The Sunday News
Charles Dube
HIGH marks or grades are achievable only when learners understand what questions really mean. You cannot give an answer unless you understand the question. The first secret is what the questions really mean. There is a belief that questions do not say what they mean. Some questions are easy and straightforward. But others are written so that if you take them at face value, they seem mighty hard.
“Why” and “How” really mean “give examples”. Many questions ask you to say why you think something or how the play/novel/poem does something. For example, you can get a question saying, “Why is this a good novel? Or “How is tension created?” At first glance, there is not much to say. Your immediate answer might be “Because it is not boring.” All they really want is for you to give them examples of “things” from the play/novel/poem that have something to do with the question.
Every time the question asks you to talk about more than one poem, it wants you to compare them as part of your essay.
Sometimes you are told to compare them. Sometimes they do not state that. Either way, you have to talk about their similarities and differences as part of your answer. How do you tackle questions based on what they really mean? You could get a question which partly reads:
“What qualities make Shakespeare’s sonnets memorable, interesting or powerful?” What this really means is, find examples of things (images, language, emotions, plot) about the poem that you can say are memorable, interesting or powerful. When asked, “How is suspense created in perhaps one of the plays you are studying? Talk about things that add suspense. What attracts you to a certain poem? In answer to such a question, you find examples of things (images, language, emotions, and plot) about the poem that you can say are good or interesting.
For example you can get a question which reads as follows: “What do you think is the most important theme in The Sun Will Rise Again?” You pick a load of themes (things the novel is about), and then compare them so you can say if one of them is more important. In questions like, “Is Macbeth a wholly evil character or how important are the witches in Macbeth? You find examples of Macbeth/ the witches being wholly evil or important and talk about them. Also find examples and talk about them.
In order to write great Literature essays you need to make up a theme, but questions do not tell you that you need a theme. A theme is what you base your answer on — it is like a point you are trying to make. Examples: If the question asks you to compare two poems, your theme might be that one is much more personal than the other. If the question asks you if Macbeth is a wholly evil character, your theme might be that he starts off as a normal person, but is corrupted to become completely evil.
You need examples to back up your theme. No one will ever agree with you if you have no examples (things like quotations from the writing) to back up your theme. When you choose your theme, make sure there are things you can use to back it up.
How to come up with a theme? There are five things you can base your theme on: What happens through time — the plot of the story. The language — whether it is elegant, slang, or short and straight to the point.
You also determine the mood — happy, sad,, angry, melancholy, ironic, (be really carefully if you use this one). You can base your theme on images. The writer may have used descriptions that make pictures in your mind when you read them. A hidden meaning. It may be that the poem could be about something different from what the words actually say. Brief descriptions of cited themes. A language theme — your theme might be that a book is made very real to the reader because it is written the way people speak rather than in correct English. An image theme. For some writing about a place you might have a theme about how the images created make it feel as if the reader is actually there. A mood theme — If you are comparing two war poems, your theme could be that one is sad about people dying in war, and the other is angry about it.
Consider the following five basic steps for writing your essay: Work out what the question means. Make your notes. Think of a theme. Make your plan and write your essay. The point of making notes is to help you come up with a theme and plan your essay. No one else is going to look at them, so do not bother making them neat. Note down anything you notice about the writing: Any unusual words or images. Anything you notice about the style.
For example this could be whether a poem rhymes, or whether the writer uses simple words. Note any ideas you have about it or anything else unusual. Note any quotes or things you notice that would make good examples or anything about the plot or hidden meanings. The main reason for doing a plan is to work out the points you are going to make, and the order you are going to make them in. This means that a plan is basically a list of points in the right order.
It is also a good idea to note down examples you are going to use to back up your points. Then write your essay. There are three parts to any essay — the introduction, the main part, and then the conclusion. The introduction should be one paragraph. Remember that if it is not obvious from the title, say what your essay is about, and say what your theme is. Next we have the main part. This is the bit where you make all your points. It should be much longer than the introduction and conclusion.
Make each point in a separate paragraph and back each point with at least one example. Finally, the ending should be one paragraph, and it is a summary of what you have written: summarise your main arguments and say what your theme is again.
In addition to these points, Try to use elegant language and you will score more marks. Keep it impersonal — do not use the word “I” say things like, “in my opinion”. It is much better to say things like, “The poem seems to be about . . .”
If your essay is about two parts of writing, you are always comparing them. Whenever you make a point, you should make it about both of them — it will either be a similarity or a difference. Do not just about one piece and then the other without linking them. You should always give both sides. If the question asks if a story is good, give reasons, why it is not good as well as reasons why it is.
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