Nevertheless, here is how I have taught myself to deal with unseen texts!
Whether it is a play/drama, poem or novel (prose) there are specific things to identify and to comment on if relevant!
- Drama: Dramatic irony, setting, stage directions, entrances and exits, asides, soliloquies, emotive language
- Poetry: Type of poem (ballad or ?), the title of the poem, narrator, characters involved, stanzas, lines, similes, metaphors, rhyme, rhythm and syllables, repetition
- Prose: Narrative voice, focalisation, tension, imagery, and everything mentioned above that seems applicable
Relationship between Author and Reader
- French literary theorist, Roland Barthes; "The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author"
- The reader is without history, biography, psychology - author provides knowledge of this, removing the reader's ignorance of the circumstances
Importance of Context
- Shapes both audience/ author's perspective and outlook
- Development of morals, philosophy and ideologies
Critical Perspectives
Marxism
- Focus on representation of class and social power
- Concern mainly on 'proletariat' being exploited by the 'bourgeoisie'
- 'Proletariat' have a false consciousness, accepts their social inferiority without protest
- But eventually, some will rebel against the 'bourgeoisie' via revolution/ protest
- We do not have free will as we are determined by social and economic factors
- Alienation, a result of repetitive and monotonous activities, workers derive little financial reward and gains no real sense of satisfaction
- Oppression, social groups attempt to control others for their own selfish gain
Feminism
- Focus on the portrayal of gender and sexuality
- Issues of power; physically (body - biology or socially constructed), socially (rights/ confined to the domestic), verbally (freedom of speech/ voice)
- Representations of women as 'other', 'lack' or associated with 'nature'
- Aims to find fairness and equality of both genders (hegemony and patriarchy)
Eco-criticism
- Only thing worth considering is the survival of the earth
- If we don't, we wouldn't have a planet to live on and thereby all other human concerns would be pointless
- Barry Commoner, "Everything is connected to everything else"
- Everything is interdependent and interconnected - affects and is affected by
- The natural world is seen to be a resource for humanity to exploit
- Used as an ends to a means; it has instrumental value only, for the benefit of humans
- RATHER THAN, using the environment in a balanced and respectful way
- Ignorance of humans leads to destruction of nature
Post-colonialism
- Theory based around otherness and resistance
- Western countries have ignored/ marginalised non-Western people and their cultures
- Some texts can be consciously or unconsciously racist
- Interested in issues of power/ dominance/ control and freedom/ empowerment
- Explores how different groups of people are represented and the voices they have
- Seeks to show its limitations of outlook
- Examines treatment of different cultures and more
Narratology
- Concerned with how writers weave events using narrative devices
- How events are ordered, presented and retold
- How readers/ audiences are guided by the perspective of characters or narrative voices
- BUT, narrators can be unreliable; principle of testimony, physical/ mental condition/ duplicitous nature, retelling and reconstructing by memory
There are obviously more out there but these are the main ones that I'd focus on...
Tips on how to answer the question (Structure)
Reminder: Include all your assessment objectives
- Introduction
- What does the extract show? Summarise it in a sentence.
- Talk about why the author may've written this particular text
- Find 3 political and social protest writing elements that are relevant and list them
- Paragraphs
- I'd recommend having at least three chunky paragraphs on the elements you picked out
- Make sure to include lots of content from the extract to back up your points
- Make sure you mention how the author does this and how does he create such tension/ atmosphere or just the general feeling of the text
- Link it to any historical events i.e. Hitler, Tsarist Russia, Industrial Revolution in Britain
- How would a critical perspective comment on this?
- Can you think of any alternative ideas other than the one you just suggested? (debate)
- How is the element picked out prevalent and significant in this extract?
- Conclusion
- Essentially, is the author successful in writing his political and social protest?
- What can be learnt from the extract?
- Ultimately, how the author shapes meanings and the effect the extract has on readers/ audience
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