Hi I'm practising Essay Plans can i have some general feedback on how to be better at these and I also have specific questions

English level 2 2.1 Analyse specified aspect(s) of studied written
1

Btw my text is the box social by James Reaney
Plan 1: (what does small details mean???)
2021 . 3. Analyse how small details were used to explore big ideas.
Big ideas:
Everyone needs closure in some way
How an imbalance of power can affect people
Trauma can lead people to do out of character things
do not know what small details is so cannot continue

Plan 2:
2020. 3
Analyse how ideas were presented to be thought-provoking and relevant.
ideas:
Everyone needs closure in some way

  • revealed through ending: examples:
  • I hated you so much… she said softly (direct speech) ( now that she has revenge she can have closure)
  • Inside it, there was the crabbed corspe of a still born child ( harsh alliteration) ( it is her final goodbye)
    How an imbalance of power can affect people
  • you aren’t mad at me anymore? ( he abused her but as he is the one in power he thinks she should stop overeacting and she has no choice but to stop as she is powerless)
  • he sat down quite comfortably (shows he does not feel guilt or fear as she cannot do anything because she is powerless)
    Trauma can lead people to do out of character things
  • connotations of ‘prettiest’ ’ beautiful’ ‘wonderfully white’ at beginning to show her character before the trauma
  • wreathed in bloody newspaper ( the negative connotation of bloody which contrasts with the earlier adjectives to show that before she was raped she was pretty, beautiful, innocent and now she is revengeful)
    ??are my ideas for this question too similar would i be better off to change them?

Plan 3:
2019. 5.
Analyse how structure reinforced your understanding of one or more themes.
Theme: there is an imbalance of power in society and this leads to injustice towards powerless people
structure of how the text/mood changes throughout the text
beginning: a mood of calm/innocence ( before the injustice towards powerless people life is calm/innocent)

  • positive connotations prettiest/beautiful
  • alliteration of shoe boxes are so wonderfully white
  • personification of the rain falling in soft applause
    middle: a mood of excitment/anxiousness ( powerless people can get manipulated by people in power because they get excited and carried away that they are getting attention/are having power)
  • box social gleamed in the distance (exciting event)
  • the word’ exciting’ - connotations of it
  • very careful with her hands lest she eat them ( shows anxiousness but also could show excitement)
    end: the shocking revelation of how someone in power has caused an injustice to powerless sylvia ( this helps me understand how the imbalance in power (in this case between a woman and a man in the 1950s) could lead to awful things/injustice)
  • crabbed corspe
  • wreathed in bloody newspaper
  • hated - negative connotation

Would these be good plans to quickly do in the exam?? Do you think they would help me write a excellence level essay? Have I interpreted the questions correctly?

2

Kia ora Sophie17003

I can give you some general comments on this.

To your first question - small details means some of the minor things in a text that might not be noticed at first glance, but actually when closely analyzing and reading (which you have probably done in class) can be picked out and support the bigger themes. For instance, a big pivotal event in the book is probably not a small detail, but some symbolism, or specific types of imagery used in describing something, or a seemingly minor interaction between characters might be (you have some nice bits of dialogue in second plan that could potentially work well as small details)

Your breaking down of both parts of the question is really good, and exactly what you should be doing. Good to have some quotes and a little analysis - potentially you might consider how these will fit into each paragraph - are they in order? You might try drawing two lines through to denote how this evidence will be broken up - sometimes people put all their good ideas in first para and run out of things to say.

In terms of the “excellence level” bit - hard to say if this needs to go in your plan as many people would not write this down but would still include it - you may want to think about the author’s purpose - what are they trying to reveal/highlight/suggest THROUGH the theme/structure/whatever - and how can you make connections beyond the text with this? Again, you might not need to write this down to include it but it is something to think about.