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Author Topic: Common Module: Texts and Human Experiences Essay Practice Questions  (Read 13563 times)

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Common Module: Texts and Human Experiences Essay Practice Questions

Hey, everyone! This thread here is a compilation of sample questions for the Common Module: Texts and Human Experiences. I will update the list with the rest of the prescribed texts as time goes. Feel free to comment any questions you come across that might be worth sharing! I'd love to build this list more  ;D

All Texts

How does your prescribed text voice key concerns that shape the human experiences?
 
“But this too is true: stories can save us.” (Tim O’Brien) To what extent is the role of storytelling important to the representation of individual and shared human experiences in your prescribed text?

"Once it was a simple enough matter to be a human being, but now it is deeply difficult; because life was once simple, but is now complex, confused, multifarious." (Woodrow Wilson) How have the complexities underlying human experience been explored through the anomalies, paradoxes and inconsistencies in your prescribed text?
 
How does your prescribed text give rise to the impact of human emotions on individuals and communities?

The aim of a text is to shed light on the responsibilities we should uphold and see through: as audiences, members of society and as humans. Assess the accuracy of this statement in light of your study for Texts and Human Experiences.
 
How has the representation of human flaws in the individuals of your prescribed text encouraged personal reflection?
 
Inner and outer conflicts are interconnected. How has tension been explored in the personal and social lives of characters in your prescribed text? In your response, discuss the various paradoxes, anomalies and inconsistencies that arise from this tension.

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” (James Baldwin) How does your prescribed text motivate change through expressing issues in the human experience?
 
Evaluate how important compassion is to appreciating human qualities and emotions. Make close reference to your prescribed text.

How has the notion of choice in the human experience influenced the narratives shared in your prescribed text?

Stories create community, enable us to see through the eyes of other people and open us to the claims of others." (Peter Forbes) To what extent do you agree with this statement in light of your study in Texts and Human Experiences?

“Human culture is built on a foundation of stories.” (Phoebe Tickell) How has storytelling been used in your prescribed text to illuminate particular lives and cultures?

Evaluate how your prescribed text invites responders to reflect on how deeply-held beliefs guide human actions.

“Serious fiction writers think about moral problems practically. They tell stories. They narrate. They evoke our common humanity in narratives with which we can identify, even though the lives may be remote from our own.” (Susan Sontag) To what extent do you agree with this statement? Make close reference to your prescribed text.
 
How have human experiences born from particular lives and cultures been illuminated in your prescribed text?

To what extent is empowerment central to understanding and appreciating the human experiences represented in your prescribed text?

How are human connections revealed through the intricacies of your prescribed text?

“The story of humanity can be written as the struggle to acknowledge all human beings as human beings.” (J.S.B. Morse) To what extent do you agree with this statement? Make close reference to your prescribed text.


Text Specific Questions


All The Lights We Cannot See

“We live through books; we have adventures in them, we lead alternative lives through them. We expand our memories through them. And that sometimes art can offer us more intense experiences of the world than life itself can.” (Anthony Doerr) How has All The Lights We Cannot See provided new insight on shared human experiences over time? Make reference to the provided quotation and the key values explored in the text.

“It is such a page-turner, entirely absorbing: one of those books in which the talent of the storyteller surmounts stylistic inadequacies and ultimately defies one’s better judgment.” (Carmen Callil) Evaluate how All The Lights We Cannot See challenges widely-held assumptions on human society.

How have individual and collective identities been examined through the role of the family in All The Lights We Cannot See?

All The Lights We Cannot See seeks to underline tragedy as a common human experience not to criticise or divide, but to educate and unite. To what extent do you agree with this statement?

1984

“The best books... are those that tell you what you know already.” (George Orwell) How has 1984 provided new insight on shared human experiences over time? Make reference to the provided quotation and the key values explored in the text.

“Orwell’s story has always had an uncanny ability to be relevant to whatever politics is on foot in different parts of the world, at different moments in history.” (Brigid Delany) Evaluate how 1984 challenges widely-held assumptions on human society.

How have individual and collective identities been examined through the role of the media in 1984?

1984 seeks to underline oppression as a common human experience not to criticise or divide, but to educate and unite. To what extent do you agree with this statement?

The Crucible

“I can almost tell what the political situation in a country is when the play is suddenly a hit there- it is either a warning of tyranny on the way or a reminder of tyranny just past.” (Arthur Miller) How has The Crucible provided new insight on shared human experiences over time?

“Miller’s 17th-century Salem is a place rife with anxiety; it is a community in the midst of great change and flux, where social structures are weakening. Some parts of the community feel as if they are losing control – the world isn’t the same as it was.” (Douglas Rintoul) Evaluate how The Crucible challenges widely-held assumptions on human society.

How have individual and collective identities been examined through the role of the community in The Crucible?

The Crucible seeks to underline misjudgements as common human experiences not to criticise or divide, but to educate and unite. To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Merchant of Venice

“Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations.” (Orson Welles) How has The Merchant of Venice provided new insight on shared human experiences over time?

"Allowing Shakespeare to stand as it is – warts and all – has a purpose: it exposes the nastier side of...society and a past that we, in the 21st century, need to know about to ensure we don’t repeat it." (Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore) Evaluate how The Merchant of Venice challenges widely-held assumptions on human society.

How have individual and collective identities been examined through the role of prejudice in The Merchant of Venice?

The Merchant of Venice seeks to underline discrimination as a common human experience not to criticise or divide, but to educate and unite. To what extent do you agree with this statement?
« Last Edit: July 25, 2020, 10:29:44 pm by angewina_naguen »
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