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Edexcel AS Level English Literature - Prose - 26/05/16

I didn't see a thread about this around in the section, but if there is, feel free to link it, and this will be locked in due course.

If not, this can be used as a base for discussion for the exam next Thursday.

What two novels (remember to refer to them as novels in the exam) are you studying and how have you tackled it, in terms of analysis?

I'm personally looking at Hard Times and Atonement.

The basic comparison is that for Hard Times, it illustrates the consequences of rejection (for want of a better word) of childhood, whilst in Atonement, it illustrates the consequences of indulging in childhood.

Off the top of my head (so bear with me here), some of the points I've learned are:

- Hard T is very outward looking; there's nothing subtle in the novel
- Idea of nature vs nurture (with the 'concrete over garden' imagery)
- Gradgrind is a utilitarian; everything must have a purpose
- Fancy V Fact; fancy frowned upon
- Louisa is central to the play in the sense that she's the representative of industrialised society, whilst Sissy is a representative of the outsiders. This is explicit symbolism
- Sissy cannot be broken down by time, which is portrayed as this mechanical process; Louisa still has that fight ("fire with nothing to burn") before becoming an "insensible heap"
- Machine imagery that links with Thomas; nothing much to him
- The first generation of utilitarian teachers being hired a year before the book was published
- Structural symmetry; how everything brought up at the beginning becomes relevant to the plot later on (eg. Bounderby's fabrication of his past)

- Atonement is very inward looking
- Exploration of Briony being seduced by modernism
- Was once into Gothic drama and fairy tales
- Skips omniscient realism, and jumps right into modernism
- Too young for the adult events she sees

Atonement is definitely the harder of the two to handle - Hard T is more basic given its lack of ambiguity.

Enough from me, what two novels are you guys studying, and how are you feeling about it?
Reply 1
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Remaine
OP
10
Bump - one more day to go.
Reply 2
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Khabibs
Iam doing frankenstein and handmaids tale
Does anyone has any predictions of what could come up
Original post by Khabibs
Iam doing frankenstein and handmaids tale
Does anyone has any predictions of what could come up


Would like to know if anyone does too, unfortunately we can't judge it on past questions because there are not any!
Original post by Khabibs
Iam doing frankenstein and handmaids tale
Does anyone has any predictions of what could come up
Do you have any key quotes mate?
Reply 5
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Khabibs
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/4836639-frankenstein-or-the-modern-prometheus

Yiu could find some here
Reply 6
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Khabibs
Original post by ImGoingToFail12
Do you have any key quotes mate?


https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1119185-the-handmaid-s-tale
Does anyone have any predictions for the questions???
Original post by Khabibs


Cheers fam, got any for Frankenstein?
Compare the ways in which the writers of your two chosen texts present characters who defy social norms
Reply 10
Avatar for Remaine
Remaine
OP
10
Smashed the exam - wish I could have written more for HT but I still got a fair bit in.
Original post by Remaine
Smashed the exam - wish I could have written more for HT but I still got a fair bit in.


Hi, i know this is old but don't suppose you have any notes i could use for my exam soon?

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