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TodayToday we will...- Learning how to write an integrated paragraph that showsthe ability to synthesise information

To achieve this, we will be...- Looking across the texts for significant similarities anddifferences- Looking at an exemplar

- Writing in pairs

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Last Week

On Friday we started working with integrated thinking -trying to synthesise across the texts in order to answer aquestion.

We now want to draw on that learning and apply it in acontext that will fit with a response to text essay.

This will be the last piece of work for our unit on shortstories, which is appropriate, as we are now bringing it alltogether.

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Heading: Significant

ComparisonsLets start with trying to identify some significantsimilarities and differences across the three main texts:Rock Springs, Great Falls, and The Bath.

e.g. Rock Springs and Great Falls make use of symbolism.The symbols often express the problem of certainty, such asthe goldmine in Rock Springs and the gun that Jack uses in

Great Falls. Carver uses no such symbolism, which makesit more difficult for us to find significance in his text.

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Lets start with trying to identify some significantsimilarities and differences across the three main texts:Rock Springs, Great Falls, and The Bath.

e.g. Rock Springs and Great Falls make use of symbolism.The symbols often express the problem of certainty, such asthe goldmine in Rock Springs and the gun that Jack uses inGreat Falls. Carver uses no such symbolism, which makesit more difficult for us to find significance in his text.

Task-In a pair, come up with one significant connection acrossthe texts.

- You might consider character, point of view,simile/metaphor, motifs of light and dark, setting, othersymbols.- You will need to be able to say why your connection is

significant, which means being able to connect it to a keyargument

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Application to essays

We now want to be able to use this kind of higher orderthinking in our essays. And so what I recommend for you thisyear, is to write an essay that involves three body paragraphs:- one on your first text- one on your second text- one integrated paragraph that speaks across the texts

This style will probably work best if you focus on Fords writingfor your first two paragraphs, and then bring in Carver at theend to show a point of difference, to help express how eachauthor has their own unique take on the issues.

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The writing itself...

Step One:

Initial Connecting Statement you need to introduce a

connection between the texts that is phrased specifically in terms ofthe topic.

Thesis: I would argue that Ford confronts the difficultcomplexity of existence, exposing its bleak, dark nature because

he wants to create world that represents the truth of the modernhuman condition.

A pre-occupation with uncertainty can be seen across Fords andCarvers work, with both authors dealing with the difficult and

dark notion of ever establishing or confirming certainty.

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The writing itself...

Step Two:

Discuss Text #1 pull out a technique from one of the texts that shows theauthor doing what youve said in the integrating statement. This becomes youpoint of comparison. It should be your best example, which includes a specificexample that you can unpack and the compare and contrast to.

Ford tends to make use of symbol in order to achieve this. He continues toreturn to the image of the goldmine in Rock Springs to express the uncertaintythat Earl suffers. The gold mine is always a greater distance from us than it

seemed, and so Ford draws the readers attention to the difficulty for Earl (andthe reader) to ever fully establish proximity to the goldmine. With the goldminerepresenting hope and success for Earl, the reader comes to realise that Earl willnever be certain of his proximity to either of these concepts; he is alienated fromthem.

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The writing itself...

Step Three:

Connecting Statement use connecting language to showa connection across the texts.

Just as the goldmine can provide no certainty for Earl, thegun that Jack Russell wields in Great Falls is equally

impotent.

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The writing itself...

Step Four:

Discuss Text #2 when connecting to Ford, look for complimentary

evidence. It tends to be easiest to talk about Fords text side by side andthen finish on Carvers difference. Its useful to connect back into the topichere, as this ensures that your marker doesnt think your drifting off topic.

For all the power the gun expresses, Jack still ends saying, I dont knowwhat to do now. The gun is essentially impotent, with Woody leaving

and taking Jacks wife with him. Here Ford expresses the ultimate failingof certainty, and particularly symbols of certainty. Ford illustrates the darklesson in both texts that as much as we try and impose certainty onexistence, it is essentially out of the control of the individual.

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The writing itself...

Step Five:

Connecting Statement use connecting language to showa connection across the texts.

Ford allows us to learn these lessons by reflecting on theexperiences of his characters, yet Carver barely gives the

reader character at all.

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The writing itself...

Step Six:

Discuss Text #3 it can be useful to show a point of difference here - this

helps you show a nuanced understanding of how the texts treat the sameissue, but in a different manner. This is why it can be useful to end withCarver, due to his tendency to be bleaker, colder, etc. especially in The Bath.

By stripping away proper nouns and using a particularly distanced thirdperson narrator in The Bath, Carver is able to make his reader experience

the same alienation and uncertainty that Fords characters experience. Thereader is positioned towards frustration, as they are not allowed to know thecharacters in The Bath, left uncertain as to their purpose or significance dueto Carvers minimalist approach to character development.

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The writing itself...

Step Seven:

Thesis and topic its important to finish off with a number of sentences thatoutline the significance of these connections. This tends to mean discussing how an

examination of the texts side by side gives us a much stronger understanding of afundamental issue. Finish with a connection back into the topic and the thesis.

And so both authors lead the reader to particularly dark places: where hope andpurpose become illusory, and the ability to know any thing becomes problematicand potentially impossible. These are indeed dark and difficult issues to confront a

reader with; however, as Ford says, its not that we are not connoisseurs, but thatwe are surrounded by it, and so it is important that Ford and Carver take us tothese dark and difficult places so that we might better appreciate the uncertaintyand alienation at the heart of the modern human condition.

1 Sh i h f i k h diffi lt d

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1. Short story writers shy away from presenting works that are difficult anddark. To what extent do you agree with this view?I would argue that Ford confronts the difficult complexity of existence,exposing its bleak, dark nature because he wants to create world thatrepresents the truth of the modern human condition.

2. Short stories are most often about characters whoselives are solitary, poor, nasty, or brief. To what extentdo you agree with this view?I would argue that Fords fiction centres on individuals

who suffer from solitude and alienation because he wantsto represent the wider alienation of humanity in a modern,uncertain world.

3. Techniques used by short story writers allow them tosay more with less. To what extent do you agree withthis view?I would argue that Ford crafts his techniques with great

care because it is his intention to write within the starkDirty Realist genre while also allowing his reader toconsider the wider complexity of modern alienation.

4. Short story writers are skilled at presenting essentialdetail. To what extent do you agree with this view?I would argue that what makes Ford such a short storyexpert is his ability to select narratives and narrators that

reflect on essential moments in their lives, which allows his