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Term 4. The Author’s Purpose. FOCUS. In this unit, students will read and study a class novel to explore the role of language in creating setting, characters, themes and ideas, tension and atmosphere. Our class will study Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’
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Term 4 The Author’s Purpose
FOCUS • In this unit, students will read and study a class novel to explore the role of language in creating setting, characters, themes and ideas, tension and atmosphere. Our class will study Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ • KEY TERMS: novel, narrative, language, characters, setting, relationships, themes, ideas, atmosphere, tension, description, purpose, positioning, implicit, explicit, representations, peripheral, protagonist, antagonist
ASSESSMENT Written Analytical Test (200 words per paragraph): Students are to write three paragraphs analysing selected extracts from their class novel. • Students will study an extract from their novel together in class and prepare an analytical paragraph response to a set question. • Students will also write two analytical paragraphs on unseen extracts and questions in exam conditions. Paragraph responses will be structured using PEEL format and will cover some or all (depending on class novel and extracts chosen) of the following areas: Characters Setting Themes/Ideas Tension Atmosphere
“Trash” Raphael Fernandez: In the very first chapter Raphael tells the reader, “I am a trash boy with style.” ( p.6) This implies that even though Raphael is a trash boy he is proud of it and may be a little better off in some ways compared to other boys living on the dumpsite.
“The Old Man and the Sea” (1952) by Ernest Hemingway • The Old Man and the Sea is a short novel written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Bimini, Bahamas, and published in 1952. • It was the last major work of fiction by Hemingway that was published during his lifetime. One of his most famous works, it tells the story of Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Florida. • In 1953, The Old Man and the Sea was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and it was cited by the Nobel Committee as contributing to their awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Hemingway in 1954.
Basic Overview – ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ https://www.shmoop.com/old-man-the-sea/
Who was Hemingway? • His Early Years Hemingway was born on July 21st 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. After High School he moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. He failed to qualify for the US Army in WW1 because of poor eyesight. He therefore enlisted with the US Red Cross to drive ambulances in Italy. He was seriously wounded on the Austrian Front in 1918. He later returned home and became a freelance writer for the Toronto Star. In December 1921 he sailed to France and joined an expatriate community of writers and artists in Paris while continuing to write for the Star. He started writing short stories collected as “In Our Time.”
Writer and Celebrity • A Hugely Successful Writer and Literary Celebrity The novels The Sun Also Rises (1926) and A Farewell to Arms (1929) saw his reputation as a leading writer established. Hemingway was greatly affected by the Spanish Civil War which gave him a cause in which he felt he could believe. His hatred of fascism gave new impetus and energy to his creative energies and For Whom the Bell Tolls was, and still is, seen by many as the zenith of his literary career. Meanwhile Hemingway sought and achieved a degree of notoriety as a literary and social celebrity. He was four times married and pursued blood sports with relish: he was an expert big game hunter, trout and deep sea fisherman and an expert on bull fighting. He continued to travel widely throughout his life in Europe, Africa and Cuba.
The “old man” is born • Following the critical savaging of his WW2 novel Across the River and into the Trees in 1950, Hemingway was determined to make a point to his detractors and wrote The Old Man and the Sea a work that had been gestating in his imagination since he had first written about the Cuban culture for Esquire the 1930s. The Old Man and the Sea originally published as a single issue of ‘Life’ magazine won the Pulitzer Prize and led to Hemingway’s receipt of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. The last years of his life were spent in considerable pain and alcoholism: Hemingway committed suicide on July 2nd 1961.
Contrasting Cultures • For Hemingway the fascination of Cuba was that of a near neighbour of the US living in the third world conditions of what was principally (but by no means entirely) a subsistence economy. • Santiago and Manolin are forced to face daily life as an unending struggle with fate, chance and the elements which, to the comfortably placed American readers of Life Magazine, was a world apart. • Santiago is whole: complete and entire unto himself and not a cog in the wheel of a machine or a link in a chain of marketing, production and selling. He is certainly a man possessed of self knowledge and wisdom, hence his inner dignity. The cultural context, then, is one of grinding poverty and subsistence, yet one in which the most apparently ordinary of people can achieve heroic status and retain an inner dignity, integrity and self control despite what seems to be, in worldly eyes, failure.
The Challenge for the readers and students of the 21st Century Hemingway uses the cultural context of Cuba in the 1950s (but more reminiscent of the 1930s) to confront the post-war materialist American society with a vision of something to shock and react to. Hemingway lived in Cuba for twenty years. But when Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, the author had to leave indefinitely.
Synopsis • The story accounts for five days in the life of Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman, three of which are spent at sea. • He is not the narrator: it is a third person narrative but imbued with his perspective, personality and consciousness. • We hear both his spoken and unspoken thoughts as well as his conversations with his admirer, friend and apprentice, Manolin.
Santiago is out of luck: he has gone 84 days without catching a single fish. As a result Manolin’s parents have ordered the young man to fish on another boat. • Nonetheless Manolin’s respect and affection for the old man lead him to care for Santiago and provide basic essentials for him. Manolin is captivated not only by the old man’s abilities as a deep-sea fisherman but also his recounting of past heroic adventures; his ‘knowledge’ of American Baseball and its contemporary hero, Joe Di Maggio. • Santiago dreams of ‘lions roaming on the beach’ in an Africa he sailed to as a young man.
Animated Movie • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5ih1IRIRxI
Writers often use language in clever ways to create CHARACTERS. CHARACTER • If you are analysing a character, you should look at what the writer tells you outright and what you can read between the lines. This is known as explicit and implicit meaning. EXPLICIT MEANING Something that is explicit is obvious, out in the open, plainly stated and up-front. Explicit meaning is the easiest to pick out from a piece of text. Sometimes a writer wants it to be obvious that a character is good or bad or cruel or generous or mean and so on.
Writers often use language in clever ways to create CHARACTERS. Take a look at this extract: “Jim Wellings was not a man to be glanced at. But nor was he a man to be stared at. To say he was a big man is like calling Buckingham Palace a big house. He was a man who filled whatever space there was. He wasn't fat, though; just big.” Holes - Louis Sachar Even from this short extract, we can tell a lot about Jim.”
Writers often use language in clever ways to create CHARACTERS. EXPLICIT MEANING ANALYSIS Read the following extract from the novel Holes by Louis Sacher about a teenage boy who has been unjustly sent to a juvenile correction facility in the middle of a desert. Read through it carefully and note down three things you think it tells us about the main character, Stanley. “Stanley didn't have many friends at home. He was overweight and the kids at his middle school often teased him about his size. Even his teachers sometimes made cruel comments without realising it. On his last day of school, his math teacher, Mrs Bell, taught ratios. As an example, she chose the heaviest kid in the class and the lightest kid in the class, and had them weigh themselves. Stanley weighed three times as much as the other boy. Mrs Bell wrote the ratio on the board, 3:1, unaware of how much embarrassment she had caused both of them.” Holes - Louis Sachar
Writers often use language in clever ways to create CHARACTERS. What did this extract show about the main character Stanley? ANSWER Stanley is another big male, but it is clear that the writer wants us to react differently to him than we did to Jim Wellings in the earlier extract. Stanley is a lonely boy, because he didn't have many friends at home. He is bullied and teased, even by adults. The fact that the teacher causes him embarrassment by showing him up in front of the class proves that he feels uncomfortable about his weight.
Writers often use language in clever ways to create CHARACTERS. • IMPLICIT MEANING • Something that is implicit is inferred - it is suggested, but not actually said. Implicit meaning can be a little harder to find than explicit meaning. Writers like to draw you into their text and get you involved. It's up to you to make your mind up about a character, just as it is when you meet someone in real life. • The clues you need to make up your mind about a character are all in the text. Look for the following: • what the character says • what the character does • what others say about them • how others react to them
Writers often use language in clever ways to create CHARACTERS. IMPLICIT MEANING • Take another look at one of the extracts from Holes. Stanley has just arrived at the prison camp. What can you tell about the character of Mr Sir, the man in the cowboy hat, from reading between the lines? Some important phrases have been put in bold to give you a few clues. A man was sitting with his feet up on a desk. He turned his head when Stanley and the guard entered, but otherwise didn't move. Even though he was inside, he wore sunglasses and a cowboy hat. He also held a can of cream soda, and the sight of it made Stanley even more aware of his own thirst. He waited while the bus guard gave the man some papers to sign. "That's a lot of sunflower seeds," the bus guard said. Stanley noticed a burlap sack filled with sunflower seeds on the floor next to the desk. "I quit smoking last month," said the man in the cowboy hat. He had a tattoo of a rattlesnake on his arm, and as he signed his name, the snake's rattle seemed to wiggle. "I used to smoke a pack a day. Now I eat a sack of these every week." Holes - Louis Sachar
Writers often use language in clever ways to create CHARACTERS. IMPLICIT MEANING • On the surface, this extract doesn't tell us much about Mr Sir, but you've probably begun to form an opinion about him. If we read between the lines, we can tell that he likes to make an impression and wants to be seen to be in charge. He is sitting "with his feet up on a desk" and has made his appearance even more striking by wearing sunglasses and a cowboy hat indoors. • Sometimes people who act like this can like power a bit too much, and can be bullies. Could Mr Sir be a bully? • When we consider the can of cream soda, we can say that the fact that Mr Sir fails to offer either Stanley or the bus driver anything to drink after their nine-hour, cross-desert journey suggests that he is a selfish man. That he keeps his own drink in full view of Stanley and the bus driver further suggests that he is cruel and likes to see other people's discomfort. • We learn that Mr Sir stopped smoking recently. We could then expect him to be bad and short-tempered. The tattoo of a rattlesnake, a dangerous reptile that is supposed to have a bad temper, adds to this impression. The sunflower seeds are, we are led to believe, there to help him as an alternative to cigarettes, but we don't get the feeling of optimism that they'll be successful. • So there we have it; Mr Sir is a bad-tempered, selfish bully.
Writers often use language in clever ways to create CHARACTERS. HOW TO ANALYSE CHARACTERS: • When analysing characters from a text, as well as having lots of ideas, you need to explain them clearly. • In order to show your understanding of character, you should: • make a point about a character • provide some evidence(usually a quotation) to support your point • explainyour evidence by looking closely at the language used
Writers often use language in clever ways to create CHARACTERS. Here's an extract from Holes about Stanley and the prison work camp. “Stanley and his parents had tried to pretend that he was just going away to camp for a while, just like rich kids do. When Stanley was younger he used to play with stuffed animals, and pretend the animals were at camp. Camp Fun and Games he called it. Sometimes he'd have them play soccer with a marble. Other times they'd run an obstacle course, or go bungee jumping off a table, tied to broken rubber bands. Now Stanley tried to pretend he was going to Camp Fun and Games. Maybe he'd make some friends, he thought. At least he'd get to swim in the lake.” Holes - Louis Sachar Find two features of Stanley's character and explain how Louis Sachar suggests this through language.
Writers often use language in clever ways to create CHARACTERS. • Point: • Stanley is a lonely boy. • He is willing to make the best of a bad situation. • Evidence: • The writer suggests that Stanley spent long periods, when younger, playing alone with stuffed toys. • Stanley thinks that he will have the chance to make friends and 'at least he'd get to swim in the lake'. • Explain: • The writer lists the sort of games Stanley played with his stuffed toys at 'Camp Fun and Games' in a way that suggests he was playing on his own - the toys became his friends. • He is going to a boy's prison work camp, but, instead of thinking about the horrors he might face, he shows that he is hopeful and ready to make the best of things.
Writers often use language in clever ways to build ATMOSPHERE. Take a look at the following extract from British author Robert Westall's science fiction novel, 'Urn Burial'. Ralph is the major character and has been captured by an alien race... This was the worst nightmare yet. He was standing with his back pressed against a smooth wall cold as ice. The cold nibbled at his buttocks and legs; it ran up and down the knobbles of his spine, making him shiver; it invaded his lungs so he could hardly breathe; he felt he had been shivering a long time. In the extract, Westall (the author)wants to create a creepy, sinister atmosphere. HOW does he do this?
Writers often use language in clever ways to build ATMOSPHERE. In the extract, Westall (the author)wants to create a creepy, sinister atmosphere. HOW does he do this? • Think about the way that he describes Ralph's imprisonment which makes it sound very unpleasant. Ralph is "pressed" against a wall that is "cold as ice" and the cold is creeping into every part of his body, making him shiver. Ralph also feels as if he can "hardly breathe" because of the cold. • Westall also uses figurative language. The simile; "a smooth wall cold as ice", helps the reader relate to Ralph as they will know what ice feels like. Westall also uses personification; the cold "nibbled" at Ralph, it "ran up and down" his back and "invaded" his lungs. This makes the cold sound as if it were alive, running over and into Ralph, trying to eat away at him. This adds to the feeling that he has been overpowered and is in danger.
PEE Structure “White Fang” by American author Jack London is a famous novel about a wolf trying to survive in the Canadian wilderness. Read through the following extract. How does Jack London create an atmosphere of cold and loneliness? Dark spruce forest frowned on either side the frozen waterway. The trees had been stripped by a recent wind of their white covering of frost, and they seemed to lean towards each other, black and ominous, in the fading light. A vast silence reigned over the land. The land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness. There was a hint in it of laughter, but of a laughter more terrible than any sadness - a laughter that was mirthless as the smile of the sphinx, a laughter cold as the frost and partaking of the grimness of infallibility. White Fang‘ by Jack London
PEE Structure • Point: • The extract describes a cold, empty landscape. • Evidence: • The text states that the trees have been "stripped by a recent wind of their white covering of frost". • The land is described as "desolate" and it contains "a laughter more terrible than any sadness". • Explanation: • This suggests that the place is completely isolated. • The fact that it seems to be full of terrible laughter suggests it is a very cruel area, which would make survival very difficult.
Writers often use language in clever ways to build ATMOSPHERE. “The Red Room” by British author H G Wells is a very famous Gothic Horror short story. Gothic literature is famous for its creation of atmosphere and tension. What sort of atmosphere does HG Wells create in the following extract and how does he use figurative language to do this? The long, draughty, subterranean passage was chilly and dusty, and my candle flared and made the shadows cower and quiver. The echoes rang up and down the spiral staircase, and a shadow came sweeping up after me, and one fled before me into the darkness overhead. I came along the landing and stopped there for a moment, listening to a rustling sound that I fancied I heard; then, satisfied of the absolute silence, I pushed open the baize-covered door and stood in the corridor. The Red Room by HG Wells
Exemplar Answer Can you identify which parts of the paragraphs are POINTS; EVIDENCE and EXPLANATIONS? HG Wells creates an atmosphere of fear and tension in the extract. He describes the passage as being "draughty" and mentions that it is underground. This makes it seem creepy and ghostly. The fact that the character only has a candle to light his way makes the story seem old-fashioned, and also creates drama because we know that the draught could blow it out. The way the echoes "rang up and down" and the fact that the man stops because he thinks he hears a sound, adds to the ghostly effects. The shadows also help to create a sinister atmosphere as they flicker around and make it even harder for the man to see what's ahead. Wells uses figurative language such as personification to describe them. He says that they "cower and quiver", come "sweeping up" and that they "fled". All of this makes them sound alive, or perhaps like ghosts. The words used are all linked with fear, so that even the shadows seem to be afraid of what's in the corridor. This is very eerie and helps to create a very tense atmosphere.
Exemplar Answer – PEEL Structure Point HG Wells creates an atmosphere of fear and tension in the extract.He describes the passage as being "draughty" and mentions that it is underground. This makes it seem creepy and ghostly. The fact that the character only has a candle to light his waymakes the story seem old-fashioned, and also creates dramabecause we know that the draught could blow it out. The way the echoes "rang up and down"and the fact that the man stops because he thinks he hears a sound, adds to the ghostly effects. The shadows also help to create a sinister atmosphere as they flicker around and make it even harder for the man to see what's ahead.Wells uses figurative language such as personification to describe them. He says that they "cower and quiver", come "sweeping up" and that they "fled". All of this makes them sound alive, or perhaps like ghosts. The words used are all linked with fear, so that even the shadows seem to be afraid of what's in the corridor. This is very eerie and helps to create a very tense atmosphere. Evidence Explain LINK Point Evidence Explain LINK
Atmosphere Ray, the main character in the extract below, has stolen a motorbike and caused an accident that killed someone. He has told nobody, but knows that he can't hide for much longer. He is about to get on a bus, but realises that the one person who can link him to the crime is the conductor of that very bus. Before he can run off, he bumps into Mrs Fitzroy, his best friend's mum. He hung back, groping wildly for some excuse to prevent him getting on, but the bell rang and the engine increased its impatient rumble and his legs carried him upwards on to the platform, and he felt Mrs Fitzroy clamber on behind. The bus began to move. He turned towards the stairs, but she caught hold of his arm. "Let's go downstairs. I don't like the smoke." Again he felt her hand guide him, and he ducked his head and began to walk along the aisle. "Yeah". "This'll do," she said, and he turned back and sat beside her - the less fuss he made, the less obvious he was, the better. As he settled, he kept his face bent low, aware of the conductor walking towards them. He brushed past, and, noticing things with a total clarity, Ray saw the dark blue uniform that he was wearing and noted the heaviness and thickness of the material. He heard him clumping up the stairs, and he wondered, absurdly, if he was wearing heavy boots, too. Mrs Fitzroy was opening the bag which she had on her lap, and Ray felt in his pocket for his fare. If he had the right change, he could just hand it to the conductor without looking up. Yes, he had a ten and two pence piece. He glanced at Mrs Fitzroy and saw to his dismay that she was taking out a pound-note from her purse. That would mean a delay while she got her change - plenty of chance for him to be recognised. Could he offer to pay her fare? It would seem strange, but anything was better than being seen. Collision Course'- Nigel Hinton What kind of atmosphere does Nigel Hinton create in this extract and how does he do it? You should refer to: • Ray's thoughts and actions as he gets on the bus • his behaviour as the conductor approaches • how Hinton uses language to create the atmosphere.
Exemplar Answer In this text, Nigel Hinton creates an atmosphere of fear and tension. Ray's thoughts and actions at the start of the passage show that he is under a lot of pressure. He tries to think of an excuse to 'prevent him getting on' the bus, but knows that this will just make Mrs Fitzroy suspicious. When he tries to go upstairs, she insists they stay downstairs. Nothing seems to be going his way, and this leads readers to believe he may well be spotted by the conductor. As the conductor approaches, Ray's fears increase which creates more tension. He keeps his face 'bent low' to avoid being recognised, and also notices things 'with a total clarity'. This shows that he is very scared and alert, ready for something to go wrong. When he realises Mrs Fitzroy has no change, he feels 'dismay'. The reader is positioned to feel tense and anxious waiting for the conductor to come along. Nigel Hinton uses language, as well as events, to create tension. The phrase 'groping wildly for some excuse' shows Ray's panic and gives the impression that he feels he has no control over events. The way he notices the 'heaviness' of the conductor's uniform, and wonders if he was 'wearing heavy boots as well' might mean that he is afraid of the man. Ray asks himself 'Could he offer to pay her fare?'. This shows he is tense; he is running through possibilities in his mind. Hinton manipulates Ray's fears to create an atmosphere of tension for the reader.
Answering the Question If you are going to use quotations from the extract in your answer, Remember to set them out properly. Here are some points to remember: • Use quotation marks. • Quote accurately. • Quotes of three words or less can be used in the sentence you're writing - for example ...when the writer talks about the "futility of life" he means... • Longer quotations need to be included on a line of their own and with a space before it (known as an indent) - for example ...the writer describes the landscape as a "desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold" he creates a picture that... • Short, well-chosen quotations are better than long, vague ones.
Connecting Words Remember that certain words and phrases are helpful when you're explaining an idea in detail Some other words and phrases that may be useful are those that help move your argument on. These are called connectives (conjunctions). Here are some examples: however therefore in contrast because but and furthermore also then at first later as well as The following wordbank shows you some of those phrases, and you might be able to add some more: • this implies • this suggests • which gives the impression that • possibly • perhaps • this indicates that • this shows • obviously
Homographs Definition Examples accent - stress or emphasis/a manner of speaking or pronunciation influenced by the region in which one lives or grew up agape - wide open/a Greek word meaning “love” attribute - a characteristic or quality/to think of as belonging to or originating in some person, place or thing axes - the plural of ax or axe/the plural of axis bass - a deep voice or tone/a kind of fish bat - a piece of sporting equipment used in baseball/a winged animal associated with vampires bow - to bend at the waist/the front of a boat/a pair of tied loops buffet - to hit, punch or slap/a self-serve food bar bustier - an undergarment/more busty compact - small/to make small/a small case for holding makeup compound - to mix or combine/an enclosed area with a building or group of buildings inside content - happy or satisfied/all that is contained inside something contract - an agreement/to get, acquire or incur coordinates - brings into proper place or order/a set of numbers used to calculate position desert - a hot, arid region/to leave digest - a condensed version of some information/to change food in the stomach into a form that can be absorbed by the body A group (usually a pair) of words that are spelled the same way, but have different meanings. They may or may not be pronounced the same way, although the difference in pronunciation is often just a shift in the accented syllable. There is a whole class of homographs that end in -ate, usually with one being a verb and the other being a noun or an adjective related to it. For example: "Advocate" can be pronounced with a long "a" sound and mean “to speak or write in support of” "Advocate" can also be pronounced with a short "a" sound and refer to a person who supports or pleads the cause of another.
More Examples discount - a reduction in price/to underestimate the significance of or give no credence to does - female deer (plural)/present, third person singular form of the verb “do” down - in a lower position/soft, furry feathers entrance - the place of entry/to bewitch, delight or enrapture evening - late afternoon/making more even fine - very good/sharp or keen/delicate or subtle/a sum of money paid to settle a matter frequent - occurring regularly/to visit a place with regularity incense - a substance that produces a pleasant odor when burned/to infuriate or make very angry lead - to go first with followers behind/a type of metal minute - 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour/extremely small moped - acted sad or gloomy/a bicycle with a motor object - a thing you can see or touch/a goal/a noun that receives the action of a verb/to be opposed to proceeds - advances or continues on/the money or profit gained from some sale or venture produce - to create or make/fresh fruits and vegetables project - a plan or proposal/to throw or hurl forward/to cause a shadow or image to fall upon a surface putting - the present participle of put/the present participle of putt number - a numeral/to count/more numb refuse - waste or garbage/to reject or decline to accept row - a fight/to propel a boat forward using oars/a line second - 1/60th of a minute/after the first subject - under some authority or control/to bring under authority or control/to make liable or vulnerable/a topic/the noun in a sentence about which something is said in tear - to rip/a drop of water from the eye wind - to turn/moving air wound - turned/an injury
Homophones Definition • Have you ever wondered which variation of the word “bear” to use in a sentence? “Bear” can mean to carry or it can mean to tolerate. The word “bare” sounds like “bear” but it is spelled differently and the two have different meanings. These tricky words and many others like them are members of a group of words called homophones. • (Homophones fall under the umbrella of the term homonyms. Homonyms is a broad term for words that sound or are spelled the same but have different meanings. Let’s take a closer look at homophones. • What Are Homophones? • Homophones are words that are pronounced the same but they have different meanings and are usually spelled differently as well. They usually occur in groups of two but sometimes they can be three or four in a group. It’s important to recognize and identify the most common homophones because the spelling can change the entire meaning of a sentence! Here is a list of the most common homophones.
Homographs Definition • Put quite simply, a homograph is a group (usually a pair) of words that are spelled the same way, but have different meanings. They may or may not be pronounced the same way, although the difference in pronunciation is often just a shift in the accented syllable. • There is a whole class of homographs that end in -ate, usually with one being a verb and the other being a noun or an adjective related to it. For example: • "Advocate" can be pronounced with a long "a" sound and mean “to speak or write in support of” • "Advocate" can also be pronounced with a short "a" sound and refer to a person who supports or pleads the cause of another.
