In the first segment, the writer expresses his hatred towards the island through the use of metaphor and comparison. Firstly, the writer illustrates Vanuatu after the lights fades as “coal-shaft black” and “back-of-your-closet black”. Here, the writer describes the darkness at late Vanuatu as coal and the back of a closet. The two continuous metaphors here effectively suggest that the impermeable darkness is, in a way, dirty and unpleasant to the writer, therefore expressing the writer’s hatred and negative impressions of the environment. Secondly, the writer says that the hotel is “a magnet to flies”. The metaphor used here vividly shows the great amount of flies in the area, as if they are being attracted by something in the hotel. The detailed descriptions of the flies shows the writer’s disgust towards the hotel and possibly his hatred towards the island. Thirdly, the writer claims that the small kerosene lamps among the table “make the slightest dent on the monolithic emptiness of the world beyond this one”. Here, the writer compares the great contrast between the impacts of these small lamps on the environment and the feeling of emptiness of the rest of the world around him, concluding that the lamps could not even make a dent. The comparison in the sentence indicates that nothing could ease the desolation of the place and the loneliness of the writer, which additionally highlights his hatred towards the island.

In the second segment, the writer conveys the great impacts brought by his childhood fears through the use of the rule of three, repetition and metaphor. Firstly, the writer claims that his childhood fears are mainly “That sense of abject abandonment, the helplessness, the distress”. The rule of three is used here as the writer lists out the components that made up his fear, making the language more emotive, highlighting the fact that these emotions are still left in his heart even after he had grown up. Secondly, the writer further describes his fear in detail as “nobody knows I’m here, nobody cares, and nobody’s coming back for me”. The technique of anaphora is used here as the word “nobody” is repeated at the beginning of each phrase, making the phrases more and more emotional. This emphasises the fact that the writer was left alone, how helpless he was and therefore indicates that these childhood fears will cause great impacts on the writer. Thirdly, the writer metaphorically describes his childhood fears as “thumbprint of anxiety”. The metaphor used in the phrase effectively shows the characteristics of the anxiety left in his heart by his childhood fears: perpetual and long-lasting, just like a thumbprint, which is always there throughout a person’s life and will never change no matter what. With this metaphor, the writer shows the greatness of the impacts of his fears. Therefore, the great impacts brought by the writer’s childhood fears are conveyed to the readers through the use of the rule of three, repetition and metaphor.

Cover Art by Mrs-White from DeviantArt

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Mother died today. Or maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure. 

Meursault from The Stranger

The opening of The Stranger is a word of the main character, Meursault in the novel. The tone and the short phrases in the opening shows the indifference of Meursault towards the death of his mother. He didn’t express any remorse upon learning about the death of his mother and it seems that the only thing he thought about was the date of his mother died. The opening acts as a hook, makes the readers wonder what causes the strange behaviour and personality of the character and if the character changed as the plot develops. The opening attracts readers to find out more this it is very effective.

At the same time, the opening is also effective since it hints the main conflict and themes of the whole book. For instance, Meursault’s words in the opening shows his difficulty of relationships and his indifference towards humanity, which are also the major conflicts in the story. Including these ideas in the opening makes a story clear in the main ideas the writer is going to explore or convey.

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Describe what you see from outside your window.

Early in the morning, I pulled open the curtains and there, the sky was carpeted in a heavy layer of grey. The rain seems to have been going on for a while.

A thin layer of cloud and mist was lingering atop rows of green hills, slowly gliding past the hilltops. The lush mountainside was coated by a sheet of misty gauze, as if it were an unreachable paradise far away. The hazy mix of mist and rain obscured the top of the mountain, fusing into the turquoise sky. The Spring rain was mild and relaxed against the myrtle-colored hills, gently showing its ethereal beauty in the calming air.

Imperceptibly, the continuous rain gradually turned more placid and serene. In the wooden pavilion on the balcony, the moist air was mixed with the faint fragrance of the verdant grass and the fresh aroma of the tender flowers. The garden was steadily waking from its dormancy during the winter days. On the tips of the frail branches on the bare tree were tiny mint-green leaves, its silk-soft surface reflecting dim, greenish light. The tender grass reached out from the soil under the caress of the Spring rain, its green foliage dripping with freshness. Sporadic spots of white flowers scattered randomly, blooming freely while shaking slightly in the smooth breeze.

I stood up and walked out of the pavilion. All of a sudden, from a tall tree nearby, there was a shriek of a bird, clear and loud, piercing through the rain. Another cry immediately came from another tree far behind the balcony, as if responding the first. The echo of the two birds called, uncountable tiny rain droplets tapped on the bushes, the gusts of wind whispered between the rustling trees. All of these composed a calming concerto performed in the freshness of Spring. Nature seemed to be all around, in the breaths, on the fingertips, gently wiping away all sorrows and anxiousness.

When I returned inside, it was still mizzling outside. The Spring rain creates picturesque scenery, awakens all living things, and soothes the haze in people’s hearts.

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First of all, both Sympathy and Caged Bird convey the idea that African Americans are facing oppression using allusion. In Sympathy, Dunbar refers to African American using the symbol of a “caged bird” whose “blood is red on the cruel bars” and whose “wing is bruised” and “bosom sore” (second and third stanza) when they are trying to fight. Similarly, Angelou also uses the same allusion in Caged Bird as she refers to the African American who is bound by rules and regulations of the society as “a bird that stalks down his narrow cage” with his wings “clipped” and his feet “tied”. This allusion effectively demonstrates the situation of African Americans in which they have no freedom and are locked in the “cage” of serious racism and prejudices.

However, the two poems widely differ in their form and structure. Sympathy includes three stanzas with each consisting of 7 lines and a rhyming pattern of “ABCCBAA”, “ABAABAA” and “ABCCBAA” for the first, second and third stanza respectively. Caged Bird, on the other hand, is much more irregular. It has six stanzas, in which the first two stanzas have seven lines, the third and the sixth have eight lines and the fourth and the fifth have four lines. It is highly inconsistent in terms of its rhyming pattern — its rhyme scheme is hardly noticeable. There is no rhyme at all in the first stanza, a few in the others but do not form a specific pattern. There are, instead of rhyming, uses of anaphora present in the second, fourth and fifth stanza: “his bars of rage / his wings are clipped and / his feet are tied”, “and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees / and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn / and he names the sky his own”, “his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream / his wings are clipped and his feet are tied”. Therefore, the two poems have very different form and structure.

Furthermore, even though the two poems convey the same theme, implying the situations of African Americans as well as the racism and oppression they are facing, they differ in the technique of accomplishing this. On one hand, Caged Bird compares the situations of the caged bird with the free bird, while free bird “names the sky his own”, the caged bird “stands on the grave of dreams”. This is possibly implying the different conditions black people and white people are in. On the other hand, in Sympathy, the poet sympathises with the bird’s feelings of being caged by identifying with it rather than talking about what it would be like to be free: “I know what the caged bird feels, alas!” and “I know why the caged bird sings, ah me”. This puts the readers into the caged bird’s shoes and to feel the pain the caged bird has experienced, therefore stressing the poor conditions a caged bird has. Thus, Caged Bird and Sympathy uses different techniques to effectively convey the same theme.

As a conclusion, there are both similarities and differences between Caged Bird by Maya Angelou and Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar, but both of them illustrate the poor lives of a caged bird and pass on the message of freedom — every one shouldn’t live in restrictions or oppression like a bird behind the bars, every one in the world, despite their sex, nationality or family backgrounds, should have human rights.

Cover image from Dribbble by Elen Winata

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Firstly, the poem paints a realistic picture of women’s situations in the 1950s. Throughout the whole poem, “mushrooms” could be a symbol of women. Many figures of speech were used to demonstrate the plight of women in a patriarchal society, for example, how a woman was being treated: “Overnight, very Whitely, discreetly, Very quietly”. The three lines here use the “y” sound consonance, making the stanza lengthened and soft, possibly implying that women’s voices were soft and were usually ignored by people. This emphasises the idea that women in the 1950s were unheard and unnoticed in society. At the same time, women’s lives were also illustrated in the poem: “Diet on water, on crumbs of shadow”. Metaphor is used in the sentence, describing a woman’s life as mushrooms’. Water and shadow are the most basic food for fungi to consume, and the mushrooms have no right to choose anything better. Similarly, some women were provided with little or no opportunities and experiences that men had. Like mushrooms in the shades, women were held back at home, forced to do housework and were away from the sunlight. Therefore, a vivid picture of women’s situations in 1950 is illustrated in the poem.

Secondly, the poet conveys that women were determined to change their situation with their strong spirits. First, it is noticeable that there are five syllables in each line and three lines in every single stanza throughout the whole poem and this is never changed. The poet may be implying the unchanged goal of the women through the unchanged structure of the poem. Furthermore, in the third, eighth and the ninth stanza, the poet writes “sees us, Stops us, betrays us”, “So many of us! So many of us!” and “We are shelves, we are Tables, we are meek, we are edible” respectively. Repetition of the word “us” and “we” emphasises the idea that all the women were united together, seeing themselves as a whole and were working towards their common goal of acquiring women’s rights.

Thirdly, the poet expresses the idea that there was hope for women’s situation to improve even though women were rather quiet and their voices remained unheard. Throughout the whole poem, there are a lot of “F” and “T” sounds repeated in close proximity, for instance: “Soft fists insist on Heaving the needles”. This is the use of sibilance, and it could be an imitation of the sounds made by the mushrooms as they grow. Although mushrooms were unseen by people and seemed to be silent, they were still making sounds. This denotes that the voices of females were weak and didn’t result in significant effects in the short term, they could make a change, and there was still hope. Also, in the second stanza, the poet writes: “Our toes, our noses Take hold on the loam”. The word “loam” means fertile soil. Even though the mushrooms were unnoticed, it turned out that they were sprouting from flourishing soil and were acquiring air, everything seems to be more vivid and lively, and there was hope that these mushrooms could grow up. This indicates that it was possible for women to succeed, for their proposals to be noticed and for developments and betterments in their treatments in society.

As a conclusion, Mushrooms written by Sylvia Plath support a feminist interpretation. It shows women’s situations in society, the hope that women’s situations could be improved and women’s determination and strong spirit in supporting feminism.

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In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator’s use of point of view in which he tells the story slightly changes from the beginning to the end. There are both similarities and differences in his choices at the beginning and at the end, and these are all resulted in the changes in the narrator’s mood.

In the beginning, the narrator uses first person point of view, for example: “I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in the hell.” Similarly, at the end of the story, the narrator also uses first person point of view: “I felt that I must scream or die!” The narrator uses first person point of view as the main perspective throughout the story because he is talking about his own experiences and expressing his personal inner feelings. In contrary, while the narrator always uses first person point of view at the end of the story, he uses some third person point of view at the beginning, for example, “You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing.” and “Ha! — would a madman have been so wise as this?” In these sentences, the narrator refers himself as “madmen” and comments on himself, whereas near the end of the story, there were no such comments.

A few possible causes for the differences in the point of view used in the beginning and the end of the story includes the change of the narrator’s mood and feelings throughout the story. The choice of third person point of view in the beginning of the story could be caused by the narrator’s confidence, rationality, and his will of persuading others. The confidence of the narrator is illustrated as he said: “You should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded.” Here, the narrator provides details and evidences of when he secretly went into the old man’s house and committed the crime. He proudly tries to prove that he was extremely careful, thoughtful and not mad at the time. At the same time, the narrator attempts to be persuasive the readers through the continuous use of rhetorical questions. For instance, “but why will you say that I am mad?”, and “why will you say I am mad?”. The continuous uses of rhetorical questions have allowed the narrator to reinforce the idea that the narrator thinks that he himself is not mad. On the other hand, the end of the story portrays the narrator has an irritable and impetuous figure. This is mainly done through the short sentence structure and the repetition in the use of exclamation marks: “I felt that I must scream or die! — and now — again! — hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!” These sentences have demonstrated that the narrator is no doubt getting frantic, mad, frightened due to the heartbeat inside his own mind and his guilt after killing the old man. As a result of the changes in the narrator’s mood, there are differences in the use of point of view throughout the story.

As a conclusion, in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator’s use of point of view in which he tells the story slightly changes from the beginning to the end due to the changes in his moods.

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Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this letter to you to express my opinion with regards to mountain climbing on Everest. I strongly believe that mountain climbing should be banned.

As you might know from the recent news articles, there number of accidents on Everest was increasing in the recent years. Indeed, climbing any mountains with a high altitude is highly dangerous. As more and more people are involved in climbing Everest, the problem was gradually noticed by the public. Climbing is dangerous to people for many reasons. It is noticeable that the weather on Mount Everest changes quickly. The sky could be clear seconds ago and being covered completely by blankets of clouds in less than 1 hour. As a result, most human bodies are uncomfortable to the environment on a snow mountain naturally. When most climbers get to the top of Everest, after more than 50 hours of climbing, they are usually cold, tired and sick and do not even have the energy to care about the beautiful view around them. Symptoms that they often get include and are not restricted to violent coughing, feeling painful when doing ordinary breathing, feeling unable to eat, and since little oxygen reach their brains, they have low mental capacity, unable think normally and might do unexpected actions. All of these increase the climbers risk to get hurt. Moreover, there are extreme geographical locations that climbers need to go through that are lengthy, rugged, uneven and sometimes climbers even need to climb on smooth rock surfaces and steep cliffs. There are snow patches, snow slashes, snow abysses, snow forlorn near the top of the mountain. In such a dangerous place, a slight slip would be fatal – a faltering climber would easily slip off the cliff and become a shapeless, bloody heap.

Furthermore, mountain climbing on Everest not only risk the climbers’ lives but is also environmentally damaging. Firstly, there are many geographical features that hadn’t been touched by humans for thousands of years. Professional geographers might be able to figure out important geographical data from these features. However, if more and more amateur climbers climb onto Everest without any knowledge of the features, these precious samples might be ruined. Secondly, some climbers might damage the habitats that are crucial to some organisms, causing deaths of species which would eventually leads to the decrease in number or even extinction of animals in the same food chain. The damage of the food chain will cause serious impacts on environment around people living close to Everest, and their food supply.

At the same time, climbing on a mountain with a high altitude is a highly egotistical act. On one hand, the damages brought to the environment is an egotistical act. The climbers and the guides who organised the climbing tour had never thought about how their actions will impact the plants and animals on the mountains, how their actions will be causing difficulties for the local people in Nepal and China to live in such ruined environment. On the other hand, amateur climbers who had been to such dangerous activity are also being egotistical. Some of them might be unaware of the dangerousness of the activity, but they had the chance to research and learn more about it before they went. As most of them didn’t, many of them are underprepared and this directedly results in their accidents on Everest. Their families, their loved ones who were waiting for them to come back, will never see their husband, wives, daddy or mummy returning home. What they would see, instead, would be a body, a jar of bone ashes, or maybe none of the above and just a notice of their death. These climbers are being egotistical, perhaps without realizing it, bringing permanent pain to others who will suffer from it for the rest of their lives.

Again, I hope that mountain climbing on Everest to be banned, since it is dangerous, damaging to the environment and egotistical. In this way, less accidents would be caused, the environment would be better preserved, and less people will be impacted by these activities. Thank you!

Your Faithfully,
Celia

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Cascais, along the coast from Lisbon, Portugal, has been described as a ‘picture-postcard perfect little beach town’. Its scintillating colours amazed me when I arrived. The orange roof tiles shone like fire in the midday sun; the stately buildings stood resplendent in their smart coats of colour wash. Best of all, the twisted shapes of the walkways…

Take me to the original text
Take me to the mark scheme

Question 2

Re-read the descriptions of:
(a) the town of Cascais in paragraph 1, beginning ‘Cascais, along the coast …’;
(b) the atmosphere and the events as the ‘Running with the Bulls’ is about to begin in paragraph 3, beginning ‘The bull run takes place …’.
Select words and phrases from these descriptions, and explain how the writer has created effects by using this language.

Answer

First of all, the writer illustrates the small town at midday as a warm place. This is shown when he writes: “The orange roof tiles shone like fire in the midday sun”. A simile is used in this sentence, where the orange roof tiles were described as fire. This shows both the brightness and colourfulness of the roof but also emphasises the hot temperature of the town. The writer uses personification to express the sense of uniqueness, elegance and impressiveness of the buildings. These adjectives are often used to describe humans, are used to depict the buildings and show the reader that Cascais is a town which is immaculately cared for by its residents and is also unique in appearance due to the extraordinary pallet of colours on the buildings. Additionally, it shows the magnificence of the buildings. The colour wash is described as the “coats” of the buildings, highlighting how these special decorations had been put on and they were being shown off by the buildings. Besides these, “the twisted shapes of the walkways and the square were designed in shades of blue and grey to look like gentle waves lapping up to the entrances of the hotels and the fish restaurants”. The simile here describes the walkways and square at the entrances of the hotels and the fish restaurants as “gentle waves”, which shows the soft, soothing and relaxed environment of the small town on the beach, creating a calming tone.

In the third paragraph, the significance and unusualness of the bull run are both shown by the writer. The imposing grandeur of the scene is illustrated by the writer when he says ‘Hundreds of tanned men descended on the beach and started gesturing frantically, shouting “touro, touro!”’ The use of repetition creates a grand rhythm, foreshadowing the start of an significant event. By doing so, the writer encourages readers, making them eager to continue reading and find out how the event goes, allowing readers to immerse in the situation and anticipate the bull run. Furthermore, when the bull run started, the writer says: “A truck bearing five fairly menacing bulls drew up on the sand”. The word “menacing” alarms the readers by expressing the threat brought by the bulls and potential risks of the activity. At the same time, this description hugely differs from the calm and soft feelings in the first paragraph, the sudden change of atmosphere is surprising, which strengthened the idea that the bull run was unpredictable – anything could happen, and unusual from any other events in the world. Therefore, the significance and the unusualness of the bull run was emphasized by the writer.

Hope this helps! Please post a comment should you have any questions.

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Beginning and Ending

If you do not know the person you are writing to:

Dear Sir or Madam,

X xx xxxxx, xxxxx x xx xxxxx xx xxxx xxxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxx xxxxxxx xx x x xx.  xxx xxxxxx xxx x xxx xx xx.

Thank you!

Yours Faithfully,
Celia.

If you know who you are writing to:

Dear Ms. Jenny,

X xx xxxxx, xxxxx x xx xxxxx xx xxxx xxxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxx xxxxxxx xx x x xx.  xxx xxxxxx xxx x xxx xx xx.

Thank you!

Yours Sincerely,
Celia.

First paragraph

Components of a suitable beginning:

☐ I read your thing or listen to your speech
☐ I agree with you a lot / completely agree
☐ There is some differences in our opinions

It doesn’t matter if you are agreeing to the news article or not, you need to write that you agree with the writer of the news article since the writer will not want to read this anymore. There are several ways to do so:

• I have recently read your xxx article addressing [the problem addressed].
• I have recently listened to your speech with regards to [the problem addressed].

And then:

• There are many valid points that you have highlighted to which I am in complete agreement with such as …
• I perfectly / totally agree with many (notice here: many, not some) of your opinions, such as…

And if this letter is to criticise the writer:

• However, there are some areas which I differ in opinion in such as the concept that…

Body Paragraphs

Components of a suitable body paragraph:

☐ To some degree, I agree with you
☐ But this is something you need to consider about
☐ There can be a balance

Always say that you agree with the writer’s points to some extent first, and list out the writer’s opinions and points. After listing out these, “However” and rebut the writer’s point.

Example

To begin with, I acknowledge that [Opinions of the writer with evidence from the original text]. [More opinions of the writer with more evidence from the original text]. However I feel that…

To be fair to you, exams aren’t exactly every student’s most requested wish. Perhaps back in your days, exams were less important because there was not as much competition for jobs in the world. However, in the 21st century,

Last but not least, I feel… Yes, [Opinion of the writer and some evidences]. But I think…

Remember, do not be too extreme or no one is going to listen to you. Use phrases like: “I believe it is possible to achieve a balance between the two.” And words such as “perhaps”, “I feel that”.

Ending

// Remember again, always agree with the writer’s points to some extents first, than express your own points. This makes the register right.

Components of a suitable ending:

☐ Points you agree with the writer
☐ Points that you want the writer to consider about (your opinions against her points)

In conclusion, I felt that there were some reasonable arguments that you made such as… [Opinions of the writer]

However, I hope that I have made you realise that… [Your opinions] I sincerely hope that you will consider these points.

That’s all. Hope this helps!

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In this account, set in 1936, George Orwell is a young police officer serving in Burma, India, which was then part of the British Empire. He has been sent to deal with a troublesome elephant.

Q1

Imagine you are George Orwell. Write a journal entry, describing your thoughts and feelings about the events described in Passage A.

I would never ever forget what I had experienced today. I shot an elephant. It was such a lovely creature, moving slowly, elegantly in the hot air, its grey skin was full of deep wrinkles, like the mountains and valleys on the map, the pattern of nature. But I pulled the trigger, still, watching the bullet penetrating its skin. I sank into grievance when I saw its huge body gradually tilted, fell into its shadow with a loud “thud”. The native villagers were cheering all around me, but my guilty hands were shaky, the gun slipped out from them and fell into the withered grass.

Q2

Select words and phrases from the descriptions, and explain how the writer has created effects by using this language.

Firstly, in the second paragraph, powerfulness of the native people was illustrated by writer with his detailed descriptions. First of all, the writer uses metaphor when describing the crowd of native people behind him as “the sea of yellow faces”. A sea usually covers a large area and is very deep. This highlights that the number of people who came to see the writer shooting an elephant was huge. Moreover, a sea, in certain climates, was violent, swaying everything on it with its choppy waves. This suggests the influence of the crowd over the writer. Even though the territory of the crowd of native people was colonized by the western countries, they could, however, put pressure on the writer, pushing him to do things that he did not want to do. Besides this, the writer also wrote that he “was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro”. A puppet wasn’t able to control himself, all of its performances on stage were carefully controlled and manipulated by its owner. The sentence portrayed the writer as a puppet. This vividly presents the situation of the writer, being completely controlled by the crowd, doing things that he knew were wrong but couldn’t fight back since he knew that if he did, he would be laughed at by the crowd. Therefore, through the use of metaphor, the writer expresses the idea that the native people were powerful.

At the same time, the native people doesn’t care about the lives of animals in India. This is shown as the writer describes what he saw: “[The native people] were watching me as they would watch a conjurer about to perform a trick.” A trick is usually a form of entertainment and usually brings people joy. On the other hand, killing an elephant should be taken far more seriously, since it is taking away a life, a hard-to-make choice that has no alternatives — it would be too dangerous to leave the elephant over here when the mahout is not here. Such important mission to do was “a trick”, “a bit of fun” in the eyes of the native people, and more over, they are happy and excited to watch shooting an elephant. The simile used here shows the relaxed and indifferent attitude of the natives of killing animals, and possibly showing the different culture and values in India.

In the fourth paragraph, the writer stresses the difficulty of attempting to shoot an elephant. He uses oxymoron as he recall what happened to an Indian who had been stepped on by an elephant and had reduced to a “grinning corpse”. A corpse, a dead body of a human, usually brings readers fear, pain, and to some extent, a sense of disgust. On the other hand, grinning is a common expression in people’s daily lives, often bringing people warmth and happiness. A few explanations of the reason why the writer uses two contradicting words are used by the writer at the same time are that, firstly, how quick death could come to a human being when being stepped by an elephant. The Indian was smiling before his death, and everything happened so quickly that his final expression was still left on his face. Secondly, this creates an eerie and disturbing scene, alarming and causing the readers to be uneasy. The writer also illustrates the high risk of his experience when he describes his predictions with a comparison: “If the elephant charged and I missed him, I should have about as much chance as a toad under a steam-roller.” A steam-roller was a vehicle that is used to flatten the road. It has to be huge and heavy in order to do its job. If it crashes onto a human, he / she would undoubtedly die, not to say a toad. This description powerfully demonstrates the unimaginable hazard to the writer if he was going to test the behavior of the elephant or to shoot it. Both oxymoron and comparison used in the text effectively build up tension, and, successfully reflect the dangerousness of the writer’s actions.

Note: Personally, I would never shoot an elephant or choose a career anything like that. If you have been to South Africa, you will possibly believe that elephants are the loveliest animals on earth.

An analysis of Shooting an Elephant on Prezi

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