story starter – the greatest library.

resource image

The books had minds of their own.
This was no ordinary library.
Books about knights and castles would gallop all over the library, bravely and boldly ordering the other books around. The books about thieves would sneak around, lurking behind bookshelves in the shadows. Books about wild animals would occasionally roar and bite other books. The ones containing stories set in the winter would often shiver, covering their neighbours with snow and frost.
Lucy loved this place like no other. Reading was the most exciting thing in the world here: everything she read seemed to come alive out of the pages…but she always read them anyway. She glanced around the library and a book jumped out at her.. but with no title or author. The first page read: If you’ve picked up this story, don’t bother reading it. Just put it down and go about your day, reading books, or playing games. Go and do something while you still can, when someone won’t control you and watch you do it. Thats funny, lucy thought. I’ve never seen anything like this before. So, out of curiosity she flipped to the next page.

The worn down clock in the middle of the town struck 4 as the small girl walked down the middle of the deserted road. Above her, the air wore a blanket of black fog and she wrapped her ragged coat around her legs as the breeze whipped her tiny figure like a belt. She recited the alphabet as she walked around streets toward her apartment, careful not to stand on the glass and rubbish that painted the streets.
“Lucy?” Her mother called to her.
Lucy stopped in her tracks. I’m here, inside the book? It can’t be?!
“Yes, Mum?” She said.
“How was school?” She replied as she ran out to meet her.
In response, Lucy told her mother about her day at school.

Rats, flea’s and other six-legged insects made themselves at home along with Lucy and her mother in this small apartment. Its ceilings were stripped of paint and the ugly khaki wallpaper was peeling. The only room that Lucy could feel comfortable in was the cupboard with the light on doing her homework, but every now and then, the walls got smaller and smaller, trapping her inside with nowhere else to go. Lucy’s mother went out so she crept down the dimly lit hallway and sat in her mother’s room and switched the light on. A rat scattered away as she propped herself up against the wall, with her knees up against her chest and began to write. After a few hours, Lucy heard faint sounds of steps coming down the hallway and the voices of men. She immediately switched the light off and made herself hidden in the cupboard so she couldn’t be seen through the crack in the door. Voices and steps came closer and closer and she held her breath. She stayed as still as a statue until they walked out of the apartment. Lucy walked out of the cupboard and heard beeping. She realised she had been under surveillance from the moment she switched the light on. She checked her watch, it had been 4 hours and her mother should have been home. They must have looked for her to take her away too. Lucy’s knees gave way to the floor, she closed her eyes and she sunk into a pool of misery. Lucy woke up and she was sitting on the big blue chair once again with the knights and castles and lots of books around her -the chapter from the book with no title had ended. She wasn’t sure she wanted to carry on reading..

point of view.

the voice of a story is created by the author’s choice of point of view.

first person – i . telling a story in first person means placing the narrator as the central character.

second person – you.

third person – they / he / she.

first person task: write down as many personal pronouns that you can think of. these are the words you would use in first person.
i, me, my, mine, we, us, our and ours.

show, don’t tell

the boy was sad.

thoughts raced through the boys head – but none of those, not one was a resolution to his sadness. he lay on his bed staring at the black ceiling with the planets spinning, but he knew they weren’t. just like he knew his dreams would never come true.

the dog wanted to go for a walk.

i sat on my bed with my owners blankets snug around me and although i was snoozing, i knew everything that was going on. the baby in the highchair eating potatoes which i did not like, and the teenager watching the tv a little too loud and my owner walking toward the laundry where she kept the leash.. we were going exploring?! “Wanna go for a walk?’ boy oh boy here we go!

Creative Writing

” Mr Lunderguaard, I sentence you the maximum penalty of is 10 years’ imprisonment for: an offence against section 134.2(1) of the Criminal Code. ”
This replayed through Jerry Lunderguaard’s head as he lay on the desolate mattress in a medium security cell in stillwaters’ minnesota correctional facility.

2.4 Essay – ” Fargo ” by The Coen Brothers.

‘ Analyse how film techniques were used to present an idea in the text. ‘

The 1996 thriller fargo directed by the coen brothers. The theme is often the takeaway from the movie, the life lesson and it ties in with the concept of the film that creates discussion and especially “ Fargo “ in particular. 20 years later, this famous film is still being watched even by us as teenages, and in this essay we are analysing how film techniques were used to present an idea in the text. This idea, is the theme of greed and how corrupt it can be and this is shown very clearly throughout.

The coen brothers use the idea of low angles as an effective film technique to convey the characters different emotions and the way they control situations- how powerful they are.
The characters assume if you have problems, money can fix it, and that money fixes anything so much that it consumes them.
In life, to be successful means having certain achievements and planned goals, These can be anything from social status, social justice, or in this case, having money is the answer to everything. If you have enough sense, this could be true but not to the extent that Jerry, Carl and Gaear went to. They were all driven by the thought of money so much that it destroyed them – almost consumed them so much that if they had any good sense before it had definetely disapeared now. All they were solely focus on was money and they went through a great deal of effort to get it. Jerry had a great family – his wife came across in the film as a lovely lady with a caring heart. Mr lunderguaard had a good business, so overall a happy life with mostly everything he could want. The coen brothers do not tell the viewer why Mr Lunderguaard needed the great deal of money, there may well be a reason why they did this. Is it because the viewer may have change our perspective of what we might have thought of him? I could strongly disagree, nothing excuses hiring two men kidnapping his wife and say that greed and money really is the soul root of all evil.
During the movie the characters are shown in many different scenes but many of them with low camera angles, which conveys a sense of makes a character look more powerful, and makes the audience vunrable and small by looking up at the character in the scenes. It is obvious that the characters think that with more money comes success and authority so when the coen brothers shot them at a low angle, this was very intentional. Their thirst for money is so ambitious, that is what they focus on which is why Greed is such a big theme in the film and although the word “greed” is never said once in the movie, it is clearly shown. The characters dont have as much power as they imagine they do but that point is also important too. Money and Greed is consuming their whole mindset and controling them so much they dont actually fully comprehend who they are as a person in society and how much the stand in the social ranks. They think their plan is so amazing and it will all go well, but as we all know, nothing is ever perfect.
Carl is viewed as a significantly authoritive figure and this is shown in the scene where Jerry’s father-in-law goes to try and get his daughter back, but carl shoots him in the process. Just after this happens, there is a low angle on carl because he has got what he wanted – the money. Therefore he has dominance in the scene and wade seems powerless and small. Although he get’s the million dollars, he also gets shot in the jaw by wade before he dies so nothing ever goes perfectly to plan, with actions comes consequences.

Everything you need to know about the relationships and nature of the characters in the film is shown precisely through the setting in the scene. Gerry Lunderguard seems very calm and collected which ties in with the locations of the scenes he is in. Such as, bleak white and boring snow in Minnesota, or a bar and he is shot in most frames by himself to portray that he is very lonely and does not have many relationships with other characters throughout the film. The movie has a real sense of community, and most of the characters are very kind in the way they act. The characters are very welcoming and friendly, but at the same time it feels as though they really keep to themselves but are happy. It is obviously very midwestern, because it takes place in Minnesota. Carl is very talkative and seems to come across as annoying, and does not have an accent which really puts him out of place for a start. Everyone is calm and collected except him, he’s all nervous and all over the place. This shows what greed does to you, it ruins your headspace and morals and is over all not good for you.

Carl and Gaear are the opposite of Marge and Norm Gunderson. This is because they are different personality wise and this is shown through camera shots. Carl and Gaear are often shown in close ups which depicts that they are stedious, corrupt and deceiving but most of all, greedy. All of these emotions were carefully portrayed and constructed by the characters themselves but most of all, the use of a close up camera shot.

Agatha Christie’s ” And then there were none” Essay.

Essay Question: Analyse how the characters were used to explore the concept of justice.

Is murder ever justifiable? “And then there were none” is a powerful novel written by Agatha Christie, which is set in 1939 and based on the theme of justice which is explored through the characters. The characters are trapped on an isolated island, away from all civilization and society and forced to come to terms with their “death sentence”.

A character in the book named Judge Wargrave felt like he had to be responsible for punishing people that were held unaccountable for killing others and escaping the consequences of the law. He met people that told him about them, and decided they were not going to get away with their horrible acts. He chose selected people whom he thought deserved to die, and invited them to a mansion on an island in the middle of nowhere – called soldier island. The judge uses a man called Isacc Morris to buy the island so he is not a suspect when everyone starts dying, and then hides among the guests themselves.

The island seems like an actual “courtroom” to judge Wargrave, and the “ten indians” who are the guests are on trial and waiting for him to announce their death sentences. You could also say that the murders of some of the characters are unjustified because of their apparent ” crimes ” were a mistake and insignificant, so the punishment they recieved was not deserved. For example, anthony Marston ended the lives of two kids in a car accident. Similarly, Armstrong has killed one of his patients because he was operating while drunk. Surely, it can be agreed that since these characters has caused the deaths unintentionally it has been legally allowed to continue operating and so they aren’t guilty and shouldn’t be punishable through death. However, they are indeed guilty and this is reinforced by the character’s conscious awareness of their guilt. guilt is a result of wrong doing or criminal behaviour, the absense of which would give no reason to feel guilt.

Vera Claythorne, who voluntarily hangs herself out of realisation of her crime, is a striking example of how justice can take the form of one’s own guilty consciousness. Dr Armstrong on the other hand, often experienced dreams which recall the instance he had killed one of his patients. The inner conscience is a reminder to the characters of their crimes. It also puts justice into place by preoccupying the characters thoughts with guilt and tormenting them until their deaths. Wargrave punished them but so that the severity of their crime was also the same as how bad their crime was. – Anthony Marston died a quick and relatively painless death. He didn’t have to suffer as much as the other characters and go through the wait to die. Although, characters that did worse things, like Vera Claythorne, she was the last character to die and she had to go through the phycological pain and slowly went insane when waiting for her death. she hangs herself willingly after experiencing so much guilt on her shoulders and it all gets too much for her.

Wargrave inforces justice but also punishes himself – just like he punished his victims. At the end of the novel he commits suicide. Justice is usually put into place by putting people behind bars but in this case, they are killed. Although they did wrong things, murder is not justifiable.

Big Questions.

This novel is an exploration into the concepts of Justice and Guilt. The characters are chosen by Wargrave for having escaped the consequences of the heinous acts. This serves as justification for his actions in the novel. This creates a moral dilemma and asks a significant question of the readers. Is murder ever justifiable? Discuss in your groups and don’t just consider the novel.

In a sense of spirtituality (Exodus 20:13) and emotionally, no, Murder is not ever justifiable. But, we have to consider other things. Murder is not okay, but could potentially have beneficial consequences – if you killed someone to save the lives of others, and had no other alternative.

Connections

As we have previously discussed: Wargrave chose to kill his victims in a very specific order, based on how he viewed the level of their crimes. He states the reason he chose to dispose of Marston first was because he was the type of man who was incapable of feeling moral responsibility. With this in mind, discuss the connection between intent, action and effect, is there a connection between morality, responsibility, and justice?

In “then there were none” Wargrave chose to dispose of Marston first because of this crime and lack of morality which suggests that morality plays a huge part in Wargrave’s seek for justice, and has influence in the way Agatha Christie writes the novel as a whole.

The connection between intent, action and effect is that you have to want to have to feel the need to do something. Wargrave felt that the guests needed to have been held accountable for their crimes, he was frustrated and angry that they got away with it. Anger is a secondary emotion, we might first feel afraid, attacked, offended, disrespected, forced, trapped, or pressured. If any of these feelings are intense enough, we think of the emotion as anger. Wargrave was angry, he had intent to hold them accountable, so he had plotted a plan on the island to kill the guests one by one. This effected everyone on the island, the went from somewhat normal to cut off completely from civilization. They died one by one, with no one knowing who was the killer but Wargrave himself, they slowly gradually came to a state of instanity which drew them to their death, and unfortunately worked in Wargrave’s favour, especially with Ms Claythorne. Although, in general, I think effect is more harmful than intent.

I think in some ways there is a connection to morality, responsibility, and justice. They may know the difference between what is right and what is wrong, but not take responsibility for their actions.

All of these can be applied to real life situations, although it is not nice, it is sometimes what happens.

Exam Practice

QUESTION 1:

Describe at least one important relationship in the written text(s).
Explain how this relationship positively or negatively influenced one or more characters.


One important relationship in Macbeth is the relationship between King Duncan and Macbeth. This idea is displayed by the quote ” The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left this vault to brag of.” Macbeth killed Duncan and ignored his morals because of his vaulting ambition, and all the happiness and passions in his life and the good things he hoped to achieve ( the wine) is replaced with regret and shame (the mere lees).  Because of this relationship he has negatively influenced the rest of the characters in the play because the king has been killed and left everyone in distress. The relationship helps us to understand the idea that ignoring your morals is not always good.

QUESTION 2: 

Describe at least one important character in the written text(s).
Explain how the character changes throughout the text(s).

An important character in the play ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare is Macbeth. He is driven to become king, but to do so in the time he is alive he thinks he has to do it the wrong way, by going against his morals and killing the king, Duncan. Macbeth went from being a loyal husband and devoted to the king to a vicious murderer driven by his dire ambition. Macbeth’s Change in the play is shown through the decline in his mental state.

Ozymandias Analysis

Ozymandias is a sonnet written by Percy Shelley, written in iambic pentameter and gains much of its power from the compression of its language. The ruined statue underlined the hubris of Ozymandias proud boast “Look on my works, Ye mighty, and despair!” The irony is that mighty will despair – not at the power of Ozymandias but at the realisation that their power is never permanent.