English advanced related text discovery

[rahul.chadha1]

Hi, I am really confused about my related text. I was thinking of doing, "Perks of being a wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky. Does anyone have an opinion on whether it's a good related text or not?
Thankss

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi, I am really confused about my related text. I was thinking of doing, "Perks of being a wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky. Does anyone have an opinion on whether it's a good related text or not?
Thankss

Hey Rahul! POBAW is a fantastic related text in my opinion - We even have some great resources available for it in our Notes section

[sudodds]

Hi, I am really confused about my related text. I was thinking of doing, "Perks of being a wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky. Does anyone have an opinion on whether it's a good related text or not?
Thankss

Hey hey! It worked FANTASTICALLY for me IMO it ticks all the boxes when it comes to discovery - physical discoveries, emotional discoveries, intellectual discoveries etc. etc. - and is really rich in regards to techniques (a lot which also directly impact upon the experience of "discovery" - e.g. the first person, self-reflective, 'letter' structure allows the reader a deeper insight into how various discoveries impact Charlie, and even sometimes experience his discoveries with him!). I highly recommend it, especially because it's also just a fantastic book/movie anyway, so it hardly felt like study to me (partly the reason I chose it in the first place haha)

As Jamon linked, my notes + essay for AOS and perks can be found in the notes section. If you have any questions in regards to the text feel free to post them and I (or anyone else who is studying it) will be happy to help you out

Good luck!

[WafaK]

Hi, I am really confused about my related text. I was thinking of doing, "Perks of being a wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky. Does anyone have an opinion on whether it's a good related text or not?
Thankss

Honestly, I believe you should avoid any text which is too 'teenagerish' or very popular amongst other students and POBAW fits into that category. If you think from the perspective of a HSC marker, it is not fun to read 100 essays by different students about a text that focuses on experiences and ideas exclusively relatable to teenagers. Try to find a text that is somewhat sophisticated and whose ideas are relatable to your marker. Perhaps Google 'Best literature classics' and scroll through the lists until you find a good text.

[jamonwindeyer]

Honestly, I believe you should avoid any text which is too 'teenagerish' or very popular amongst other students and POBAW fits into that category. If you think from the perspective of a HSC marker, it is not fun to read 100 essays by different students about a text that focuses on experiences and ideas exclusively relatable to teenagers. Try to find a text that is somewhat sophisticated and whose ideas are relatable to your marker. Perhaps Google 'Best literature classics' and scroll through the lists until you find a good text.

I would say I'd agree to an extent, certainly POBAW is not one you can get away with doing poorly, since there will be other students doing it well. Meaning, you can't hide behind the text, I suppose is the way to say it ☺

But using a contemporary, popular text isn't going to cause issues if you do it well, in my opinion. And equally, using a literary classic purely to try and cater to your marker, but doing it poorly because you can't access the style/context, is definitely not a great decision.

That said, some of the classics do make great ORT's, for both the AOS and Module C ☺

[sudodds]

I would say I'd agree to an extent, certainly POBAW is not one you can get away with doing poorly, since there will be other students doing it well. Meaning, you can't hide behind the text, I suppose is the way to say it ☺

But using a contemporary, popular text isn't going to cause issues if you do it well, in my opinion. And equally, using a literary classic purely to try and cater to your marker, but doing it poorly because you can't access the style/context, is definitely not a great decision.

That said, some of the classics do make great ORT's, for both the AOS and Module C ☺

Exactly The "don't pick a young adult text" argument is defs accurate in regards to doing say a John Green novel, or Harry Potter/Divergent/Hunger Games/Twilight etc, and also is (unfortunately) accurate in regards to many childrens texts from Pixar or Disney (I completely renounce this as I think some of these texts are actually incred but oh well it is what it is - though like Jamon said, I'm sure there would be someone that could use these as a related and do incredible, it'll just be a lot harder to impress the marker). Perks of Being a Wallflower however, though it is technically young adult fiction, is still quite a sophisticated text in its themes and execution (at least that is what my teacher referred to it as when I asked if it would be a good idea). Though from the perspective of a teenager, the novel deals with some pretty intense and "adult" stuff such as severe mental health issues, sexual assault, drugs, sexuality, abuse etc. etc. Along with this, the stereotypical "young adult" text isn't very rich in regards to literary techniques, however that is definitely not the case for POBAW

I am by no means an incredible english essay writer, the average mark I received last year for my assessments was 17/20. However, with Perks  as my related text I received full marks in trials (and probably wasn't that far on in HSC considering the essay question was practically the exact same and my overall mark was basically the same as well), so I can definitely vouch that, if done well (like with any related text), using Perks will definitely not put someone at a disadvantage

[Mathew587]

Hey sudodds,
What are some techniques you used for perks because I ended up reusing the same few I.e. symbolism, metaphors, allusions...
Ty 😊

[sudodds]

Hey sudodds,
What are some techniques you used for perks because I ended up reusing the same few I.e. symbolism, metaphors, allusions...
Ty 😊

Hey! It's been a while since I had to think about this stuff so bear with me hahaha, but definitely those three are important. Another one that I spoke about A LOT was the structure of the piece in that it was written in first person through letters. This has a particular impact upon the notion of discovery in the text for multiple reasons. 1) As the letters are self-reflective, the reader is offered a greater understanding upon the way in which certain discoveries affect Charlie on a more psychological, emotional level. 2) In many situations we actually make the discoveries with Charlie, at the same time (e.g. discovery of Aunt Helen's abuse). I think the anonymity of both Charlie (as Charlie is just a pseudonym) and the receiver also allows for a more immersive experience of the text, as we can really place ourselves within the story (particularly as many of the themes and issues are relatable, eg. the desire to fit in and gain acceptance).   

Another technique that I spoke about sometimes was characterisation. I think that Chbosky's use of characterisation within the text is highly effective and is critical to the text given Charlie's nature as a "wallflower." He notices the little details about people - eg. Mary Elizabeth - that evokes his own curiosity and enables discovery. Charlie's own characterisation is particularly effective in regards to discovery, as he is portrayed as a rather naive, a bit of a blank canvas, for his friends to influence and "paint upon" so to speak. In many ways this can be a negative thing (again re. Aunt Helen), however I think for Charlie this naivety and sometimes difficultly to understand the true intentions of people (which potentially, though not explicitly stated may stem from him being somewhere on the autism spectrum) does have many positives in terms of discovery in that it opens him up to new experiences and opportunities (the most obvious one to me rn is when he takes drugs with his new friendship group - i'd be careful framing this as a "positive" thing is a school essay haha, but in terms of the text Charlie uses these illicit substances to come to terms with the many secrets he holds, and the new discoveries that he is making). (also sorry for that extremely long sentence).

A few others that you can mention are:
- Irony (in regards to Aunt Helen, his abuser, being his "most favourite person in the world")
- Unreliable narrator (Charlie often doesn't actually understand what is going on. We can sometimes read between the lines, but there are definitely situations where we are taken in the wrong direction. This is again particularly critical in regards to the climactic discovery of Aunt Helen's abuse, as it comes to us (or at least it did to me) as completely unexpected).
- Imagery (Chbosky often vividly describes the setting and place of his scenes in a highly evocative way. As these settings are often quite significant to Charlie's discoveries, e.g. the way in which Chbosky describes the house party where Charlie meets everyone, this can be quite important).

Those are the few that I can think of off the top of my head that you didn't mention. Hope this helps to get you started!

Susie

[Mathew587]

Yup that helped.thank you 😄

[samanthaakiss]

Just a bit of a rant while we're discussing related texts. It really bothers me how we are advised to choose texts that the "markers will like". I've been constantly advised that markers don't like disney/pixar as well as animated texts in general. Is the point not to put into action our english skills of analysing, synthesising etc. and compose a sophisticated, sustainable argument in relation to the core text and area of study? The fact that on top of the other pressures and demands of the HSC we have to consider what the marker likes I personally think is rather insane.

[jamonwindeyer]

Welcome to the forums Samantha!

Well said, and I totally agree. From what I've seen though this isn't a real, actual thing - It's just something that lots of students get told without being told why. That leads to misconceptions and stress and it's totally not fair on you guys.

I think the reason teachers say those things is for well intended reasons. There are some animated films that aren't going to work for English - You can't analyse Cat in the Hat for Discovery, it just isn't sophisticated enough. What's frustrating is that genuinely sophisticated, well considered (and accessible) films and novels are lumped together with these other texts, and teachers just say "Don't do any."

It's not right if a teacher says that a marker will actually mark you down based on ORT choice. That's rubbish. It's what you do with it that counts. Though some texts aren't quite suitable, and will be marked down as a result, I agree! It's really unfair on you guys for all of them to be lumped together, despite the seriously good ORT's out there that happen to be recent films, animated texts, or targeted towards younger demographics!

[sudodds]

You can't analyse Cat in the Hat for Discovery, it just isn't sophisticated enough.

[jamonwindeyer]

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