The Area of Study
the connection of Raimond to the Australian landscape, or the transcendent sense of ‘common
humanity’ that Romulus ultimately felt. Many also incorporated insightful discussion of the
migrant experience and its differing impact on Raimond and the other immigrant characters in
the text. These responses were discerning in their choice of textual support, demonstrating a
strong grasp of the text as a whole, its structure and philosophical tone.
Weaker responses focused more literally on the notion of characters being understood or
misunderstood without meaningful analysis of the consequences of this and with little or no
discussion of the concept of nourishment. These responses tended to be more narrow in focus
and limited to just one aspect of the text, for example Romulus and the landscape. These
responses often relied on retell and where textual features were identified they were often not
explained or connected to the concept or the comment.
Sample response: Poetry
Prescribed text: Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. James Reeves, 1959
Related text: North Country, Nikki Caro, 2005 (film)
Response starts with
direct agreement with
the quotation in the
question and
elaborates on this
Gives a quick
synopsis of how each
text illustrates the
topic of the question
States a thesis in the
last sentence of the
introduction
Topic sentence
develops the concept
further and begins
with discussion on
the related text
Relates this to the
prescribed text,
referring directly to
techniques and lines
from the poem as
supporting evidence
It is certainly true that ‘understanding nourishes belonging’. People are
united through systems of belonging such as gender or age groups or
professional, personal or social interests. However, it is also true that lack
of understanding of others’ circumstances and perspectives can lead to
exclusion and ostracism. These ideas are explored in Emily Dickinson’s
nineteenth century poetry about nature and personal and social
relationships and in Nikki Caro’s 2005 film, North Country, which is
based on the true story of women fighting for equal employment rights
in a Minnesota mining town in the 1980s. Dickinson explores the
tensions between the individual and the wider world, showing how
knowledge and understanding can lead to both inclusion and a desire for
isolation and separation. Caro is more straightforward; North Country
clearly shows how discrimination and differences in values can lead to
marginalising, exclusion and divisions within families and the community.
Both texts challenge some of the assumptions held about belonging,
particularly that it is good to belong, and that those who are excluded
must be unhappy in their exclusion.
Paradoxically, not belonging creates its own inclusive group. Lack of
understanding may have caused the initial exclusion, but those excluded
understand each other’s plight and nourish each other. The women mine
workers in North Country are united through the discrimination they
suffer. The lawyer, as another outsider, becomes part of their group,
learns of their problems and acts to help them defeat discrimination. The
marginalised members of the town band together and understand one
another’s problems, gaining the strength to overcome injustice and
become accepted. Dickinson makes the same point in ‘I died for beauty’.
Beauty and Truth understand each other; they are “kinsmen’’ united in
the grave. This is a metaphorical death, caused by sensibilities that cannot
survive in the everyday world. Beauty and Truth belong with each other
but not in the hard, realistic external world – they have ‘‘died’’, ‘‘failed’’
and they are ‘‘covered up’’ out of sight and out of mind to others. The
lines:
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Cambridge Checkpoints HSC Advanced English
‘‘We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips’’
suggest that Beauty and Truth are content in their isolation and there
have freedoms not permitted them by the worldly majority.
In ‘I had been hungry all the years’, Dickinson feels that something is
missing from her solitary life and turns to society for the answer. She has
been used to the simple pleasures of nature, but is unprepared for the
differences between the natural and human worlds. The latter turns out
to be too much for her and she feels profound displacement. She also
discovers that she does not want what she thought she wanted –
familiarity with the everyday world has taken away all desire to be part of
it. Through understanding, she chooses isolation, not inclusion. Hunger
is linked paradoxically here with satiety. Her knowledge of the world
does not make her feel nourished and full, but makes her want to return
to the meagre ‘‘crumb’’ of ‘‘Nature’s dining-room.’’
This paragraph has
the same idea as the
previous paragraph,
but is dealing with
the related text – the
word same connects
with the previous
paragraph
Marriage is the topic
of this paragraph, as
shown in the topic
sentence
Both texts are
discussed, with
integrated quotations
and examples from
each as supporting
evidence
The fourth poem is
now discussed, with
the focus on the
topic of knowledge,
which is followed by
a related discussion
in North Country
Josie in North Country makes the same discovery. In attempting to adapt
to the female gender roles assigned by her husband, father, workplace
and other women, she realises that she is not being true to herself by
trying to fit in. Although she is ostracised for her actions and beliefs, she
discovers that she is strong and capable and that independence is to be
valued, not feared. It is interesting to note here that Josie’s rejection by
others is not the result of a lack of understanding of her position. Rather,
many others understand very clearly that if she succeeds in establishing
her independence from the majority and her predetermined gender role,
she will destabilise existing power structures in both the workplace and
the community and therefore must be stopped. They try to force her to
belong in the way that suits them.
The conventional view of marriage is that of an idealised union of two
well-matched souls, made for each other. Dickinson undercuts this view
in ‘I gave myself to him’, with an examination of marriage as a financial
transaction. She questions the value of marriage through the mercantile
metaphor. Whether or not the couple really belongs together is a “mutual
risk’’ and they will not find out what they have bought from each other
until after the event. Here, belonging together is a matter of luck, rather
than anything based on romantic notions of preordained unity, even
though each person appears to have given him- or herself wholly to the
other. The implication is that sexual compatibility, “The daily own of
love … each night to owe”, is the deciding factor and they may or may
not find “mutual gain”. Caro is clearer in her views on marriage in North
Country. Josie and her husband fail to understand each other’s needs and
the marriage fails. Glory and her husband have a much more supportive
relationship where mutual understanding is apparent, and the marriage
thrives. Josie and Bill understand each other through their separate
struggles to be accepted in the town, and a blossoming romance is
implied in the final scenes.
In ‘What mystery pervades a well’, Dickinson considers the paradox of
knowledge – the more deeply we know and understand, the more we
understand how little we know. She connects this point to nature – those
who claim to know nature well are likely to have little understanding of it;
those who do know nature well recognise how removed they are from
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really belonging to it and within it. The use of “mystery” in the title, and
other terms throughout the poem that highlight the poet’s distance from
elements that she seems very familiar with – “so far”, “another world”,
“wonder”, “dread” and “stranger” – all reinforce the sense that she is in
nature, but not a part of it because she can never fully know and
understand it.
The setting of the
film is used as
supporting evidence
Conclusion sums up
the discussion,
returning to the
thesis but not
repeating it
In North Country, the human and natural worlds are also represented as
mutually exclusive. The film is set in a mining community, where nature
is exploited. Any attempts to understand nature conflict with the town’s
financial security, so nature is entirely disregarded. The result is a film in
which the landscape is unrelentingly harsh and forbidding. The viewer is
positioned, through seeing hard, stony textures, treeless skylines, bleak
greys and browns and cramped, confined interiors, to realise that people
have turned the landscape into one which does not invite belonging. By
not understanding nature, they have ensured that it is not welcoming to
them, they do not belong in it and they are free to continue exploiting it.
While it is true that understanding nourishes belonging and a lack of
understanding prevents it, both Dickinson and Caro represent the idea of
belonging in greater complexity than this in their texts. For both, there is
paradox in the effects of exclusion and in the fact that understanding can
create fear or dislike and thus encourage exclusion.
Notes from the Marking Centre: Emily Dickinson, Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson
Also read the Notes from the Marking Centre on page 77
High-range responses used the poems to develop and support a perceptive argument in response
to the quotation. While many of these responses discussed Dickinson’s personal context in light
of the quotation, they did not allow contextual considerations to dominate their thesis or textual
analysis. For the most part, candidates focused on the second part of the comment, the
prevention of belonging through a lack of understanding, but many were also able to
counterbalance this with a consideration of the poet’s deep sense of connection to the natural
world. The brevity of many of the prescribed poems allowed candidates to discuss three poems
to further their discussions or explore contrasting aspects of belonging in connection with the
comment. Candidates integrated perceptive and insightful analysis of the textual features into
their responses.
Weaker responses often discussed Dickinson’s context but with little direct reference to the
poems. Many candidates struggled with understanding the complex issues in her poetry, focusing
instead on a straightforward explanation of the poet’s feelings of isolation. Poetic devices were
often identified without considering their effect on meaning. Many weaker responses ignored the
quotation in the question.