‘Billenium‘ J. G. Ballard, 1961 – (Alternate title: ‘Billennium’) Overpopulation has sensitized everyone to space, including Ward, who measures his ceiling to make sure the upstairs neighbour isn’t pulling a fast one. When he discovers a hidden room and shares it with others, will his generosity mean anything?
The Oxford Book of Science Fiction.
J.G. Ballard was a prominent writer, both of Sci-Fi and ‘mainstream’ literature. This particular short story from the Stories of Ourselves anthology is yet another bleak perspective on human nature. However, the best Sci-Fi is prophetic – this means that it doesn’t so much seek to predict the future as prevent it It is a warning of what might happen if we don’t mend our ways.
The genre is Science-Fiction (sometimes called Speculative Fiction), and the sub-genre is Dystopian Fiction. This type of story is really about the present – it focuses on a social issue/trend and extrapolates its future implications (in this case, over-population). In this sense, it is a literary form of a caricature.
In a similar vein, but much more hard-hitting, is Harry Harrison’s Make Room! Make Room!, which was made into the feature film Soylent Green:
When I was 7 years old, an author came to my school to give a talk. I remember that he said that a good story “must have a beginning, a middle and an end.” At the time, I thought that this was so blindly obvious that it didn’t really need to be said. However, I came to realise that what he meant was that a writer should consciously structure his/her work. This is true of non-fiction as well as fiction.
Does your essay writing resemble a stream of consciousness? If so, then you need to address your structure as a matter of some urgency. Even if you are actually writing in the style of Talking Heads, you will notice that Alan Bennett does, in fact, structure his monologues.
Your structure is the skeleton around which you build the body of your speech, essay, story or whatever. In the case of the short story, the author may pose a question at the start and give his/her verdict at the end. Thus, by referring back to the original premise (without actually repeating) an author can confer upon the story a sense of completeness. This is the purpose of a conclusion – it is not a summary – it simply concludes. Too many oral exams fizzle out at the end, with the student saying, “um…er…that’s about it really.” Nothing screams Lack of Structure at an examiner louder than an oral exam that ends this way. So, before you come to talk or write, decide on the beginning middle and end.
He thought about life. You never really got what you wanted. No matter how you tried you made mistakes and could never get past them. You could never see the sky and the ocean because you were locked in a prison, except that nobody called it a prison.
Oh dear. The Prison. Another short story with a decidedly cynical tone – but this time there is none of the black humour of Sredni Vashtar or The Phoenix. This time, it’s just bleak, bleak, bleak. Fate, historical inevitability or our own natures forms a ‘prison’ – oh, and no good deed goes unpunished.
Macbeth (or The Scottish Play, as actors call it) is pure propaganda. Your teachers repeatedly tell you that “all stories are lies,” that everything we read (or every film or play we see) is an expression of the author’s views. Sometimes this is subtle, sometimes obvious – but human beings can never be impartial in their writing. The evidence suggests that this play was the result of one particular event in British history, a defining moment that is still commemorated yearly in the U.K. – The Gunpowder Plot.
When Protestant monarch King James VI of Scotland became James I of England too, the Catholics were hoping for a lessening in religious oppression. However, as their early hopes were dashed, many became disgruntled. A group of conspirators thus decided to take radical action – they would attempt to blow up the king by planting explosives beneath The Houses of Parliament (and killing numerous politicians along the way). The Gunpowder Plot failed – and James was determined that no one should try this crime again.
Despite being elected king (Elizabeth I died without an heir and appeared undecided whether he should succeed her), James was convinced that God had ordained him monarch. He believed in The Divine Right of Kings (no one could question him, since above him was only God) and so to kill a king was thus a crime against God.
In the aftermath of the Gunpowder plot, James immediately subverted an existing pre-Christian festival and re-named it Guy Fawkes Night (after one of the conspirators, whose face you may recognise from V For Vendetta and the Occupy the City anti-Capitalist excess protests). He then appears to have commissioned Shakespeare to produce Macbeth, a play that tells us in no uncertain terms that those who kill their monarchs are creatures of the devil and will go to Hell.
➠➠➠➠➠➠➠Hero➠➠➠➠➠➠➠➠➠King ➠➠➠➠➠➠➠➠Monster➠➠➠➠➠➠➠➠➠
The play is set in Scotland and contains some of James’ supposed ancestors (who, Shakespeare is eager to exonerate from any possible blame). It charts the moral decline of a man whose ambition leads him to listen to the voices of women (another of King James’ directions for the play, perhaps?) who, in terms of the drama, act as visual representations of the temptations within his own mind. At the start, Shakespeare repeatedly emphasises that this is a brave, fearless and heroic man, equating him with Mars (The God of War). He is like an American comic book hero – and when we first hear of him, he has just literally “carved” his way through the enemy ranks to disembowel their leader! (Think Captain America with a Scottish accent) However, when he murders the king to become king, this pivotal moment sets him on a course which will ultimately change him from hero to monster. This is why the play is a tragedy – a man with such incredible potential throws it all away by allowing himself to be seduced by evil desires.
In the course of the play, Shakespeare never misses an opportunity to flatter King James (“What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?” Act 4, sc1, ll.112–117) and to assert that those who (like one of the defendants in the Gunpowder Plot) “equivocate” (deceive without technically lying), cheat and (above all) murder, will certainly be doomed to “the everlasting bonfire.”
“His fiend-like Queen”
In this play, very little is what it seems (A sense of paranoia pervades all). Lady Macbeth appears to be a monster – but Shakespeare later subverts and re-frames this perspective…
A modifier is usually an adjective, but can be any word that helps to shape (‘modify’) our opinion of the subject of a sentence. Since a modifier has to impart more information about something, by definition that means the something it is modifying or limiting has to exist. That means, of course, that you can’t just say The happy. If you did, people would immediately ask you: “the happy what?” That missing what is the thing being modified.
It seems pretty obvious and intuitive when written in a simple sentence, and it seems hard to imagine a situation in which a modifier would be left dangling. However, modifiers don’t always have to be simple words or phrases like happy, and sentences aren’t always simple.
Phrases can also act as modifiers, providing additional information about something else in the sentence. When this occurs, and when sentences become more complex, dangling modifiers can sometimes exist and get lost in the complexity of the language.
Misplaced apostrophes are often referred to as “greengrocer’s English.” Often someone has misunderstood why we use apostrophes, but has frequently seen them near the letter ‘s.’ This has resulted in signs saying such things as…
At IGCSE and IB level, the skill of commentary writing (sometimes called Practical Criticism) is something that students need to develop. Whether writing on a whole text, an excerpt from a text or a poem, there are guidelines to help you.
I often have the feeling that even at the best of times literary criticism is fraudulent… One’s real reaction to a book, when one has a reaction at all, is usually “I like this book” or “I don’t like it”, and what follows is a rationalisation.
– George Orwell
Always focus on the HOW? WHAT? and WHY? questions (not necessarily in this order).
WHAT type of text is it? (Biography, travel writing, narrative etc).
WHAT is the topic and WHAT does the author say to us?
WHAT tone emerges?
HOW does the writer shape his/her work – and to what effect?
WHY? Even though you will spend the bulk of your essay explaining HOW a writer says something, the WHY is the most important question. We can never know what an author “intended” – only what the text says. Nor is there a “hidden meaning.” However, fromthe choices that the author makes and the effects of those choices, we may infer.
The ‘Unseen’ exam
In the ‘unseen’ exam, you should only write about the excerpt on the page – not the rest of the text (unless specifically asked to do so) or irrelevant biographical details of the author.
Don’t expect to find themes in short prose excerpts (or poetry). These generally emerge during the course of a longer work. Instead, ask yourself WHY the examiner has chosen this piece. The answer is that it exemplifies a particular technique. Identify the HOW? WHAT? and WHY? of this technique. Nine times out of ten, something ironic is going on in the text. However, merely labelling is insufficient. If you write, “This text is ironic,” the examiner will, no doubt, write “So what?” Instead, say WHAT the author does, HOW he/she does it and the effect (from which you may infer the WHY). For example, by juxtaposing X with Y, the author(No! Name him/her) Silas Scringestone creates a comical contrast between the two characters, thus implicitly mocking the blah blah blah (you get the idea).
Use a formal register to match the formal nature of the work. While you may not wish to sound like a High Court judge, you should nevertheless avoid abbreviations, slang and colloquial expressions (the most common being kids, guys, cash, smart, kind of, pretty much and gonna).
Do not merely paraphrase – you need to analyse (That’s HOW, WHAT and WHY).
Focus on what the author does – nothow “the readers” feel:
When I read this text, I feel really sorry for Mr Bump. X
Roger Hargreaves makes Mr Bump a sympathetic character, deserving of pity. √
Any reference to yourself or “the readers” is a strong indication that you have your focus back to front.
If you know the author’s name – use it! If you keep saying “the author,” you are effectively telling the examiner that you can’t be bothered to mention his/her name.
…which reminds me… The word “mentions” is not the same as “states,” “cites” or even “says.” It refers to something of no particular importance.
Be concise. Don’t include superfluous words:
The excitement and the happiness that Leila is feeling makes the reader think of her as a girl who worked very hard to get to her goal and when she did, she celebrated because she was really happy. X
Leila was very happy to achieve her goal. √
Make specific comments – not vague ones:
This poem written by insert name here is a poem that gives the reader a thought of the poem. As the reader reads the poem, he/she would get an image of the poem. The reader would be able to imagine a picture of what is going on in the poem. The choice of words that the poet uses makes it easier for the reader to get an image of the poem. X
…is a romantic piece about two estranged lovers who live in different places. √
Use the Present Perfect tense for commentaries. This is not history. Every time you open the book at the same page, Winston Smith is still in Room 101. Even though he is long dead, George Orwell still ‘speaks’ to us through the text. However, Julius Caesar invaded Britain once – he does not still invade today.
The term ‘Dialectic’ means “the art or practice of arriving at the truth by using conversation involving question and answer.”
Think of your dialectical journal as a series of conversations with the texts that we read during this course. The process is meant to help you develop a better understanding of the texts that we read. Use your journal to incorporate your personal responses to the texts, your thoughts about the themes we cover and our class discussions. You will find that it is a useful way to process what you are reading and a way of preparing yourself for group discussion.
PROCEDURE
As you read, choose passages that stand out to you and record them in the left-hand column of a T-chart (ALWAYS include page numbers)
In the right column, write your response to the text (ideas/insights, questions, reflections, and comments on each passage).
If you choose, you can label your responses using the following codes:
(Q) Question – ask about something in the passage that is unclear
(C) Connect – make a connection to your life, the world, or another text
(P) Predict – anticipate what will occur based on what’s in the passage
(CL) Clarify – answer earlier questions or confirm/discount a prediction
(R) Reflect – think greatly about what the passage means in a broad sense – not just to the characters in the story. What conclusions can you draw about the author’s reflections on the world, on human nature, or just on the way things work?
(E) Evaluate – make a judgment about the character(s), their actions, or what the author is saying.
Complete journal entries for at least five passages each week. The quality of your responses may be when calculating your grade.
Sample Dialectical Journal entries: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Passages from the text Response (pg 10)
“So Simon, having forgotten his teacher’s dictum on the possession of human chattels, bought three slaves…”
The author appears to be commenting on the hypocrisy of her ancestors and perhaps of other Southerners in the USA.
It was wrong to put on “gold and costly apparel,” but it was fine to own slaves.
(R) (pg 11)
“…bony mules hitched to Hoover carts…”
What is a Hoover cart? Could this be named after President Herbert Hoover, such as the Hoovervilles were?
(Q) Found the answer on the Internet: A Hoover cart is an automobile where the front is cut off and the back part is hitched to a horse mule that pulls it. Many people during the Depression could not afford petrol.
(pg 12)
“Our mother died when I was two…I did not miss her, but I think Jem did…”
(C) Jem would have been six when his mom died. This makes me sad to think of my sons, who are five and six, losing me. I know he’s old enough that he would remember me.
