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My comparative essay, please tell me it's good..
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28-05-2009 10:40pm#1Could someone please read this and tell me what they think? Its a General Vision & Viewpoint essay...
Also, bold=comparison/linking words(or what I consider to be a link
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Have 26 links, so if I get 1 mark for each(assuming thats how it works), I've reached full marks in comparisons... (21marks total for comparisons in marking scheme)
Used notes from all over the place.. GV&V is hard :<
The texts I am dealing with are Philadelphia, Here I come(PHIC) by Brian Frield, Cinema Paradiso(CP) by Giuseppe Tornatore and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time(CI) by Mark Haddon.
The general vision and viewpoint of any text may be optimistic or pessimistic or a mix of both. PHIC and CI both present a pessimistic vision of society. In the small town of Ballybeg, Gar is departing for Philadelphia because of a failure in communication between him and the two most important people in his life, while in CI, there is an underlying pessimism for most of the text, linked directly to the difficulties caused by Christopher's Asperger's Syndrome. In contrast to both, in CP the general view point is optimistic because the mature Toto is able to come to terms with the abrupt rupture in his relationship with arguably the most important person in his life when he views the present Alfredo as having left him.
Gar fails to communicate with his father, SB. even on his last night before leaving. The most dramatic example of this is when he attempts to get SB to recall the precious moment of their time together on Lough na Cloc Cor. He recalls that SB threw his coat around his son and began to sing spontaneously 'All around my hat', a scene that would seem more expected of Toto and Alfredo. Unfortunately, SB is unable to remember the occasion and the attempt to communicate is cut short. This strained level of communication is also prevalent in CI, although almost entirely due to Christophers condition rather than apathy/otherwise. The inability to have flowing conversation between Christopher and his father acts as an obstacle between the two and greatly contributes to the pessimistic undertones in the text. On the other hand, perhaps the most dramatic moment in CP that demonstrates its optimistic vision is the altruism of the substitute father for his son in ordering Toto to leave Giancaldo forever and forge his future as a film director. I will always remember the abruptness of his last words to Toto that he did not want to hear him again but hear of him. A case of tough love I feel.
In PHIC it is difficult to see that SB would ever have been so active in Gar's life. It being that it was only on the night before Gar's departure that either of the two made any attempt to reconstruct their lost bond, the idea of them reaching a stage of relationship similar to that of Alfredo and Toto is unlikely. SB is unable to articulate any personal feelings by contrast with Alfredo who is supportive of Toto in matters of career and an advisor to him in the matter of love. In addition, while the father/son relationship of CI lacks the trivial conversation of Gar and SB, and the expression of Toto/Alfredo, the relationship is still very much a strong with Christopher's father caring for his son on his own and ensuring that Christopher's daily routine has a set structure to which his son can follow and feel secure with. It appears a very possible outcome that Christopher's father would continue playing a positive, supportive and central role throughout his sons life, rendering PHIC quite unique on this matter.
In PHIC, Gar's mother is deceased but their housekeeper, Madge, becomes like a surrogate mother to the troubled Gar, much like Alfredo acts like a surrogate father to a troublesome young Toto. Madge tries, admittedly in vain, to encourage father and son to communicate. The relationship between Gar and Made is indeed positive and we realise that she will miss him a great deal. In 'Cinema Paradsio' the young Toto is a handful and his grieving mother finds it difficult to cope with him. This is a feeling shared by Christopher's mam in CI, in that Christopher's difficulties and often stubborness has caused her a great deal of stress. As with Toto's mother, Christophers mother deals with marital problems and her inability to cope with her domestic life leads to an affair and subsequently to her leaving home. There is no such option availabile to Toto's mother, nor does she , in my opinion want it. We see at the end of the text how she has kept his room, like a shrine, a sign of her love and affection for him. It is also worth noting that this is in stark contrast to CI, whereby Christopher's mother has no room prepared for her son at all upon his arrival in London, contributing further to the pessimistic view of the relationship.
The society of a text can be conveyed in a pessimistic view, and in an optimistic view in the other texts But on occasion a text can express elements of both. Over the course of thirty years progress seems to change the lifestyle of Giancaldo's inhabitants for the worse, according to Tornatore. What was once an intimate and friendly place to live in has become a village choked by cars and a community whos people have become distant from one another, very similar to that of Christopher's locality and neighbours, the majority of whom he has never spoke to. Who can forget the cortege of Alfredo's funeral barely able to negotiate a way through the car littered street and then the blowing up of the paradiso symbolising the end of an era. This pessimism is also a dominant feature of Ballybeg, whos name is the anglicisation of Baile Beag, intentionally chosen by Friel as it translates to 'small town', further reinforcing the image of a secluded village. Ballybeg is somewhat of a mix between Giancaldo with regards to era and societal views, and Swindon, Christopher's hometown, which bares the simlarity of lacking excitement and positivity within the community. The pessimistic view of Christopher's neighbourhood is further portrayed in that Christopher is told to stay away from the people living next door, who are said to be drug addicts, and the scandal of affairs occuring between his own parents and some of their neighbours.
By the end of texts, both CI and CP finish on somewhat of a positive point, while in PHIC the conclusion is quite the opposite. In CP, Toto smiles, if tearfully as the images of the edited passion scenes put together for him by Alfredo as a memento of their friendship; Toto's mother remains the custodian of his childhood museum, ever faithful in the belief that he would one day return and Toto has fulfilled his dream of becoming a successful director. Likewise, in CI, Christopher is reuinted with mother and father who agree to make more of an effort in settling their differences, with the feud between father and son being joyfully reconciled with a gift to Christopher of a new puppy. On the other hand, in PHIC the general vission stays stubbornly pessimistic. Gar's future remains uncertain, his singing is no longer confident and both father and son remain trapped behind emotional walls of silence broken only by the functional conversation of their daily predictable lives.
Through my study of the comparative texts, I have found that the general vision of texts enables us to establish a greater understanding of the character themselves,to appreciate at a deeper level what happens in the lives of the protagonists, and perhaps may mirror in some way what could happen in our own.0
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OK. Put it this way. Change the year? Change the name ? Change the location? I have a son. The year is 2009. He,s 19. He is in his last year of training to be an electrician? Does he go away, does he stay? Put yourself in his position, it is an age old dilemma,the future versus the past. Will I go or will I stay? All the classics tell the same story just the year and names change!I do understand gollyitsgolly.. only problem is I find it hard to make it interesting when I have absolutely no interest in the topic myself
-also, feel free to rob if you think its worthy...0 -
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It's all going to depend on the question.
Plus, you have no personal response in your answer. =/
I actually just realised that this morning.. was thinkin about the essay and realised I forgot about it completely.. Personal response is also the paragraph you can tinker with a bit to gear your essay more towards the title and hide the fact that you would write the same essay for every GV+V question they asked
Thanks for reminder though
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Gah...there's meant to be personal response?? Jaysus. We were just told stick in your reaction to the resolutions of the texts, not sustain a personal response throughought. Oh Dear
Does this apply for other areas of paper 2 where you're not specifically asked for a personal response?0 -
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Gah...there's meant to be personal response?? Jaysus. We were just told stick in your reaction to the resolutions of the texts, not sustain a personal response throughought. Oh Dear
Does this apply for other areas of paper 2 where you're not specifically asked for a personal response?
As far as I'm aware, personal response needs to be sprinkled everywhere in Paper 2 yeah, sort of mixed in with how you make your points.
I think this mainly means that they are looking for:
"I felt that this image/simile/development/whatever showed strongly that..."
rather than just factually stating that:
"This shows that..."
That's what I've gathered from Tony Lake anyway (he of New English Keynotes fame). Maybe I missed his point over the past couple of years, I dunno.
My Irish teacher had a point too when he said that it's much harder to mark a student wrong if they say that they felt or they thought that something was being shown or suggested, rather than stating as a fact that it was.0 -
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