Friday, 20 May 2016

Textual analysis redux

TEXT


What is it?  (what kind of text? how precise can you be?)

What does it do? (what's the big idea?)

How does it do what it does?   (what are the golden nuggets?)

  • Rhetoric
  • Imagery and other literary devices
  • Diction and syntax
  • tone and mood


Why does it do what it does?   persuade? inform? entertain?

Who is the audience?           How is this indicated?

Macbeth

Themes

power and corruption
the dagger of the mind
all is not what it seems
natural and supernatural
past vs present vs future



Motifs

supernatural occurrences
weather
night time
blood and gore
swords and knives


Characters

Macbeth - waaaaaay to suggestible
Lady Macbeth - so determined, so certain, it goes so wrong
Banquo - too smart, too trusting, Foil no.1
Macduff - if only he were a bit smarter, beware Macduff, Foil no.2
Malcolm - smaaaaart
Duncan - really? who would have thought the old man would have so much blood in him?


Wednesday, 18 May 2016

Gatsby

Themes: (you need to raise the bar on these)
  • I do not want what I already Have
  • East vs West 
  • The rich are Different...
  • Can’t live in the Past?…Of course you can.
  • American dream? It’s a lie.
  • What’ll we do with ourselves this afternoon?  And the day after that, and the next thirty years?

    Motifs:
    •  Car Crashes
    •  The green light
    •  Light
    •  The Valley of Ashes and the 'Eyes' 
    •  Alcohol  
    • Weather 


    Important Characters:
    • Nick- a reliable/unreliable narrative voice, judgmental
    • Daisy- unreliable in almost every way
    • Jordan- reliably self-centered
    • George Wilson- Reliable in every way; dull, dull, dull
    • Tom- Reliably, predictably, a self-centered bully
    • Meyer Wolfsheim- utterly reliable (he knows a guy)
    • Gatsby- Who am I?

    Rubrics


    Orals


    SL Paper 1


    SL Paper 2


    SL Written Task

    Friday, 13 May 2016

    Paragraphs reminder

    Paragraphs????

    OH YEAH!

    Paragraphs 101

    The paragraph

    -Hook
    - Introduction
    -Thesis
    -Example (2-3 maximum)
    -Explanation (50-70 % of the paragraph, including context)
    -Conclusion/link to next paragraph










    Wednesday, 4 May 2016

    Q

    How have writers used narrative voice and/or characterization to explore a social or intellectual concern in the two works you have studied?