ELLA 1 INTEGRATED ANALYSIS AND TEXT PRODUCTION
MOCK EXAM FEEDBACK
I still have not received mock exam answers from:
Sabrina,
PRODUCTION TASK
SOME KEY ISSUES
- Make sure that 90% of your text can be derived from the play
- Use about 10% of your text adding details to make your text a letter etc.
- Refer directly to two or three specific episodes from different parts of the text
- Write clear, straightforward and accurate texts
- Slip in to the text some American English terms
- In a question like this there is a temptation to give a rant and just express a variety of emotions. You won't get rewarded for this. Embed your whole answer with obvious and direct relevant references to the text.
A MODEL ANSWER
Imagine that Stella writes to a friend shortly after events at the end of the play. Write this letter, in which Stella explains what has happened with Blanche and reveals her feelings about sending Blanche away.
You should give careful consideration to your language choices and style, which should achieve a sense of Stella's voice.
This was done under timed conditions.
Apartment A
Elysian Fields
Scott Joplin Boulavard
New Orleans
October 1947
October 1947
Dear Daisy
I've got some awful news. We've had to call doctors and send Blanche - my darling sister - away to a hospital. It's so humiliating for her. I feel guilty because I couldn't help her when she was living at Belle Reve looking after the family, alone. And I couldn't help her while she was staying with us here either. I've really let her down. I feel so helpless.
She's had some kind of breakdown. I think her relationship with Stanley became really difficult. Everytime they were together there was trouble. Like at Blanche's birthday dinner. Stanley was so mad he shouted and started smashing plates against the walls.He was so angry. It was so embarrassing. And he was really cruel. He gave Blanche a coach ticket back to Laurel. Can you believe it? A coach ticket! Have you ever seen Blanche in all your life ever take a coach? really!
But the worst of it is that Blanche claims that Stanley raped her the night Stanley Junior was born. I don't know what to think! She has lied so much since she has been here. She said she'd met Shep Huntleigh last year. She thinks she used to go out with him. She said she'd left work because of ill health. But it turns out she got caught up in a scandal involving a young student. She was fired. She claimed she doesn't drink. But she's been drinking all sorts all summer.
It's been really difficult also dealing with Blanche's fantasy life. Stanley is so impatient and intolerant of her. I think she said something once about Stanley being like an animal and he's not forgiven her. In fact it seems like he has been taking revenge on her ever since and that was months ago.
On top of all this, the man we all thought was going to marry Blanche, didn't turn up for the birthday celebration and has completely broken it off with her. Stanley told him about her drinking and about the scandal with the boy at school. And he wants nothing to do with her anymore.
I feel so awful about all this but I've got no one I can share any of this with properly. The woman upstairs is okay but she does not really understand.
Anyway I hope you don't mind me going on like this
with love
Stella
FOLLOW UP TASKS
- Re-read the model answer above and identify the different scenes and episodes referred to above
- Have a go at writing other production questions posted elsewhere on this blog under timed conditions
- Read through the play and identify about five or six key episodes - between a side or two sides of writing
- Click here for a link to some popular American terms and consider how you migh use them to capture the voice of the characters in the play
ANALYSIS TASK
SOME KEY ISSUES
- Write a series of analytical paragraphs. Make a statement, support this statement with a relevant short quotation, identify key language features within the quotation and comment on the effect on a reader / audience
- To analyse a quotation you must identify language features within the quote and comment on the effect of the language feature on the reader / audience
- A good quotation is short - a word or a phrase. A sentence is too long. A good quotation has within it language features that you can confidently identify and comment on the effect on a reader or audience.
- Language features you should be able to identify include
- Syntax - declarative, interogative, imperative, exclamative
- Grammar - verbs, nouns, adjectives
- Lexis - low / high frequency, connotations / denotations
- Register - formal / informal
- Imagery - simile, metaphor, personification, pathetic fallacy, symbolism
- Phonology - alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance
- Rhetoric - direct address, lists of three, comparative pairs, emotive lexis
- Make sure you make clear reference to the narrator's perspective. Consider in what ways the narrator is biased and subjective. The narrator in Spies is interesting because we read the older Stephen's voice and the younger Stephen's voice. The younger narrator is full of ignorance, misunderstanding, partial knowledge. He wants to do the right thing, is completely loyal, law abiding, intelligent, highly imaginative, brave and innocent.
MODEL ANSWER
This was not written under timed conditions. It is about a third longer than what you would be expected to write in the exam.
How does Frayn present the relationship between Stephen and Keith in Chapters 2 and 3 of the novel?
In your answer you should consider:
- Frayn's language choices
- narrative viewpoint
The relationship between Keith and Stephen is a very close one. Both of them are dependent upon each other. However there are stresses and tensions in the friendship and pressures from outside that ultimately destroy it by the end of the novel. We see this relationship mostly through the youthful Stephen's narrative voice. Therefore from this narrative perspective we see the friendship as playful and innocent.
I think the friendship between Stephen and Keith was started and encouraged by Mrs Hayward. She does this to keep Keith occupied through the long summer holiday. So that she can look after Uncle Peter hiding in the Barns. Normally I think these two families or son's would not get on well together. Not only are the Wheatley's foreign, they are also German, and worse still, they are Jewish. Anti-Semitism was a strong feature of middle class British society in the 30's and 40's. They are so completely different. Not only are they a different class but the Hayward's are really snobs. Stephen is unaware of the differences between the two families. This is because his narrative point of view is from a child's perspective.
But Mrs. Hayward treats Stephen well and often he's invited to tea. This is a way of gaining Stephen's loyalty to her and encouraging the friendship between Stephen and Keith. He thinks, 'what he loved most at Keith's house was being invited to tea.' The emotive lexis 'loved' is powerful and coupled with the superlative 'most' creates a strong emotional bond between Stephen and the Hayward's. He loves their home, their life style and Keith. But Stephen is being manipulated by adult's and Keith right from the beginning. He can't really see this but as adult readers our perspective is different and perhaps more balanced.
Stephen feels gratitude at being in the presence of this family. He feels thankful for their hospitality and attention. After tea he says, ' 'Thank you for having me. Thank you, thank you.' The repetition of this exclamation is used to emphasise the strength of Stephen's feelings of adoration to this family. It's almost as if the Hayward's are royalty compared to Stephen and the others that live in The Close. Stephen's unquestioning devotion to them before the novel begins shows his limited perspective on the relationship and the events of the novel.
This feeling of the Hayward's superiority over Stephen's inferiority is an important element in their friendship. Keith is the dominant leader and Stephen is the follower or disciple. As they begin their new project of discovering evidence that Keith's mother is a German spy, Stephen thinks, ' I humbly wait for Keith to announce what we're to think and what we're to do.' The adverb 'humbly' clearly shows Stephen's weakness and lower status then Keith. The collective pronoun ' we're' repeated twice is used to emphasise Stephen and Keith's unity of thought and action. Again Stephen cannot see any difference in class between them. But the reader realises that Stephen defers completely to Keith's thoughts and actions.
However as the boys begin their investigation of Mrs Hayward's room in chapter 3, we can see differences between them. Keith is presented as immoral and is happy to explore his mother's private things. Where as Stephen is moral and respectful. He says to Keith as they look at her diary, 'But if it's something private...., I plead.' The adjective 'private' is used powerfully here to emphasise the importance of their mission. It's also used to show that they are breaking social rules and conventions. And the verb 'plead' is used to show Stephen's timidity, his deference to authority but also his loyalty to the woman who has treated him so well. Perhaps it shows a childlike and immature response to an awkward and uncomfortable situation.
But this power relationship is really important to its survival. Keith really thrives on Stephen's weakness and submission. We can see this as they investigate the room.
'He can see that my courage is beginning to falter again...' The noun 'courage' is associated with bravery and heroic action. This is something Stephen aspires to but is rarely able to attain. But it is a quality expected from him in this mission from Keith. The verb 'falter' describes Stephen's weakness. The adverb 'again' tells readers this is not the first time Stephen has acted in a cowardly way before Keith. It is this weakness in Stephen that makes Keith feel strong about himself and able to exert power and control over Stephen.
So at first as we read the novel we see an innocent and playful relationship. Then we realize there are tensions and differences - Stephen's desire to be heroic and differences in their characters. However by the end of the novel we realize that their friendship has been manipulated and cultivated by Mrs. Hayward to help her care for Uncle Peter.
FOLLOW UP TASKS
Have a go at planning and or writing other analysis questions posted elsewhere on this blog under timed conditions
- Read and study carefully through the novel and identify about five or six key episodes - between a side or two sides of writing each
- that you could use to answer lots of analytical questions
- identify language features - see above - and there effects on a reader
- Find references in the novel to young Stephen to where we see him wanting to do the right thing, is completely loyal, law abiding, intelligent, highly imaginative, brave and innocent.
- Find quotations in the novel that reveals the two narrative perspectives - that of the older Stephen and that of the young boy.
- Below are a few quotations from chapters 2 and 3 that I thought I might use for my answer. What do you think of them? How could they be used?
- 'But where he longed to be was at Keith's house.'
- 'You must invite him again another time.'
- 'I feel more strongly than ever the honour of my association with Keith.'
- 'I'm immediately excited, because I can see all kinds of interesting new possibilities.....'
