Q+A
14. What are the themes that occur in ‘An Inspector Calls’?
The main themes that the text explores are that of:
a) Socialism
vs Capitalism – mainly looking at the negatives of Capitalism and its negative
effect on society. To an extent Priestley is blaming the Capitalist system and
the people who support it and benefit from it for the death of Eva Smith. He
uses the play to say that the system allows people to only care for themselves
and not others.
b) Younger
Generation vs. Older Generation – there is a clear divide that forms between
Sheila and Eric and their parents by the end as the younger generation take
responsibility for their role in the death of Eva, this creates hope for the
future.
c) Class
System – the play explores the class divide and the extent to which class ruled
and affected people’s lives and chances
This is not an exhaustive list but just some of the
obvious ideas present in the text that Priestley explores.
5. How do I make an inference?
Think to yourself – what is hinted at here? What is this a
clue about? What else is here but I can’t see? Imagine the role of reader as
investigator and you are getting information from a suspect (the text) – they
are not saying everything but you need to analyse closely what they say and
work out what is beneath the surface. What are they not saying? E.g. I hate
Monday to Friday. Well I am hinting that I love the weekend.
6. I would like to work on my English Grammar
In the Conflict cluster, do I need to analyse the poem and
state its literary technique?
Be careful here, you are not ‘touring the poem’ i.e. taking
all of your knowledge and putting it down on paper in the exam. You choose what
knowledge/ quotes you use in the exam based on the question and the other poem
you are comparing it with. Think of the
essay question as a filter through which you filter what you use in your essay.
You need to know the main idea in each poem/ what the poet is trying to convey
(this will be linked to conflict) and then choose quotes which show this. In
analysis it is useful to state the technique to impress the examiner but you do
not get marks for this, you get marks for analysing the effect of the technique.
16a) In the conflict cluster, what techniques do you have
for remembering the poems and remembering the ones that link?
This is a tough one as it simply requires you to revise,
revise, revise to make sure you get this information/ knowledge into your ‘filing cabinet’. I suggest the following
techniques:
-
Start with the poem and make the following notes
1 – full sentences then get rid of the poem 2 – bullet points 3 – mindmap 4 –
key words then go to a blank piece of paper and build it up by reversing the
process so blank paper – key words – mindmap – bullet points – essay.
-
Post it notes with a key sentence covering the
main idea of each poem
-
Use the recordings and play when you are
cleaning/ tidying etc. It will drip in to your brain
-
The more time you spend with the poems, the
better friends you will become.
b) In Q3 of the language paper,
how would you explain a thought/ feeling
The thought or feeling needs to
be inferred from the text. This question is assessing your inference skills.
Look at the vocabulary/ word choice/ actions and this should help you identify
how the speaker feels/ is thinking.
Remember to use:
The speaker feels/ think…
We can see this when we are told:
From this I can infer that/ this
tells the reader that…
Q3 – What is the best method to analyse the theme of an
unseen poem?
Identify the main theme by first reading the question. The question
focus will tell you the main theme of the poem. You then analyse the theme
through looking at the language devices the writer has used and what the effect
of this is. This will tie in to the main theme.
Q18 a) What are the poems in the Conflict Cluster which have
extended metaphor?
This is not a common technique however:
Belfast Confetti uses the extended metaphor of punctuation
to signify the violence
Flag uses the extended metaphor of the flag for
nationalistic pride
The Falling Leaves uses the extended metaphor of leaves to
represent the soldiers
Hawk Roosting – the hawk is the dictator
You could argue the drink is a slightly extended metaphor in
At the Border…
Q18b) Which lines from ‘At the Border, 1979’ are good at
extracting a lot of information?
So here you need to think where are the techniques? But
remember – the beauty of English is the different interpretations and so
everyone interprets lines/quotes differently so there are no such things as the
‘best lines’.
“Soon everything would taste different”
“divided by a tick iron chain”
Contrast of: “Autumn soil continued on the other side with
the same colour, the same texture” and “the roads are much cleaner the
landscape is more beautiful and people are much kinder” – zoom in on both of
these but also notice the differing opinions between the speaker and mother.
