✪✪✪ Chris Mccandless Journey Into The Wild Analysis
Born on April 2,Chris Mccandless Journey Into The Wild Analysis Odense, Denmark, Andersen grew up in stark poverty, but his father, a shoemaker, cultivated his imagination. For example, in Ashes Country Club Identity, Chris is only able to find closure by finally understanding the mindset off his parents through effective communication. Those are my five quick tips on how to find good quotes from your texts! For some Chris Mccandless Journey Into The Wild Analysis unknown to me, you seem to interpret this is some ideological construction? Scientists racing to develop a vaccine against Zika virus disease Analysis Of Dreams By Langston Hughes summer may be hoping for results Lower Class In America those of Dr. In his exploration of this question, Ishiguro Chris Mccandless Journey Into The Wild Analysis the development and growing up of Kathy, Ruth, The Importance Of The First Migration To America Tommy, trying to understand why they all submit without protest to their Chris Mccandless Journey Into The Wild Analysis. Do you circumnavigate that 3,foot The Migrant Family Analysis or head right over it? Hopefully this is something you can translate into your Chris Mccandless Journey Into The Wild Analysis future work!
Into the Wild - Everything That Went Wrong for Chris McCandless
Stasiland is a compilation of the stories of all kinds of people involved and impacted by the GDR , including those who rebelled against the system, those who supported it and those crushed by it. Funder said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald after the publication of Stasiland that, 'When [Germans] read my book, people in the East are not proud of themselves. They'd rather not be reminded that other people were braver than they were. So there is a huge force to pretend that the Stasi regime was not as bad as it was. This is working against forgetting, and against time' Stasiland , Julia explains the importance of these portraits, telling Anna 'For anyone to understand a regime like the GDR, the stories of ordinary people must be told.
These 'things in their pasts' are not just trauma and hardship, but the knowledge that people just like them — their spouses, children, friends and neighbours — were capable of such cowardice, betrayal, self-interest and cruelty. It is this knowledge that Funder wants to preserve — that ordinary people are capable of both extraordinary courage and extraordinary cowardice. We are terrible…They are terrible. The Germans are terrible' Stasiland , Anna reflects that East Germans were 'long used to thinking the bad Germans were on the other side of the Wall' and now he is forced to ask 'were his people, now broke or drunk, shamed or fled or imprisoned or dead, any good at all?
Kathy recollects and structures her memories of her childhood and relationships to understand them as a unified whole, essentially establishing her identity. Assuming a reader places her autobiography in a social framework with the purpose of communicating her life , which turns it into a historical account that exists beyond the limit of her death. The way memory can be distorted is particularly clear in relation to the idea of nostalgia for a brutal past. This idea is explored differently in Stasiland and Never Let Me Go , with Funder condemning nostalgia as blinding people to the horrors of the past, and Ishiguro illustrating how drawing comfort from the past can help people through difficult times.
Anna reflects:. Most of the people at these parties are too young to remember the GDR anyway. They are just looking for something to yearn for' Stasiland , Funder is critical of nostalgia because it minimises past injustice. Conversely, in Never Let Me Go , nostalgia and false memories are shown to be consolatory and even useful. Before Kathy begins to recount her childhood, she mentions a donor who was once under her care who 'knew he was close to completing' NLMG , 5.
He asks Kathy to share memories of her childhood and 'What he wanted was not just to hear about Hailsham, but to remember Hailsham, just like it had been his own childhood. Although this man is falsifying his memories, he is not editing and revising history like some people in east Berlin , he is replacing them entirely to suppress the trauma of his own past. He is not yearning for a return to an idealised past the way some people in Stasiland do. For Kathy, nostalgia for her childhood helps her reconnect with her friends, creating a sense of belonging and identity.
Her attachment to Hailsham strengthens her worldview, her relational bonds and gives meaning to her life. Nostalgic memory in Never Let Me Go brings comfort, although you could argue that it also fosters passivity and acceptance in the face of oppression. By developing your own interpretation, you become a better English student by:. To overcome the issues above, you need to be confident with your own interpretation of the text.
Compare the ways in which Stasiland and Never Let Me Go depict the difficulties in uncovering the past. Learn more about this technique in this video:. We need to identify where these quotes come from in the texts and why they might be significant. The Stasiland quote from p. In the end the only decision was indecision, the mayor buried the bunker and hoped that people in 50 years might know what to do with it. Thus, this quote points to the difficulty countries have in creating a national identity when there is horror and trauma in their history.
The Never Let Me Go quote from p. Therefore, this quote points to how memories, even false ones, can reconstruct individual identity. P2: Sometimes people hold on tightly to particular memories as a way to affirm their identity as losing those memories is akin to erasing or denying the legitimacy of their experiences. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood retells the story of the Odyssey by Homer from the perspective of penelope, a half mortal and half divine princess who also happened to be the wife of Odysseus, and her Twelve Maids. A retrospective narrative, Atwood opens her mythological tale with Penelope and the Maids in the afterlife reflecting on the events that occurred centuries before.
Told in chronological order from her birth, the Maids serve as a traditional part of greek theatre in their purpose of a Chorus as they make commentary on their life. Its protagonist, scientist Rosaind Franklin is underappreciated genius working as the only female in her respective field. As one of her photographs uncover the truth of DNA, her subourness and her competitors ambition leads the men around her to success.
Both texts explore the use and demonstration of power in its various forms of physical displays of strength to the patriarchal forces that govern each texts respective world. Indeed, the power of men prevailing atop the social hierarchy while displacing those below them is a common theme within both texts. The patriarchal power that men possess within each of the respective texts becomes closely linked to fragile masculinity in their exertion of physical strength or intellectual superiority; Odysseus self-proclaimed superhuman strength is equated to Wilkins need for intellectual dominance, especially over the brilliant Rosalind.
While the men within each text exert their inherent power of supposed supremacy, the women within each world draw are shown to draw on their physical appearance as a source of power or is shown to be disempowered by it. In The Penelopiad , Helens is known for her legendary beauty which she uses to relentlessly taunt Penelope, the proverbial ugly duckling, through which Atwood demonstrates how, like other forms of power, can be used to oppress others. Conversely, Photograph 51 examines how Rosalind is disempowered by her perceived lack of traditional physical beauty. Many of the men around her using her unflattering appearance to ridicule and minimise her and her work. While the time periods in which the two texts are set may greatly differ, the notion of identity is still a prevailing theme that is explored.
Indeed, the role others perceptions play in each character's construction of their own self-worth and values provides both authors a basis for the examination of how societies enforce conformity while punishing uniqueness. Not only do others perceptions shape one's personality, but the expectations enforced by Society. Both Ziegler and Atwood suggest that in order to overcome the pressures and external expectations of society each which of these women must have a positive and strong sense of self. In the case of Photograph 51, Rosalind must adopt a strong self-belief in her work in order to survive the hostile masculine environment around her.
By contrast, Odysseus constantly boasts and exaggerates his stories of heroism and the cleverness of his actions. The feminine figure and roles are depicted in contrasting ways between the texts, but both show how the construction of characters who either adhere to or reject the social constructs of femininity during their era are forced to grapple with the harsh realities of being a woman in both ancient and modern times. One of the biggest examples of femininity shown within each text is the value the patriarchal system places on motherhood and the high expectations they have for mothers and mother figures. Eurycleia is presented as benevolent and dedicated to the mother figure ideal as she is shown to snatch Penelope's newborn son and invision him as her own.
In contrast, Penelope's mother an elusive and neglectful Naiad leaves her child to swim around unsupervised. In Photograph 51 mothers are depicted as primarily concerned with the needs of their children and husbands as they are shown to identify themselves with their attributes and successes. It can be seen that such characters as Goslings mother's interest in his PhD suggests that like Penelope she judge's her own worth by her child's success. Indeed, while these mothers are shown to be nurturing and caring most of it emphasises their need to control and guide their child's life.
Not only mothers, but wives become another primary source of femininity that is examined within both texts. Regardless of class and social standing every woman on some level is shown to be oppressed by this traditional and conventional idea of womanhood. Penelope is encouraged to be a doting wife to her husband Odysseus, while in contrast, the Maids remain unmarried yet still subjects of oppressive mistreatment. Unlike the The Penelopiad, wives have little to no significance within Photograph 51, a text heavily focused on the scientific discovery of DNA, Indeed, the woman or the wife is seen as irrelevant in the scientific field while any mention of women outside of Rosalind is confined to the wives of men contained within the domestic sphere.
The notion of storytelling and the power of narrative becomes closely linked to such ideas as femininity and womanhood within each text as each closely revolves around women taking back control of their own narratives and stories. The The Penelopiad is a story about other stories as it is based off retelling an already famous story. The Odyssey becomes a vessel for Penelope to share her own insights and feelings while her actions of retelling the well known work is a source of empowerment for her as she is able to negate stories about herself that she would prefer not to hear. This frees her from the burden of being a legend or a myth as she urges women not to follow her example of keeping their mouths shut.
In contrast, Rosalind Franklin does speak out initially but gained an unfortunate reputation as a difficult woman in stories about her that are circulated by men. Through this it can be said that the aims of both Ziegler and Attwood is to challenge the historical invisibility of women throughout time. While Ziegler's play attempts to highlight the ways in which stories told by men have worked to minimise or downplay the roles and contributions of women, The Penelopiad attempts to offer new perspective of already well known stories that intend to give insight into the woman's understanding of life. While the DNA double helix structure is common knowledge now, in the s many scientists were racing to claim its discovery. Ziegler's title, Photograph 51 is simply named after the X-ray photograph taken of the hydrated B form of DNA, which was crucial in the consequent events that eventually led to the identification of DNA's structure.
However, much controversy has surrounded exactly who deserves credit for the discovery, particularly because the Nobel Prize was awarded to James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins - 3 people who did not actually take Photograph 51 itself. Instead, people have argued that Rosalind Franklin should have been one to be award the prize, or at least share the prize as it was her work that led to Photograph 51 and without it, Watson, Crick and Wilkins may not have discovered the DNA structure. If Watson and Crick had not seen Photograph 51 , would they have gone on to discover the structure of DNA on their own? The Penelopiad is similar to Photograph 51 in that it is written from a women's perspective previously never explored in literature.
Misogyny is widespread in both Photograph 51 and The Penelopiad, and both writers explore the ways in which females deal with such an environment. Penelope is more graceful in her response, as she is acceptance of her place as a women, as poignantly expressed: "I kept my mouth shut; or, if I opened it, I sang [Odysseus] praises. In The Penelopiad, even Telemachus shows a lack of understanding and empathy for his own mother, and wants her to find a Suitor quickly because she is "responsible for the fact that his inheritance was being literally gobbled up. Like Telemachus, the men in Photograph 51 has NO sense of what it means to be a woman. They is frustratingly presumptuous in the female psyche, as seen when Crick boasts: "See, women expect men to fall upon them like unrestrained beasts.
Her fellow male scientists dismiss her credentials. Moreover, her methodical approach to her work drives the frustrated Wilkins to share her confidential research to Crick and Watson, displaying males inherent distrust and disrespect of women. At Year 12 level, and particularly in Reading and Comparing, your assessor expects you to not only understand the text itself, but to understand the real-life implications explored. So when you start comparing Photograph 51 and The Penelopiad think about the human condition. Why is the way she deals with misogyny so different to that of Penelope? Now if we zoom out and look at the bigger picture, you need to start asking yourself: What do these texts say about us as people?
What can we learn from these stories? I use this strategy throughout my discussion of themes above and in the next section, Essay Topic Breakdown. While Rosalind and Penelope are examples of strong female characters, they are both severely flawed. What structural elements help convey the strength of women within The Penelopiad and Photograph 51? We were dirty. Dirt was our concern, dirt was our business, dirt was our specialty, dirt was our fault. We were the dirty girls. Make sure you watch the video below for extra tips and advice on how to break down this essay prompt! Reading and Comparing Essays. Using quotations in essays helps to demonstrate your knowledge of the text, and provides solid evidence for your arguments.
A quotation is the repetition of a group of words taken from a text by someone other than the original author. There is no general rule in Australia regarding which type of inverted comma you must use for quotations. Single inverted commas are preferred in Australia as they follow the British standard. The American standard involves styling quotations with the double inverted comma. You can choose either style, just be consistent in your essays. However, quotations must be used correctly, otherwise you risk and these frequent mistakes will be discussed in detail later :. As you discuss ideas in a paragraph, quotes should be added to develop these ideas further. A quote should add insight into your argument; therefore, it is imperative that the quote you choose relates intrinsically to your discussion.
This is dependent on which aspect of the text you are discussing, for example:. Never quote just for the sake of quoting. Throwing in quotations just to make your essay appear more sophisticated will only be more damaging if the quotation does not adequately reinforce or expand on your contention. Conversely, an essay with no quotations will not achieve many marks either. A quotation should never tell the story for you. Thus, you must be selective in how much you want to quote. Generally speaking, the absolute minimum is three quotes per paragraph but you should not overload your paragraphs either.
Overcrowding your essay with too many quotations will lead to failure to develop your ideas, as well as your work appearing too convoluted for your assessor. Remember that the essay is your piece of work and should consist mainly of your own ideas and thoughts. Single worded quotations can often leave the largest impression on the assessor. This is because you are able to demonstrate that you can focus on one word and develop an entire idea around it. I realised then that I had begun to step small and carry myself all hunched, keeping my arms at my sides and my elbows tucked, as if to leave room for them. Long quotations comprise of more than one sentence — avoid using them as evidence. Your assessor will not mark you highly if the bulk of your paragraphs consists of long quotations.
You should aim to keep your quotations to less than 2 lines on an A4 writing page. If you have a long quotation you wish to use, be selective. Choose only the important phrases or key words, and remove the remaining sentence by replacing it with an ellipsis …. You would have noticed that a square bracket [ ] was used. This will be discussed in detail under Blending Quotes. You must make sure that you use quotation marks whenever you use evidence from your text. Even a single flicker of the eyes could be mistaken for the essential crime that contained all other crimes in itself — thought crime. There are serious consequences for plagiarism. VCAA will penalise students for plagiarism. You should always aim to interweave quotations into your sentences in order to achieve good flow and enhanced readability of your essay.
Below is a good example of blending in quotations:. John Proctor deals with his own inner conflict as he is burdened with guilt and shame of his past adulterous actions. Yet during the climatic ending of the play, Proctor honours his principles as he rejects signing a false confession. Broken sentences are a common mistake made when students aim to integrate quotations into their sentences. Below are examples of broken sentences due to poor integration of a quotation:. Scrooge is illustrated as a person who is isolated in his own sphere. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens. Never write a sentence consisting of only a quotation. This does not add insight into your argument, nor does it achieve good flow or readability. This example is better, however the sentence is still difficult to read.
In order to blend quotations into your sentences, try adding in words that will help merge the quotation and your own words together:. This is usually done to:. Authors sometimes write in past looked , present look or future tense will look. Depending on how you approach your essay, you may choose to write with one of the three tenses. Cosi, Louis Nowra. The author may write in a first I, we , second you or third person he, she, they narrative. Thus, it is necessary to replace first and second person pronouns with third person pronouns. When Keller was finally ready to share his brutal past with Paul, the latter disregarded the maestro, as he was too immersed in his own adolescent interests. Maestro, Peter Goldsworthy.
Sometimes, it may be necessary to insert your own words in square brackets so that the quotation will be coherent when incorporated into your sentences. It is important to maintain proper grammar while weaving in quotations. The question is: does the punctuation go inside or outside the final quotation mark? The rule is: If the quoted words end with a full stop or comma , then the full stop goes inside the quotation marks. If the quoted words do not end with a full stop, then the full stop goes outside the quotation marks. The Secret River, Kate Grenville. On The Waterfront, Elia Kazan. Alternatively, you can underline the title of the text instead of using single quotation marks. Many teachers and examiners prefer this option. When you quote the author who is quoting someone else, then you will need to switch between single and double quotation marks.
If you're following the American standard, you'll need to do this the opposite way - that is, using double quotation marks for the author's words and and then single quotation marks for the quote. We recommend sticking to the preferred Australian style though, which is single and then double. The dialogue used by the author is surrounded by double quotation marks. This demonstrates that the dialogue used in the text still belongs to the author.
When you wish to express irony, you use quotation marks to illustrate that the implied meaning of the actual word or phrase is different to the normal meaning. Tip One: Do not go onto Google and type in 'Good quotes for X text', because this is not going to work. These type of quotes are generally the most famous and the most popular quotes because, yes they are good quotes, but does that necessarily mean that it's going to be a good quote in your essay? Probably not. But why? Well, it's because these quotes are the most likely to be overused by students - absolutely every single person who has studied this text before you, and probably every single person who will study this text after you.
You want to be unique and original. So, how are you going to find those 'good quotes'? Recognise which quotes are constantly being used and blacklist them. Quotes are constantly used in study guides are generally the ones that will be overused by students. Once you eliminate these quotes, you can then go on to find potentially more subtle quotes that are just as good as the more popular or famous ones. Tip Two: Re-read the book. There is nothing wrong with you going ahead and finding your own quotes.
You don't need to find quotes that already exist online or in study guides. Go and find whatever gels with you and whatever you feel like has a lot of meaning to it. I had a friend back in high school who was studying a book by Charles Dickens. I haven't read the book myself, but there was a character who couldn't pronounce the letter S, or he had a lisp of some sort. What my friend did was he found this one word where, throughout the entire book, the guy with the lisp only ever said the S one time and that was a massive thing.
So, he used that. This is something that is really unique and original. So, go ahead and try to find your own quotes. Tip Three: Realise that good quotes do not necessarily have to come from the main character. Yes, the main character does often have good quotes associated with whatever they're saying, but just know that you do have minor characters who can say something really relevant and have a really good point too. Their quote is going to be just as strong in your essay as a main character's quote, which will probably be overused and overdone by so many other students. Tip Four: Develop a new interpretation of a famous or popular quote. Most of the time, the really popular quotes are analysed in very much the same way.
But if you can offer a new insight into why it's being said or offer a different interpretation, then this is automatically going to create a really good quote that's going to offer a refreshing point of view. For example, if we look at The Great Gatsby , one of the most famous quotes that is constantly being used is, 'He found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass.
But what you could do instead, is focus on a section of that quote, for example the 'raw'. Why is the word raw being used? How does the word raw contribute extra meaning to this particular quote? This way you're honing in on a particular section of the quote and really trying to offer something new. This automatically allows you to investigate the quote in a new light. Tip Five: Just remember that the best quotes do not have to be one sentence long. Some of the best quotes tend to be really short phrases or even just one particular word. Teachers actually love it when you can get rid of the excess words that are unnecessary in the sentence, and just hone in on a particular phrase or a particular word to offer an analysis.
And also, that way, when you spend so much time analysing and offering insight into such a short phrase or one sentence, it shows how knowledgeable you are about the text and that you don't need to rely on lots and lots of evidence in order to prove your point. Those are my five quick tips on how to find good quotes from your texts! Need more help with quotes? Comparing: Stasiland and Study Guide. A Killer Text Guide: Cosi ebook. Cosi Study Guide. A Killer Text Guide: Ransom ebook. Ransom Study Guide. The Great Gatsby Study Guide. It recollects the final few months of the life of Christopher McCandless as he departs from society in both an act of resistance as well as a means of self-discovery.
A bright young college student in the s, McCandless abandons his family and affluent lifestyle to embark on a frontier-style journey into the Alaskan wilderness. Troubled by a dysfunctional family and disenchanted with the materialistic excesses of s America, McCandless seeks a radical engagement with nature, in the style of his literary heroes Henry David Thoreau and Jack London. After days in the wilderness, he suffers from starvation and dies. Whilst the film is of a biographical nature, it is important to understand that it is heavily subject to the interpretations and opinions of Penn.
The events of the story begin in , when a young Robyn Davidson arrives in Alice Springs with an outlandish plan to train wild camels to accompany her through the Australian desert. When, after two years of gruelling training, she receives a sponsorship from National Geographic, her journey can finally go ahead- on the condition that a photographer accompany her and document parts of the journey.
This compromise weighs heavily on Robyn, as photographer Rick Smolan intrudes on her solitude and compromises everything the trip means to her. As Robyn delves deeper into the journey, each day brings new discoveries about the camels, the landscape, the people of Australia, and ultimately, her self. Both Robyn Davidson and Christopher McCandless are products of the time period in which they live, and reject the concept of adhering to a predetermined notion of who they should be and how they should behave.
Both embark on their journey because they reject the expectations of their class and gender. Tracks is set in the late s, an era of intense social and political change in Australia. The second wave feminist movements of the s and 70s were enormously influential in Australia, as women began to dismantle the sexist structures inherent in Australian society at this time. She rejects the archetype of the passive, docile woman. There are many explicit examples of Robyn facing misogyny and embodying feminist principles. This statement reveals the position of a woman in this misogynistic society, wherein a single woman travelling alone through the bush was synonymous with danger and irresponsibility.
Davidson rejects this ideology and refuses to succumb to the violent sexism she encounters, or compromise her journey. Tracks is not an explicitly feminist text, but it clearly echoes the philosophies of feminism. In the years since the trek, Robyn Davidson has become a feminist symbol of defiance, endurance and strength. The s saw the first attempts to improve the lives and rights of indigenous Australians.
In Indigenous people were counted in the census, and in , the Aboriginal Land Rights Act was established. Davidson is frustrated with the mistreatment of Indigenous people in Australia, and feels ambivalent about her status as a white, privileged, outsider in their community. Davidson confronts the racist and discriminatory stereotypes and attitudes towards Indigenous Australians, and experiences first hand the realities of the issues these people face. Davidson encounters intense generosity and friendship in the Indigenous community that she admires and presents as a stark contrast to the intolerant attitudes of white Australians in Alice Springs. This traumatic past informs his extreme actions and outlook.
Inspired by Thoreau and London, Chris seeks enlightenment in the wild. Despite a philosophical understanding of the power of nature, Chris believes he can survive the untamed wilderness of Alaska. Although nature is the locus for self-realisation and growth for Chris, it is also what destroys him. Anthropomorphism is defined as the attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to a god, animal, or object. Robyn repeatedly personifies the animals she encounters. The camels in particular take on their own human personalities in her life. This technique, called anthropomorphism, can be used to complement a discussion of the theme of isolation.
Robyn attributes distinct characteristics to each camel, suggesting her need for companionship and the powerful absence of human connection in prolonged periods of isolation. Prompt: Discuss the ways in which the environment assists the protagonists in their journey for self-discovery. Introduction: In forging connections with the environment and people around us, humans end up inadvertently discovering themselves. Both Davidson and McCandless seek knowledge and guidance through both the individuals they meet and, specifically to McCandless, the books he reads, citing it as a means of grappling with the fundamental stages of self-discovery. Whilst Davidson and McCandless experience different relationships with their immediate family, it is ultimately the concept of family that underpins their motivations and inspires them to pursue their journeys — both physical and psychological.
Further, the respective temporal environments in which both protagonists are immersed in emerge as a distinct theme that facilitates each stage of self- discovery in the climatic lead up to the ultimate self-realisation. Body Paragraph 1: Both Into the Wild and Tracks endorse the guiding power of influential figures on both protagonists, as a catalyst for their growth. Kurt is abusive to both Davidson and his wife, but his eccentric and impulsive ways expose her to the harsh realities of bush living. Davidson becomes more grounded and connected to her environment; the knowledge that she derives from key characters contributes to a distinct conformational change in her personality and thus critically assists her in developing a strong sense of one self.
In doing so, Penn illustrates the importance that Chris places upon the words of such idealists to the stage where he acts upon their advice without giving them proper consideration within his literal, temporal context. The protagonists of both Into the Wild and Tracks , both rely upon the knowledge and guidance of individuals, be they physical or via literature, as a means of grappling with their fundamental understanding of the human spirit and in doing so their intricate understanding of themselves.
Body Paragraph 2: Both texts demonstrate a degree of discontentment and resent towards the institutionalized, '20th century convention' of family. Similarly, Christopher McCandless articulates a powerful contempt for family. Conclusion: Both Tracks and Into the Wild explore the inextricable link between ones environment and their personal growth. Nature is emphasised as a world removed from the materialistic excess of modern urban life, in which one can engage with an alternative, radical set of values. Both Davidson and McCandless escape from the confinements of their lives and experience profound transformations over the course of their journeys. Thus, both Davidson and Penn comment on the omniscient, multifaceted nature of the environment around a person being instrumental in moulding each stage of the journey of self-discovery and transformation.
The banter between Beatrice and Benedick is amusing and ridiculous, and the ensuing drama between Hero and Claudio is probably not far off the modern drama in the relationships of your friends. Much Ado About Nothing explores themes of love, the ways that we can be opposed to love and relationships, the position of women and necessity of marriage, and the ways we can deceive each other and ourselves.
Love is a beautiful and yet frustratingly unavoidable part of life, and Shakespeare shows us the many ways in which people can react to this and manipulate this for their own desires. This play uses comedy to reassure us that mistakes and misunderstandings in love are an innate part of humanity, as we struggle to communicate how we feel towards another person. Into the Wild. Anchor Books. ISBN The New York Times. ISSN Retrieved June 19, Terra Incognita films. August 21, Retrieved January 12, The New Yorker.
ISSN X. Chemical and Engineering News. Retrieved December 12, Anchorage Daily News. The wild truth. OCLC Washington Post. Archived from the original PDF on March 3, Retrieved April 4, Into The Wild. New York City : Anchor. The Wild Truth. New York City: Harper One. New York: Doubleday. ISBN X. Archived from the original on November 13, Retrieved August 7, The Alaska Dispatch. Retrieved October 2, Time, Inc. Retrieved July 25, Archived from the original on November 24, Retrieved August 2, Men's Journal , September Christopher McCandless.
Health News Florida. October 24, Lonely Planet: Alaska 11 ed. Lonely Planet. Outside Online. Archived from the original on May 3, Retrieved June 27, In Hall, Dewey W. Romantic Ecocriticism: Origins and Legacies. Lexington Publishing. CBS News. Associated Press. July 27, Retrieved July 27, Retrieved June 27, — via NewsColony. Alaska Public Media. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. Alaska National Guard Public Affairs. June 18, Archived from the original on June 21, Archived from the original on June 24, Retrieved September 25, Archived from the original on September 19, Retrieved December 5, Text and Community website.
Christian, Peter. Retrieved August 26, Anchorage Press. Archived from the original on March 28, Retrieved February 15, Compared to others? How are they interacting with these elements? Both Davidson and de Heer assert that individualism is necessary for the protagonists, who find themselves marginalised from the wider population. Through their respective journeys to independence, Robyn and Charlie achieve a sense of empowerment through identity self-refashioning , as well as they express their disapproval of the toxic institutions of society. However, the text and the film also demonstrate how at times, embracing individualism can present challenges to those who pursue it. Ultimately, Davidson and de Heer commend those who do not fully conform to society. Robyn sees the trip as a demonstration to herself of the shedding of the traditional image of white, middle class woman:.
Robyn adamantly condemns the deeply entrenched racism of Australian culture and sympathises with the Aborigines and their hardship. Her determination to learn about the Aboriginal people is an attempt to overcome the wedge that has been driven between the two communities:. Charlie becomes increasingly resistant against the traditions and policies of the government institutions. Charlie is constantly shut down when embracing the ways of his culture; ultimately submitting to individualism also unveils his dependency on white society.
To what extent do you agree? Discuss the ways in which the environment assists the protagonists in their journey for self-discovery. How to Write a Killer Comparative. Reading and Comparing Tracks into the Wild. Compare the Pair- A guide to structuring a reading and comparing essay. The link between your contention and topic sentences in relation to the prompt. Master Reading and Creating. Most people commonly mistake Comparative also known as Reading and Comparing, and an array of other names as just two Text Responses rolled into one essay. Most people are also aware that the main difference is that Comparative looks at similarities and differences between the two texts. However, this is where the challenge begins. To stand out from hundreds of other students studying the same texts, you need a strategy.
You need something that will wow your examiners and will catapult you to the top of the VCE cohort. This strategy is simple. Notice how the blue arrows never touch:. No two texts are ever exactly the same, no two examples are exactly the same , so avoid falling into this trap. So this is the simple part done. Since no examples from two texts are exactly the same, this means there is always an opportunity for you to first compare the similarities, then compare the differences. Instead, we show you unique ways to compare the two texts so that your essay stands out amongst all the others that are just using the same old words and methods to compare.
Too many students miss out on the opportunity to elaborate or expand on an example because they only write about either the similarity or the difference. How to Write a Killer Comparative Ebook. In both texts, we see racial systems that take power away from Bla c k people. In the play, settler-colonialism is a big one. This trickles into contemporary institutions widely understood patterns, rules or structures within society which perpetuate these dynamics of race and power, such as the police and the media. Oppression is similarly maintained in The Longest Memory , where physical violence, and even just the threat of possible physical violence, is used to enslave African Americans.
Plus, all of this racial violence was justified by the socio-economic interests of enslavers. Both texts see Bla c k people disempowered by a range of white institutions. On the other hand, family and the wider community are depicted as a galvanising or healing force in both texts. Depictions of families in projections of photographs also outline how joy and solidarity can be drawn from community.
In the novel, family ties are also important. Both texts show how memory and grief are significant burdens for Bla c k people and operate at multiple dimensions. It can go from highly expressive to numb in moments. He feels extremely guilty and only after Chapel dies does he realise why Chapel disagreed with him so stubbornly in life. Both texts offer ideas about what the fight against racism might look like, but at times these ideas are more different than similar. In The 7 Stages of Grieving , the main struggle is to be heard and understood. In the play and in real life even, we can see how the media is stacked against First Nations peoples, so their fight is about cutting through the bias and making sure they are fairly represented.
In The Longest Memory , the fight against slavery is portrayed quite differently. In a scenario where physical violence was used the way it was in order to oppress, self-emancipation was seen by many as the only path out. This gave them a destination, as well as hope. The other thing that the texts diverge on is the relationship between parents and children. In the play, family is consistently shown to provide support and community. As the woman speaks about her father and brother, the unconditional love and support between them is palpable.
However, the novel depicts a bit more conflict— Whitechapel argued with Chapel based on his lived experience, and the many young people he had seen be killed for trying to free themselves. However, Chapel was far more committed to freedom than to survival. The woman recounts his death in a factual, impersonal style as if reading a court report. She describes how the police pursued and arrested Yocke after he went out drinking with a group of friends, and how he was detained and taken to the watchhouse. The woman breaks into bursts of emotion toward the end of the scene.
While most of the play deals with issues that are universal and timeless for First Nations peoples, this scene looks at a specific real event. After all, how exactly was Yocke dead upon arriving at the watchhouse? How badly must the police have mishandled him for that to have happened? The institution of policing has been unaccountable and violent for decades, at least, and something desperately needs to change.
He ultimately leaves feeling a little more convinced by the perspectives of his peers. Well, in both scenes, white men get away with murdering a Black man, and it comes down to socio-economic and institutional power. In this chapter, Mr Whitechapel and his fellow enslavers all inherit significant wealth and extremely prejudiced attitudes from their fathers, and this creates not only pressure but also a financial incentive, to conform to the system of slavery. He touches on the possibility of abolition , but this is seen as impossible—certainly, none of these men want to lose their power.
Now it's your turn! Give these essay topics a go. If you're interested in reading a 50 study scorer's completed essays based off these 4 essay topics, along with annotations so you can understand his thinking process, then I would highly recommend checking out LSG's Killer Comparative Guide: 7 Stages of Grieving and The Longest Memory. What do Aunty Grace and Chapel illustrate about the complexities of belonging to a racial minority? Compare how the narrative structures of The 7 Stages of Grieving and The Longest Memory enhance their storytelling effect. Learn more about this technique in this video:. In each text, we see institutions and structures which are violent and harmful—from the play, police and the media, and from the novel, the economy itself.
However, these institutions are upheld in different ways, and require different mechanisms of change—while the play emphasises grieving and unity, the novel focuses more on emancipation. P1: Starting with The 7 Stages of Grieving , social change is required at the institutional level. Reconciliation needs to include Aboriginal voices. P2: With The Longest Memory , social change is required across the economy that depends on enslaving people and stealing their labour, while others have an economic interest in the status quo.
P3: Because of this, change seems more possible in the play, and we start seeing it happen towards the end, as the ice thaws and people, Bla c k and white, march across the bridge together. P4: On the other hand, emancipation is seen as the only path to change in the novel, as intergenerational social pressures among the enslaving class in the South are insurmountable. Reading and Comparing Essays.
In Stasiland , Anna Funder, the author and first-person narrator , meets and listens to the ordinary people of East Germany : those who resisted the GDR dictatorship, those who were crushed by it, and those who diligently and remorselessly worked for it as Stasi informants or officers. As Anna speaks with those whose lives have been traumatised by the Stasi, she reflects on how the reunified Germany has dealt with or ignored its citizens' trauma and whether memory can be reconciled. Anna is an Australian working for a television station in Berlin in As an outsider Anna is uniquely positioned to ask East Germans about their experiences , as they do not have to battle with prior knowledge and experience to share their stories.
She is interested in the former German Democratic Republic and what has happened to the East German people since the country reunified with West Germany. She became curious after learning that there are people putting together documents that were shredded by the Stasi. The Stasi were the East German secret police and internal surveillance and defense force. Headed by Erich Mielke, they conducted surveillance on the East German population, aided by a vast number of civilian informants. While in Leipzig, Anna meets with a woman called Miriam Weber, who attempted to sneak out of East Germany when she was just a teenager. Miriam, sleep deprived and tortured, lied about receiving help from an organisation to cross the Wall and was sentenced to jail time.
Her husband Charlie was also imprisoned by the Stasi and died while in custody. Miriam was told he committed suicide by hanging, but she suspects he was killed after the Stasi refused to show her his body and went to great lengths to hide Charlie during the funeral. Returning to the apartment she rents in Berlin, Anna puts an advertisement in the paper calling for former Stasi agents and informers to share their stories with her. She also visits and speaks to Karl-Eduard von Schitzler, a hateful man who hosted a propaganda-filled television program that criticised West Germany and gave false information about Communist success.
In their discussions the former Stasi agents are concerned with justifying their involvement with the Stasi, although many also remain committed to communist ideals and await with anticipation the next revolution and restoration of the communist government. Anna rents her apartment from an unpredictable and evasive young woman called Julia. Over time, Julia comes to trust Anna and shares her story of the Stasi cruelly interfering with her life. Anna is disappointed in the puzzlers, realising that their work is futile and there is no real effort put towards uncovering the lost information. Almost all East Germans were left reeling at the sudden collapse of their government.
For many, the collapse of the GDR took with it ideological security and made them nostalgic for the past. The nostalgia for the regime that Funder witnesses shows how people cling to certainty and position and sometimes struggle with new freedoms. However, having spoken with so many individuals whose lives were ruined by the Stasi, Anna feels that the old regime was oppressive and authoritarian, and that the East Germans are better off with the challenges of their freedom, rather than stuck with the certainties of their oppression.
Never Let Me Go is set in a dystopian alternative reality in England in the s. The narrator, Kathy H, is a thirty-one-year-old 'carer' — a clone who looks after other clones who are donating their organs. Kathy is about to retire after a long career as a carer to become a donor herself, meaning she will soon 'complete' a euphemism for dying. However, this premise is not immediately apparent to the reader. At the start of the novel, Kathy informs us she will be leaving her role as carer in a few months and has started to write down memories of her life, sorting through her time as a 'student' at Hailsham.
However, at the start of the novel the reader is not aware that Kathy is a clone, although she appears to be addressing an insider from her world. In the first third of the novel Kathy reflects on her childhood and teenage years at Hailsham. Hailsham is an institution where clones are looked after by 'guardians' and referred to as 'students', and which at first appears to be a private boarding school with a heavy focus on the arts and creativity. Their best works of painting, pottery, drawing or poetry were selected and taken away by a woman known as 'Madame', for what the students presume, and what is later confirmed to be, a gallery. The students know they are different from their guardians and the people who live outside Hailsham, referred to as 'normals', but the truth of what the clones are and their certain fate is not fully articulated until the characters are adults.
Kathy is close friends with a confident and controlling girl called Ruth and a boy named Tommy, whose work is never selected for the Gallery — an acknowledgement that defines status at the school. Tommy, teased and excluded, struggles to control his temper and often explodes into furies of rage. This song makes Kathy emotional, and one day she is caught dancing to it by Madame, who Kathy is surprised to see is in tears watching her. Kathy presumes Madame is upset because she knows Kathy can never have children. Ruth and Tommy start dating and Part Two sees the three friends reach early adulthood and move to a place known as the Cottages, to live with other clones from around the country and experience some freedom before beginning their donations or training to become a carer.
Norfolk exists in the imagination of the Hailsham students as a 'lost corner', where things they have lost will be found. Ruth was secretly desperate to find her possible and hoped to find her working in an office. Ruth dreams of working in an office and her wish that her possible will be an office worker is one of the only suggestions we have that the clones secretly long for more from their lives and view their possibles as versions of them and what they are capable of.
Back at the Cottages, Ruth continues to be manipulative and self-promoting, leading to a falling out with Kathy where she decides to leave early to begin training as a carer and falls out of contact with Ruth and Tommy. She hopes they will attempt to get a deferral from Madame. After Ruth 'completes', Kathy and Tommy finally become a couple. They visit Madame to ask for a deferral, who informs them there is no such thing. They learn from Madame that Hailsham was an attempt to reform the treatment of clones in their youth by proving they had souls.
In most centers, clones are reared in deplorable, abusive conditions. They also learn that Hailsham had to be shut down. Never Let Me Go is a story about injustice and social stratification, where one group is made to suffer for the benefit of another. The 'normals' can deny their mortality while forcing the clones to confront their death sooner than their natural life span , and by shutting down schools like Hailsham, they do not need to think about the ethics of their choices. Tommy dies and Kathy resigns herself to her fate as a donor. At the end of the novel, Kathy misses Tommy and Ruth, but consoles herself that she will always have her memories with her. Ishiguro explores the extent to which people accept their predetermined fate and how they can find meaning and love within those often-cruel limitations.
A textual feature is a component of the text used by authors to give meaning to their work. It is necessary to engage with the actual construction of the texts and to discuss textual features using metalanguage terms that describe and analyse language. To write a thorough and thoughtful essay, you need to understand the textual features and how they are connected to overall thematic ideas. Structural features and metalanguage can be used as evidence of authorial intent and deepen our understanding of how writers use literary techniques to develop ideas and create meaning.
Stasiland is an example of creative nonfiction, meaning it tells a story of factual events and real people using literary and poetic techniques. Never Let Me Go has elements of multiple genres: dystopian fiction, speculative historical fiction, science fiction and bildungsroman. This is true of Never Let Me Go , as the clones pay with their lives and freedom for the utopian elimination of disease and extended life spans of the 'normals '. However, while clearly set in a horrific dystopian world, Never Let Me Go notably differs from other novels in the dystopian genre, as the oppressed clones never once consider rebelling against the status quo — the most Kathy and Tommy hope for is an extension before beginning their donations and 'completing'.
Ishiguro has stated in multiple interviews that he was most interested in exploring why oppressed persons never consider rebelling against their fate — what leads them to passive acceptance of their position in society? In his exploration of this question, Ishiguro explores the development and growing up of Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy, trying to understand why they all submit without protest to their fate.
In this sense the novel is a bildungsroman. Never Let Me Go follows Kathy, Ruth and Tommy throughout their childhood and adolescence at Hailsham, their experience of limited freedom at the Cottages as young adults, and finally the reality of their short adult life as organ donors. Of course, Never Let Me Go also fits into the category of speculative historical fiction and science fiction. The novel is set in an alternate historical reality where genetic science rapidly advanced after World War Two significantly outstripping the real-world and clones have been used to extend life in the UK for decades. However, Ishiguro does not give much narrative weight to describing the political reality of his fictional world , and neither does he offer much scientific explanation for the existence of clones.
Themes are the big ideas about human experience that a text explores, and form part of the message the author is hoping to communicate. A sound knowledge of key themes is essential for developing a thoughtful essay. All essay topics will ask you to explore thematic ideas in one way or another. Both Stasiland and Never Let Me Go illustrate the importance of remembering through the very construction of the text: in the narrative voice and narrative structure.
Both narrators are looking into the past to try to make sense of history. Stasiland is a compilation of the stories of all kinds of people involved and impacted by the GDR , including those who rebelled against the system, those who supported it and those crushed by it. Funder said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald after the publication of Stasiland that, 'When [Germans] read my book, people in the East are not proud of themselves. They'd rather not be reminded that other people were braver than they were. So there is a huge force to pretend that the Stasi regime was not as bad as it was. This is working against forgetting, and against time' Stasiland , Julia explains the importance of these portraits, telling Anna 'For anyone to understand a regime like the GDR, the stories of ordinary people must be told.
These 'things in their pasts' are not just trauma and hardship, but the knowledge that people just like them — their spouses, children, friends and neighbours — were capable of such cowardice, betrayal, self-interest and cruelty. It is this knowledge that Funder wants to preserve — that ordinary people are capable of both extraordinary courage and extraordinary cowardice. We are terrible…They are terrible. The Germans are terrible' Stasiland , Anna reflects that East Germans were 'long used to thinking the bad Germans were on the other side of the Wall' and now he is forced to ask 'were his people, now broke or drunk, shamed or fled or imprisoned or dead, any good at all?
Kathy recollects and structures her memories of her childhood and relationships to understand them as a unified whole, essentially establishing her identity. Assuming a reader places her autobiography in a social framework with the purpose of communicating her life , which turns it into a historical account that exists beyond the limit of her death. The way memory can be distorted is particularly clear in relation to the idea of nostalgia for a brutal past. This idea is explored differently in Stasiland and Never Let Me Go , with Funder condemning nostalgia as blinding people to the horrors of the past, and Ishiguro illustrating how drawing comfort from the past can help people through difficult times.
Anna reflects:. Most of the people at these parties are too young to remember the GDR anyway. They are just looking for something to yearn for' Stasiland , Funder is critical of nostalgia because it minimises past injustice. Conversely, in Never Let Me Go , nostalgia and false memories are shown to be consolatory and even useful. Before Kathy begins to recount her childhood, she mentions a donor who was once under her care who 'knew he was close to completing' NLMG , 5.
He asks Kathy to share memories of her childhood and 'What he wanted was not just to hear about Hailsham, but to remember Hailsham, just like it had been his own childhood. Although this man is falsifying his memories, he is not editing and revising history like some people in east Berlin , he is replacing them entirely to suppress the trauma of his own past. He is not yearning for a return to an idealised past the way some people in Stasiland do. For Kathy, nostalgia for her childhood helps her reconnect with her friends, creating a sense of belonging and identity.
Her attachment to Hailsham strengthens her worldview, her relational bonds and gives meaning to her life. Nostalgic memory in Never Let Me Go brings comfort, although you could argue that it also fosters passivity and acceptance in the face of oppression. By developing your own interpretation, you become a better English student by:. To overcome the issues above, you need to be confident with your own interpretation of the text.
Compare the ways in which Stasiland and Never Let Me Go depict the difficulties in uncovering the past. We need to identify where these quotes come from in the texts and why they might be significant. The Stasiland quote from p. In the end the only decision was indecision, the mayor buried the bunker and hoped that people in 50 years might know what to do with it. Thus, this quote points to the difficulty countries have in creating a national identity when there is horror and trauma in their history. The Never Let Me Go quote from p. Therefore, this quote points to how memories, even false ones, can reconstruct individual identity. P2: Sometimes people hold on tightly to particular memories as a way to affirm their identity as losing those memories is akin to erasing or denying the legitimacy of their experiences.
Using quotations in essays helps to demonstrate your knowledge of the text, and provides solid evidence for your arguments. A quotation is the repetition of a group of words taken from a text by someone other than the original author. There is no general rule in Australia regarding which type of inverted comma you must use for quotations. Single inverted commas are preferred in Australia as they follow the British standard. The American standard involves styling quotations with the double inverted comma. You can choose either style, just be consistent in your essays. However, quotations must be used correctly, otherwise you risk and these frequent mistakes will be discussed in detail later :.
As you discuss ideas in a paragraph, quotes should be added to develop these ideas further. A quote should add insight into your argument; therefore, it is imperative that the quote you choose relates intrinsically to your discussion. This is dependent on which aspect of the text you are discussing, for example:. Never quote just for the sake of quoting. Throwing in quotations just to make your essay appear more sophisticated will only be more damaging if the quotation does not adequately reinforce or expand on your contention.
Conversely, an essay with no quotations will not achieve many marks either. A quotation should never tell the story for you. Thus, you must be selective in how much you want to quote. Generally speaking, the absolute minimum is three quotes per paragraph but you should not overload your paragraphs either. Overcrowding your essay with too many quotations will lead to failure to develop your ideas, as well as your work appearing too convoluted for your assessor. Remember that the essay is your piece of work and should consist mainly of your own ideas and thoughts. Single worded quotations can often leave the largest impression on the assessor. This is because you are able to demonstrate that you can focus on one word and develop an entire idea around it.
I realised then that I had begun to step small and carry myself all hunched, keeping my arms at my sides and my elbows tucked, as if to leave room for them. Long quotations comprise of more than one sentence — avoid using them as evidence. Your assessor will not mark you highly if the bulk of your paragraphs consists of long quotations. You should aim to keep your quotations to less than 2 lines on an A4 writing page. If you have a long quotation you wish to use, be selective. Choose only the important phrases or key words, and remove the remaining sentence by replacing it with an ellipsis …. You would have noticed that a square bracket [ ] was used.
This will be discussed in detail under Blending Quotes. You must make sure that you use quotation marks whenever you use evidence from your text. Even a single flicker of the eyes could be mistaken for the essential crime that contained all other crimes in itself — thought crime. There are serious consequences for plagiarism. VCAA will penalise students for plagiarism. You should always aim to interweave quotations into your sentences in order to achieve good flow and enhanced readability of your essay. Below is a good example of blending in quotations:. John Proctor deals with his own inner conflict as he is burdened with guilt and shame of his past adulterous actions. Yet during the climatic ending of the play, Proctor honours his principles as he rejects signing a false confession.
Broken sentences are a common mistake made when students aim to integrate quotations into their sentences. Below are examples of broken sentences due to poor integration of a quotation:. Scrooge is illustrated as a person who is isolated in his own sphere. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens. Never write a sentence consisting of only a quotation. This does not add insight into your argument, nor does it achieve good flow or readability. This example is better, however the sentence is still difficult to read. In order to blend quotations into your sentences, try adding in words that will help merge the quotation and your own words together:. This is usually done to:. Authors sometimes write in past looked , present look or future tense will look.
Depending on how you approach your essay, you may choose to write with one of the three tenses. Cosi, Louis Nowra. The author may write in a first I, we , second you or third person he, she, they narrative.
When he died on June 16,Wernher von Braunthe Chris Mccandless Journey Into The Wild Analysis of East Chris Mccandless Journey Into The Wild Analysis aristocrats, had left an indelible, if ambiguous, legacy as a visionary Chris Mccandless Journey Into The Wild Analysis pioneer. Photographs are no longer rare Chris Mccandless Journey Into The Wild Analysis, Sofia De La Torre Research Paper Chris Mccandless Journey Into The Wild Analysis a means of learning Chris Mccandless Journey Into The Wild Analysis the exotic or unknown. In this way the disease was spread, the Mandans were"virtually exterminated," and other tribes suffered similarly devastating losses. The camels in particular take on their own human personalities in her life. Then, they will draw their own fractal patterns.