Essay Help!

[cheytosh]

Hey guys,

I have to write an essay, or "critical review" as it's called, and I'm struggling. My core is 'The Crucible' and my related text is 'Lord of the Flies'. The question is:

"How do your texts reveal complex aspects of varied individual and collective human experiences?
Some ideas you may wish to consider in your response include:
- the human qualities and emotions associated with human experiences
- the anomalies, paradoxes and inconsistencies in human behaviour
- the way we see the world differently through varied human experiences"

Would anyone be able to help me shape ideas/structure paragraphs and drawing similarities between the texts? I need to look at themes of persecution, transgressions & redemption, and power/justice. I could also consider looking at reputation, hysteria, fear etc. I would greatly appreciate any help. Is the Lord of the Flies also too basic a text for HSC level - will I be marked more harshly for selecting it? I was considering doing Schindler's List as it has themes of persecution, redemption and power but I don't have a lot of time. What do you think? Thanks.

[angewina_naguen]

Hey guys,

I have to write an essay, or "critical review" as it's called, and I'm struggling. My core is 'The Crucible' and my related text is 'Lord of the Flies'. The question is:

"How do your texts reveal complex aspects of varied individual and collective human experiences?
Some ideas you may wish to consider in your response include:
- the human qualities and emotions associated with human experiences
- the anomalies, paradoxes and inconsistencies in human behaviour
- the way we see the world differently through varied human experiences"

Would anyone be able to help me shape ideas/structure paragraphs and drawing similarities between the texts? I need to look at themes of persecution, transgressions & redemption, and power/justice. I could also consider looking at reputation, hysteria, fear etc. I would greatly appreciate any help. Is the Lord of the Flies also too basic a text for HSC level - will I be marked more harshly for selecting it? I was considering doing Schindler's List as it has themes of persecution, redemption and power but I don't have a lot of time. What do you think? Thanks.

Hey, cheytosh 

Welcome to the forums!  I'll be happy to help out where I can  I didn't study your related but I did do 'The Crucible' for my HSC so I know that text very well. We can start off with just breaking down your essay question.

-

"How do your texts reveal complex aspects of varied individual and collective human experiences?"

I have put the key elements of this question in bold so we can identify what it is you are being asked to do easier.

Complex- This suggests that human experiences are multifaceted and have many layers to flesh out. You have provided some themes which can give you the opportunity to engage in a more sophisticated discussion, tackling various aspects and ideas present in the texts.

Varied- The inclusion of the word "varied" in this question means that you have to observe different kinds of human experiences. Looking at only John Proctor's experiences in the text would not show "varied" human experiences. I'll get to how you can do this in my suggested approach below.

Individual- Recognising the personal experiences of characters in your texts is important to understanding human experiences. You could choose to examine your main characters or take a less conventional approach and look at the supporting characters in your text.

Collective- Shared experiences are also important as they help to reaffirm the recurrence of different experiences and how they define humanity. You could look at shared experiences and provide quotes from two or three characters as evidence in your paragraph.

-

After deconstructing the question, you can see how it is quite open-ended and doesn't really restrict you on what you could possibly discuss about. I like the themes you have presented and we can definitely work with them. Here is a suggested approach with my main explanations centred on 'The Crucible.' I derived this from the "Some ideas you may wish to consider" part of the criteria (they basically just gave you a suggested structure  )
Essay Structure Sample Scaffold

Introduction
- Present your thesis on human experiences and how texts reveal them.
- Expand on what your main idea is, which from what I can see is how human tendencies and characteristics arise most in times of crisis.
- Introduce your text and the themes you wish to explore.

Body 1- "the human qualities and emotions associated with human experiences"
- Emotions and qualities intrinsic to how experiences are shaped, formed and received.
- Suggested themes for this could be fear or hysteria.
- Aim for three solid techniques.
- THE CRUCIBLE: Collective experiences of women in Salem prompting Abigail and the other females in the society to resort to false accusations. They tap into the fears/hysteria of witchcraft for their own self gain and have their emotional and moral standpoints challenged.

Body 2-  "inconsistencies in human behaviour"
- Inconsistencies in the way individuals are treated in society and how they impact human behaviours during times of upheaval.
- Suggested themes for this could be reputation, persecution, power and justice.
- Aim for three solid techniques.
- THE CRUCIBLE: Inconsistent treatment of characters from the individuals held most respectable in society (Danforth or Hale would be great choices) reveals how collective demands for justice results in poorly defended persecution, an abuse of power or a prioritised outlook on one's reputation, as opposed to the truth.

Body 3- "the way we see the world differently through varied human experiences"
- Worldviews of audiences are reconfigured due to the intense and varied experiences of the characters.
- Suggested theme for this could be redemption.
- Aim for four solid techniques (this will make more sense below). 
- THE CRUCIBLE: Redemption of John Proctor or Hale from audiences due to their ability to transcend the situational crisis is achieved from their progressive acceptance of their wrongdoings. Acts of heroism and demonstrations of redemption are integral to human experiences.

Conclusion
- Reiterate the thesis and just a general statement about the human experience module.
- Refer back to your texts and how they have shown those themes.
- Reinforce your argument and whether you think the texts are successful in revealing those aspects.

A Tip Specific to The Crucible
- Choose form-based techniques. You can set your examples apart from the rest of your cohort if you show the marker that you are aware of its form as a play. Use stage directions (Miller is very specific with his), lighting or even costuming and props as techniques for showing the human experiences you wish to discuss. If you do end up using traditional techniques such as personification, metaphor or alliteration, try to slide in that it is from *insert character's* dialogue so it still shows that you are aware of dramatic conventions 

For your Related Text
- You can replace the second body with your related and discuss both texts in the third. You would have two quotes for 'The Crucible' and two for 'Lord of the Flies' so there is balance in your discussion.
If there is someone else who sees this thread and luckily studied 'Lord of the Flies', they may be able to help you identify similarities. Otherwise, try and arrange a meeting with your teacher during recess or lunch to ask them for some help! They can definitely give you some pointers  I don't think any text is too basic for the HSC; there are people who do picture books and songs for related texts and still perform well so choosing a literary classic won't reduce your chances of success! It will make a great related if you analyse it effectively. I would suggest using that for now and then changing to your other one so you have more time to work on it if 'Lord of the Flies' doesn't work out for you 

I hope this was helpful! Let me know if you have any further questions  And good luck with the assessment!

Angelina