Tasmanian Secondary Assessment Board
Tasmanian Certificate of Education
External Assessment
1998
EN821 ENGLISH
Time: Three Hours
On the basis of your performance in this examination, the examiners will provide a rating of A, B, C or
D on each of the following criteria taken from the syllabus statement:
Criterion 1
Communicate accurately in writing, using accepted language and
accepted text conventions.
Criterion 2
Present structured, relevant and reasoned argument in written form.
Criterion 5
Interpret and analyse themes, contexts and values in a variety of texts.
Criterion 7
Analyse and discuss ways in which form and style are used by
writers/directors for specific purposes and audiences.
Questions:
Pages:
©
51
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Copyright for part(s) of this examination may be held by individuals and/or organisations other than the Tasmanian
Secondary Assessment Board.
EN821 English
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CANDIDATES
There are THREE sections to this paper.
Answer ONE question from each section.
You must not use the same text or genre as the basis for your answers in Sections 2 and 3.
Each of your THREE answers should be in a separate book.
Candidates are reminded that writing, spelling and expression which make it difficult for the examiner
to understand what candidates mean will result in loss of marks.
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EN821 English
SECTION ONE – STYLE ANALYSIS
This section assesses Criteria 1 and 7.
Use a separate book for this section.
From the following five samples of writing, select ONE and answer the question related to it.
Question 1
This column by Mike Bingham was published in The Mercury on 21 September 1998. Comment on
the tone, structure and any other aspects of style which contribute to the effectiveness of the writing.
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EN821 English
Question 2
This article by Jane Fraser was published in The Australian on 16 September 1998. Comment on the
tone, structure and any other aspects of style which contribute to the effectiveness of the writing.
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EN821 English
THE PICTURE OF THE TENNIS RACQUET HAS BEEN
REMOVED DUE TO IT’S LARGE SIZE.
* sobriquet – nickname
* fillip – stimulus
* brio – liveliness
* Rosewalls, Hoads, Stolles, Newks and Roches – great tennis players of the past
* panjandrum – mock title for a grand person
* rictus – expanse or gape of the mouth
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EN821 English
Question 3
In this extract from the novel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Berniere describes the final
moments of a man’s life, a soldier who has been brutalised by his role in the war. Comment on the
effectiveness of the language, tone, point of view and other stylistic devices used in the passage to
convey the mood and the situation.
From Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
It did not occur to him that he was a statistic, one more life warped and ruined by a
war, a tarnished hero destined for the void*. He was aware of nothing but a vanishment of
paradise, an optimism that had turned to dust and ash, a joy that had once shone brighter
than the summer sun, but now had disappeared and melted in the black light and frigid heat
of massacre and cumulative remorse*. He had struggled for a better world, and wrecked it.
There was a place, once, where all had sparkled with delight and innocence. He
stood still a moment, recalling where it was. He swayed on his feet, nearly fell backwards,
and the peasants in their houses looked out and wondered. They did not know him,
although he seemed familiar, and they thought it better not to interfere. There had been
enough soldiers, enough blood. They stared at him through their shutters, and watched
him lumber past.
Mandras went down to the sea. He stood on the waterline, watching the bubbles of
foam glitter and burst on his boots. Italian boots, he remembered, a man who had not died
well. He kicked them off and watched them arc into the waves. With his one hand that
worked he unbuttoned his breeches, let them fall, and stepped out of them. Carefully he
removed his jacket and let it slip from his wounded shoulder. In wonder he watched the
circle of blood soaking an ever wider circumference in his shirt around that tiny ragged
hole. He unfastened his shirt’s buttons and let that fall too.
He stood naked before the sea, even in that bitter cold, and looked up at the sky for
gulls. They would guide him to the fish. He realised that he wanted nothing so much as to
feel the sea upon his flesh, the draw of sand across his skin, the tightening and contraction
of his groin upon the cold caress of salt and silky water. He felt the wind whipping, and
his wound hurt less. He needed to be washed.
He remembered days in his boat with nothing to do but fish and squint against the
light, he remembered his triumph when something fine was landed for Pelagia, his pleasure
at her pleasure when she was given it, the kisses stolen in the evenings when the crickets
sawed and the sun fell suddenly in the western skies of Lixouri. He remembered that in
those days he was slim and beautiful, his muscles standing proud and keen, and he recalled
that there had been three wild and exuberant creatures who had loved and trusted him.
Creatures who in their grace and simplicity were unruffled about dowries* and
inconstancy, unconcerned about changing the world, creatures with love but without
complications. ‘Kosmas! Nionios! Krystal!’* he cried, and waded out into the sea.
The fisherman who recovered the bloated body reported that when he had found it,
there had been three dolphins taking it in turns to nudge it towards the shore. But there
had been stories like that from ancient times, and in truth no one knew any more whether it
was merely a romantic figure or a fact of life.
*void – empty space
*remorse – deep regret
*dowries – marriage payments
*Kosmas, Nionios, Krystal – the names of three dolphins who used to come to his call
before the war.
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EN821 English
Question 4
This extract from the Australian story by Archie Weller, One Hot Night, gives glimpses of life in a city
on a hot, dusty night, introducing two quite different main characters. Comment on the effectiveness of
the language, imagery, point of view and other stylistic devices which Weller uses to create the scene,
evoke the atmosphere and present the characters.
From One Hot Night
The train smashes away the hot, still, trembling body of the night and leaves it
crumpled upon the hard rocks beside the sleepers. Black and bloody and flecked with
light from the dying sun and the prosperous shops or the comfortable middle-class houses
or the rushing vehicles on the highway or the arrogant street lights that guard the highway.
The train charges noisily onwards, high up on its embankment. It will never reach the
stars, but it is too proud for the common, crowded highways. It floats on a lonely uniform
course between reality and dreams.
The train rattles and rocks in rhythm to its music. Inside its throbbing belly the
black boy who huddles in the very corner is rocked too.
When he got on at Guildford, the three sailors with their painted giggling girl and the
old, faded, white couple in their faded best eyed him furtively and coldly.
Just a skinny, scrawny part-Aboriginal boy, with a ragged mop of tangled blue-black
hair on top of his hatchet face and a black beard and moustache surrounding it and his thin
lips. He holds up his head in pride. His royal black eyes flick scornfully around the
carriage for a brief second before he drifts up to the other end and throws himself into the
corner to stare out of the window, ignoring the world.
People get on the train. People get off. All white. They stare at the dark, sullen
youth gazing out the window.
The sailors’ girl leaves. Her high-heeled shoes clicketty-clack off the platform, then
she is swallowed up by the lips of the stealthy night. The Nyoongah’s* eyes devour her
plump white body then, from the corner of his eyes, he spots the three sailors glaring at
him. He smiles at them, an evil smile. Spits out the window.
The Indian ticket collector bustles along the corridor. He stares through the youth
with arrogant eyes, as if no one is there. He takes the youth’s money, though.
Perth station.
Full of noise and colour and dancing lights. Shouting people and shunting trains.
Early yet.
He hunches into his clothes and shuffles outside. He rolls a smoke while the cars
roar and rumble around him and people pass him by. So alone in the crowded city.
Over on the other side of the river, the flats stand high and alert, like a tribe of
advancing warriors. Lights flicker from balconies and rest on the serene back of the river.
Soft music from record players, radios or guitars drifts around the dark shore like a lazily
swooping seagull. Tonight is a night for romance.
Little Caesar Jackell struts importantly down the cool white footpaths. He flits in
and out of the shadows like a busy black hummingbird searching for honey.
He disappears.
Silent as a thought, he creeps between the trees and bushes of the garden. Only the
whites of his eyes are seen in this world that he knows all too well, if only through the
stories of his brothers and cousins.
No one is home.
No dogs.
Big house means big money.
*Nyoongah – word used by Western Australian Aborigines meaning an Aboriginal person
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EN821 English
Question 5
In this extract from the nineteenth century novel Middlemarch, George Eliot* introduces a young
woman, Dorothea (Miss Brooke). Comment on the use of tone, point of view, language, structure and
other stylistic devices to give the reader an understanding of Dorothea and her situation in the society
of her time.
From Middlemarch
And how should Dorothea not marry?—a girl so handsome and with such
prospects? Nothing could hinder it but her love of extremes, and her insistence on
regulating life according to notions which might cause a wary man to hesitate before he
made her an offer, or even might lead her at last to refuse all offers. A young lady of some
birth and fortune, who knelt suddenly down on a brick floor by the side of a sick labourer
and prayed fervidly as if she thought herself living in the time of the Apostles*—who had
strange whims of fasting like a Papist*, and of sitting up at night to read old theological*
books! Such a wife might awaken you some fine morning with a new scheme for the
application of her income which would interfere with political economy and the keeping of
saddle-horses: a man would naturally think twice before he risked himself in such
fellowship. Women were expected to have weak opinions; but the great safeguard of
society and of domestic life was, that opinions were not acted on. Sane people did what
their neighbours did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them.
The rural opinion about the new young ladies, even among the cottagers, was
generally in favour of Celia, as being so amiable and innocent-looking, while Miss
Brooke’s large eyes seemed, like her religion, too unusual and striking. Poor Dorothea!
compared with her, the innocent-looking Celia was knowing and worldly-wise; so much
subtler is a human mind than the outside tissues which make a sort of blazonry* or clockface for it.
Yet those who approached Dorothea, though prejudiced against her by this alarming
hearsay, found that she had a charm unaccountably reconcilable with it. Most men thought
her bewitching when she was on horseback. She loved the fresh air and the various
aspects of the country, and when her eyes and cheeks glowed with mingled pleasure she
looked very little like a devotee*. Riding was an indulgence which she allowed herself in
spite of conscientious qualms; she felt that she enjoyed it in a pagan sensuous way, and
always looked forward to renouncing it.
She was open, ardent, and not in the least self-admiring; indeed, it was pretty to see
how her imagination adorned her sister Celia with attractions altogether superior to her
own, and if any gentleman appeared to come to the Grange from some other motive than
that of seeing Mr. Brooke, she concluded that he must be in love with Celia: Sir James
Chettam, for example, whom she constantly considered from Celia’s point of view,
inwardly debating whether it would be good for Celia to accept him. That he should be
regarded as a suitor to herself would have seemed to her a ridiculous irrelevance.
Dorothea, with all her eagerness to know the truths of life, retained very childlike ideas
about marriage. She felt sure that she would have accepted the judicious Hooker*, if she
had been born in time to save him from that wretched mistake he made in matrimony; or
John Milton* when his blindness had come on; or any of the other great men whose odd
habits it would have been glorious piety* to endure; but an amiable handsome baronet*,
who said “Exactly” to her remarks even when she expressed uncertainty—how could he
affect her as a lover? The really delightful marriage must be that where your husband was
a sort of father, and could teach you even Hebrew, if you wished it.
* George Eliot is a pseudonym for the female writer, Mary Ann Evans
* Apostles – disciples of Jesus Christ
* Papist – Roman Catholic
* theological – concerned with the study of religion
* blazonry – heraldic devices, as on a coat of arms
* devotee – worshipper
* Hooker – a scholarly writer and professor of Hebrew
* Milton – a poet who became blind
* piety – reverence to God, dutifulness
* baronet – possessor of a title
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EN821 English
SECTION TWO – THEMES
This section assesses Criteria 1, 2 and 5.
Use a separate book for this section.
There is ONE question on each of the prescribed texts.
Answer ONE question from this section.
YOU MUST NOT WRITE ON THE SAME TEXT OR GENRE AS IN SECTION THREE.
DRAMA
Question 6
William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
In Twelfth Night the clown and the drunken knight have all the laughs and the puritan is made a fool
of, yet Shakespeare does not dispense with morality altogether. Discuss this statement in relation to
the themes of the play.
Question 7
Peter Shaffer, Equus
What does Peter Shaffer reveal to his audience about different sets of values and ways of living in
Equus?
Question 8
Hannie Rayson, Hotel Sorrento
Hotel Sorrento focuses on ‘love, responsibility and guilt’ (Mellor). What does Hannie Rayson
prompt her audience to discover about these human responses?
Question 9
David Williamson, After the Ball
After the Ball reveals that we never escape the influence of our family no matter how hard we struggle
to be free of it. What does David Williamson suggest about the different ways individuals deal with
the pressures of family life?
FICTION
Question 10
Tim Winton, Cloudstreet
In Cloudstreet Winton shows Australians lacking a sense of harmony with each other and the land that
they share, yet he appears to offer hope for the future. Discuss this view of the novel.
Question 11
Fred d’Aguiar, The Longest Memory
D’Aguiar’s novel, The Longest Memory, focuses on ideas of betrayal. What does the novel have to
say about these ideas?
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EN821 English
Question 12
Richard Flanagan, Death of a River Guide
Richard Flanagan confronts readers with the reality of death and shows how all of life is an inevitable
movement towards it. Discuss this interpretation of the novel.
Question 13
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is concerned with dreams and the extent to which they are realised. Discuss this
view of the novel.
Question 14
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
In Jane Eyre Bronte presents the reader with different scales of morality. Discuss the moral issues
raised in the novel.
Question 15
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
Discuss the view that The Handmaid’s Tale is a story about how easily one’s personal identity and
freedom can be lost.
FILM
Question 16
Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg
Schindler’s List confronts viewers with the stark reality of the Holocaust but also shows some positive
aspects of the human spirit. Comment on the balance between the negatives and positives in
Spielberg’s film.
Question 17
The Piano, directed by Jane Campion
Discuss what the The Piano has to say about the way communication affects the human experiences of
passion, betrayal, sexual repression and love.
Question 18
Fearless, directed by Peter Weir
Peter Weir’s film, Fearless, shows the desperate craving people have to believe in something or
someone. Comment on the values portrayed in the film in relation to this statement.
Question 19
The Commitments, directed by Alan Parker
Individuals can be crushed by circumstances or see them as challenges to be overcome. What does
Alan Parker suggest in The Commitments about the different ways people respond to the
circumstances of their lives?
Question 20
My Brilliant Career, directed by Gillian Armstrong
My Brilliant Career shows that, although life may have its difficulties, it is possible for the individual
to triumph. Discuss the difficulties and individual triumphs as they are presented in this film.
Question 21
Proof, directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse
Proof is about obsessive behaviour and its consequences. Explain how the main characters are
affected by these obsessions.
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EN821 English
NON-FICTION
Question 22
Wayne Coolwell, My Kind of People
The sub-title of My Kind of People is ‘Achievement, Identity and Aboriginality’. What does Wayne
Coolwell reveal about these three issues in his collection of twelve stories?
Question 23
Mark Raphael Baker, The Fiftieth Gate
In The Fiftieth Gate Mark Raphael Baker explores the importance and the meaning of suffering and
memory through the experience of a migrant family. What does he have to say about each of these
ideas and the way they are connected in his life?
Question 24
James McBride, The Color of Water
The Color of Water is a moving account of a person who stubbornly insists that education and
religion matter more than race and colour. What has James McBride to say about these important
concerns in his book?
Question 25
Anne Deveson, Tell Me I’m Here
Explain the reasons for Anne Deveson’s feelings of anger, grief and guilt expressed in Tell Me I’m
Here.
POETRY
Question 26
Peter McFarlane and Lisa Temple (eds.), Blue Light, Clear Atoms
Answer either (a), (b) or (c).
(a)
Choice
What do the three poems ‘The Widower in the Country’, ‘Ulysses’ and ‘Incident in a South
Melbourne Timber-yard Recollected in Tranquillity’ show about the way people respond to
choices which both create and limit opportunities?
OR
(b)
Change
Each of the poems ‘We Are Going’, ‘Easter 1916’ and ‘Monologue of an Actress’ is a lament
for something that is past. What insights do the poems give into how people react to loss?
OR
(c)
Love
What do the poems ‘Sonnet 116’, ‘Because’ and ‘In the Park’ reveal about the impact of time
on love?
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EN821 English
SHORT STORY
Question 27
Mary Lord (ed.), The Penguin Best Australian Short Stories
Marjorie Barnard’s ‘The Lottery’ and Olga Master’s ‘On the Train’, both deal with the emotional
turbulence which often lies behind apparently ordinary domestic life. Comment on the development of
this idea in the two stories.
Question 28
Alistair MacLeod, The Lost Salt Gift of Blood
In the stories ‘The Boat’ and ‘In the Fall’ MacLeod confronts readers with characters adjusting
themselves to harsh situations. What do these stories communicate about the ways in which humans
adjust to circumstances?
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EN821 English
SECTION THREE – TECHNIQUES
This section assesses Criteria 1, 2 and 7.
Use a separate book for this section.
There is ONE question on each of the prescribed texts.
Answer ONE question from this section.
YOU MUST NOT WRITE ON THE SAME TEXT OR GENRE AS IN SECTION TWO.
DRAMA
Question 29
William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
The play falls into two halves, with one half designed to appeal to the masses, the other to the educated
audience. What techniques does Shakespeare use to appeal to these two different groups?
Question 30
Peter Shaffer, Equus
Discuss how Shaffer uses lighting, sound, symbolism and other techniques that create an intense
emotional experience in Equus.
Question 31
Hannie Rayson, Hotel Sorrento
In Hotel Sorrento Hannie Rayson aims to engage her audience in the experiences of a family. Show
how she uses characterisation, setting, symbolism and other techniques to achieve this.
Question 32
David Williamson, After the Ball
In After the Ball the audience feels conflicting emotions of hatred and compassion for Kate Macrae,
but she is without doubt the central figure in the play. How has Williamson made Kate such a pivotal
character in After the Ball?
FICTION
Question 33
Tim Winton, Cloudstreet
Explain how Winton creates a vivid impression of post-war Australia through clever use of setting,
symbolism and other techniques.
Question 34
Fred d’Aguiar, The Longest Memory
In The Longest Memory d’Aguiar uses a number of voices to present a story which is broken and
fractured. How are different voices used to create the impact for the reader?
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EN821 English
Question 35
Richard Flanagan, Death of a River Guide
Flanagan uses the flow of the river to structure the novel. In what ways does he use this and other
techniques to structure Death of a River Guide so that it impacts forcefully on the reader?
Question 36
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Show how Fitzgerald uses particular incidents and settings to develop characters symbolic of certain
aspects of American society at the time in which the novel is set.
Question 37
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
Bronte attempts to draw the reader into a total absorption in the fortunes of her central character.
Comment on how point of view, the characterisation of Jane, and Jane’s interaction with other
characters work to achieve this end.
Question 38
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
Discuss the vital role of the narrator and the importance of the structure in creating the dramatic impact
of The Handmaid’s Tale.
FILM
Please note the following:
Cinematography – means all facets of camera work: movement, angles and distance ratios.
Cinematic Techniques – means the elements that combine to produce the image and sound you see
and hear. It therefore includes cinematography, editing, sound and music, decor and design,
setting and location, acting and direction, symbolism, lighting and special effects.
Question 39
Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg
Schindler’s List appears designed to give the impression it is a documentary rather than a feature film.
Comment on the way contrast, soundtrack, editing and other relevant techniques are used to create this
impression.
Question 40
The Piano, directed by Jane Campion
In The Piano Jane Campion develops vivid characters and creates a strong emotional impact upon
viewers. Show how she uses symbolism, cinematography, music and costume to achieve these.
Question 41
Fearless, directed by Peter Weir
Comment on Weir’s use of cinematography, lighting, sound and music to create emotional impact and
challenge his viewers to reflect.
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EN821 English
Question 42
The Commitments, directed by Alan Parker
In what ways does Alan Parker in The Commitments entertain and stimulate viewers through his use
of setting, music and cinematography?
Question 43
My Brilliant Career, directed by Gillian Armstrong
Armstrong’s direction emphasises contrasts: in settings, in characters, in life’s possibilities. How
does she use cinematic techniques to achieve this?
Question 44
Proof, directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse
In Proof the main character, Martin, uses a camera to compensate for his blindness. Explain how
Jocelyn Moorhouse uses dialogue, cinematography and lighting to convey to the audience Martin’s
obsessive personality and the obstacles he faces.
NON-FICTION
Question 45
Wayne Coolwell, My Kind of People
Although My Kind of People presents the stories of twelve individual Aborigines who have achieved
success in their own fields, the book also presents a common experience. Show how Wayne Coolwell
has used biographical details, language and structure to highlight this.
Question 46
Mark Raphael Baker, The Fiftieth Gate
Discuss the structure, the use of multiple narrators and the symbols which Mark Raphael Baker
employs to present and intertwine all the stories he tells.
Question 47
James McBride, The Color of Water
In The Color of Water James McBride uses two different narrators. How does the use of alternating
voices, contrasting language and different settings help to highlight the separate yet interwoven stories
of his life and that of his mother?
Question 48
Anne Deveson, Tell Me I’m Here
Describe how Anne Deveson draws on a variety of sources and uses imagery and dialogue to
highlight Jonathan’s story in Tell Me I’m Here.
Questions continue over the page.
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EN821 English
POETRY
Question 49
Peter McFarlane and Lisa Temple (eds.), Blue Light, Clear Atoms
Answer either (a), (b) or (c).
(a)
Choice
The poems ‘The Road Not Taken’, ‘Ulysses’ and ‘Unknown Girl in the Maternity Ward’ deal
with very personal experiences. Explain how the poets use tone, point of view, figures of speech
and devices of sound to capture these experiences for the reader.
OR
(b)
Change
The poems ‘We Are Going’, ‘Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey ...’ and
‘Death of a Naturalist’ strongly capture the moment of an experience. How do the poets use
structure, rhythm, tone and figures of speech to bring such moments alive for the reader?
OR
(c)
Love
‘To His Coy Mistress’, ‘Because’ and ‘Stop All the Clocks, Cut Off the Telephone (XXXIV)’
all use striking imagery, tone, diction and structure to capture the strength of feeling being
described by the voice in each poem. Comment on the effectiveness of these techniques.
SHORT STORY
Question 50
Mary Lord (ed.), The Penguin Best Australian Short Stories
‘Conversation in a Pantry’ and ‘Pride and Joy’ are realistic and sympathetic accounts of growing up.
Show how the use of characterisation, setting and structure are used to sustain reader interest in these
experiences.
Question 51
Alistair MacLeod, The Lost Salt Gift of Blood
In ‘The Lost Salt Gift of Blood’ and ‘Vision’ how does MacLeod use setting, characterisation,
structure and language to generate the strong emotional impact of the stories?
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