grade :smile: That's a great result, I got 55/60 and I hope that it doesn't change...my teacher is known for lenient marking :cry2: :frown:


I hadn't thought of using word length, that's a great structural example! :biggrin: Not only is it the structure of the words but the structure of the whole book... Wow :biggrin:

I think I need to revisit Feminine Gospels, I've done far too much for Section A :/ and well that's made me feel a bit better about the exam now, that means I need 63 marks! My teachers said that they were too harsh last year so the examiner generally put the grades up so this year they have been generous so I am fearful that it will go down!
Hopefully not. However I'm sure they won't go down too much, you seem to be very aware of this course and what you need to achieve! :smile: and the exam is out of 90, if you only need about 65-70 marks, that means you could do really well in one section (40) and get 25 in the other, or do average on both sections - 33 in each!

It doesn't sound too bad now :biggrin:
Reply 26
Just focus on your weaknesses if you want to do well in both or focus on what you're already confident in! :smile:
hmm wonder if someone can just grade my work for this paper (option C)
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2347188

EDIT: btw can someone tell me how important it is to have atleast 1 prose, 1 poem, 1 play? (in case none of the quotes i remember fits perfectly).
(edited 10 years ago)
For the section B question I'm always told to 'develop a sense of debate'.
What is the best way to achieve this?
Reply 29
Anybody able to help with the poetry side of the paper, really worried about it and even more worried that its only 3 days away? :frown:
What do you find difficult about feminine gospels?


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Reply 31
Original post by Alchemist61
What do you find difficult about feminine gospels?


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I think it's just because I'm resisting so am use to the worlds wife anthology! Just don't know which key poems I should know really well, as I don't have time to learn them all well?


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Reply 32
How did people feel about this exam then? :smile: I think it was quite an interesting extract, I don't think there has ever been a newspaper so far.
I chose the first Duffy question about the theme of love and overall i'm quite positive about how I did! :biggrin:


Also, I have learnt about the conflict between the British and the Irish in History so I had an advantage!
Original post by OliviaBara
How did people feel about this exam then? :smile: I think it was quite an interesting extract, I don't think there has ever been a newspaper so far.
I chose the first Duffy question about the theme of love and overall i'm quite positive about how I did! :biggrin:


Also, I have learnt about the conflict between the British and the Irish in History so I had an advantage!


I feel the exact same! I chose the first question too for poetry :smile: I just hope that all our hard work paid off! :biggrin:
Reply 34
Original post by justanotherindigo
I feel the exact same! I chose the first question too for poetry :smile: I just hope that all our hard work paid off! :biggrin:


i think i did okay... most people came out the exam with mixed emotions i still dont know how to feel... i just hope i did okay tbh not very confident about how it turned out! definitely felt better with the second essay about love compared to that extract :s-smilie::frown:
Reply 35
Original post by sarsoora
i think i did okay... most people came out the exam with mixed emotions i still dont know how to feel... i just hope i did okay tbh not very confident about how it turned out! definitely felt better with the second essay about love compared to that extract :s-smilie::frown:


I think most people liked the Duffy question because it's quite easy to say how her poems are about love, but it's also really easy to give another opinion. I think I struggled to mention ''struggle for identity'' in the second half. I think I mentioned that her poems can be about love, but the different types of love can become struggles such as the obsessive love for shopping. I also talked about the different meanings of The Woman Who Shopped, The Map-Woman and The Light Gatherer and the other themes that they put forward.

I suppose you could have used any poem for love, as they all can be interpreted differently.
Reply 36
How do you all feel about doing Love Through The Ages? :biggrin:
I'm quite excited because it can be really old Literature, unlike this year! I have a whole bookshelf full of old books from height of the romanticism period and I can't wait to start.

Our set texts this year are;

-Shakespeare set text: Othello
-Thomas Hardy - Tess of the D'ubervilles
Ah yes, next years literature is great!

I'm doing Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales :smile:

My teacher gave us a reading list and there are about 30 books :eek: She told us to read most of them during the summer break :smile:
meh, i wrote enough but i think it wasn't that many strong points. there wasn't any points that fitted smoothly in the essay, i had to kinda force links which i really suck with. also i made a mistake in choosing the wrong sheers question. =/
Original post by sarsoora
i think i did okay... most people came out the exam with mixed emotions i still dont know how to feel... i just hope i did okay tbh not very confident about how it turned out! definitely felt better with the second essay about love compared to that extract :s-smilie::frown:


Yeah a lot of people found it hard! The extract was a weird one, it took me ages to think of comparisons but got there in the end. I don't know really, it's one of those things you can't really predict etc..l

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