Tag Archives: A level

Essays

How to start writing at A level standard (rather than GCSE)

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Students of A level English Literature always want to know how they can write an A level quality essay rather than the GCSE level they have been used to. Of course, there is no easy answer, but these points may help you work towards improving your essays.

Before you start:

  • Look at the question and consider what your genuine response is. Don’t just try and find parts of the text about the topic in question (yet); don’t assume what the teacher said about this in class is the answer to the question. Genuinely think about what you believe to be true in relation to this question.
  • Once you’ve decided what your response might be, think about how you might prove it. Which parts of the text support your idea? What might the author’s intention have been in writing about those things? What aspects of context might support your ideas?
  • Now you should have two or three points to make, with some quotations and contextual comments.

Now to get started:

  • Start your essay with a short introduction. This will be a summary of your response to the question, with enough detail to outline the specific aspects of your argument.
  • Signpost each point in your essay to orientate your reader to where they are in the essay. You can use terms like: firstly, however, therefore, secondly, finally, in contrast.
  • Make sure you introduce each point with your argument and then back that up with all your evidence (quotations and references to the text; analysis of language, structure and form; literary, political, social and historical context).
  • When analysing the language, structure and form, take ideas from different aspects of the text which back up your thoughts (rather than analysing just one quotation with one technique).
  • Don’t forget that structure means more than punctuation and sentence structures. Think about other aspects of the text such as chapters, perspectives, unreliable narrators, dramatic irony, and stage craft (if it’s a play).
  • Don’t forget that form is so important, whether it is a play, a poem or a novel. What does the form add to the meaning of the text?
  • When adding context, make sure it is relevant to your point. It is only there to prove your argument – for no other reason. You can mention contextual factors briefly or in more depth, but don’t write huge amounts of detail. It is there to support your argument. Nothing more.
  • Finish your essay with a conclusion. There should be no new information in your conclusion, simply a summary of what you have argued. It can be brief. Make sure it is what you wrote in your essay (not what you should have written) and that it directly answers and refers to the question.

Just one or two other points, just to make sure you do your best work.

  • Write clearly and concisely. Don’t be tempted to think that sophisticated writing means long and complex sentences.
  • Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation. You won’t come across as academic and sophisticated if your SPAG isn’t correct.

Finally: reread your essay.

  • Does it make sense? Does each point work with each of the other points? DON’T contradict yourself within your essay! You will lose a lot of valuable marks!
  • Do you agree with what you have written? (If you don’t, you won’t lose marks. But if you do, you are more likely to be able to write passionately and authentically, which will enable you to get into the higher bands.)

Remember, to make your essays A level rather than GCSE standard takes time and practice. Keep working on it! You will get there!

Essay, Essays, Exams, Literature

Writing A Level English Essays

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Writing A level essays can be challenging. Three of the things students often struggle with are sophisticated written expression, a clear line of argument and writing of the text as though it were constructed by the author (rather than a real world we could visit). These aspects of essay writing take time and care to improve, but here are some tips which might help.

Expression

It is very difficult to develop a sophisticated yet clear and concise writing style. To improve it is good to read academic and formal writing. You could also look at these specific areas:

Tone

Academic writing should be formal, impersonal, precise and concise.

Things to include might be:Things to avoid might be:
Impersonal/passive voice:   Research has shown…   The exact nature of the link has not been determined…Personal, informal writing:   This is majorly difficult to decide because…   We believe that vitamin A and cancer are linked but we haven’t worked out how yet.
Precise vocabulary: The writer’s use of synecdoche in describing the character’s hands…Vague description: The writer uses one part of the person to talk about all of the person, especially when writing about their hands…
Concise phrasing: X is YPhrasing using redundant words: At the end of the day, X is Y. It was found that.. What I want to make clear is… It is not unlikely that… This shows that … etc

Note: the convention is to always refer to authors by their surname, not their first name. E.g. Williams links the idea of death with the idea of desire through… (rather than ‘Tennessee links the idea….’)

Clarity

When trying to write in a sophisticated way, it is tempting to use very long sentences. Avoid the temptation! It is much better to be clear than to try to seem clever.

Make sure you put your subclauses in the correct place in the sentence. Examples might be:

I have talked about stocking the Zoo with my colleagues instead of I have talked with my colleagues about stocking the Zoo.

Don’t use too many adjectives or epithet nouns. Examples might be:

Early childhood thought disorder misdiagnosis is a problem instead of Early misdiagnosis of childhood thought is a problem.

Tentative language

It’s good to be tentative about your ideas, rather than dogmatic. For example:

You might interpret this as…

It could be thought that…

Perhaps…

Definition not explanation

When using specific terminology, ideas or facts, it is good to define them to be clear how the reader should think of them, but do not explain them to the examiner as if they don’t know what it is.

For example:

Romanticism redefined concepts related to death, celebrating an intensely lived life and an early death rather than regarding it as a tragedy.  

Instead of

The Romantics were people who lived in the 19th century who believed that death was good if it came after an intense life.

Practice

Take a piece of work you have written.

Look for:

  • generalisations,
  • speculations and assertions which are not linked to the question,
  • poor and unclear reasoning

Where you find these, try and make the phrase clearer, more precise and more focused on the question in hand.

Line of Argument

How do you develop a strong, clear line of argument?

  • Plan your answer in detail.
  • always have the question in mind when you are answering.
  • Frequently refer back to the question.
  • Keep asking yourself ‘So what?’ (i.e. what does this statement prove?)

Texts as Constructs

How do you develop your conception of the text as a construct by the author rather than a real world?

  • Think about more of the structural ideas or devices, rather than just characterisation.
  • Think about themes, that is, what the author is trying to get us to think about.
  • Discuss how the author tells us about the themes through the language and structure choices they make.
  • Focus on the context, because it draws you back to the author’s situation, inspiration and intent.

There are, of course, other aspects of essay writing which will prove challenging, but if you are aware of these pitfalls, it will help you immensely in raising the level of your work.

Literature, Poetry

A Personal Reading of Effects by Alan Jenkins

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Why poetry is worth reading and rereading

Poems of the Decade – Edexcel A Level English Literature

Rereading this poem again for a new round of A level students, I found myself more profoundly affected by it than ever before. My experience of the road he travelled has added another layer to my understanding to the extent that some of the notes I’d made in the margin seem ridiculously ignorant or naïve. This is what poetry does. It resonates with you, shows you how others have responded to their lives and helps you cope with your own experience. And in the passing of the years, your own experience deepens and enrichens the poem, even changing its purpose and its impact.

‘I held her hand’ the poem begins. As adults we rarely hold our parents’ hands. This weekend, my son held my hand to keep me steady on the ice and snow on top of a Swiss mountain. I felt the full impact of that role reversal. I was the weak and vulnerable one, he the strong and dependable one. I remembered the times I had held his hand on the way to school, to cross the road, to guide and to comfort. The poignancy of the reversal strikes me as a mother, but also as a daughter. Now, I hold my mother’s hands, to comfort her, to guide her, to keep her steady, to stop her wandering off into danger or the unknown. Unlike the relationship with my son, who I hug at every opportunity, my mother and I hardly ever touched. This physical contact feels so strange, not only in the reversal of who is mothered, but also in the sense of touch in itself. There is something intimate and moving about holding hands – a platonic, innocent gesture.

In the poem, the mother’s hands were ‘always scarred from chopping, slicing, from the knives in wait in bowls of washing-up’. They represent the hard work she did out of love for her family. They also represent the ordinary life the poet eventually moved beyond. He notes the ‘cheap’ cuts of meat that she made into stews; he admits he’d ‘disdain’ the shows his mother and father would watch on TV. He thinks of the time before he ‘learned contempt’, though even this time is imperfect. The separation between them, so common in our culture where the children move into the middle class from their working class roots, is bridged again by the holding of hands.

The thing that truly separates the mother and son, however, is death. He feels guilt now thinking of ‘all the weeks I didn’t come’. He is here now, but she is gone forever.  He holds the hand ‘whose fingers couldn’t clasp at mine any more/Or falteringly wave, or fumble at my sleeve’. The loss is now complete. Before, she would falter and fumble, showing her weakness and vulnerability, already a reversal of the mother-son bond. Now she can no longer respond in any way.

The part of the poem that struck me most forcibly today was the mention of his mother’s effects, the gold watch which, in death, she no longer wore:

                                                          And her watch? –

Classic ladies’ model, gold strap – it was gone,

And I’d never known her not have that on,

Not in all the years…

Instead the nurse brings him ‘the little bag of effects’ which presumably contains her watch. The rhetorical question, the dashes and the commas, all denoting uncertainty, shock and grief, show the depth of the reaction he has to this lack. Her watch is missing, but it is really a part of herself, her identity, the thing that makes her herself. I noticed this myself when my mother was in respite care recently. I had asked the carers to make sure my mother wore a necklace every day. They didn’t. It seems trivial, but my mother’s necklaces are part of her personality – bold, unusual, flamboyant, creative. She always wore one, every single day. She chose them carefully to go with her outfit. She loved receiving them as gifts for birthdays and Christmases. She barely seems dressed without one. And yet, in that unfamiliar place, with people who did not know her, she was stripped of herself. The paring down of herself came as a result of the dementia, not of the care home, but, in forgetting to dress her as she would have wished, she was naked and hollow in the disintegration of what make her who she was. In the end, the mother in the poem is stripped of her identity in death. Her effects are given to her son, as the effects of her death are his to carry. I can see the impact of this now, not a minor detail but the heart of the consequences of age and death.

This rawness of grief and loss, of guilt and separation, of imperfection, seems so real and powerful to me. More, now, than ever before. My mother is still here. I leave when I see she still needs me; I make difficult decisions and try to do my utmost, always feeling the gap between what I would have done and what I am capable of doing. I have not reached the end of the road that Jenkins writes of in ‘Effects’, but it looms ahead. That he has travelled the road before me, even in the unresolved pain and grief, makes me more able to face what I must face. Simply knowing that I am not alone, either in the experience or in my reactions to it – that is what literature is for. It helps us see we do not walk this earth alone: others have gone before us, lit the path and shown us the way. Even when the way seems impossible, there is comfort in knowing that the path is well-trodden. We are not alone.

    Essay, Essays, Exams

    How to write a good line of argument in your essay

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    Concept of writing and literature with a pencil from which escapes the letters of the alphabet symbol of inspiration.

    A level students often express and demonstrate confusion with the concept of an essay with a line of argument. It is one of the things that A level students struggle with most.

    Why is it often a problem?

    Part of the problem is that at GCSE, many people just choose 3 or 4 things they want to say about the topic, and write those things down, one for each paragraph. This usually doesn’t matter too much in a GCSE essay because the ideas are quite simple, and, honestly, because the line of argument isn’t really in the mark scheme. The problem is that when you try and do the same thing with a complicated subject with different shades of meaning and alternative interpretations, you can get into a muddle. However, the concept of a line of argument is quite simple, though difficult to put into practice.

    What is a ‘line of argument’?

    The basic idea is that you have a question, you have a theory about what the answer is, then you prove that theory through argument and evidence. The evidence can be references to the text, quotations, contextual ideas, literary criticism and alternative interpretations. Each point in your essay, and indeed, everything you write in your essay, should serve to further prove your theory.

    Let’s look at a question and talk about common mistakes we might make.

    Take this question:

    ‘The suffering by tragic protagonists always provokes pity in an audience.’

    To what extent do you agree with this view in relation to two text you have studied?

    Remember to include in your answer relevant comment on the ways the writers have shaped meanings.

    You are asked here to do quite a few complicated things. You must think about what a tragedy is, how the protagonist affects an audience, how this relates to your two texts, and what, if any, are the connections between the two. What happens, often, is that students tie themselves up in knots trying to talk about all of these things, and get easily side-tracked. It is also easy to contradict yourself within your essay.

    How can we avoid doing that?

    Let’s take a simpler question.

    ‘This school is an excellent place to learn. It’s hard to think of anywhere better.’

    To what extent do you agree with this view.

    You may think your school is all right, but not perfect. It has some good points, but maybe some bad ones too. Then your theory might go like this:

    My school is excellent at academic achievement, some departments are supportive and many of the individual teachers are dedicated and highly skilled. However, the behaviour policy is flawed and pastoral care is minimal and patchy.

    The plan for your essay might be:

    paragraph 1: Academic achievement

    paragraph 2: some excellent staff and departments

    paragraph 3: behaviour policy

    paragraph 4: pastoral care.

    Don’t get distracted

    The temptation for each paragraph is to just write down everything you know about the topic. So for paragraph 1 you might feel tempted to write about theories of how to get the best academic achievement. You might want to put in evidence about how each class did in their mocks. All this might be great. But if it doesn’t go to prove your argument – that your school has a high academic achievement – then all your beautifully researched and remembered information will be useless. Remember, every point you make and every piece of evidence you provide should go to prove your point.  

    Be consistent

    Though you are arguing in some paragraphs that the school is good, and in some that it is bad, you will always say, in this way the school is good, but in that way it needs improvement.  What you can’t do is say in paragraphs one and two that it is the best ever school, the quotation in the question is completely right and there is nowhere better, and then in paragraphs three and four say that the school is rubbish and you can’t think of a worse place to be educated. You can see how these are contradictory. All the way through, you will argue that there are some good things and some not so good things about the school.

    Always refer back to your line of argument

    Each of your points, and everything you say in each point, should serve to prove your answer to the question. It is tempting to write about exciting ideas you’ve had, or knowledge you remember, but you must always be on point. Imagine someone constantly saying to you ‘What has that to do with the question?’

    It will help the reader of your essay to understand your line of argument if you ‘signpost’ to your reader where you are going with your argument. Words like ‘Firstly’, ‘Next’, ‘Therefore’ can show clearly where you are in your argument. At the end of each paragraph or each point, it can be good to summarise where you have got to so far, always making sure that your proof goes to evidence your original argument.

    If you keep referring back to the original theory you propose in your introduction – in fact the summary of the answer to the question you’re answering – you will ensure you have not wandered off point or accidently proved a new and different point from the one you started with.

    Now let’s look at the A level question again.

    ‘The suffering by tragic protagonists always provokes pity in an audience.’

    To what extent do you agree with this view in relation to two text you have studied?

    Remember to include in your answer relevant comment on the ways the writers have shaped meanings.

     We use the same technique. What is the answer to the question about whether tragic protagonists provoke pity? Do the tragic protagonists provoke pity in the first text? Do they in the second? Obviously, you can’t say that tragic protagonists always provoke pity, then when talking about one of the texts say that in this case they don’t. The answer will most likely be, yes, tragic protagonists do provoke pity to some extent. They do in these ways in the first text,(and don’t in these ways)  and do in those ways in the second text (and don’t in these ways). All of your points will flow from there.

    The key is to plan your essay well in advance. NEVER just sit down and write. Unless you are an incredible genius, the danger is that you will contradict yourself, wander off on a tangent and add chunks of unrelated detail.

    When you have written the essay, read it back. For everything you write, say to yourself, does this prove my original point? Editing is a much underrated skill!

    Why not give it a go? Practice makes perfect.

    Exams, Revision, School

    How to Revise: Self Care

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    The period of time before your exams is a stressful one, so it is important to look after yourself. Everything I am going to say is just common sense, but it is amazing how many people don’t put it into action!

    Eat Well

    Eat regular meals – including breakfast – making sure you have plenty of fruit and vegetables. Drink lots of water to keep hydrated. Avoid excessive consumption of fizzy drinks, fatty and sugary foods. This is particularly important in the time immediately before your exam.

    Rest Well

    Take regular breaks from your work and school commitments. Try and make sure you have fun and do the things which make you feel good.

    Get plenty of sleep. Going to bed and getting up at regular times is proven to have a positive impact on mental health.

    Get help

    If you feel overwhelmed, stressed or worried about the exams (or anything else), it is important to talk to someone about it. Talking to your friends is a good start. Letting your parents or another adult in your life know how you feel is really important. Just telling someone about your feelings can help put them into perspective.

    If you would like more structured or professional advice, you can go and see your school counsellor or contact one of the many charities or agencies that can give advice and support.

    Young Minds is a charity dedicated to helping young people with mental health issues. You can find out more here.

    The Princes Trust website has a good list of places where you can find help: to check that out click here.

    Remember – exams may seem like the most important thing in the world right now, but life is varied and surprising and has much more to offer than good exam grades. You will be great, whatever happens!

    This is the last in my series on How to Revise, but you can see the others here.

    Exams, Revision

    How to Revise: Writing a revision timetable

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    I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to make a good revision timetable. It is worth spending quite a bit of time on this, because it could mean the difference between being successful and not.

    1. Find out how many subjects you have to study.
    2. Work out how many slots you have available to study a week. (Factor in your commitments and be realistic!)
    3. Find out how many weeks you have until your exams.
    4. Assign a subject to a slot each week, or each fortnight, depending on how many subjects and slots you have.

    You may want to bear in mind that you are weaker in some subjects than others, and therefore give yourself more slots in those, but try to be as equal as you can otherwise.

    • Next work out which topics within the subjects you need to revise. The truth is, you won’t have time for every single topic in every subject, so choose things that will definitely be on the exam, that you need most to work on, and that use skills and knowledge that are transferrable to other parts of the exam.
    • Assign a topic to each of the subjects for each of the weeks you have left before the exam.

    Key things to remember are:

    • Don’t put more on your timetable than you are able or willing to do (you will just feel disheartened when you can’t keep up, which will affect your ability to keep motivated).
    • Always be willing to amend your timetable, depending on changes in your life, your study needs and how well or badly you are doing with each subject.
    • Put the timetable somewhere you will see it often. Refer to it frequently and use it a tool to organise yourself.

    A typical timetable might look like this:

    Week 1After school 4pmAfter tea 8pm
    MondayMaths – Probability 
    Tuesday French – sports
    WednesdayEnglish – Macbeth 
    ThursdayDT – practicalHistory – Tudors
    Friday  
     MorningAfternoon
    SaturdayPhysics – wavesArt – practical
    Sunday  
    Week 2After school 4pmAfter tea 8pm
    MondayChemistry – Atomic Structure and the periodic table 
    Tuesday  
    WednesdayBiology – Cell biology 
    ThursdayMaths – AlgebraHistory – USA
    Friday  
     MorningAfternoon
    SaturdayEnglish – Language and structure question Paper 1Art – practical
    Sunday  

     Search online for lots of different examples of how to organise your timetable.

    This is the third in a series of short pieces on How to Revise. Click here to see the first on Motivation and here to see the second on Finding a Time and Place. Watch this space for more!

    Exams, Revision

    How to Revise: Finding a place and a time

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    Last time we talked about how to motivate yourself. This time we will consider the importance of finding the right time and place to revise.

    Finding a good place

    However spontaneous you are, we are all creatures of habit. To work well, it is a good idea to find a place which, when you go there, suggests the idea of successfully, quietly studying.

    The qualities of your ‘good place’

    You should be away from distractions – find somewhere where you won’t be tempted to leave your studies and do something else. Some people like a busy place, like the kitchen table, where life can go on around them. Some people like a quiet place, like their room, where they can be alone. If you are very easily distractable, a good tip would be to use a place where you can’t easily do anything else but study, like a school or public library. Find out what suits you. What suits you is not what you find most pleasant – it is where you do most work!

    You should be comfortable – A good chair, a desk with enough room to work, these things probably make it easier to study. But whatever you feel comfortable with will help you stay working for longer.

    You should be consistent – It’s a good idea, if possible, to use the same place each time. It will create the link in your mind between the place and the activity, which will make it easier to get on with your work.

    I appreciate that each of these things is dependant on the privilege of having a stable and appropriate environment and not everyone has access to that. If you are struggling to find a good place to study, a public library is a good option. If there isn’t one available near you, then your school should have facilities where it is possible to study. Ask someone (your teacher, your parents) if you can’t see an easy solution.

    Finding a good time

    Making study a habit is the key to being successful. So, studying at the same time in the day is a good idea if you can manage it. There should, if possible, be a trigger that reminds you it is time to study. For example, you could study straight away when you get home from school, or as soon as you have finished your evening meal, or when you have finished walking your dog.

    Whatever you choose, bear these things in mind:

    Be consistent – try not to make exceptions to your rule. The more you stick to your study time, the more you are likely to stick to it in the future.

    Be realistic – there is no point in telling yourself you will study every evening when you get in from school if you are always exhausted and starving. You would be better to eat and rest, then study.

    Be aware of your existing commitments – there is no point telling yourself you will study for two hours every night if you have badminton on a Monday, swimming on a Tuesday and always meet your friends for a coffee on a Thursday. Plan your study sessions around your commitments.

    The key is to find a time and a place that suit you and stick with it.

    This is the second in a series of short pieces on How to Revise. Click here to see the first and watch this space for more.

    Exams, Revision, School

    How to Revise: Motivation

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    Like it or not, this is the moment when you must start your revision for your exams, if you haven’t started already. Spending time planning how, what and when to revise is not wasted time. It will save you time in the end.

    Here are a few suggestions. Anything that works – use it! Anything that doesn’t – ditch it! Everyone is different. Different things work for different people.

    Motivating yourself

    Before you can even start, you need to believe that you need to. And you need to sustain that feeling throughout the next few months. This is much, much trickier than you might think.

    What motivates you?

    • The thought that you will do well and be able to go on to the course, job or apprenticeship you want to do next year?
    • The fear that you won’t?
    • The desire to please your parents and teachers?

    Some parents offer rewards of money or a new phone or some other material reward in order to spark some enthusiasm to work. This may work for some, but is the least effective of all the motivation techniques. However, all of these will help a little. Nevertheless, on a day to day basis it is easy to lose sight of the overall goal. What can you do to motivate yourself to work today?

    • Remind yourself of your overall goal.
    • Promise yourself a little reward for doing some work (watching a film, seeing a friend, eating some ice cream or whatever you like best).
    • Break your work down into smaller chunks with rests between them.

    The best advice I can give, though, is to make working a habit, like cleaning your teeth or having a shower. It’s just something you do. Make a time to study, say 4pm after school for an hour, and once you have done it a few times, it will become normal.

    This is the first in a series of short pieces about How to Revise. Watch this space for more!

    Drama, Literature

    In Streetcar there are no Heroes or Villains

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    It’s always tempting to categorise characters in a novel or play.  I feel we have a tendency to want them to be ‘baddies’ or ‘goodies’.  We want to love them or hate them.  No wonder the dramas where we can give this desire full reign are so popular. Comic book heroes and villains (like Batman and the Joker, Superman and Lex Luther), fantasy fights between good and evil (like Harry Potter and Voldemort) are so loved whole-heartedly by millions. It is not only for this reason, but it is a relief not to have to check yourself and say, ‘I’m sure they have their good points’, or ‘They can’t be all good – they must have their flaws’. We can just blindly embrace the caricature in simplicity and naivety. I love these black and white battles as much as anyone, and I also appreciate that many incarnations of these stories are introducing more nuanced characterisation, but I can’t escape the feeling of safety these stories give you. In these stories, there is no way of mistaking who is good and who is bad. If only life were like that!

    Novelists and playwrights who have a desire to draw more from life and search for psychological realism cannot give us this warm, safe feeling. They wish to discuss life, what is important in the human condition, and we know that life is not as simple as this black and white division. Duncan, in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, ironically states that ‘There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face’ when he discovers that the Thane of Cawdor has betrayed him.  Obviously, this is ironic because he bestows the title on Macbeth who will go on to murder him and take his crown.  But he is right. Not only can we not tell by someone’s face, but it is also hard to tell their character from their demeanour. An older source says, ‘By their fruits you shall know them’. Perhaps this is the only true way to judge a person accurately, but this takes time, insight and wisdom to discern; most of us lack at least one of these attributes!

    Finding out who is good and who is not is, however, a fruitless task, because, as we all know, very few of us are truly either.  Most of us are a grey mixture of hopes, good intentions, selfish impulses and careless self-centredness. There may be a few of the human race who we may fairly say, whatever their good points, they are too overshadowed by evil for us to care about their virtues. Opinions may differ, but perhaps Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Jack the Ripper and Fred West may be amongst these.  The rest of us, though, are neither perfectly good, or perfectly evil. The best literature acknowledges this.

    Tennessee Williams put this idea into words when he wrote:

    I don’t believe in villains or heroes, only in right or wrong ways that individuals are taken, not by choice, but by necessity or by certain still uncomprehended influences in themselves, their circumstances and their antecedents.

    When studying A Streetcar Named Desire students often can’t wait to make Blanche the heroine and Stanley the villain. It simplifies a complex world. Stanley wins and Blanche loses. The society they move in determines that. The New South with its new and hard expectations damns Blanche, so Stanley’s shining of that cruel light on her vulnerable frailties destroys her. You can imagine, though, the ‘Polak’ Stanley at Belle Reve in an earlier time, being destroyed by Blanche and her kind and their snobbish distain. I am not saying that I don’t sympathise with Blanche.  I do.  Her life has been hard and she has found no refuge from the realities of death, isolation and loneliness. Her personality began to disintegrate and, as she crumbled, she sought help from her sister, only to be destroyed by her sister’s husband. She does not deserve the fate that awaits her at the end of the play. Williams’ sister was incarcerated in an asylum, and the tender feeling he has for the vulnerable may well stem from his personal experience. But Blanche is a promiscuous alcoholic who has preyed on a young man, using her position to form a relationship based on sexual need rather than love and respect. Her disgust at her young husband’s homosexuality is what ultimately drove him to commit suicide. Her guilt, and her need to hide it, contribute to her descent into madness.

    Stanley, a war veteran who, no doubt, witnessed atrocities at Salerno during the Second World War, shines the light of truth on Blanche to discover her lies and fabrications. In another story, he might have appeared to be the hero. Instead, his violence, towards Stella who he loves, and then towards Blanche who he hates, makes his truth seem like brutality. He is a bully, not only of his wife, but also of his friend Mitch, whose vulnerability is easy prey to this ‘man’s man’. He shows no compunction in stripping away Blanche’s shell to reveal her faults and weakness. He has no empathy, not even for the pregnant Stella as he beats her, only to cry in remorse immediately afterwards. The coldest of all, he rapes Blanche. His prey, down and bleeding, must be finished off. He takes his pleasure, destroying her in the process.  He also betrays his wife by cruelly torturing her sister to assert his masculinity.

    Neither Blanche nor Stanley is unflawed. We may root for Blanche and hate Stanley, but each is vulnerable and destructive. Each is dependent on their environment for their power. Blanche’s environment is dying – the corrupt Old South was in decline. Stanley’s is in the ascendant.

    As an audience member or a reader we need to have sympathies for the characters, or else why bother to watch or read?  But in the end, it is the flawed, desperate human beings that attract us most. They tell us about ourselves, in all our ‘tainted glory’.  

    Reading, Vocabulary

    My First Blog Post: Increase your vocabulary – Read!

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    A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies…The man who never reads lives only one.

    — George R.R. Martin

    One of the things which is hardest to teach, but necessary for the most basic understanding of texts, is how to widen your vocabulary. This is even more of an issue now, since GCSE English language and literature papers require a very high level of comprehension, even before any of the more complex skills can be displayed.

    So, what do you do? What do you recommend your students do? The answer is both easy and incredibly difficult. Read. To improve your understanding of how texts work, to increase your vocabulary, to improve your ability to write well yourself, you must read. Not just the texts set in class. Not just text books. No, you must read a whole variety of things, from the nineteenth century extracts that you will encounter in the exam, to newspaper articles, letters, instructions, reports, poems, jokes, and so on and so on.

    The real question, which I do not have an immediate answer to, is how to encourage someone else to read – from the ordinary teenage student to the adult who has never felt at home with the written word. I have worked in school libraries, taught in classrooms and privately one-to-one, and, though I have ideas to share, I have not found an easy solution to the problem.

    Step one, though, is to acknowledge that the problem is there. Reading is often not seen as ‘proper’ homework, or as ‘proper’ work in a classroom (at least outside the primary school). Schools are not funded adequately to provide the books required, nor, more importantly, the librarians to teach, inspire and encourage reading.

    I often teach students who do not understand the texts in front of them, partly as a result of a narrow vocabulary, partly as a result of a general lack of experience of reading. Once they are in Year 11 it is hard (though not impossible) to reverse the trend. How can we tackle the issue earlier? Once someone has had a life time of lack of success in reading, how can we change it from a chore to a pleasure?

    If I truly had the answer to that, I would not be sitting at home writing this blog, but would be hired by every school and teaching institution in the land. I do have some thoughts which might help, though. So, some of my subsequent blog posts will hopefully give some ideas to individuals, to teachers, to schools, to parents about how to find reading a pleasure and encourage it in others. The rest of the time, I will simply share my thoughts about the things we teach at GCSE and A level, in the hope that it may help someone somewhere understand more and achieve more.

    As C.S. Lewis wrote, “We read to know we are not alone”. Whatever our struggles, we can all agree that it is easier to struggle together! What have we got to lose?