Help on essay 'buzz' words.

[shingo]

Hey all,

I may be overthinking this and making it much harder than it is but I have a set of essay questions and they are all along the lines of "Discuss the presentation of ___ in comparison with ___" between two novels. That part is straight forward (I think) but the 'buzz' words or targets I should aim to hit are looking at are, form, structure and language and how they shape meanings.

Can I have some clarification on what these mean with regards to novels. In poetry I can see how that works with but I can't see how I can discuss something such as the genre or a particular aspect of the novel when simply stating the structure is linear/3rd person, as that isn't neccessarily going to be infulencing the theme stated or at least not to a major extent.

Before reading this I thought I had it down in terms of what I had to do, use the novel content such as character and events etc to discuss the title theme whilst also looking at historical context, but now I am not so sure. The objectives don't seem to support this view and now it seems too simple, especially in comparison with poerty and the buckets of technical terms and close analysis used there.

Sorry for the long post, I will try and ask my teaher sometime, but as usual, being as it is English I will probably get the same subjective and unclear response.

Thanks again.

[ben.!]

I find in English teachers like to hear the words 'foreground' and 'discourse/s' a lot.

Just some buzz words I picked up.

Also, 'how *author's name* constructs the text' or 'the discourses constructing text' is a bit of a winner.

Or you can link 'em all: 'How Jane Austen foregrounds different discourses to construct the text'. :p

I think from what I can read of your post (I know, English lingo is excessively confusing), I think your teacher wants you to (correct me if I'm wrong, because this is just what I can see) talk about the events and characters of the novel, relating this to why the author chose the specific title for the novel, and examine through all this the themes that come to the surface within the novel.

Does this help?

[shingo]

Hi Ben,
Thanks for your response, it was indeed helpful. It has at least solidified my approach in a way, as it must be through "events and characters" as well as the "predominant themes and how they contribute to the overall construction of these. In retrospect I can't really see any other way, but the 'buzz' words in the question threw me as I wasn't overtly or exessively talk about narrative style in relation to the question as sometimes it is not completely relevant apart from passing reference.
Thanks again.

[Aiculík]

Form, structure and language are crucial for the novel.

Of course, if both novels you have to compare are linear/3rd person, it's hard to compare... but there are still some interesting points, for example, about narrator:
- is it omnipotent narrator or limited?
- is it reliable or unrealiable?
- why did author choose that particular type of narrator? How would it be different, for example, if it wasn't limited narrator, but omnipotent?
- what language does the author use? Does he use slang or elated words? Is cauese by the time in which the book was published? How does the language affect the reader today? Is it still interesting, or do they feel the language is old-fashioned and hard to read?
- are sentences short and clear - or is one sentence at least half of the paragraph, in not whole? How does it affect reader?


There are dozens questions you can ask about each novel and then see what are differences between two novels.

[kelby_lake]

'dramatic irony'. teachers really go for that. it's something that the audience know but the characters do not
'themes': generally what it's about (class, racism, betrayal...)
'metaphors': and similes and other joys
'evokes': they like it when you say that. 'this word evokes regret'