So, Mod A - resonances and dissonances between texts.
By now, you know that’s just a fancy way of saying you’ll need to identify both similarities and differences in the representation of the same values in your two prescribed texts. Easy, right?
But we often forget another important part of the Mod A syllabus:
“Students understand how composers…are influenced by other texts, contexts and values, and how this shapes meaning.”
When you’re writing an essay for this module, realising the difference in portrayals is only half the journey. The real nitty-gritty is in knowing exactly why these changes have happened.
Ask these questions:
What’s changed about the representation of the value in literature?
Why has the modern author put their own twist on the values of the older text?
Why is that important?
Here, context is the answer to everything.
Ideas shift to mean different things to different people at different times. Composers write from the lens of their own society. Since your two texts come from separate time periods, what they have to say about the same values will inherently diverge.
For example, Shakespeare lived in a patriarchal society which believed men were superior to women. As a result, The Tempest portrays Miranda to be a mostly passive character throughout. On the other hand, Atwood’s novel Hag-Seed takes place in the 21st century (gender equality for the win!) and Anne-Marie is anything but a damsel in distress.
If you can clearly show the marker that a change in the portrayal of a value in your texts reflects a much more significant change in viewpoint within the wider society, your essay will be much more solid.
Though the road to HSC is long, the values in texts endure, and so can you!