Anyone else a bit scared about not finishing in time? :-\
Yes, absolutely.
Time constraints and I do not mix.
Although I found English to be a bit trickier than Lit with regards to time management, because at least with Lit you can kind of just write without having to adhere to a set structure or tick a heap of boxes.
Define "thesis statement".
Like a mini-introduction I suppose? Nothing too long, just mentioning some of the concerns raised within the passages and text as a whole so as to demonstrate knowledge of the whole text and not just what's in front of you.
I say no — come up with one and use it to inform your analysis (it'll help out a tonne with fluency), but, in the words of my Literature teacher, a close analysis is like a striptease; give little glimpses here and there, but show everything at once and they'll think you're trashy.
Getting prepared by doing spec exams tbh, whose idea was it to have them on the same day?? ::)Good luck with your spesh exam! Be glad they're not on at the same time! Someone from my school had an exam clash; two words: solitary confinement. ;D
For real tho, gonna do another reread tonight and maybe do a few passage annotations. Nothing heavy because like you said, we've been doing this stuff all year. No need to worry, hopefully. ;)
I'd nearly put the classism and marriage as bp2 and the crit as bp3 to provide more of a narrative arc to your essay, ya feel? Like obviously the paragraphs are meant to stand alone but when you begin with the kind of exploration of the authour's contention through Jane you have a really solid foundation to bring in/build up the roast on Bronte's criticism of her contemporary society or whatever. But I also haven't read Jane Eyre so my thoughts are based totally on your plan and not on any knowledge of the text.
Good luck with your spesh exam! Be glad they're not on at the same time! Someone from my school had an exam clash; two words: solitary confinement. ;D
I totally see your point, I think the reason I ordered them that way though was because that was the order they showed up in the text, and since I was looking at Jane's development, it seemed like the logical set-up. Is a small introduction like the one above appropriate though? Or should I just jump straight into the analysis?
How does everyone feel they went? And how were your passages/poems?
I found the Heart of Darkness ones were awesome (I can't believe they had "the horror" passage), and I thought the A Doll's House passages were pretty good too.
I'm pretty happy with how I went - although I was pushed for time with my second piece.
In the past two months alone, Literature has made me scream, question my life choices and kicked me when I was down. You've broken my heart, shattered my dreams and made my cry until I couldn't breathe.
it's all over now though... GOODBYE LITERATURE!!! YOU WON'T BE MISSED!!!
I went really well I think for Heart of Darkness. But the poems I got for Heaney were really strange -- but I managed somehow \_(ツ)_/¯
Loved literature, it's been such an incredible subject.
Lit tends to do that ::) But look on the bright side! You've done an amazing subject -- while you may not be expecting a great score or whatever ( I can't really say for you because I don't know you!) it's still nice to have under your belt, I reckon. Good job for making it this far and don't stress -- it is a very challenging subject by far, in comparison to many other subjects out there. All the best!
What did you do for Heaney? I liked the poems!"
How does everyone feel they went? And how were your passages/poems?I feel like things weren't going well in the beginning but I think I really managed to turn things around in the end. Fingers crossed! ;D
In the past two months alone, Literature has made me scream, question my life choices and kicked me when I was down. You've broken my heart, shattered my dreams and made my cry until I couldn't breathe.Surprised to hear you say that :P Is Literature really that much a disliked subject? I loved, loved Literature and will be looking forward to continuing it next year at university!
it's all over now though... GOODBYE LITERATURE!!! YOU WON'T BE MISSED!!!
"
haha no way! I would have preferred The Swing or maybe something like Punishment and talk about suffering, restriction, and change. But, from the poems we got, it was impossible not to talk about 'Opened Ground' as a whole collection. My contention just looked at how Heaney moved from different ideas as his poems got older -- something like that. I talked a lot about how he returns to his past poetries, which the poem Funeral Rites tried to transcend (digging deeper into the past and trying to find meaning behind suffering etc), and finds a deeper connection with earthly possessions. This was where I talked about The Otter and Poem for Marie. Funeral Rites was like my second bitch and Poem was my third. The Otter was what formed most of what I talked about. I would've liked it if The Strand at Lough Beg was there like I predicted -- but vcaa decided against it for Heaney's last year on the exam :'( I'm sure Heaney deserved better but nothing can be helped.
Doesn't Heaney have one year to go? Was expecting Strand as well! It's strange, we both talked about the same sort of ideas (I think). I just took the line that Heaney depicts time as ineffable, malleable thing which is shown through Poem and The Otter, and then talked about how he applied it to Ireland's situation beyond his own personal existence, in mixing the past and the present as he does, so Funeral Rites was my central focus. Sounds like you coped well with it, even though it's not what you were expecting - congrats!Yeah this was his third year. Excellent poetry, I wonder what will take his place when he's out. Hopefully something just as good.
Agreed that the Conrad passages were excellent. Thought the second one was a bit odd but I'm glad it included the beetle bit, otherwise it would have made a very minor part of my essay. I was disappointed that the other passages were so obvious tbh, but I guess since HoD is a denser text, picking passages like those make it more manageable to write on. In any case my essay was either excellent or horrific, not sure which yet. ::)
Yeah I definitely agree with that! The 2nd passage confused me a bit, but I managed to pull some parts out of it - mainly Marlow's description of the trees and the 'ringing ivory' part :)Started off slow with a page and a bit on how conrad belives the flaws of the human condition are not unique to the white men (i.e. everyone is flawed); used the 'white worsted' on the native to compare to the Accountant's silk tie to show they had the same goals (to create sense out of the mystery of the wild or whatever) and hence had the same objectives, although arguably the Europeans executed it a lot better, no pun intended. It was part analysis, part set up for the rest so I wouldn't have to clarify every time I mentioned the human condition because it was a big part of my work.
What ideas did you write about? :)
Started off slow with a page and a bit on how conrad belives the flaws of the human condition are not unique to the white men (i.e. everyone is flawed); used the 'white worsted' on the native to compare to the Accountant's silk tie to show they had the same goals (to create sense out of the mystery of the wild or whatever) and hence had the same objectives, although arguably the Europeans executed it a lot better, no pun intended. It was part analysis, part set up for the rest so I wouldn't have to clarify every time I mentioned the human condition because it was a big part of my work.That's awesome!
Second paragraph was a whole bunch of similar things smashed together - europeans dehumanising the natives so that they could treat them as their new found technology without guilt; even though it wasn't part of the passages I drew on Marlow's lie to Kurtz' betrothed to show that the whites were capable of sympathy and the company's behaviour was calculated in favour of increasing the materialistic wealth of an individual rather than the society, their 'flabby devils', so to speak. ::)
Third was Marlow, and by extension, Conrad, being aware of this detestable behaviour but participating anyway; justifying stuff like getting the cannibals to push the steamboat with his inexorable draw to Kurtz, like he'd never joined the Company for anything else. Basically about Conrad acknowledging the flaws of the human condition that he couldn't escape and accepting that ultimately while we have an influence on our lives we cannot escape death (as even kurtz couldn't, 'kicking himself free of the earth', 'kicking the earth to pieces', etc.) so our efforts to adhere to any moral standard are meaningless.
Was going to do four paragraphs but I was 5 pages into the response booklet at that point and I thought it'd reached its natural end, hopefully ::). It was a very melancholy essay, but I think Conrad's writing definitely lends itself to introspection and cynical undertones.
What did you write about? A lot of my mates went for the journey into the self deal. Certainly worked well with kurtz' death being one of the passages.
That's awesome!
My essay was super depressing, but it's virtually impossible to write a piece that's 'happy' on HoD, hahaha
So my central focus was man's capacity for evil, which Conrad explores through:
- The dehumanisation of the natives (although I suggested that subconsciously they still perceived them as human [and used some quotes relevant to this to back it up], but chose to ignore this) - thus making it even more messed up.
- The exploitation and perceived superiority over nature; and with this, I discussed how nature is somewhat of an Ultimate Reality, and how their corruption and crimes against the natural world results in them being punished (which I linked to "the horror" quote).
- The emptiness of European values (i.e. - materialism and deception); and how this especially becomes apparent when exposed to the jungle and primitiveness.
:)
did anyone do rossetti or gogol? if so, what did u think of the passages and what did u write on? :p