Blk 1: Essays written by teens

You should read the previous post (Paper 2, Section 2, Types of questions) BEFORE reading the articles here.


A list of the most popular argumentative or 'opinion type' essays written by teens in the magazine TEENINK
http://teenink.com/Opinion/?sort=popularity&dir=desc



To read articles for youth magazines, browse these links:

Youth magazines which promote social, political and environmental change
Wiretap: http://www.wiretapmag.org/
Wired : http://www.wired.com/wired/
Tearaway: http://www.tearaway.co.nz/


To read articles in teenage girls' magazine, browse Teenvoice: http://www.teenvoices.com/AboutTV/index.shtml

Blk 1 PAPER 2 SECTION B: TYPES OF QUESTIONS

TYPES OF QUESTIONS IN PAPER 2 SECTION B


A. Questions related to GENRE (magazine article, review, speech/talk, letter to a magazine or newspaper, entry for a competition, newspaper article)

1. A media website which displays reviews has invited contributions from its users about a particular book, film or television programme. Write two users’ contrasting reviews (between 300–450 words each) about the same title, bringing out clear reasons for their different opinions. (June 08)

2. You have been invited to write a brief article for a teenage magazine in which you offer advice to its readers on dealing with stress and adopting a healthy lifestyle. Write the article. (June 08)

3. You have been invited by your community to speak about the ways in which the local area and its facilities could be made more attractive for residents and tourists. Write your speech, offering clear reasons for your ideas. (Nov 07)

4. You have been invited to contribute to a radio programme in which participants will describe their least favourite cultural experiences. You will have to talk about two of the following, offering reasons for your opinions: the worst book you have read; the owrst film or television programme you have watched; the worst piece of art you have seen. Write your talk. (Nov 07)

5. You have just read an article in a teenage magazine which argues that young peoples' increased access to the media and new technology is beneficial for a number of reasons. You feel very strongly about this and write to the magazine disagreeing with the ideas in the article. write this letter. (June 07)

6. You have been invited to reply to an article which appeared recently in your local newspaper. In the article the writer urged that women's rights have been taken too far and that men feel that they have lost their status and identity. Write your reply. (June 07)

7. You have been asked to write a magazine article called ‘Coping with Kids’. The article is aimed atparents and offers positive and constructive advice on how they should deal with teenagers in the family. Write the opening of the article. (Nov 06)

8. You have entered a competition in which you have to make a speech naming three things you would rid the world of and explaining why. Write the speech. (Nov 06)

9. You have been asked to write a magazine feature called ‘My Role Model’. In it, you should explain why a particular person (alive or dead) inspires you, and try to persuade readers that they should share your enthusiasm. (Nov 05)

10. Write a magazine feature for older readers called ‘Brave New World’. The feature should persuade the reader that current and future technology is not simply aimed at young people but that it can benefit older people too. The article should be written in a lively and interesting way. (June 04)

11. A major television company is running a competition to find a presenter for its new youyj music and entertainment show. Entrants are required to write in, outlining their personal qualities, what they could bring to the show and how they could present it. Write your entry.(June 04)



B. ARGUMENTATIVE/OPINION-TYPE ESSAYS

1. Does history teach us anything? (June 08)

2. ‘The punishment should fit the crime.’ Do you agree? (June 08)

3. 'Charity concerts do more harm than good'. What is your view? (Nov 07)

4. 'East is East and West is West....and never shall they meet.' Can the world live in harmony? (June 07)

5. ‘Fast food is bad for you and bad for the world.’ Do you agree? ( Nov 06)

6. Can it ever be right for one nation to interfere in the affairs of another? (Nov 05)

7. The United Nations is running an international competition called ‘What My Country and Culture Can Offer Others’. To enter, write an essay explaining what people around the world could learn from your country’s traditions and ways of life. (Nov 05)

8. ‘There is too much power in the hands of too few people today’. Do you agree? (June 04)

9. ‘Genetic research and experiments are doing more harm than good’. What do you think? (June 04)




C. Questions related to LIFESTYLE (how should we live? What values,beliefs,etc should we have?)

1. If you were able to create a new country, what kind of society and laws would you wish to see in the place - and why?

2. If you had unlimited wealth, what would you do with it and why? (June 07)

3. ‘You should think about the future.’
‘Live for the moment.’
Which of these views would you agree with more – and why? (Nov 06)

4. You are to be left alone on a desert island, from which you cannot escape, for a month. You have basic survival rations, but you are also allowed three luxury items. Explain which luxury items you would take with you and why. (June 05)

5. ‘Turn the other cheek’.
‘An eye for an eye’.
Which view are you in closer agreement with and why? (2004)

6. How far do you agree that life is all about having fun? (PTEB Mock Exams 2006)

Blk 1 Review of model commentaries

Below are 5 model commentaries from older posts in the blog.

For commentaries 1 and 2 the parts of the passage that are in italics illustrate how you may comment on the effect of language features . The words in bold refer to the various language features or the use of words by the writer.


1. Commentary on the text taken from George Orwell’s “The Road to Wigan Pier”

This text from George Orwell’s “The Road to Wigan Pier” is in the genre of a report or a social commentary/critique. His purpose is to bring to light or expose the conditions suffered by the working people in the North of England. The audience is likely to be the general public, but more specifically the government. Its tone therefore is critical, descriptive and provocative.

The first paragraph characterizes the South, East and Midlands of England as comfortably bland and uniform, through the use of such lexical items as “accustomed to”, “not much difference”, “not unlike” and “indistinguishable”. He then provides a stark contrast to this with his description of the towns of the North. The repetition of words such as “ugliness” and the use of adjectives like “frightful” and “arresting” heightens the terrible contrast between these comfortable pleasant towns of the rest of England, and those of the North.

The second paragraph consists of a description of Wigan. He uses a myriad of adjectives to describe the terrible scene he witnesses, such as “hideous, planless, functionless, frightful, evil.” All of these combine to create an image of a horrific environment. In the first line he uses the contradictory term “at best” along with the word "hideous" to show that the word is not enough to describe the scene of the slag-heap. That is indeed the best thing which can be said about it.

The simile “like the emptying of a giant’s dustbin” gives us an image of the huge size of the slag-heap. Adjectives such as “jagged” convey a harsh, sharp image of the scene. He then creates an image of hell with the use of the alliterative metaphor “red rivulets of fire, winding this way and that.” The never-ending nature of this horror is emphasized through the description of the “blue flames of sulphur, which always seem on the point of expiring and always spring out again.” There is no relief, no respite from the misery. These slag-heaps will also still be visible “centuries hence”. In the phrase “evil brown grass” he uses personification to show that even natural elements such as grass have this horrible characteristic. The fact that slag-heaps are used as playgrounds seems incongruous, almost ironic. These slag-heaps are compared with the use of a simile to the sharp peaks of “a choppy sea, suddenly frozen” or a metaphor with his depiction of an uncomfortable lumpy “flock mattress”.

In the third paragraph he recalls one particular winter afternoon in Wigan. he uses the alliterative metaphor “lunar landscape” to give the image of a barren, almost alien environment. There is no vegetation, just “cinders” and “frozen mud”. This environment is “criss-crossed by the imprint of innumerable clogs“ the alliteration generating the image of many people suffering under these harsh conditions. The “flashes – pools of stagnant water” intensify the image of this horrific place, as they were covered with “ice, the colour of raw umber”. You might, under normal conditions expect ice to clear or white, but not in this environment. There is an example of personification where the “lock gates wore beards of ice” emphasizing the image of this cold, barren land, from which “vegetation had been banished.”

However, all of this pales in comparison to Sheffield, as evidenced by the use of the intensifier “even”. It is “the ugliest town in the Old World”, with very few decent buildings, even compared to the average East Anglian village of only 500 inhabitants. Ironically, the inhabitants seem to be almost proud of this accolade. The exclamation mark after “…stench!” intensifies the already strong meaning of the word. There is some irony in the fact that even when the sulphur smell is not present, you smell gas. There is no respite, no relief from the unrelenting misery. “The shallow river…is usually bright yellow” and one might normally expect something yellow to be bright, primary and natural, however here, the yellow comes from “some chemical or other”. Throughout the text, Orwell uses colour imagery, “grey mountains…red rivulets…blue flames…brown grass…raw umber…bright yellow…dark red…blackened…blackish… red and yellow brick…rosy…redlit boys” to heighten the vivid effect of his imagery. Even the primary colours are indicative of something horrible.

The description of the thirty-three chimneys is heightened by the fact that it was only the smoke which hindered his view of many more. Further use of lexis such as “frightful…squalor…littered…gaunt” further increase the impression of impoverishment. His ironic use of the word “vista” to describe the ugly panorama is intensified by the repetition of “chimneys, chimney beyond chimney”.

The last paragraph gives us an image of Sheffield at night, a hideous place where there is nothing but “blackness” and the oxymoronic “sinister magnificence.“ The “serrated flames, like circular saws” reprises (repeats) the “jagged” image from the description of Wigan. Orwell personifies the smoke and flames which “squeeze themselves”, as if they were alive. The vision of hell is once again highlighted with “fiery serpents” and “redlit boys”, and further intensified with the onomatopoeic “whiz, thump…scream.”

Orwell, through his cumulative use of imagery created by a variety of lexis(vocabulary) , paints a picture of unmitigated horror. It is clear that his writing was intended to have a very strong effect on his audience.



2. Model for “Travellers’ check”

The genre of this text is an article from an in-flight magazine. Its tone therefore is likely to be persuasive, as it is in effect an advert for the airlines services, as they only write about places they go to, and only ever in a positive light. It cannot be seen as an impartial opinion.
The purpose is to inform the readers about the North Borneo Railway, in an effort to persuade them to use it, and to use Malaysia Airlines to get there.
There is also a light-heartedness to the tone, which the author establishes early, with the pun in the title, between a possible means of paying for the journey and an introduction to the information to follow about the railway.

The attraction of train travel is outlined in the opening paragraph.: the metaphor “opened up the countryside” makes train travel attractive by suggesting new discoveries or the revelation of something concealed until now. “Head-off” is light-hearted and gives the idea that travel is relaxing and freedom-giving. The mention of Thomas Cook in the second paragraph gives historical accuracy and therefore credibility to train travel as something tried and tested.

The idiomatic usage of “puffin’ billy” is informal which gives the passage an easy feel to it. Train travel is for everyone. The metaphor “paradise” to describe the railway in north Borneo makes the countryside which it passes through seem idyllic., the most beautiful place on earth, or even a beauty which transcends the earth. The structure of the rest of the paragraph makes it easy to follow the rest of the passage because the writer outlines two options for travel on the railway, which then makes it possible to devote a paragraph to one of them.
The idiom “trainheads” must mean those who love train travel, again the informal tone makes train travel seem accessible to ordinary people, and the newness of the idiom makes train travel seem modern and possibly an attraction for the young, who are the people who might invent this new slang.

In the fourth paragraph the vocabulary item “narrow rickety” is used to describe the train. Normally these adjectives would not enhance an overall description, but in this case they serve to make the train appear attractively old-fashioned. As if the privilege of having such a historical experience makes it worthwhile to suffer this discomfort. . The “lunatic fringe, fanatical steam train devotees” raises train travel to an almost religious level which is clearly hyperbole. 'Lunatic fringe' is humorous because it suggests that those who like train travel are in some way mentally deranged.

Contrast is established when the writer goes on to describe the other, completely different type of travelers (those with only a passing interest) therefore it can be seen that train travel is for all, and so every reader is included as a possible traveller, adding to the persuasive tone of the passage. The vocabulary captures the history and therefore the credibility of train travel in words such as “nostalgia” and “oblivion” with their connotations of long time scales. A simile describing the train as being “like a time capsule’ makes the train seem old-fashioned, by suggesting a trip on it is not only through this part of Malaysia but back through history to a time pre-dating our own modern trains. The metaphor “lifeline” comes from the literal idea of throwing a drowning person a rope with which to be pulled ashore: thus the vital importance of the railway to people’s way of life is underpinned.

In conclusion the writer seeks to persuade people to use these trains through an appeal to their sense of nostalgia.



3. Shanghai Childhood

The genre of this text is from a novel which has been written from an autobiographical viewpoint. The tone is very much one of nostalgia and gentle humour. The writer’s purpose is to look back on childhood in a nostalgic, sometimes rather comical way.

It is incongruous to describe a “mound” as having a “summit”. This shows that to small children a slight incline in the garden seems like a mountain. The writer concedes that his memory is exaggerated in the phrases “even at the time” and “hardly matched”: he acknowledges the “splendour“of the houses round the corner, which are described as “residences” rather than merely houses.

A comical picture of little boys is created. Their game is only running about in the garden and yet they are “worn…out” and are “panting”, in need of a rest. The gap between childhood and adulthood for the writer is shown in the words “around six years old”; he does not have an exact memory because it was a long time ago. Nostalgia is created in his closing his eyes “to bring back that picture”, consciously trying to evoke the past. His parents’ nostalgia for the England they have left behind is shown in their weak attempt to recreate an “English” lawn: the inverted commas show their attempt is not entirely unsuccessful in the climate of Shanghai. It is also important to note that tense shift from past to present which further highlights the nostalgic element in the text.



4. Sample Commentary – Toads and Dancing Monkeys

Durrell’s autobiographical account of his travels in West Africa during the early 1950s is humorous His intention is to transport the reader from her English sitting room through the brilliantly colourful jungle which teems with life and is full of exotic sights and sounds. Everything here is alive, from the ancient lorry to the sounds of the birds. Everything has a mind of its own, from the sentinel trees and ferns to the willful components of the truck. By bringing the scene so vividly to life, Durrell’s writing serves as a metaphor for the exuberance of life in the jungle. We can see that he considers the jungle to be a single living entity in his image of the forest, a thick pelt of green undulating into the distance. This then is his purpose, to make the scene come bursting alive, and the language which he uses achieves this aim wonderfully well.

In the first paragraph we are cleverly introduced to the pitiful clapped out jalopy of a truck. The negatively expressed and understated 'not in what one would call the first flush of youth' leads us to expect a means of transport perhaps verging on cantankerous and unreliable middle age. However, the antique vehicle which arrives is personified as a geriatric human struggling for breath, and the alliterative 'wheels wheezing' and onomatopoeic 'gasping' bring to vivid life its asthmatic condition, especially when it cannot cope even with the gentlest of slopes. Its component parts are also alive and possess minds of their own and thus Durrell has to take control of them like a strict schoolmaster watching over unruly pupils with his stern eye. One pupil, the handbrake, is surly, while the other, the clutch, is playful. Here we find the strange simile 'seized every chance to leap out of its socket with a noise like a strangling leopard'. The noise of the clutch is surely a matter for the imagination of the reader, but one function of this simile is to remind the reader that she is in the distant jungle and that the decrepit lorry still has something of the wild animal in it and remains part of the jungle around.

Durrell obviously has a high opinion of the skills of West African lorry drivers, as he says that not even they can drive in impossible positions. Here, the adverb 'even' serves to compare West African lorry driver favourably with their counterparts elsewhere. Durrell introduces more humour when he describes the truck as 'noble', a royal quality it obviously acquires from its sedate and stately speed of 20mph. This is made more humorous with the idiomatic 'threw caution to the winds' and careered along in a madcap fashion at twenty-five. This is a piece of hyperbole as 25mph is anything but fast, but of course to the clapped out wagon it is very quick indeed.

Having brought the lorry to life, Durrell moves on in paragraph two to bring the jungle around him to life and endow the flora with surprising purpose. Here we have the trees standing in solid ranks as soldiers guarding something, but what? Later the metaphor is repeated as the ferns become guardians of a new landscape. Could these provide a clue as to Durrell’s purpose in Africa?

In the same paragraph we are introduced to the boys who sing a simple song in a simple dialect. All that interests them is going to ma home to ma mammy. They do not notice and have no interest in the wondrous sights around them. The driver too is deferential to Durrell, worried that he will object to the song. Durrell is obviously the boss, he knows everything about the forest, and compared to his rich and flamboyant language, the natives appear to be little more than simpletons who are merely there to help him on his dark purpose. This paragraph also contains beautiful, evocative descriptions of the love of Durrell’s life, the animals that inhabit the forest. The alliteration of the fricative f in flocks of hornbills flapped brings these exotic birds vividly to life. The onomatopoeia of honking conjures their call, and the simile like the ghosts of ancient taxis evokes a mystical, spiritual rather than physical presence and serves to remind the reader of the other worldliness of this domain. Then we meet the agama lizards who are alliteratively draped decoratively, an image of curtains in keeping with the nature of the forest and one which gains credence when their colour is described as sunset, a myriad of changes from orange through red to deepest violet. Once again the lizards are full of life as they nod their heads furiously. Furiously at what, one wonders – is it simply the speed of movement, or is it their anger and knowledge of Durrell’s purpose? The road too has life, looping its way in languid curves. The lengthy l sounds accentuating the long and lazy path it takes. All of this alliteration and onomatopoeia serve to bring the sounds of the forest to the readers’ ears.

In the third paragraph, we meet a new landscape, that of the uplands. This is much less luxuriant than the lowland forest, but nevertheless is described in vibrant terms. There are tree ferns which stand around plotting and planning with fronds like delicate green fountains, a simile which easily captures how they look and suggests the renewing life giving qualities of fountains. The hills become bare; they shrug themselves free of a cloak, because, of course, they too are alive. We find golden grass rippling, an echo of the undulating forest below. To close this section we return to the lorry, which has, against all the odds, made it to the summit exhibiting all the signs of illness and age previously mentioned. Though by now it truly seems to be on its last legs spouting steam like a dying whale. It is with a sense of relief and release that the passage ends with the closure of switched off the engine.

Whilst the use of language clearly plays the major role in how Durrell achieves his aim, there are some areas of structure which require comment. He uses colons, firstly to explain in detail why this particular lorry was worse than any he had met before. Secondly to list the operations he was required to supervise whilst in the lorry. The effect is to lead the reader to expect that in each case more information will be provided. Durrell also uses present participles rather than finite tenses to de-emphasise actions and thus focus more on the image presented. Thus we find that the agama lizards lay, blushing into sunset colouring: the focus clearly being on the picture of them blushing. Similarly we see massive tree-ferns standing in conspiratorial groups, and the effect helps us visualise them as humans.

Durrell easily conveys his enthusiasm for the forest and its inhabitants through his flamboyant use of language. The experience for the reader is to be transported with him onto the lorry and into the forests of West Africa; to an exotic location where everything is alive and conscious

Blk 1: Answering questions in Paper 1

1. Read the rubric (brief explanation for the passage) carefully to get an idea of the genre and what the passage is generally about.

2. Read questions (a) and (b), underlining key words if necessary to help/remind you to answer the question relevantly.

3. Read the passage quickly the first time to get an overall impression of the meaning, based on the rubric. You may find certain words, phrases or language features in the passage striking and you should quickly underline the words and jot down brief notes.

4. As you read the passage a few times, you should be getting a clearer idea of what the passage is generally about ( What is basically going on in the passage? Overall, what is the passage about? what is the general idea in the passage? ) Continue to jot down your responses .

5. Try to see how language features (figures of speech, length of sentences, repetition, grammar, irony, contrast etc) help to convey this general idea effectively.

Blk 1 Adjectives to describe TONE (081020)

Tone is the manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude; it is the intonation of voice which expresses meaning. Tone may shift from paragraph to paragraph, or even from line to line; it is the result of allusion, diction, figurative language, imagery, irony, motif, symbolism, syntax and style.

A speaker's tone is evident to all, but understanding written tone is an entirely different matter. The reader must appreciate word choice, details, imagery, and language to understand. To misinterpret tone is to misinterpret meaning; for this reason, we have compiled a guide of 30 categories of tone to elucidate the study of writing and its subtleties.


1.Threatening (menacing, intimidating) tone

"I shall throw you on a black ship and send you to the mainland, To King Echetos, destroyer of all mortal men, Who will cut off your nostrils and ears with a sharp bronze sword; He will tear off your private parts and give them to the dogs to eat raw." -The Odyssey, Homer

In this excerpt, one of Homer’s characters makes dire threats against another. Admittedly, this isn’t a terrifically difficult piece to analyze, but "threatening" fit so well that we had to include it. The key to classifying a tone as "threatening" is the possibility or promise of negative action against the subject. Our particular subject has achieved quite a severe set of consequences for himself and thus more than merits the designation.


2. Provocative (Stimulating, exciting ) tone
Freedom calls you! Quick, be ready –
Rouse ye in the name of God, --Onward, onward, strong and steady, -¬Dash to earth the oppressor’s rod. Freedom calls, ye brave! Rise and spurn the name of slave. -"Polish War Song," Percival

"Freedom calls you!" Yes, freedom is calling, "in the name of God," and all shall rise. The exclamation marks and calls to action are forceful in this passage. The excitement is evident in the way the author wants all to "rise" and fight. It is extremely provocative in this sense, to "spurn the name of slave."


3. Persuasive – Written to convince or win over
…there is no occupation concerned with the management of social affairs which belongs either to woman or to man, as such. Natural gifts are to be found here and there in both creatures alike; and every occupation is open to both, so far as their natures are concerned, though woman is for all purposes the weaker.
Certainly. Is that a reason for making over all occupations to men only? Of course not. No, because one woman may have a natural gift for medicine or for music, another may not. Surely. Is it not also true that a woman may, or may not, be warlike or athletic? I think so. …So for the purpose of keeping watch over the commonwealth, woman has the same nature as man, save in so far as she is weaker. -"Equality of Women" from The Republic of Plato

In this passage, Plato argues for the equality of the women in the process of selection for governmental posts. His persuasive tone is evident in the nature of his composition; he writes a dialogue between the master and the student, in which the student is won over to and subsequently supports the master’s point of view. Plato is making a point; he is arguing to an end; he is persuading his audience to share his personal opinion.


4. Sarcastic -- Snide, mocking
You will send your child, will you, into a room where the table is loaded with sweet wine and fruit – some poisoned, some not? – you will say to him, "Choose freely, my little child! It is so good for you to have freedom of choice; it forms your character – your individuality! If you take the wrong cup or the wrong berry, you will die before the day is over, but you will have acquired the dignity of a Free child."
-"Freedom," Ruskin

Ruskin does not mean for us to go and send our children into rooms with poisoned fruits. He means exactly the opposite, and he is snidely mocking those who would encourage a child to make his own choices. Using the extreme example of a “table…loaded with sweet wine and fruit – some poisoned, some not,” he is showing how the reasoning of letting children acquire “the dignity of a Free child” can go horribly askew. Meaning the opposite of what his literal words say, Ruskin has an extremely sarcastic approach to his subject.


5. Sardonic -- Derisively mocking
Once upon a time there was a lion that lived in Africa with all the other lions. The other lions were all bad lions and every day they ate zebras and wildebeests and every kind of antelope. Sometimes the bad lions ate people too. They ate Swahilis, Umbulus and Wandorobos and they especially liked to eat Hindu traders.
But this lion, that we love because he was so good, had wings on his back. Because he had wings on his back the other lions all made fun of him.
-"The Good Lion," Hemingway

Although known for simplicity, in this passage Hemingway uses simple words such as “good” and “bad” very obviously. Taken literally, these words are like a children’s book, yet in reality they carry more meaning. The “bad lions” eat zebras and Hindu traders, but our lion would never stoop so low. No, he has “wings on his back” – quite literally – and he is a good lion. But he is so good that one simply has to believe he is not as good as he seems. Our “good lion” is being mocked, in a sardonic tone, for he is “so good.”


6.Satiric – Satirizing, ironic, mocking, farcial
At the house of sticks, the wolf again banged on the door and shouted, "Little pigs, little pigs, let me in!" The pigs shouted back, "Go to hell, you carnivorous, imperialistic oppressor!" At this, the wolf chuckled condescendingly. He thought to himself: "They are so childlike in their ways. It will be a shame to see them go, but progress cannot be stopped." So the wolf huffed and puffed and blew down the house of sticks. The pigs ran to the house of bricks, with the wolf close at their heels. Where the house of sticks had stood, other wolves built a time-share condo resort complex for vacationing wolves, with a fiberglass reconstruction of the house of sticks, as well as native curio shops, snorkeling, and dolphin shows. At the house of bricks, the wolf again banged on the door and shouted, "Little pigs, little pigs, let me in!" This time in response, the pigs sang songs of solidarity and wrote letters of protest to the United Nations. By now the wolf was getting angry at the pigs refusal to see the situation from the carnivore’s point of view. So he huffed and he puffed, and huffed and puffed, then grabbed his chest and fell over dead from a massive heart attack brought on from eating too many fatty foods. -"The Three Little Pigs," Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, James Finn Garner

In this passage, Garner satirizes both the political correctness of the era and the American development of third-world countries while parodying a classic children’s tale. This story helps us to realize how flawed some practices of our society are; when humor makes us consider such things, we call it satire.


7. Disdainful -- Arrogant, lordly, superior, unsympathetic
You can dislocate your jaw and wrench your wrists out of joint and they still have not understood you, nor will they ever understand. They often grimace, then flash the whites of their eyes and foam at the mouth, but they don’t actually mean anything by it; it’s not even a threat, they just do it because that’s their nature. They take whatever it is they need. You can’t say that they employ force; when they grab at something, you simply stand aside and leave them to it.
-"An Old Leaf," Kafka

"Nor will they ever understand." The narrator has given up all hope at communication with these people. He is superior to them, he will not even fight them, "simply stand aside." Simply put, it's "their nature," so it seems they can't help their behavior, and the narrator is left to look down upon these people and give up on talking to them. The message the narrator conveys is that this not worthwhile anymore, and his tone amounts to great disdain.


8.Condescending - patronizing, arrogant
So all of a sudden, I sort of leaned over and said, "would any of you girls care to dance?" I didn't ask them crudely or anything. Very suave, in fact. But G-d damn it, they thought that was a panic, too. They started giggling some more. I'm not kidding, they were three real morons.
-Catching in the Rye, Salinger

The key element of condescension is the feeling that one is above one's surroundings or fellows. In this passage, Holden contrasts his "suavity" with the girls' stupidity. He thinks he is better than they are, and maybe he is; but "would any of you girls care to dance?" is an affected mannerism, especially for Holden. He is trying to make himself more than he is, and failing in some measure.


9.Horrific – Appalling, shocking, gruesome
Out a way, rolling in the sea, was a Landing Craft Infantry, and as we came alongside of her I saw a ragged shellhole through the steel plates forward of her pilothouse where an 88-mm. German shell had punched through. Blood was dripping from the shiny edges of the hole into the sea with each roll of the LCI. Her rails and hull had been befouled by sea-sick men, and her dead were laid forward of her pilothouse.
-By-Line: Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway

Hemingway’s tone is often difficult to discern, as he habitually writes with a very detached, journalistic style. This excerpt is actually from a newspaper article that he wrote about the invasion of Normandy. However, he lends more detail to his subject than a journalist should; he emphasizes the harshness of the scene, the gut-wrenching power of the experience. Blood does not drip from shiny, ragged steel edges purely to convey fact. Hemingway expects to horrify you, to make you think, "Dear God," and pause a moment over your morning coffee, to realize for a moment the brutality and the ugliness of war.


10. Bantering -- Teasing, joking
You never found out why these men spend so much time shaking hands [in beer commercials]. Maybe shaking hands is just their simple straightforward burly masculine American patriotic way of saying to each other: "Floyd, I am truly sorry I drank all that beer last night and went to the bathroom in your glove compartment."
-Dave Barry's Greatest Hits, Barry

Dave Barry is famous for his humorous, bantering style. He speaks straight to the reader in a bold second-person style -- "You never found out…" and talks to us as if we are good friends of his. A long string of adjectives describing the way these men talk as "simple straightforward burly…" adds to the casual style; this is not formal to use six adjectives in a row. Barry in a whole writes as if he's telling a joke to a good friend.


11. Amused -- Of a playful nature, entertained
Henri the painter was not French and his name was not Henri. Henri had so steeped himself in stories of the Left Bank in Paris that he lived there although he had never been there. Feverishly he followed in periodicals the Dadaist movements and schisms, the strangely feminine jealousies and religiousness, the obscurantisms of the forming and breaking schools. Regularly he revolted against outworn techniques and materials. One season he threw out perspective. Another year he abandoned red, even as the mother of purple. Finally he gave up paint entirely. It was not known whether Henri was a good painter or not for he threw himself so violently into movements that he had little time left for painting of any kind.
-Cannery Row, Steinbeck

Henri amuses the author of this passage. "He lived there although he had never been there." Simply the way Henri hurls himself into these movements Steinbeck laughs at -- he finds Henri's eagerness highly entertaining. Throwing himself "violently" into movements, Henri follows each idea that comes his way, eventually giving up paint entirely. This is silly, and Steinbeck sees this, conveying the humor to us.


12.Mock-heroic - Ridiculing a "hero"
[Don Quixote has just liberated a group of dangerous criminals]

"That is all very well," answered Don Quixote, "but I know what we should do now." Then he called all the galley slaves, who were now running hither and thither in a riotous mood and had stripped the commissary to the skin, and when they had gathered around him in a circle, he addressed them as follows: "It is the duty of well-bred people to be grateful for benefits received, and ingratitude is one of the most hateful sins in the eyes of God. I say this sirs, because you know what favor you have received from me, and the only return I wish and demand is that you all go from here, laden with the chains from which I have just freed your necks, to the city of El Toboso. There you are to present yourselves before Lady Dulcinea of El Toboso and tell her that her Knight of the Rueful Figure sent you there to commend his service to her. You are to tell her, point by point, the details of this famous adventure, and when you have done this, you may then go whichever way you please and good luck be with you."
-Don Quixote, Cervantes

Don Quixote's actions are suitable preposterous in this passage to make very little analysis necessary. He suggests that the convicts should present themselves to Lady Dulcinea in the name of the "Knight of the Rueful Figure;" he expects others to share his misplaced idealism; in short, he is clearly demented. What he would label heroism Cervantes calls folly; the tone is therefore mock-heroic.


13.Elegiac – Lamenting, poignant, funereal
Six Delaware girls, with their long, dark, flowing tresses falling loosely across their bosoms, stood apart, and only gave proofs of their existence as they occasionally strewed sweet-scented herbs and forest flowers on a litter of fragrant plants, that, under a pall of Indian robes, supported all that now remained of the ardent, high-souled, and generous Cora. Her form was concealed in many wrappers of the same simple manufacture, and her face was shut forever from the gaze of men.
-Last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper
Cooper’s diction clearly indicates his elegiac tone. He calls Cora "ardent, high-souled, and generous;" such praise is typical of an elegy. In addition, his words convey a sense of regret, of loss – again, typical of elegiac writing. This passage is a remembrance and a farewell, a last praise and a poignant song of mourning.


14.Disappointed -- Deceived, crestfallen, let down
But I felt after the novelty had worn off the Americans didn’t really understand our music or our culture. Coming from a country where having central heating was considered posh and a refrigerator a luxury, Americans seemed to me to be strangely spoiled and ‘old-fashioned.’ They seemed to be lost in the forties and fifties. I expected to find Americans more forward and progressive but I was surprised to find many very set in their ways, just like their English counterparts.
-Kink, Davies

Ray Davies was hoping for magic in America, yet he found "strangely spoiled" people who were "old-fashioned." What he expected -- "forward and progressive" -- Davies did not find; the experience of America ended up extremely disillusioning. The depressingness of finding these people "just like their English counterparts" made him extremely let down, and the disappointed tone shows it.


15.Somber – Bleak, depressing, dismal
No crowd of serfs ran out on to the steps to meet the masters; a little girl of twelve years made her appearance alone. After her there came out of the house a young lad, very like Piotr, dressed in a coat of gray livery, with white armorial buttons, the servant of Pavel Petrovitch Kirsanov. Without speaking, he opened the door of the carriage, and unbuttoned the apron of the coach. Nikolai Petrovitch, with his son and Bazarov, walked through a dark and empty hall…
-Fathers and Sons, Turgenev

Turgenev’s tone in this piece can be determined by examining the detail he provides. He emphasizes the absence of people; first noting that no "crowd of serfs" appeared, and later notes that Petrovitch, his son, and Bazarov walked through a "dark and empty hall." Next, observe the silence; no one speaks, and no noise is mentioned. Finally, note the use of color and light – gray, white, and dark. Turgenev’s paints a bleak, silent picture for us to observe - specifically, a bleak, silent, "somber" picture.


16.Urgent - imperative, critical, intensely necessary
"I must see the Lieutenant-Colonel," Gomez said.
"He is asleep," the officer said. "I could see the lights of that bicycle of thine for a mile coming down the road. Dost wish to bring on a shelling?" "Call the Lieutenant-Colonel," Gomez said. "this is a matter of the utmost gravity." "He is asleep, I tell thee," the officer said. "What sort of a bandit is that with thee?" he nodded toward Andrés. "He is a guerillero from the other side of the lines with a dispatch of the utmost importance for the General Golz who commands the attack that is to be made at dawn beyond Navacerrada," Gomez said excitedly and earnestly. "Rouse the Teniente-Coronel for the love of God."
The officer looked at him with his droopy eyes shaded by the green celluloid. "All of you are crazy," he said. "I know of no General Golz nor of no attack. Take this sportsman and get back to your battalion."
"Rouse the Teniente-Coronel, I say," Gomez said and Andrés saw his mouth tightening. "Go obscenity yourself," the officer said to him lazily and turned away. Gomez took his heavy 9 mm. Star pistol out of its holster and shoved it against the officer's shoulder. "Rouse him, you fascist bastard," he said. "Rouse him or I'll kill you." -For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway

In this excerpt, Hemingway uses terse, strained dialog to communicate urgency. Small details - the tightening of Gomez' mouth, for example - show us the tension inherent in this confrontation. This is an incredibly intense passage, and the dialog ripples with the force of the conflict. Hemingway uses the urgency in this piece to draw the reader in, to produce a gut-level emotional reaction that exemplifies his work.



17.Ominous – Fateful, ill-boding, foreboding, dire
He still thought it had all been set up too fast. Clemenza had given him copies of the police mug shots of the two punks, the dope on where the punks went drinking every night to pick up bar girls. Paulie had recruited two of the strong-arms in the family and fingered the punks for them. He had also given them their instructions. No blows on the top or the back of the head, there was to be no accidental fatality. Other than that they could go as far as they liked.
-The Godfather, Mario Puzo

The first sentence of this paragraph is ominous in the extreme. It expresses misgivings about an illegal venture; consequences could be severe if done improperly. In addition, the mention of "accidental fatality" indicates that this is a serious matter. This paragraph is written to convey to the reader the idea that something may go wrong.


18.Apprehensive - anxious, uneasy, worried
Time passed.
Susan waited.
The more Susan waited, the more the doorbell didn't ring. Or the phone. She looked at her watch. She felt that now was about the time that she could legitimately begin to feel cross. She was cross already, of course, but that had been in her own time, so to speak. They were well and truly into his time now, and even allowing for traffic, mishaps, and general vagueness and dilatoriness, it was now well over half an hour past the time that he had insisted was the latest time they could possibly afford to leave, so she'd better be ready.
-Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Douglas Adams

Douglas' tone in this piece is reflected by his syntax. He begins with short, choppy sentences, like the ticking of a clock. He continues to use medium/short sentences and then concludes the paragraph in a long, rushing sentence emphasizing the wrongness of the situation. One immediately gets the feeling that something has gone very wrong.


19.Audacious -- Daring, bold, insolent
…he tells them right back in a loud, brassy voice that he’s already plenty damn clean, thank you.
"They showered me this morning at the courthouse and last night at the jail. And I swear I believe they’d of washed my ears for me on the taxi over if they coulda found the vacilities. Hoo boy, seems like every time they ship me someplace I gotta get scrubbed down before, after, and during the operation…and get back away from me with that thermometer, Sam."
-One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Kesey

The speaker -- McMurphy -- is blatantly insolent in this quote. The people in charge are simple trying to take his temperature and give him a shower, yet he tells them to "get back away from me." He is speaking in a "brassy" voice; this clues the reader into his boldness immediately. Emphasis ("I swear…") in his speech patterns also forms this audacious tone.


20.Intimate -- Affectionate, devoted, fond
"Afterwards we will be as one animal of the forest and be so close that neither one can tell that one of us is one and not the other. Can you not feel my heart be your heart?"
-For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway

"My heart be your heart…" this excerpt is intimate, as these two people involved are extremely devoted to each other. Little is needed to explain the blatantly intimate tone in this short passage.


21.Whimsical -- Capricious, fantastic
They stood so still that she quite forgot they were alive, and she was just going round to see if ‘TWEEDLE’ was written at the back of each collar, when she was startled by a voice coming from the one marked ‘DUM.’
"If you think we’re wax-works," he said, "you ought to pay, you know. Wax-works weren’t made to be looked at for nothing."
-Through the Looking-Glass, Carrol

“She quite forgot they were alive,” pertains to Alice as she looks at the wax-like characters of Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. This is a fantastic world of humor. These characters carry their name on their stomachs, and spout out absurd lines in absolute seriousness. Whimsy is ever-present in the world through the looking-glass, and shines in Lewis Carroll’s tone.


22. Reflective -- Contemplative, meditative, introspective
"There were always children there, and I spent all my time with the children, only with the children. They were the children of the village where I lived, a whole gang of them, who went to the local school…I was simply with them mostly, and I spent all my four years like that. I did not want anything else."
-The Idiot, Dostoyevsky

The character speaking in this quote, Myshkin, is missing his European home. "I did not want anything else," he says of the children's company in this town. He was "simply with them mostly," and longs for this simplicity, spending all his time with children. In retrospect, he sees how much he misses this past life, and this contemplation gives Myshkin a decidedly reflective tone.


23. Regretful -- Contrite, apologetic, sorry

Just when I'd stopped opening doors,
Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours,
Making my entrance again with my usual flair,
Sure of my lines, No one is there.
Don't you love farce? My fault, I fear.
I thought that you'd want what I want.
Sorry, my dear. But where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns.
Don't bother, they're here. -

"Send in the Clowns," Sonheim

"Sorry, my dear," is spoken in this song excerpt. They were "finally knowing" what they wanted, and could not achieve it. "No one is there." It is a song about trying too late, and missed chances. "Where are the clowns?" the author asks; where is the frivolity lacking in this melancholy life. The speaker is very sorrowful, as they say "I thought you'd want what I want." This conveys their tone of great regret.


24.Remorseful - penitent, contrite, rueful
"I am not made," I cried energetically, "the sun and the heavens, who have viewed my operations, can bear witness of my truth. I am the assassin of those most innocent victims; they died by my machinations. A thousand times would I have shed my own blood, drop by drop, to have saved their lives; but I could not, my father, indeed I could not sacrifice the whole human race."
-Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

In this passage, Dr. Frankenstein is remorseful to the point of self-loathing. Note the use of the words "assassin" and "machinations." He paints a picture of himself as a wretched, vile creature, who would yet die "a thousand times" to save the innocents he destroyed. He bathes in remorse.


25.Factual – Certain, absolute, irrefutable, unbiased
The kind of nuclear reaction that happens inside a nuclear reactor is called nuclear fission. The fuel is uranium or plutonium, two very heavy elements which have many protons and neutrons in their nuclei. Fission starts when a fast-moving neutron strikes a nucleus. The nucleus cannot take in the extra neutron, and the whole nucleus breaks apart into two smaller nuclei.
-The Way Things Work, David Macaulay

A factual tone is often more apparent from lack of opinion than presence of any particular type of diction or syntax. If the purpose of the passage is solely to convey information, the tone is factual. In this case, Macaulay explains the facts very simply and in a straightforward manner, without the pontificating that would cause us to label this excerpt "scholarly" or "pedantic."


26.Detached – Aloof, impartial
He had not a minute more to lose. He pulled the axe quite out, swung it with both arms, scarcely conscious of himself, and almost without effort, almost mechanically, brought the blunt side down on her head. He seemed not to use his own strength in this. But as soon as he had once brought the axe down, his strength returned to him.
-Crime And Punishment, Dostoyevsky

Dostoyevsky does not care that his character is axe-murdering anybody in this passage. The subject (Raskolnikov) himself is acting "without effort…mechanically." Dostoyevsky expresses no concern or opinion over the "scarcely concious" killing of an old lady. The detachment, within the character himself and towards him by the author, is evident.

27. Simpering - Overly happy, gushy
The world is so full of a number of things,
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings. -

(Happy Thought, Robert Louis Stevenson)

This poem is mindlessly, unreasoningly happy. There are many things in the world; for this we should be happy? When an author gushes happiness without cause or thought, we call him simpering.


28. Reverent – Venerating, worshipping
God is love; his mercy brightens All the path in which we rove;
Bliss he wakes and woe he lightens;
God is wisdom, God is love.

("God is love," Bowring)

Bowring's great respect for God emmanates from this poetic verse. “His mercy brightens/All the path;” Bowring’s details are simplistic in their veneration of God. As he concludes the stanza with “God is love,” the reverent tone is sealed.


29. Pedantic – Scholarly, making a show of knowledge
"My attention was speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole, and coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt I was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless man who had had an Eastern training."
-The Adventure of the Speckled Band, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes exemplifies the pedantic personality. Smoking a pipe, striding about the room, expounding on his latest brilliant discovery – Sherlock should come to mind almost immediately when one considers the term "pedantic." In this passage, he reveals to Dr. Watson his careful unraveling of a complicated mystery. Moreover, he strategically augments his topic to reveal his vast knowledge of diverse subjects and his incredible powers of reason.

30. Sympathetic -- Compassionate, sensitive.
The hunger artist sometimes remarked to himself that perhaps things might look a little brighter if he were not located quite so near the stables…But he did not dare complain to the management; after all he had the animals to thank for the numerous visitors who did pass his cage, among whom there always might be the one who was there just to see him, and lord knew where they might tuck him away if he called attention to his existence and thereby to the fact that, strictly speaking, he was no more than an obstacle in the path to the animals.
-"A Hunger Artist," Kafka

Kafka pities the hunger artist. “Numerous visitors…pass his cage.” The hunger artist is an “obstacle”, to be tucked away. This is sad, and Kafka shows us the hunger artist’s point of view through his sympathy for the man. Things “might look a little brighter,” always hopeful and optimistic even as the world looks bleaker. Although the people passing by neglect this old man, Kafka has great sympathy for him and his feeling of nonexistence.

Blk 1: Directed Writing by Dina

End of Year Examination: Commentary Question 3, Directed Writing ( passage by Alice Walker on the development of her novel 'The Colour Purple')


The wind whistled a harmony as if giving acceptance to our newborn and evergrowing relationship. I took a deep breath and exhaled confidently. I consulted my friends to build an abode there - the place was beyond perfect (even Celia, Shug and Albert thought so). I could just live there forever. Celia, Shug and Albert began to grow closer to me. Nonetheless, they became closer to each other. Laughs turned to quarrels. I always acted as the peacemaker. Finally, my heart opened up... I began jotting. I began writing. From jotting notes on the palm of my hand to jotting notes on sticky pads. Celia, Shug and Albert, also, began to open up. They wanted to explore. They were not shy anymore. My book is coming to life... and now... My quilt is done. :)
No. of words: about 130.

Grade: B+

NOOR RASHIDINA ARIFFIN

Blk 1: Frankenstein and the Gothic novel

Gothic fiction :
Prominent features of Gothic fiction include terror (both psychological and physical), mystery, the supernatural, ghosts, haunted houses and Gothic architecture, castles, darkness, death, decay, doubles, madness, secrets and hereditary curses.

The stock characters of Gothic fiction include tyrants, villains, bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes fatales, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the Wandering Jew and the Devil himself.

To find out more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_fiction


Frankenstein : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein


Full text: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
http://books.google.com.bn/books?hl=en&id=BDuijLLwQEQC&dq=Mary+Shelley+Frankenstein&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=I-9aQNPA6x&sig=L9mZ1W2e0PW09hbNTKa7Yv1U17Y&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPP1,M1