Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Paper 2 Practice Question

I'm pretty sure it's horrible, but here we go :)


"“Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.”
Focusing on one of these demands for the writing of fiction, show how it emerges as a significant factor in creating interest in two or three works you have studied."



In both "Crime and Punishment" by Igor D. and "The Wars" by Timothy Findly, the secretive behavior of the characters as well as their mental state of mind make other characters in these novels wait. When this event that the other characters are waiting for occurs, we are introduced to a shift in plot. In "Crime and Punishment" by Igor D., Raskolnikov alludes to killing the pawn broker and when he finally commits to confessing, he gets sent away. Before confessing, Raskolnikov is very pretentious acting as a very generous individual, making the reader ever wonder if he will confess to his crime. In "The Wars" by Timothy Findly, young Lady Juliet d'Orsey awaits for the love of Captain Robert Ross however, due to the difference in age and the fact that he is going out with her sister also makes her wait for a response to see if the love that she shares for him, is in fact mutual. By making other characters wait in both these books, the author creates an element of surprise for the reader but when the waiting is over, the author introduces a change in plot.


In Igor D's "Crime and Punishment" we are introduced to Raskolnikov, the main protagonist who is viewed as secretive, but this element of his character is contrasted with his very generous behavior. After killing the pawn broker and her sister, Raskolnikov's character shifts as we see his more secretive side, eventually bringing his downfall. Raskolnikov's behavior eventually makes him a prime suspect but in order to run from the law, Raskolnikov keeps buying his dead friend's wife and daughter gifts and gives them money hoping that he will not only allow the authorities to perceive him as a good person, but to help himself stay out of exile and jail. By showing this side, Raskolnikov makes the authorities wait to find out who the real killer was. It is only until he confesses to Sonya and Dunya that he will go and turn himself in does he actually do so. Before turning himself in, he panics and almost flees but the sight of Sonya once again, helps him understand why he is doing this. This element of fear and guilt creates interest in the story "Crime and Punishment" because if it wasn't for this love that he shares for Sonya, Raskolnikov may have gotten away with a crime that he committed. 


In "The Wars" by Timothy Findley, young Lady Juliet d'Orsey creates suspense while Robert Ross makes her wait to find out if the feelings she shares for him are truly mutual. This creates suspense because Robert Ross eventually goes out with her sister and because of this, she looses her chance. While Robert Ross is going through two wars, the physical war outside in Germany, Lady Juliet d'Orsey too is going through two wars; having to face the life she is living while internally realize that she loves a man who does not return the feelings she shares for him.  This makes the reader wonder what would happen if she never broke up her sister with her old boyfriend? This is a significant factor in creating interest to this book because unlike Crime and Punishment where the waited truths turn the plot once revealed, this secrecy causes more pain in the internal conflict of both Robert Ross and Lady Juliet d'Orsey because Lady Juliet d'Orsey must live knowing that she has always loved Robert Ross and she was the cause to the unrequited love, whereas Robert Ross dies not knowing the true love that Lady Juliet d'Orsey shared for him but he ends up dying not feeling love like he once had before his sister died shortly before he joined the army. 


In both books, secrecy plays a big impact in creating a great plot. In "Crime and Punishment" by Igor D., Raskolnikov makes the authroities wait  to find out who the killer of Aloyna was, but due to his passion and love for Sonya, he finally confesses which changes the plot of the story. In "The Wars" by Timothy Findley, the exact opposite happens. Lady Juliet d'Orsey must live knowing that she never let Robert Ross know about her true feelings for him, whereas Robert Ross died feeling the pain of only loosing love as he never knew that someone truly loved him. 

Saturday, 18 February 2012

The End of The Wars

While reading the wars, I have observed that there were three parts to the book each indicated by narrative voice. The first part of the wars was when we were introduced to Robert Ross and we were allowed to establish his internal conflict.
The second part of the wars was chapter four where we were given the narrative voice of Lady Juliet d'Orsey and we too established we internal conflicts.
The third part of the book was when Robert Ross returned to France after his leave. Upon his arrival, we see a change in his tone as it seems that he isn't the highest in command although he is a captain for the allies.
This book is a circular book meaning, we are introduce to parts at the end of the book that we were introduced to at the beginning; the scene where Robert is riding the horse with the little black puppy at his side behind a group of about 150 horses. (This is just like The House of the Spirits; "Barabas returned to us from the sea").
This book can also be related to MacBeth as we see with his ego (it is actually his craziness) which brings his to his pathetic downfall due to the act that he didn't want to let the horses go free when he knew he was going to die.
Overall, I likes the book. I liked it's circular structure and it's many narrative points of view. Most of all, I liked how the author was able to put together a story using transcripts and clippings, it bright light to the story, letting me know the deeper meaning behind the context.

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Friday, 17 February 2012

The fourth part of the book had a change in shift. It is told from the viewpoint of Lady Juliet d'Orsey. I find the she too, just like Robert Ross is fighting an Internal conflict.
She describes herself as being someone who was born a natural listener, just eyes and ears. This characteristic has gotten her into a lot of trouble but is also helped her save lives, not that it has made her feel better about herself.
Although she is twelve years old, she has developed a passion for Robert Ross and cannot stand to see Barbra with him, however is it partially her fault. This situation is a prime example of her internal conflict. While Robert Ross' internal
Conflict is having to deal with the psychological struggles of war, Lady Juliet d'Orsey's is her actions and the put one due to these actions. She tried to break Captain Traffler and Barbra up. When she did this, she succeeded but because of her baffling attitude to walk into other people's business she almost cost the captain his life and also ruined any chafes with her being with Robert Ross.

This chapter of the book was a little more confusing to understand just because it was a shift in narration. It allowed me to get a general picture of Lady Juliet d'Orsey's character and her crucial role in The book.

Before writing this blog, I read the first line of part 5 and I think there will be another change in shift which will allow us to understand the book as a whole and bring a bigger picture to both the internal conflicts of Robert Ross and Lady Juliet d'Oesey.

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Wednesday, 15 February 2012

The Wars

"This was the greatest terror of war: what you didn't know if the men who told you what to do-where to go and when. What if they were mad-or stupid? What if their fear was greater than yours? What if they were brave and crazy-wanting and demanding bravery from you? In this passage of the book, we are presented with Robert Ross' internal conflict that he undergoes when he must decide whether or not he should kill the German that is sitting in front of him in the opposing trench. This portrays the authors message which comprises of the physical aspect of murder in war however encompasses the entirety of the pmhilosophy of war. In this situation, Robert Ross' internal conflict is at it's pivotal point as he must decide if killing is good or bad. Killing in this situation is would be good if his life was in danger; it would be bad if his life wasn't in danger. At this point, Robert is talking about The figure of authority because he is in the position of deciding to kill or not. My interest in this novel is at its peak in this point of the book because this is where there is a shift in his perspective as he realizes he killed when it was not needed. He questions the mentality of the person in authority but also of himself because he is the one in authority.