Topic 8.1: Studying a literary work Questions

Read the extract: "I know how it sounds. I know you think I'm making it up. But I was there that night, on the bridge, and I saw what I saw. Believe me or don't — I have stopped needing you to." In which point of view is this passage narrated?

What is the difference between the narrator and the author of a work?

Which of these is a THEME rather than a plot point?

Read the extract: "The lighthouse keeper spoke to the gulls as if they answered him. "Another storm tonight," he told them, and the sea, grey and impatient, threw itself at the rocks like a crowd that would not be turned away. He had not spoken to another person in three weeks, and the words felt strange in his mouth, borrowed, second-hand." "The sea threw itself at the rocks like a crowd that would not be turned away." This is an example of…

True or false: the first-person "I" in a novel is the author speaking directly to the reader.

Which of the following is a THEME rather than a topic?

In character analysis, what is a "foil"?

True or false? A quotation supports a theme even if you copy it out and add no explanation. Justify your answer.

"This paint gave her nothing to pick" (paragraph 1). This tells us that…

Find the word in paragraph 2 which means "practical and plain".

"That was the agreement" (paragraph 1). What does the sentence mainly establish?

How would you best describe the narration in "The kettle shrieked…"?

Find the word in paragraph 1 which means "made a high, harsh sound".

Find the word in paragraph 2 which means "all alike, with no variation".

Which of these best states a THEME of the extract, rather than its plot?

In which person is the extract narrated, and whose eyes do we see through?

"so that you have it from me first" (paragraph 1). What does this reveal about the narrator?

True or false? In a first-person novel, the narrator ("I") is the same as the author. Justify your answer.

Read the extract: "The lighthouse keeper spoke to the gulls as if they answered him. "Another storm tonight," he told them, and the sea, grey and impatient, threw itself at the rocks like a crowd that would not be turned away. He had not spoken to another person in three weeks, and the words felt strange in his mouth, borrowed, second-hand." What tone does the writer create, and which detail supports your answer?

A student says their book "is about a woman who goes back to her home town". Rewrite this as a THEME statement, and explain in one sentence why your version is stronger.