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Unit 1 Exploring Aspects of Narrative: The Great Gatsby, Enduring Love and poems by Browning and Hardy
For this exam you will be studying the four texts above. You need to have detailed notes on each one. Before we start writing essays comparing narrative aspects in the texts, you need to use this work-pack to develop your thinking on the two novels. As you study the novels, use this pack to make notes and record your observations / key quotations on the different aspects of narrative. These notes will be crucial when you start revising and preparing for your exam which is in May. Don’t be limited by the space you have here – use the clips to add extra paper if you need it!
|Aspect of Narrative |Enduring Love |The Great Gatsby |
|Scenes and Places |Ideas to get you started: |Ideas to get you started: |
| |How does the setting contribute to the novel’s gripping opening chapter? |‘That’s my Middle West… the street lamps and sleigh bells in the frosty dark … I see now this has |
| |Which settings do you think are the most atmospheric and why? |been a story of the West, after all … perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us|
| |Describe the places which help to create a threatening atmosphere or sense of danger. |subtly inadaptable to Eastern life.’ How do the settings of West and East Egg develop the themes |
| |Are there any settings in the novel which feel safe, which McEwan uses to deliberately startle or|of wealth and dreams in the novel? |
| |shock the reader? Explain how he does this. |How does the setting of Gatsby’s house portray the newly rich millionaires in the 1920s? |
| |How do the characters’ homes reflect their personalities? |What does the setting of the Buchanans’ house reveal about 1920s aristocracy? |
| |Are there any places which you feel have a symbolic significance? |What does the Valley of the Ashes reveal about the social decay of America? |
| | |How does the weather illustrate the demise of Gatsby? |
| | |Comment on how the Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg billboard overlooking the wasteland develops the|
| | |theme of judgement in the narrative. |
| | |Discuss the connection between the Valley of the Ashes and George Wilson. |
| | |Comment on how and when the weather enhances the development of the plot. |
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|Aspect of Narrative |Enduring Love |The Great Gatsby |
|Time and Sequence |Ideas to get you started: |Ideas to get you started: |
| |What references to time can you find in the opening chapter (up to “the longest Clarissa and I |The action in the novel takes place over a mere few months, during the summer of 1922. How does |
| |had spent apart in our seven years”)? – how does this affect our experience of the novel? |the constricted time period enhance the narrative? |
| |How is the sequence of the narrative important? Is it chronological? Does the narrator know the |The novel is written in the past tense. What effect does this have on the rising and falling |
| |end of the story before we do? – what is the effect of this? |action and climax of the novel? |
| |How does the writer use tenses (past or present) to affect our experience of the story? |What does the constant flow of music from Gatsby’s parties have to do with the time in which the |
| |How does the sequence of events suit the novel’s genre? |novel is set? |
| |As a modern novel, is is clear exactly when the novel is set? Is this important? |Why does the action become more compressed in the middle of chapter 7, in comparison to its more |
| |In your opinion, where does the narrative ‘start’? Where does it ‘end’? In what ways are these |generalised opening? |
| |ambiguous? |How does ‘The Great Gatsby’ follow the sequence of narrative structure? (Exposition – Rising |
| | |Action – Climax – Falling Action – Resolution/Denouement) |
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|Aspect of Narrative |Enduring Love |The Great Gatsby |
|Characters |Ideas to get you started: |Ideas to get you started: |
| |Do the characters’ names provide any clues about their personalities or backgrounds? |Nick Carraway plays both the role of the narrator and the protagonist; in effect he is a character|
| |How important are our first impressions of characters in this novel? |witness. How does this character suspend the novel between the real and the imaginary? |
| |Which characters do we trust and how does McEwan influence our choices here? |Discuss the title of the novel in relation to the main protagonist, Gatsby. |
| |How believable is the character of Jed Parry? Explain your answer using quotations. |How does Nick’s character affect his narrative style? |
| |Which characters surprise us and in what ways? |To what extent do you consider the characters of Nick and Gatsby to be influenced by Fitzgerald, |
| |What is the significance of Jean Logan? |based on what you know about his life? |
| |Explore the ways in which McEwan uses minor characters to contribute to the themes of the novel? |Discuss the ways in which the character of Gatsby is used to explore the American Dream in the |
| |Examine Joe and Clarissa’s relationship at the beginning and end of the novel. |novel. |
| | |Choose two characters and explore the language used to create and develop them. |
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|Aspect of Narrative |Enduring Love |The Great Gatsby |
|Voices in the story |Ideas to get you started: |Ideas to get you started: |
|(speech and thoughts of |Choose a section in which characters are talking and identify direct speech (in speech marks), |The reader experiences the characters through the eyes of Nick Carraway. Explore how our |
|characters) |free speech (sections of dialogue in which the reader is not told who is speaking), attributed |impressions of the characters would change if Gatsby or Daisy Buchanan were the narrator. How |
| |speech (the reader is told who is speaking) and reported speech (the speakers words are reported |would this change your interpretation of the novel? |
| |or paraphrased by the narrator or another character). How do these different techniques affect |Nick’s attitude towards Gatsby and Gatsby’s story are ambivalent and contradictory. How do his |
| |our experience of the novel? |contractions affect our view of Gatsby as the protagonist? |
| |How does the manner in which a character speaks betray thoughts, characteristics or feelings they|Does the narrative voice romanticise or condemn the excesses of the ‘Roaring 20s’? Discuss. |
| |may rather keep hidden? |Explore how the speech of Daisy Buchanan creates an elegiac tone in the novel. |
| |In the opening chapter, identify Joe’s thoughts at the time? Do we experience these directly or |‘Gatsby’s thoughts and dreams are of possessing Daisy because his heart demands a dream.’ To what |
| |indirectly? What is the effect of this? |extent do you agree with this view of the novel? Explore Gatsby’s thoughts in the novel. |
| |How would the novel be different if we had access to Clarissa’s thoughts? Or to Jed Parry’s? | |
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|Aspect of Narrative |Enduring Love |The Great Gatsby |
|Point of View |Ideas to get you started: |Ideas to get you started: |
| |How would the novel be different if it was written in the third-person rather than the |Nick Carraway narrates in both the first and third persons. What effect does this have on the |
| |first-person? |novel? |
| |How close do we get to the “action” and what is the effect of this? |Which events are narrated from an objective point of view? What do you think are the reasons for |
| |With Joe as our narrator, what key things do we have access or proximity to? What is the effect |this? |
| |of this? |How do Nick’s family ties with Daisy influence his portrayal of her character? |
| |Is Joe a reliable narrator? – Are we able to trust everything he tells us? How does this affect |Does seeing things through Nick Carraway’s eyes enhance or limit our experience of the story? |
| |our experience of the novel? |Is there another character which you would choose to narrate the story? How would their point of |
| |Does our perspective change at any point in the novel? Are there times when we identify / |view alter the narrative? |
| |sympathise more with Clarissa or with Parry and why? | |
| |In what ways are letters an important feature of this novel? | |
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|Aspect of Narrative |Enduring Love |The Great Gatsby |
|Destination |Ideas to get you started: |Ideas to get you started: |
| |How does McEwan create such a dramatic ending to this novel? |Discuss the title of the novel in relation to the dominant theme of wealth in the novel. |
| |Explore the clues McEwan plants in the novel to prepare us for this ending, whilst maintaining |In what ways do the themes of dreams, wealth and time relate to each other in the novel’s |
| |the suspense. |exploration of America? |
| |Choose one short section of the text at random and write about its significance in terms of the |Do you consider ‘The Great Gatsby’ to be an autobiographical novel? Explain. |
| |text as a whole. |‘I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful, little |
| |What is the relationship between the beginning of the text and its closure? Explore the journey |fool’ (Daisy, ch. 1). What do you feel this novel has to say about the role of women in the 20s? |
| |(in terms of emotion, morality etc) we have been on with the narrator. |Choose two characters and discuss how they appear at the beginning and end of the novel. |
| |What ambiguities or uncertainties arise from studying the text? Can these be seen positively? |‘The ending of the novel is filled with downfall and desolation in a world without a moral |
| |Are there relevant events, ideas or concerns in the world today which may affect our response to |centre.’ How far would you agree with this statement? |
| |the novel? (This is called the context of reception) | |
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Assessment Objectives
When reading, studying, thinking about, analysing and writing about your four texts, it is useful to consider the assessment objectives. Addressing these in your exam will mean you will be able to achieve the fantastic grades you deserve!
AO1
Articulate creative, informed and relevant responses to literary texts, using appropriate terminology and concepts, and coherent, accurate written expression
AO2
Demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which structure, form and language shape meanings in literary texts
AO3
Explore connections and comparisons between different literary texts, informed by interpretations of other readers (Section B of exam)
AO4
Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received
Unit 1 Exam: 2 hours (you may have all your texts with you but they must be clean copies, not annotated)
• Worth 60% of your AS marks
• Two novels (Enduring Love and The Great Gatsby)
• Two poetry texts (Browning and Hardy)
• Section A: Close analysis of aspects of narrative in one text. One two-part question to be answered on your choice of text. Short answer required for each of the two parts
• Section B: Comparing an aspect of narrative on your remaining three texts. Contains two questions, wide-ranging in scope. Essay required comparing and contrasting how this aspect of narrative is used in each of the three texts you have not covered in Section A.
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