3.2.1.8The text at a glance
The anthology contains seven stories: 'Chemistry' by Graham Swift, 'Odour of Chrysanthemums' by D.H. Lawrence, 'My Polish Teacher's Tie' by Helen Dunmore, 'Korea' by John McGahern, 'A Family Supper' by Kazuo Ishiguro, 'Invisible Mass of the Back Row' by Claudette Williams and 'The Darkness Out There' by Penelope Lively.
The stories span roughly a century and several countries, and their contexts differ sharply: Lawrence writes from an English mining community, McGahern from rural Ireland, Ishiguro from a Japanese family after the war, Williams from a Caribbean community in Britain. Context here means the context of each story, not a single shared period.
- anthology
- a collection of separate texts studied together
- comparison
- the examined skill here; two stories must be set against each other
- narrative perspective
- who tells the story and how much they understand, which differs markedly across the seven
3.2.1.8Characters
'Chemistry' and 'Korea' are both narrated by a young person who reports more than they grasp, which is the anthology's most useful pairing for perspective.
'Odour of Chrysanthemums' and 'A Family Supper' both turn on a death and on what a family has failed to say.
'My Polish Teacher's Tie' and 'Invisible Mass of the Back Row' both concern people an institution fails to see.
3.2.1.8Themes
Family relationships, loss, and being overlooked recur across the anthology, which is why the examined skill is comparison rather than a single-story essay. Narrative perspective is the method most worth comparing, because the seven stories handle it so differently.
Common mistake
Revising all seven stories equally and superficially. Know three well enough to compare in more than one direction, and the rest well enough to summarise.
3.2.1.8The writer's methods
Choose a pairing before the exam for each likely theme, so the comparison is planned rather than improvised. Structure the answer point by point across both stories rather than writing about one and then the other, because integrated comparison scores considerably higher.
Worked example
Answer:
- Seven stories, examined by comparison of two
- Narrative perspective is the richest basis for comparison
- Know three stories well rather than seven poorly
- Compare point by point, not story by story
AO1-AO4How this text is examined
This text is examined in Paper 2, Section A. The question is worth 34 marks and two essay questions are offered on your text and you answer one; no extract is printed, so quotations must come from memory. Allow about 45 minutes.
The marks are divided as AO1 12 marks, AO2 12 marks, AO3 6 marks, AO4 4 marks. AO1 rewards a clear argument supported by well-chosen references. AO2 rewards analysis of how the writer achieves an effect, which means writing about choices rather than about events. AO3 rewards context used to deepen a reading of the text.
Common mistake
Retelling the plot. Narrative summary earns nothing under any assessment objective, however accurate it is. Every paragraph should be making a point about how or why, not about what happens.
Four of the marks are for AO4: vocabulary and sentence structures used to control meaning, and accurate spelling and punctuation. These are the cheapest marks on the paper and the easiest to lose by rushing the final paragraph.