Language Analysis

For more practice of language analysis....

Compare the following article by Jacqueline Maley from 'The Age' with the Leunig cartoon below.

Link to Jacqueline Maley Article

(remember to specifically examine visual persuasive techniques of the image)

Will You Please Be Quiet Please? Essay Topics

1. How does Carver present his characters as trapped in their isolation? Discuss.

2. How does Carver manipulate language,metaphor and character to convey a sense of ‘hidden menace’?

3. In what ways doe sCarver portray relationships?

4. Carver’s characters seek approval amidst an unsympathetic landscape. To what extent do you agree?

5. The world of ‘Will you please be quiet please?’suggeststhat existential anguish achieves nothing. Discuss.

6. What values and beliefs does Carver communicate about the human condition through his short stories?

7. How is a sense of unresolved tension created throughthe narrative?

8. How does Carver convey a sense of masculinity through narrative techniques?

9. How does the minimalist style of Carver’s stories reflect the environments he creates?

10.Does Carver offer us any hope?

11. What is the significance of Carver’s use of suburbia?

12.Carver’s characters are trapped in a world of their own making, discuss.

13. How does Carver’s choice of narrative perspective affect our reading of his work?

Life Of Pi Essay Topics

1. At the end of the novel, the reader is left ‘bamboozled’ and suspicious of both the narrator and Pi. To what extent do you agree with this statement?

2. ‘It is the irony of this story that the one who scared me witless to start with was the very same who bought me peace, purpose, I dare say even wholeness.’ Richard Parker saves Pi’s life. Discuss.

3. ‘In a moment of insanity bought on by hunger… I looked Richard Parker dead in the eyes.’ How does Pi use the lessons he learnt while in Pondicherry to survive his time as a castaway?

4. ‘Life of Pi’ is a text that suggests that the ‘better story’ is more important than the truth. Do you agree?

5. In the author’s note, Francis Adirubasamy claims that this story ‘will make you believe in God.’ How does Pi’s story attempt to do this?

6. Pi’s incredible story of survival presents the idea that ‘nature forever holds surprises’. Do you agree?

7. ‘I am a person who believes in form, in the harmony of order.’ ‘Life of Pi’ is structured in such a way so to promote the believability of Pi’s tale of survival. Discuss.

8. Pi’s exotic and extraordinary life in Pondicherry is juxtaposed by the barren and lonely ocean. How does this dramatic change of setting effect Pi?

Whose Reality? Prompts

1.   Reality is a problem that has no solution
2. Our perceptions, desires and fears shape the reality around us
3.  Art offers us the choice of either escaping or facing the burdens of reality
4. There is no single reality; only a chorus of voices arguing for their version of it
5.  It is not what we remember, but how we choose to remember it
6.  Reality is a shared illusion we consent to believe in
7.  Everything you can imagine is real.
8. Click here for more prompts....

Practice Language Analysis

Kleenex Advertising Campaign

Write an essay response analysing and comparing the following persuasive texts.
Please email a complete essay to me BEFORE the holidays.

Article 1:
Danny Katz


Article 2:
Sullieseverything