Examples of form and structure
In media res
Short sentences
Repetition
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia
Metaphors
Similes
Anaphora: (It will be. It will not be. It could be.) Repition of start of phrase/sentence.
Present tense
Juxtapositions
Tricolon
Examples of seminal dystopian texts
Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games: 2008
George Orwell 1984: 1949
Aldous Huxley BNW: 1932
Margaret Atwood The Handmaids Tale: 1985
H.G Wells The Time Machine: 1895
Who’s telling the story (persons)
First person - Writing about yourself, I/We.
Third person - Writing about others whilst not involved, He/She/They.
Second person - Addressing the audience, You.
Unreliable narrator - A narrator you can’t trust
Omniscient narrarator - A narrator who knows all
Free indirect discourse - A narrator blending third-person narration with a character’s first-person thoughts, emotions, and voice, and creating intimacy and often irony by blurring the line between narrator and character.
How to describe story structure
In media res
Chronological
Fragmented
Sudden tonal shift
Cyclical narrative
Linear narrative
Polyphonic
Things to mention in close reading exam
Semantic fields.
Seminal dystopian tropes.
Some dystopian ideas/tropes/concepts
Control and power (abuse of it): Surveillance, propaganda and loss of freedom/agency
Isolation/alienation
Resistance/submission
Loss of individuality
Oppressive settings: Bleak, urban, dehumanised and polluted, greyscale
Critique of current society that’s exaggerated in the future
Poverty
How to write the close reading
Write a short and sharp introduction then focus on one theme followed by another 2 or 3 and a conclusion.
Topic sentence starters
On the surface… yet the novel suggests…
Although this appears… the text complicates this by…
Huxley initially presents… but gradually exposes…
A Marxist reading highlights…, whereas a psychoanalytic reading reveals…
BNW’S society system name
Caste system
