One down!

Congratulations - you're halfway there!

Remember to book a time with me to sort out any questions or have me mark some of your practice essays for discussion and revision.

Meantime:

• For A Man For All Seasons, use the questions at the back of the book to focus your study.  Knowing those answers will put you in a strong position to respond to the exam questions.
• For both drama texts, review your course book!  It offers valuable information about analysing drama texts on pages 102-127, and takes a targeted look at exam questions on p253-254.

Study well!


- T. Marcus

New Resource Links

Hi everyone,


To the right you'll notice a "Further Support" link list.  The class exemplars link will show you PDFs of essay responses from a few of our students from 2013.  The question being addressed is in regard to A Passage To India.

Additionally there are a few support documents I found from Cambridge which I think you'll find useful.  The Example Candidate Responses PDF unfortunately does not answer questions related to any of our set texts (sad panda), yet some of the poems will be familiar from last year's study, and it should still serve as a guide for us in terms of what examiners will be looking for.  Examiner Comments follow at the end of each essay in that PDF.

Let me know if you have any further questions, would like to meet or would like more practice questions!


- T. Marcus

APTI - practice questions!

Hi everyone,


Here's a question set from earlier this year.  Includes a general essay question and a passage based.

Either (a) In the novel, Mrs Moore says, ‘India’s a muddle.’

      Discuss the importance of this view to Forster’s presentation of India.

Or

(b) Comment closely on the following passage, considering ways in which it presents the relationship between Fielding and Aziz’s friends.

     ‘The whole world looks to be dying, still it doesn’t die, so we must assume the existence of a beneficent Providence.’
     ‘Oh, that is true, how true!’ said the policeman, thinking religion had been praised.

     ‘Does Mr Fielding think it’s true?’
     ‘Think which true? The world isn’t dying. I’m certain of that!’
     ‘No, no – the existence of Providence.’
     ‘Well, I don’t believe in Providence.’
     ‘But how then can you believe in God?’ asked Syed Mohammed.
     ‘I don’t believe in God.’
     A tiny movement as of ‘I told you so!’ passed round the company, and Aziz looked up for an instant, scandalized. ‘Is it correct that most are atheists in England now?’ Hamidullah inquired.
     ‘The educated thoughtful people? I should say so, though they don’t like the name. The truth is that the West doesn’t bother much over belief and disbelief in these days. Fifty years ago, or even when you and I were young, much more fuss was made.’
     ‘And does not morality also decline?’
     ‘It depends what you call – yes, yes, I suppose morality does decline.’
     ‘Excuse the question, but if this is the case, how is England justified in holding India?’
     There they were! Politics again. ‘It’s a question I can’t get my mind onto,’ he replied. ‘I’m out here personally because I needed a job. I cannot tell you why England is here or whether she ought to be here. It’s beyond me.’
     ‘Well-qualified Indians also need jobs in the educational.’
     ‘I guess they do; I got in first,’ said Fielding, smiling.
     ‘Then excuse me again – is it fair an Englishman should occupy one when Indians are available? Of course I mean nothing personally. Personally we are delighted you should be here, and we benefit greatly by this frank talk.’
     There is only one answer to a conversation of this type: ‘England holds India for her good.’ Yet Fielding was disinclined to give it. The zeal for honesty had eaten him up. He said: ‘I’m delighted to be here too – that’s my answer, there’s my only excuse. I can’t tell you anything about fairness. It mayn’t have been fair I should have been born. I take up some other fellow’s air, don’t I, whenever I breathe? Still, I’m glad it’s happened, and I’m glad I’m out here. However big a badmash one is – if one’s happy in consequence, that’s some justification.’
     The Indians were bewildered. The line of thought was not alien to them, but the words were too definite and bleak. Unless a sentence paid a few compliments to Justice and Morality in passing, its grammar wounded their ears and paralysed their minds. What they said and what they felt were (except in the case of affection) seldom the same. They had numerous mental conventions, and when these were flouted they found it very difficult to function. Hamidullah bore up best. ‘And those Englishmen who are not delighted to be in India – have they no excuse?’ he asked.
     ‘None. Chuck ’em out.’
     ‘It may be difficult to separate them from the rest,’ he laughed.
     ‘Worse than difficult, wrong,’ said Mr Ram Chand. ‘No Indian gentleman approves chucking out as a proper thing. Here we differ from those other nations. We are so spiritual.’

     ‘Oh that is true, how true!’ said the police inspector.
     ‘Is it true, Mr Haq? I don’t consider us spiritual. We can’t co-ordinate, we can’t co-ordinate, it only comes to that. We can’t keep engagements, we can’t catch trains. What more than this is the so-called spirituality of India? You and I ought to be at the Committee of Notables, we’re not; our friend Dr Lal ought to be with his patients, he isn’t. So we go on, and so we shall continue to go, I think, until the end of time.’

Chapter 9 

Revise your notes, read the texts, study well.  I'm praying for you.  :)


- T. Marcus

The Sonnet: its purpose and varying forms

Hi everyone,


I thought it would be useful for us to do a little added research on sonnet forms.

For example, do you know their history?  What is the primary function of a sonnet?  If your answer to that last one was along the lines of, "to explore love" then there's more to it than that!

Have a look at the links in the Songs of Ourselves box off to the right!

Enjoy.


- T. Marcus

Monologue vs Soliloquy, plus general Shakespeare tips

In case you were wondering...


"In origin, the words are doublets: Greek monologue and Latin soliloquy both mean 'single speech'. But they are now distinguished in performances with monologue as a speech made by one person in the company of others while a soliloquy is spoken by one person who is alone."

Got this from an online search, thought it would be useful to be able to differentiate.

Act I Scene I is the only soliloquy that Richard performs at the beginning of any given scene, and is the only soliloquy throughout the play that begins a scene.  That said, monologue is used at the beginning of at least two other scenes; Lady Anne begins Act 1 Sc 2 this way, as does Clarence in Sc 4.

Remember Shakespeare loves to play on words!  Any verb, adjective or noun that is used by either a deceiver or an idiot should be examined for their multiple possible connotations.

More tips to follow.  :)


- T. Marcus

Welcome to our online resource!

Hello everyone,


This blog is meant to be an additional resource above and beyond what we've gone over in class.

By now I'm sure you've accumulated a fair amount of your own online links and study supports.  On the right I've listed some sites and PDFs that I believe may strengthen your grasp of the texts, their contexts and certain key topics.

If there are further resources that you would like added here, please make note of them as they occur to you, and let me know!  We'll see what we can do to build this up over the next few months.

Enjoy.


- T. Marcus