Approaches to Text

Length: 500 words
Offer a close reading of the Michael Mohammed Ahmad passage (The Tribe, 128-135).

Your response should locate the passage within the book as a whole and analyse some of its literary features.

Students are asked to provide a close reading of a selected passage from ONE of the texts from Weeks 2-5 of the unit, in response to a set question.

You should choose to write about EITHER Luke Carman’s An Elegant Young Man OR Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s The Tribe.

The selected passages and question/s will be posted on vUWS in Week 3.

Aims/Objectives:

Students should locate the passage within the book as a whole, and analyse some of the literary techniques that it employs. These may include the structure of the narrative, the style and use of narrative voice, and the use of focalization. Students may also wish to comment (where appropriate) on the use of metaphor, allusion, irony, and intertextuality within the extract.

Rather than simply recount what happens in the passage, students are encouraged to comment on ways in which the passage works (in a literary sense).

You may also wish to describe how this passage addresses some of the broader themes addressed within the book as a whole.

Criteria

1. Clear attempt to engage with the question pass/fail

2. Skilful use of examples /25

poor

adequate

good

better

excellent

3. An ability to identify and interpret various literary techniques /25

poor

adequate

good

better

excellent

4. Awareness of broader themes addressed within the book as a whole /25

poor

adequate

good

better

excellent

5. Answer written in a clear and correct style and in an appropriate structure /25

poor

adequate

good

better

excellent

/100