How is Stephen Wheatley introduced? (Essay writing)

Tips to write a good text-based essay

A text-based question  is different from other kinds of questions in the exam, because it always refers to just one passage of the novel, which should be analysed in detail. In other questions, you may be asked about an aspect of the whole book, and you may need to refer to different passages, but in a text-based question you need to focus just on the given extract.

1)  Read the question carefully and make sure you understand all aspects of it. (Remember you can´t answer just one part of it and leave the rest aside)

Example:Text-based question

 In this question,  you have to 1) describe
                                                2) explore

To describe, you may say that grey is the colour that seems to characterise Stephen. But you also need to "explore" this information, so that means that, for example, you will have to consider the connotations of this colour.

Besides the word "how" in this question suggests that you will need to say something about the way in which language is used in this description.

2) Read the passage and start thinking of the question. Mark everything that may help you answer it.

3) Start planning what you´ll say and how you will organise your ideas.

4) Try to think of a good thesis statement that may help you organise your thoughts. The thesis statement is the sentence that summarises the main point of your essay.  For this passage, we thought of three possible thesis statements:

a) When the old narrator introduces the young Stephen, he tries to detach himself from his childhood version as much as possible, because he doesn't seem to recognize himself in the boy
b) The narrator uses sensory images to introduce the young Stephen to make him come alive from the recesses of his memory.
c) The narrator introduces the young Stephen in relation to his surroundings (home and neighbours) to show how different he is from the other children in the Close.

You have to include the thesis statement in the introduction, and let it govern your whole essay. Everything you say needs to develop and prove your thesis statement.

Here you can read two essays that use the first thesis statement (a):
Martina´s essay
Mia´s essay
(These essays were written by two Senior IV students, who are re-reading the book this year.)