About Margaret

Qualified English Teacher, BA/BT UNE, Registered with VIT, located in Berwick Victoria 3806. Contact 0418 440 277, email contact@englishtutorlessons.com.au

‘On the Waterfront’ Directed by Elia Kazan Film Techniques

Posted on July 31, 2021 by Margaret

For students studying the film On the Waterfront Directed by Elia Kazan with either play The Crucible OR Twelve Angry Men.

It is important to note the film techniques in On the Waterfront when you write your comparative analytical essays.

Significant Film Techniques from the film On the Waterfront

Film style = black & white, realistic documentary style (film noir)

Mise en scene = setting – not a set but the actual docks of Hoboken New Jersey

Landscape = cinematography – fog, smoke, mist, clouds, smoky grey sky, nature uncivilised & uncontrollable

Lighting = use of dark to represent evil & light goodness like Edie

Sounds & music = diegetic ie. music, soundtrack, non-diegetic ie. sounds like machinery, ships horn, whistles

Costumes = poor clothes for longshoremen, pseudo-business attire of Johnny Friendly & his gang to draw attention to a certain air of respectability that defies and conceals the extent of their entrenched corruption

Camera angles = deep focus, point of view close up shots, low angle to high suggests power, two-shot 2 people at mid-range, low angled single shot of Terry after his beating in last scene

Settings & Visual Style in Detail

On the Waterfront is a black and white film that represented a 1950’s gritty documentary style with a morally ambiguous (film noir) crime film of the period. Kazan’s use of setting is intended to register the oppression and destruction rife on Hoboken Docks.

Boris Kaufman’s camera distils a skyscape which is menacing, insular, if not claustrophobic. Dark settings emphasise not only the dream and danger the residents face, but also the labyrinth network of corruption. The workers exhibit ill at ease, slouched postures in conjunction with the deep and dark urban underbelly. The shrouded light of day is diffused by cloudy skies and thick fog. It highlights the uncertainty in relation to obtaining work and also fear. Kazan’s endeavour was to create disquiet in viewers emphasising the danger and fear that the longshoremen live under and therefore creating tension amongst the viewers.

The dark and seedy interiors, such as the bar, reinforce Johnny Friendly’s power and aggression, while the dingy, shabby and cramped apartments highlight the workers’ desperation. Pa Doyle is one of the most desperate of the workers, caught because of his desire to support Edie’s education. He like many others are psychologically imprisoned by the “deaf and dumb code”. Anyone who breaks the code or is suspected of dubious loyalty is unlikely to receive a work token.

The competitive fight for the tokens on the Hoboken wharf literally shows the “dog eat dog” environment that belittles and dehumanises the men. Kazan uses circus-like music to reinforce their animal-like behaviour as they become play-things of the bosses.

The rooftop symbolises Joey’s attraction to the birds; he becomes one of many pigeons outplayed by the hawks. The pigeon cages reflect the longshoremen’s inability to break out of their prison-like oppressive conditions on the wharf and their basic preoccupation with survival and existence. The hawks symbolically represent Johnny Friendly and his gang. The hawks ‘go down on pigeons’, which reflects the bosses’ philosophy of looking after their own interests.

Landscape / Fog & Smoke in Detail

The location of the docks and the landscape were used by cinematographer Boris Kaufman to make the most of the fog and smoke that were part of the freezing January landscape but also used deep focus to position the characters within the landscape and to emphasise the ever-present connection between the individual and the group. Depicting the waterfront society connected to the society of the time is a reminder that individuals in this world are locked into a complicated set of relationships with their fellow workers and the powerful people they work for.

Day time scenes the smoke and mist express the mood of uncertainty that prevails in the film. The constant mist and smoke characterise the mise en scene of the film as a visual clue of the moral choices that people make. The freezing January is a symbolic power in the scenes on the roof where the character’s desire is to rise above the murky waterfront world below is cast into doubt by the rising mist and the billowing smoke from the chimneys and smoke stacks.

In the majority of the scenes that take place at night, the smoky pale grey daytime look gives way to a highly stylised use of light and dark. The use of dramatic lighting stresses the claustrophobic nature of the character’s world. In the scene where Terry and Edie are chased down by a truck driven by Friendly’s henchmen, the lighting creates the impression that Edie and Terry are caught in a narrow tunnel with no way of escape.

Sounds and Music in Detail

One of the memorable aspects of the film is the ambient or background noise. Sound is used to great effect in the scene where Father Barry persuades Terry to tell Edie about his involvement with Joey’s murder. The jarring mechanical rhythm of the machinery in the background contributes to our growing awareness that Terry is just one small element of a much larger world over which he has little control. In a very dramatic moment, the horn of a ship drowns out the conversation between Terry and Edie.

The musical score was written by Bernstein with the soundtrack foreboding, even military sounding. The opening scene features threatening sounding drums and brass with the fight shots of Friendly met with the sound of a dry saxophone, which foretell not just the murder about to happen, but set the scene for the landscape as one of conflict. Audiences recognise that the men who are exiting the clubhouse are no law-abiding citizens. This is accompanied by rhythmic crashes of timpani which register the enormity of the situations.

The other music themes are the gentler strings that typically accompany scenes between Terry and Edie and indicate hope. In the scene where the mob invade Father Barry’s church, mixed percussion and shrill strings are used to create an atmosphere of confusion and desperation. The final scene is the most powerful in creating suspense and tension with a tone of unresolved chord in the strings, inferring the struggle is not over, maneuvering audiences to question the fate of the workers.

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‘Maestro’ by Peter Goldsworthy A Brief Synopsis of the Importance of ‘Place’ in the Narrative

Posted on July 30, 2021 by Margaret

This Resource is for students studying Mainstream English in the Victorian Curriculum.

Place is integral to an understanding of the characters in Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy.

In some ways, the cities of Darwin, Adelaide and Vienna parallel the growth of the characters. In other respects, the character’s attitudes towards the cities reveal their motivations and, in the case of Keller, the mystery of his past. Darwin and Adelaide exemplify the most obvious and literal examples of the polarity of North and South.

“Up North” Darwin in the 1960’s – a Wild Frontier Town

See the source image

“Up North” in the 1960’s traditionally represented the outpost of civilisation in Australia, with Darwin as its wild frontier town. In pre-Cyclone Tracy Darwin, there were few opportunities for public entertainment or cultural events. The town’s residents had a reputation for heavy drinking, fast driving and little regard for fine music or the arts. In 1967 few homes had air conditioning so that Darwin’s wet heat had to be alleviated with iced drinks, ceiling fans and evening sea breezes through louvred windows. Initially John Crabbe described Darwin’s inhabitants as “wife-beaters, fugitives from justice, alcoholics and maintenance dodgers” (p.17). Darwin was “the terminus … A town populated by men who had run as far as they could flee” (p.17).

Goldsworthy Portrays Life in Darwin as a Rhythm of Dramatic Contrasts

Life in Darwin is portrayed as a rhythm of dramatic contrasts between day and night, and the Wet and Dry seasons. Thunder is “the sound of February, of deepest, darkest Wet” (p.4). The Wet exaggerates nature in every way. The hard-drinking customers at The Swan where “it was always Wet season” (p.17), provide the background rhythm to Paul’s lessons with Keller and their wrangles over the choices of compositions for his lessons and practice. The change of season to the Dry marks an important point in the characters’ moods. Everyone’s mood is lightened and refreshed at the beginning of “seven months of clear, enamel-blue days” (p.28), when meals are taken outside in “a nightly cooling ritual” (p.30). Throughout the novel, Goldsworthy uses the imagery of night and day, Wet and Dry, sunshine and darkness to symbolise or illustrate his characters’ states of mind.

Darwin confronts the Crabbes with Physical and Mental Challenges

The Crabbes’ move to Darwin, a career promotion for John, confronts all three family members with both physical and mental challenges. To Paul, Darwin is a tropical paradise; to his parents it is, initially too hot, humid and uncivilised. John Crabbe declares Darwin is “A city of booze, blow, and blasphemy” (p.9) but Paul loves Darwin from the moment he steps off the plane from Adelaide: “I loved the town of booze and blow at first sight. And above all its smell: those hot, steamy perfumes that wrapped about me as we stepped off the plane, in the darkness, in the smallest hours of a January night. Moist, compost air. Sweet-and-sour air …” (p.9).

Goldsworthy Describes Darwin in Lush Descriptive Passages

Goldsworthy devotes considerable attention to crafting lushly descriptive passages which evoke Darwin’s exotic quality, its multicultural population and the strong emotions of sexuality. Paul delights in the dense foliage of their garden, at the “unnatural greenness” of leaves, and marvels at the brilliance of parrots, butterflies, huge insects and grubs: “Everything grew larger than life in the steamy hothouse of Darwin, and the people were no exception. Exotic, hothouse blooms” (p.11).

Darwin for Eduard Keller was an Exile

See the source image

For Herr Eduard Keller, the maestro, Darwin was an exile, a self-imposed punishment stemming from his perceived responsibility for the deaths of his wife and child. Darwin is the maestro’s decision to live as far as possible, both literally and metaphorically from his cultured European background. Paul vividly remembers his first encounter with the maestro. He was fascinated by Keller: “I’d seen nothing like him before. He was short: migrant-height, European height…The hair above that flaming face was white, sparse, downy. On his red nose he had placed … a pince-nez… Above all, I remember the hands: those dainty, faintly ridiculous hands” (p.5). Despite Darwin’s oppressive heat, Keller is dressed in a white linen suit, crisp and freshly laundered. As Paul pushed his way through the drinkers in The Swan each Tuesday for his piano lesson, he found it “easy to place Keller among these fugitives” running away from things they chose not to remember.

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Analysing and Presenting Argument

Posted on July 20, 2021 by Margaret

For Mainstream English Years 11 & 12 students studying Analysing Argument and Presenting Argument under the Victorian VCE Curriculum

Scope of the Task for Analysing Argument

Students analyse and compare the ways in which verbal and non-verbal (including visual) language of specified texts is used to persuade readers and viewers to share the point/s of view being presented. 40 marks are allocated to this task with a suggested 800-1000 word count.

Analysing Argument Basics

What are you trying to Analyse with the articles and visuals?

3 Basic Elements

WHAT = What is the argument the author/s are making?
HOW = How are techniques used by the authors?
WHY = Why do the techniques used by the authors affect the audience? What is the Intention of the author to make the audience:
1. THINK SOMETHING = LOGOS = a logical response = the author uses techniques like appeals to logic / expert opinions / research / reputable sources / statistics / graphs (these are some logical techniques)
2. FEEL SOMETHING = PATHOS = an emotional response = the author uses techniques like appeals to emotion / attacks or praises / emotive language / figurative language such as idioms, cliches, alliteration, hyperbole, connotations, loaded words / inclusive language / rhetorical questions / appeals to family values (these are some emotional techniques)
3. DO SOMETHING = ETHOS = an ethical appeal to act responsibly = the author wants the readers to actively lobby governments to act / call to action

Analysing Argument What You Need to Identify in the Articles & Visuals

Identify and Annotate the Main Contention & Arguments
Identify the Language and Techniques used to Persuade
Identify the Intention of what the author wants the audience to Think/Feel/Do Something
Identify the Audience & Tone
Identify the Link between the Visual and Written Piece

Analysing Argument How to Identify Tone in Articles & Visuals

Tone refers to the mood or feeling of the language used by the writer conveying their attitude towards an issue, argument, individual or group. In an article tone is created by word choices which have 3 main tones:

Positive = reactive / amazed / astonished / quiet / calm / composed / thoughtful / approving / hopeful / caring / compassionate / sympathetic / lively / cheerful / enthusiastic
Neutral = formal / authoritative / balanced / blunt / factual / frank / honest / serious
Negative = passive / apathetic / dejected / apologetic / judgmental / pessimistic / uncontrolled / agitated / alarmed / fearful / forceful / accusing / angry / condemnatory / sarcastic / hateful

Presenting Argument Scope of Task : Oral Presentation

Unit 4 Outcome #2 Presenting Argument students will deliver a 5 minute individual Oral Presentation conveying a sustained and logical line of argument in response to a topic from the media worth 30 marks.

Students should also write a Statement of Intention to articulate the purpose and intention of decisions made in the planning of the Oral which is worth 10 marks. The SOI format should follow F/L/A/P/C = Form/Language/Audience/Purpose/Context. The word count is determined by each school but is normally between 300-500 words. See my Post on SOI requirement for years 11 & 12 for the full details on the FLAPC format.

(TOTAL FOR THIS OUTCOME 40%)

Students must deliver a 5 minute Oral Presentation demonstrating:

An ability to present a sustained and logical argument supported by a range of evidence from a variety of sources
An understanding of the power of language to persuade
An ability to address and convey the complexity of your chosen issue
An awareness of and ability to engage an audience
Submit a transcript of your speech and complete a bibliography
Produce a Written Statement of Intention articulating the intention of decisions made in the planning process of the oral presentation and how these demonstrate understanding of argument and persuasive language
The SAC will be worth a total of 40 marks = 30 marks for the oral + 10 marks for the SOI

A few tips on writing your speech:

Have a CAPTIVATING introduction sentence; use a short, clear and powerful sentence. You can even ask a rhetorical question of your audience to make them think right at the start.
Make sure your MAIN CONTENTION is clearly spelled out at the start. If you are vague about what you are trying to argue then the listeners (the Teachers marking the Oral) will not know what your Oral is about and will mark you down.
RELATE to your audience so that it keeps them interested so they actually WANT to listen.
If you are taking on a persona, firstly study and UNDERSTAND your character. (A persona is how you present your speech, ie. in a friendly voice, a business type strictly formal speech or using lots of colloquial phrases).
Don’t forget your persuasive techniques. Use repetition and rhetorical questions, emotive language and inclusive language.
Remember that you are delivering a SPEECH, not an essay. Instill your oral with emotion, varied tone and sentence lengths.

A few tips on your performance:

Memorise your speech

Practice as much as possible; in front of anyone and everyone including yourself (use a mirror). Keep practicing until you can recite it. Use your timer on your mobile phone to make sure you keep within the 5 minutes. As for cue cards, use dot points. Remember to number the cue cards for safety so if you get nervous during the Oral and unfortunately drop them, at least you can pick up the cards and put them back in the right order.

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Ransom by David Malouf

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Margaret

Brief Synopsis of Ransom by David Malouf

Ransom

This Resource is for students studying Mainstream English in the Victorian Curriculum with Ransom as a single text. OR students in Year 12 studying the comparative texts of Ransom with The Queen. Year 12 students can use these notes as background information to understand the narrative written by David Malouf.

Ransom by David Malouf is derived from the final section of Homer’s The Iliad

Drawn from a section of the Ancient Greek poet Homer’s The Iliad, David Malouf’s poignant novel Ransom explores the themes of revenge, redemption and fate during the Trojan War. The common theme of all Greek mythology concerns powerful gods, heroes, mythological creatures and humans. These myths have had major influences in art and culture, and even during modern society today with its teaching of our beginnings, history, morals and lessons for our daily lives. While The Iliad is heavily focused on the gods and the battles fought amongst the people, Ransom explores a new avenue of human relationships through two main characters: Achilles, the greatest warrior and hero of the Trojan War and Priam, the elderly king of Troy who has lost his son in battle.

The Historical Action of Ransom

David Malouf structured the characters and events of Ransom during the 9^th year of the legendary Trojan War in The Iliad (around 1100 BCE). Where as-yet untold stories might emerge, Malouf created an inner life for his main characters Achilles and Priam that are not told in the Iliad. The novel plays out over one full day and the following morning, although Malouf has allowed his characters flash-backs and flash-forwards that weave significant events into the narrative. Ransom commences on the 12^th day after the death of the Trojan hero Hector, son of Priam King of Troy who is slain by the famed Greek warrior Achilles in revenge for the death of his loved step-brother Patroclus.

The Human Action of Ransom

In Ransom both Priam and Achilles must face and overcome dilemmas. Each questions the role he has been playing. The narrative allows the characters to liberate themselves from a crisis of personal values and a loss of self-esteem, something quite different from the view of human action in The Iliad. Malouf presents his main characters with moral and imaginative courage in choosing to act beyond the bounds of their normal roles. Both Priam and Achilles come to a new understanding of what it means to be human. Priam, dressed simply and with no weapons or crown, pleads with Achilles to release Hector’s body. He appeals to his humanity and in doing so raises the question of what it means to be ‘human’. Are the characters ruled by animal instincts, by the influence of the gods or by human reason and feeling? A blend of all these facets suggests the permeable, open nature of human beings in the novel.

The Importance of Family Affection and Father-Son Relationships

Priam reminds Achilles of the importance of family affection and the closeness of father-son loyalty. They are both fathers and sons before anything else. They are also mortals where death is always present. Priam begs Achilles “… as a father, and as one poor mortal to another – to accept the ransom I bring and give me back the body of my son” (p.182). Priam wants Achilles to act as both their “… fathers and forefathers have done through all the ages” to show that they are in effect “men, children of the gods and not ravening beasts” (p.183).

Pity and Compassion

Even in the long, harsh war between the Trojans and Greeks, enduring human values emerge. Malouf has allowed his main characters to express compassion and pity that we see goes beyond social class and political beliefs. Priam pleads with Achilles as one human to another, since they all die in the end, he argues they should feel each other’s sorrows now and be compassionate. He asks Achilles to think of his son Neoptolemus, and his father Peleus “Would you not do for him what I am doing here for Hector? Would your father Peleus, not do the same for you?” (p.184). Achilles’ personality is influenced by its origins. We see this in flashbacks in the novel of Achilles expressing his love for his son and his father. Priam has made Achilles contemplate Hector’s body and his own death with fresh respect. In pitying Priam as a father, Achilles is reminded of his own son Neoptolemus and changes his view of Hector. Achilles allows Priam to take the body of Hector in exchange for the ransom of gold in the wagon. In a key moment between the warrior Achilles and the king Priam, their physical gesture of reconciliation is shown “Quietly, as they ate together, he and Achilles had discovered a kind of intimacy; wary at first, though also respectful” (p.198).

Taking a Chance – Choosing Action

The concept that humans have free will to act and should take opportunities as they come was foreign to the ancient Greeks, who believed that human life is governed by larger powers such as greater destiny or supernatural beings. Malouf’s narrative allows each of these approaches to work in the story. We see some of the characters decide to risk action and take a chance, yet they still accept the workings of fate and the interferences of the gods. The novel invites the reader to ask questions about our own beliefs. Should we believe in fate or chance? How should a person decide?

Priam acts in an unexpected way to achieve a positive goal when he decides to follow chance rather than passive customs. In doing so he must oppose those close to him who expect the king to always be predictable to “… follow convention, slip his arms into the sleeves of an empty garment and stand still”. Instead Priam steps “… into a space that till now was uninhabited and found a way to fill it” (p.208-209). He feels “bold” and “defiant” rather than passive and dismissive “sure of his decision” (p.49) to retrieve the body of his dead son Hector from the camp of his enemy Achilles.

Achilles’ reputation, well known throughout the territory, was capitalised by Patroclus to frighten the Trojans and inspire the Greeks to fight on. Despite the years spent earning this reputation, this would not be what Achilles would be remembered for. Malouf shows us the raw emotional side of Achilles with his grief for the death of Patroclus. In fact by dragging the dead body of Hector each morning behind his chariot, Achilles “… breaks daily every rule [his men] … have been taught to live by. Their only explanation is that he is mad” (p.29). Achilles tells himself his “half-blind rage” is for Patroclus “But it is never enough. That is what he feels. That is what torments him” (p.33-34). Releasing Hector’s body to Priam is his greatest challenge and act in the novel. It is Achilles acceptance of his role as a hero-warrior that brings him peace in Part IV.

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Poetry Analysis Step by Step

Posted on June 30, 2021 by Margaret

Why Read Poems?

Some people say they don’t like poetry, it’s boring or they don’t understand it. I think poetry is more like a song, the more you hear it the more you like it. The words are very similar to poetry; in fact we can break down the verses of songs and see the meaning as poetry.

Poetry doesn’t have to be boring; it can also be funny like limericks.

Start with a Step by Step Analysis

Have a look at this Poetry Analysis Step by Step Flow Chart in PowerPoint to show you the way to read and understand a poem. Follow it below as well with a full explanation of the Poetry Analysis Step by Step.

Poetry Analysis flow chart

1. Read a poem 2 or 3 times

Each time you read a poem you notice different things

When you read the poem a second time you pick up on ideas and themes that you may have missed the first time you read it. Also the poet can have ideas hidden just below the surface of the words and as you read it again, the new ideas can jump out.

2. Paraphrase the poem by stanza next to the original text

Writing it in your own words is a good idea to make sense of the poem, so you know what it means in simple terms

Stanza means the verses of the poem just like a song

How the poet organises the stanzas in a poem is often an important aspect of the poem’s structure. Nothing in a poem is by accident. Poets choose their words carefully as well as giving careful thought to the form and layout of the poem. You should ask yourself why the poet has done this or that because there will be a reason and there is an effect for everything in a poem.

3. Answer the 5 W’s

Who? Who is the poet referring to?

What? What is the poem about?

Why? Why is the poet writing about it?

When? When is the poem set, the time period?

Where? Where is the poem, the place the poet is taking about, the setting?

4. Identify the theme, message or topic

What is the poet trying to say? What is the poet’s message in the poem?

What is the point? Is the poet trying to make a specific point in the poem?

5. Identify and Highlight Examples of Literary Techniques

Simile

Definition: Simile is when you compare two nouns (persons, places or things) that are unlike, with “like” or “as.” “The water is like the sun.” “The water is like the sun” is an example of simile because water and the sun have little in common, and yet they’re being compared to one another. The “is” is also part of what makes this stanza an example of simile. “The rain falls like the sun,rising upon the mountains.”

Metaphor

When something is described in terms of something else, ‘her eyes are the stars in the sky’ is a metaphor as one thing her eyes is being described in terms of another thing the stars. Metaphors are comparisons that show how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way. Metaphors are a way to describe something. Authors use them to make their writing more interesting or entertaining. Unlike similes that use the words “as” or “like” to make a comparison, metaphors state that something is something else.

Imagery

Poets use words to create images in your mind.

Alliteration

This is the repetition of a consonant sound in the words. For example slippery slithering snake is alliteration.

Personification

This is where human qualities or emotions are given to non human things. The wind howled in agony all day. He gazed at the angry sea.

Tone

The overall mood of the poem, the emotions can be sad, optimistic, solemn.

Point of View

From what point of view is the poet writing.

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Poetry of Robert Frost

Posted on June 30, 2021 by Margaret

Robert Frost

Frosts poetry is a Metaphor for the ways in which we make sense of our lives

The ways in which people develop their imaginative landscapes, their attitudes and values and how they respond to the world around them are influenced by their sense of place. In analysing texts the landscape may be seen in literal or metaphorical terms. Places where we have lived and people we have lived with contribute to our outlook on life and how we respond to particular situations. For some people these memories stay with them throughout life. The imaginative landscape derives from the diversity of these experiences over the years. The physical landscape of a person’s life forms a literal and metaphorical yardstick with which to measure the passage of time and the acquisition of personal characteristics. The physical becomes intertwined with their imaginative landscape.

Robert Frost’s Imaginative Landscape

Encompasses both the beauty and dark side of the land and of human nature. While his love of the natural world is evident, inspiring him as a poet and a person, he does not romanticize it, rather he imbues it with strong moral tones, reflecting in his love of rural America.

As well as describing the physical world, Frost is also preoccupied with how the human figures are placed in the landscape and in time. His characters are aware of where they have come from and their history. They move in time from the past but also encompass the future. Frost’s imaginative landscape helps us to construct versions of ourselves by exploring where and who we have come from and who we might become.

‘The Road Not Taken’ Poem by Robert Frost

See the source image

The speaker stands in the woods, considering a fork in the road. Both ways are equally worn and equally overlaid with un-trodden leaves. The speaker chooses one, telling himself that he will take the other another day. Yet he knows it is unlikely that he will have the opportunity to do so. He admits that someday in the future he will recreate the scene with a slight twist, he will claim that he took the less-travelled road.

One of the attractions of this poem is its archetypal dilemma, one that we instantly recognise because each of us encounters it numberable times, both literally and figuratively. Paths in the woods and forks in the roads are ancient and deep-seated metaphors for life, its crises and decisions. Identical forks, in particular, symbolise for us the nexus of free will and fate. We are free to choose, but we do not really know beforehand what we are choosing between. Our route is, thus, determined by an accretion of choice and chance, and it is impossible to separate the two.

The Fourth Stanza Holds the Key to the Poem with 2 Tricky Words

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference”.

Those who interpret this poem as suggesting non-conformity take the word “difference” to be a positive difference. There is nothing in the poem that suggests that this difference signals a positive outcome. The speaker could not offer such information, because he has not lived the “difference” yet.

The other word that leads non-discerning readers astray is the word “sigh”. By taking “difference” to mean a positive difference, they think that the sigh is one of nostalgic relief. However, a sigh can also mean regret. There is the “oh, dear” kind of sigh, but also the “what a relief” kind of sigh. Which one is it? We do not know.

See the source image

If the the sigh is one of relief, then the difference means the speaker is glad he took the road he did. If the sigh is one of regret, then the difference would not be good, and the speaker would be sighing in regret. The speaker of the poem does not even know the nature of that sigh because that sigh and his evaluation of the difference his choice will make are still in the future. It is a truism that any choice we make is going to make “all the difference” in how our future turns out.

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Basic Debating Rules

Posted on June 22, 2021 by Margaret

This Resource is for students studying Mainstream English in the Victorian Curriculum.

Basic Debating Rules: Starting with an Explanation of What is a Debate?

A debate is basically an argument with strict rules of conduct. It is not a shouting match between two sides with different points of view.

Topic Sides

There are 2 sides in a debate:

The Affirmative agrees with the topic
The Negative disagrees with the topic

The Team Line

Three speakers work together as a team. The Team Line is the basic statement of “why the topic is true” (for the affirmative team) and “why the topic is false” (for the negative team). It should be a short sentence, presented by the first speaker of each team and used by the other two speakers to enforce the idea of teamwork.

The Debate Announcer and Time Keeper

The Debate Announcer introduces the topic and the students on each team
The Debate Announcer mentions that each speaker will be timed, the minimum speech is 3 minutes and the Time Keeper will tap on the desk when the 3 minutes has elapsed so the Speaker knows
Each team will have the same allowance for time

Speakers

Each side has 3 speakers who speak in order:

First Speaker of the Affirmative Side Must

define the topic
present the Affirmative team’s line
outline briefly what each speaker in their team will talk about
present the first half of the Affirmative case

First Speaker of the Negative Side Must

accept or reject the definition. If you don’t do this it is assumed that you accept the definition.
present the Negative team’s line
outline briefly what each of the Negative speakers will say
rebut a few of the main points of the First Affirmative Speaker
the First Negative Speaker should spend about one quarter of their time rebutting
Present the first half of the Negative team’s case

Second Affirmative Speaker Must

reaffirm the Affirmative team’s line
rebut the main points presented by the First Negative Speaker
the Second Affirmative Speaker should spend about one third of their time rebutting
present the second half of the Affirmative team’s case

Second Negative Speaker Must

reaffirm the Negative team’s line
rebut some of the main points of the Affirmative’s case
the Second Negative Speaker should spend about one third of their time rebutting
present the second half of the Negative team’s case

Third Affirmative Speaker Must

reaffirm the Affirmative team’s line
rebut all the remaining points of the Negative team’s case
the Third Affirmative Speaker should spend about two thirds to three quarters of their time rebutting
present a summary of the Affirmative team’s case
round off the debate for the Affirmative team

Third Negative Speaker Must

reaffirm the Negative team’s line
rebut all the remaining points of the Affirmative team’s case
the Third Negative Speaker should spend about two thirds to three quarters of their time rebutting
present a summary of the Negative team’s case
round off the debate for the Negative team
neither Third Speaker may introduce any new parts of their team’s cases

Importance of Rebuttal

In debating, each team will present points in favour of their case. They will also spend some time criticising the arguments presented by the other team. This is called Rebuttal.

There are a few things to remember about Rebuttal:

Logic – to say that the other side is wrong is not enough. You have to show why the other side is wrong. This is best done by taking a main point of the other side’s argument and showing that is does not make sense. A lof of the thinking for this needs to be done quickly and this is one of the most challenging aspects of debating.
Pick the important points – try to rebut the most important points of the other side’s case. You will find that after a while these are easer to spot. One obvious spot to find them is when the first speaker of the other team outlines briefly what the rest of the team will say.
Play the ball – do not criticise the individual speakers, criticise what they say.

The Manner of how you present your debate is important

The manner is how you present what you say and the best manner style is definitely not to shout and thump the table but to keep calm and present your points with a clear speaking voice. Here are a few tips that might come in handy with your debating style:

Use Cue Cards – debating is a lively interaction between two teams not just reading a speech off notes. Use cue cards like a prompt in a play as a reference if you lose your spot or train of thought.
Use Eye Contact – if you look at the audience you will hold their attention. If you spend the whole time reading from your cue cards or looking at a spot away from the audience, they will lose concentration very quickly. Keep the audience in your sight and their minds will follow your logic.
Your Voice – you must project your voice so that you can be heard but definitely do not shout. Use the volume, pitch and speech of your voice to emphasise important points of your speech. Sometimes a loud burst will grab the audience’s attention while a period of quiet speaking will draw the audience in and make them listen more carefully to what you are saying.
Your Body – Make your body work for you by using hand gestures with confidence. Move your head and upper body to maintain eye contact with all members of the audience. Stand straight up, definitely do not slouch over the desk or let the audience know you might be nervous.
Nervous Habits – avoid them like the plague. Playing with the cue cards, pulling strands of your hair, fiddling with your watch or bouncing up and down on your feet will all distract from what you are saying. Don’t let any one thing detract from your ability to persuade the audience.
Using Big Words – try to avoid going overboard with big words and confusing people. If you don’t understand the big words yourself then the chances no one else will understand what you are saying either. It would be a huge mistake to debate and get stuck on a word that you are not sure what it means but also one that you can’t pronounce.

The Marking Scheme in a Debate

Every adjudicator marks to a standard. You will get a mark out of 40 for matter, manner and method with a total mark out of a 100.

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Brief Synopsis of ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens

Posted on June 14, 2021 by Margaret

What is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens about?

Set in the 1840s on Christmas Eve, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens chronicles the personal transformation of the protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge, the proprietor of a London counting house. A wealthy, elderly man, Scrooge is considered miserly and misanthropic: he has no wife or children; he throws out two men collecting for charity; he bullies and underpays his loyal clerk, Bob Cratchit; and he dismisses the Christmas dinner invitation of his kind nephew, Fred. Moreover, Scrooge is a strong supporter of the Poor Law of 1834, which allowed the poor to be interned in workhouses.

As he prepares for bed on Christmas Eve in his solitary, dark chambers, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former partner, Jacob Marley. In life Marley was very similar in attitude and temperament to Scrooge: remote, cruel, and parsimonious. In death he has learned the value of compassion and warns Scrooge to reform his ways before it is too late. Marley announces that Scrooge will be visited by three more specters: the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come.

The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge back to his unhappy childhood, revealing that the young boy’s experiences with poverty and abandonment inspired a desire to succeed and gain material advantage. Unfortunately, Scrooge’s burgeoning ambition and greed destroyed his relationship with his fiancée and his friends.

The Ghost of Christmas Present is represented by a hearty, genial man who reminds Scrooge of the joy of human companionship, which he has rejected in favor of his misanthropic existence.

Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears in a dark robe and shrouded in mystery. Silently, the ghost reveals the ambivalent reaction to news of Scrooge’s own death. Scrooge realizes that he will die alone and without love, and that he has the power and money to help those around him – especially Bob Cratchit’s ailing son, Tiny Tim. Scrooge begs the ghost for another chance and wakes in his bed on Christmas morning, resolved to changing his life by being generous and loving to his family, employees, and the poor.

Classifying A Christmas Carol

For some readers A Christmas Carol resonates as a gothic ghost story, at times chilling and terrifying and at other times, extremely funny. Other readers see the story as a time travel narrative. Dickens in effect blended realism and the supernatural to create a world in which the gothic and the mundane sit side by side. Dickens himself said he was here taking old nursery tales and “giving them a higher form” (Stone, Harry 1999, ‘A Christmas Carol: Giving Nursery Tales a Higher Form’). With its dark, chilly setting and its supernatural visitors, A Christmas Carol draws on elements of the gothic novel when Scrooge’s door-knocker turns into Jacob Marley’s face. The narrator provides a number of descriptions in which gothic elements are interwoven with freezing, icy imagery to emphasise the atmosphere of mystery and to remind us of the protagonist’s icy heart.

A Christmas Carol as a Cultural Myth

According to Juliet John, A Christmas Carol has become a “cultural myth” providing “a parable for the modern, commercial age” (John, Juliet 2011, ‘Dickens and Mass Culture’). As a morality tale, in which evil is exposed, virtuous characters like the Cratchits are rewarded, and everyone celebrates at the conclusion. However, there are issues raised in A Christmas Carol that remain unresolved at the conclusion of the novel. The sinister children of Want and Ignorance, do not go away just because Scrooge has been reformed, but the narrator tells us nothing of their future. Their role is more allegorical than that of other characters. Dickens uses them as an important warning to his readers and to Scrooge as the frighteningly ugly face of 19th century poverty. Unless social reform takes place urgently, Want and Ignorance will grow into hungry, resentful predators. The fact that Dickens even raised the issue of the miserable lives of street children at all marks an important attempt by him to make his readers ponder their own social responsibilities.

Historical Context of A Christmas Carol

While A Christmas Carol is primarily received as a ghost story, it is also a damning expose of social inequality in 1840’s Britain. Dickens was deeply agitated by what he perceived as the inertia of the British government and wealthy middle classes to help those less fortunate than themselves. A Christmas Carol was written at the beginning of the ‘Hungry Forties’ a period that encompassed the catastrophic Irish potato famine, as well as intense suffering for the English working classes. Dickens uses A Christmas Carol to not only attack the Utilitarian philosophy of Jeremy Bentham, who justified the centralisation of Poor Relief in workhouses, but also to lambast the work of Thomas Malthus in his Essay on the Principle of Population. Whilst in abstract these principles might seem logical, when applied to suffering individuals, their underlying brutality becomes obvious.

Ebenezer Scrooge

For most readers Scrooge represents the worst charactertistics of his society. Fixated with material goods at the expense of all human connection, particularly with his clerk Bob Cratchit, Scrooge is an allegorical embodiment of the forces of capitalism underpinning Britian’s economy in the 1840’s. For Dickens, he represented everything that was wrong with society in an increasingly industrialised world where human relations took second place to profits.

Dualism in Dicken’s Writing

The world of the early Dickens is organized according to a dualism which is based in its artistic derivation on the values of melodrama: there are bad people and there are good people, there are comics and there are characters played straight. The only complexity of which Dickens is capable is to make one of his noxious characters become wholesome, one of his clowns turn out to be a serious person. The most conspicuous example of this process is the reform of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol shows the phenomenon in its purest form.

We have come to take Scrooge so much for granted that he seems practically a piece of Christmas folklore; we no more inquire seriously into the mechanics of his transformation than we do into the transformation of the Beast into the young prince that marries Beauty in the fairy tale. Yet Scrooge represents a principle fundamental to the dynamics of Dickens’ world and derived from his own emotional constitution – though the story, of course, owes its power to the fact that most of us feel ourselves capable of the extremes of both malignity and benevolence.

Redemption in A Christmas Carol

Can A Christmas Carol be seen as a tale about redemption in a man who has ostracized himself from his society? While the narrative is focused on Ebenezer Scrooge’s learning experiences and his reintegration into the community, his story also forms part of a broader allegory through which Dickens invites his readers to consider Christmas as a time of renewal and hope and to think about how they themselves might redeem and be redeemed.

The ‘Scrooge Problem’ – the Questioning of Scrooge’s Transformation

Elliot L. Gilbert’s essay: ‘The Ceremony of Innocence: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol’ addresses ‘the Scrooge problem’, that is, the critical tradition of questioning the sincerity of Scrooge’s sudden transformation from being mean-spirited to kind-hearted. Gilbert admits that his support for Scrooge’s change of heart is not free from doubt, as similarly to House and Johnston, he feels that the ease of Scrooge’s alteration is questionable. Furthermore, to accept the overnight metamorphosis of a man who has spent a lifetime bullying clerks, revelling in misanthropy and grinding the faces of the poor, is ‘to deny all that life teaches in favour of sentimental wishful thinking.’

Gilbert’s essay provides a new hypotheses to explain the reader’s misgivings regarding the plausibility of Scrooge’s radical conversion; he is merely returning to his childhood innocence. He explains why he views A Christmas Carol to be metaphysical; it is because it portrays the journey of a human being trying to rediscover his own childhood innocence. Such innocence Gilbert claims is evident in Scrooge’s encounter with the ghost of Christmas past, when Dickens has Scrooge’s fiancé break off their engagement, because the man she sees before her is not the man she first knew. Here, he reveals that Scrooge was not always bitter and mercenary, and therefore not so different from the man we are shown at the end of the novel. Thus, Scrooge’s new self is believable as it is in part his old self.

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ORAL & POV CRITERIA YEARS 11 & 12 MAINSTREAM ENGLISH

Posted on May 30, 2021 by Margaret

This Resource is for students studying Mainstream English in the Victorian VCE Curriculum. The criteria is a check list for students about to undergo an Oral Presentation or write a Point of View (POV) Essay.

See the source image — Follow the check list below to help prepare for your Oral or POV

KNOW THE ISSUE’S CONTEXT
- Have a clear understanding of the BIG ISSUE
- Why do you feel strongly about this particular issue?
- Select carefully your focus from the big issue
- Your Main Contention should be clear and easy to understand
- Do not have an ambiguous contention
THE AUDIENCE
- Decide who is your intended audience
- Make sure your target audience is appropriate for the issue
- The target audience will be connected to the public forum you choose to write your article in
WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE?
- What exactly do you want to achieve through your arguments?
- What are your aims for positioning your audience?
- Are you wanting to:
  1. Shock
  2. As a Call to Action
  3. To effect change
  4. To ridicule
  5. To demonise someone
  6. To attack
WHAT IS YOUR FORM OF PRESENTATION / PUBLIC FORUM?
- A speech
- Opinion piece for a newspaper / online media such as ABC News Online or The Conversation or Crikey or Mamamia
- Letter to the Editor of a newspaper
- A debate in Parliament
- Guest panellist on a current affairs program
CONSTRUCT YOUR ARGUMENTS
- Clearly state your Main Contention
- List your arguments with evidence to support your reasoning
- Consider a Rebuttal & your Counter Arguments
USE PERSUASIVE LANGUAGE TECHNIQUES
- Opinions need emotive language to persuade
- Use Idioms as figurative language
- Consider your tone – are you forceful enough
- Don’t ‘tell’ with boring information be able to ‘show’ with descriptive language
STRUCTURE OF POV/ORAL
- Introduction / Hook / Main Contention
- Body Paragraphs – at least 3 + a Rebuttal
- Use single sentences or rhetorical questions in between body paragraphs to change structure and make it more interesting to read
- Conclusion

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy: The Basics

Posted on April 2, 2021 by Margaret

Brief Analysis for Mainstream English Year 11 Students studying ‘The God of Small Things’ by Arundhati Roy, AOS1 Unit 1 Analytical Study

Historical Context of The God of Small Things

The God of Small Things takes place mostly in 1969 and 1993, in Ayemenem, in the district of Kerala in India. Marxist ideas grew popular in Kerala soon after India’s liberation from British colonial rule, and in 1967 the Naxalite party split off as a more radical Communist group than the mainstream. The growing social unrest from these labour movements affects the action of the early novel. The ancient Hindu caste system (dividing Untouchables from Touchables, among other rules) was abolished around 1950, but many Indians still clung to old traditions and the class divide. Some of the characters in the novel are also Syrian Christians, an ancient community in Kerala originating with St. Thomas.

Setting/Place

Ayemenem: where most of story takes place; where Estha/Rahel come home to when they are older (1993), where the death of Sophie Mol takes place (1969).

New York: where Rahel lives shortly while married to Larry

Delhi: where Rahel goes to school studying architecture.

Cochin: where the family see “The Sound of Music” and Estha gets molested by the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man. On the way Rahel sees Velutha participating in a communist rally. Location of the airport when the family picks Sophie Mol & Margaret Kochamma up from their London flight.

Main Plot

In Ayemenem Pappachi and Mammachi live together. Pappachi is an imperial entomologist who discovers a new species of moth and never gets credit for it, making him resentful for the rest of his life. Elements of pappachi are mentioned later on, Sophie mol has his nose and throughout the novel it is mentioned that Rahel has a moth on her chest, spreading its wings when traumatic events happen.
Pappachi beats Mammachi who starts Paradise Pickles and Preserves and is a talented violinist. Pappachi also smashed Mammachi’s violin.
When Chacko comes back from studying in England where he meets his only love, Margaret, he sees Pappachi beating Mammachi and tells Pappachi that it will never happen again. After this Pappachi and Mammachi never talk again.
Chacko has his heart broken by Margaret while she is pregnant with their child. He moves back to Ayemenem. Meanwhile, Ammu wants to leave Ayemenem and does so by marrying Baba and has the twins with him, she then goes back to Ayemenem after he tells her about his bosses proposal for sex after he loses his job. Baba is an alcoholic, compulsive liar and Ammu later sends Estha back to him when she can’t afford to care for him.
The family in Ayemenem go on one of their routine trips to Cochin where they see the sound of music, and Estha is molested by a vendor there. On the way to Cochin they witness a communist rally where Rahel sees Velutha.
The next day in Cochin the family pick up Sophie Mol and Margaret from the airport. Rahel then describes everything as if it were a play and everyone is trying to impress Sophie Mol.
Velutha tells the twins that the person at the rally is his twin brother when they bring it up.
There is a moment where Velutha and Ammu make eye contact, signaling their relationship to begin.
Estha is still fearful of the man who molested him, and while he is stirring jam at the factory Rahel walks and he tells her about his plan.
They go to the history house on a boat and bring their toys and food. They go multiple times, and on their way back with Sophie Mol, she dies in an accident.
Around this same time, the house is alerted by Velutha’s dad about Ammu and Velutha’s forbidden relationship.
Ammu is locked in her room by Baby Kochamma and Mammachi. When she comes out she yells at the twins and they go to the history house with Sophie Mol, who dies.
Baby Kochamma fabricates a story to the police that Velutha raped Ammu and kidnapped the kids, and is responsible for Sophie’s death. He is beaten to death by police.
Ammu later goes to the police station and tries to tell them the truth, but they do nothing and she leaves crying saying “I killed him”
Baby Kochamma uses Chacko’s grief to kick Ammu out of town for her actions. Estha is ‘returned’ and Rahel stays with Mammachi and Baby. Ammu dies soon after.
Baby Kochamma abandons her garden and becomes consumed by the TV. Kochu Maria joins her. The returned Estha at the house doesn’t speak.
Rahel watches Estha as he enters the shower after his walk in the rain and they end up having sex in the bed after.

Narrative Structure

The book is written in a non-linear format using multiple narrators and flashbacks. The story unfolds in two time periods, 1969 and 1993, and the unknown narrator gives details about events outside those times. The non-linear technique with gaps in the plot until the end keeps the reader interested and leaves them with many questions.

Things are seen from Rahel and Estha’s childlike perspectives, for example Rahel is convinced Sophie Mol is alive and that Velutha didn’t die, it was his fictitious twin. The climax of the novel is surrounding Sophie Mol’s death, and it is known from the beginning that she will die due to the non-linear format. This technique creates anticipation regarding Sophie’s death. Even more shock is present during the climax when the Ammu and Velutha’s unexpected relationship is revealed by the sobbing Vellya, the only clue of their relationship mentioned previously being their eye contact.

The non-linear format allowed for Estha and Rahel’s love scene being juxtaposed with Ammu and Velutha’s because they are placed back-to-back. The reader is shocked by the incestuous relationship and also by the graphic nature of Ammu and Velutha’s love scene.

Themes

Love relationships & forbidden love / sexuality / death / dreams / Indian caste system / narrative past / narrative present / time is stagnant / family influence & obligations / change versus preservation of time / western values / white westerners superior / gender politics / Communism / social structures / Indian politics / imperialism / religion / the environment

Symbols

Small Things = small moments, objects and changes that lead to the big things in life, small talk that is a mask for larger hidden feelings, relevant to the taboo relationship of Ammu & Velutha

Big Things = big events in life like love, death and political upheaval

Pappachi’s moth = signifies the family’s downfall and acts as a carrier of negativity

Spider = relates to Ammu and Velutha’s relationship & part of the ‘small things’ they focused on

Rahel’s watch = the time on the watch stays the same at ten minutes to two signifying that time is stagnant, the novel is literally frozen in time

Sophie Mol’s death = while it is a tragic accident her death is tied to many elements in the novel including Estha’s sexual abuse, Ammu & Veluthas taboo relationship & Estha & Rahel’s sexual encounter

The Heart of Darkness = Joseph Conrad’s novel connected to the History House that Chacko explains to the twins how to understand history

The History House = Kari Saibu’s house the Englishman who had ‘gone native’ and was mentally unstable and been corrupted

Communism = Chacko, Pillai and Velutha are communists from different classes yet shows how widespread communism is in India

Love = love and the rules about “who should be loved. And how. And how much” refers to love laws in India that are controlled by the caste system

The Sound of Music = the movie is popular because it represents western values and links to the theme of natural beauty against society’s demands on the individual

Ammu’s dream = represents her physical reaction to Velutha as the one-armed man that she cannot touch and Ammu’s own romantic death

Colours as Symbols

White = the association of whiteness as being superior and privileged in status as westerners like Margaret Kochamma and Sophie Mol who are British are compared to the twins who are Indian and darker skinned made to recognise as subordinate their own ways of seeing. Sophie Mol’s white skin is precious as Rahel says “she’s very delicate, if she gets dirty she’ll die”.

Blue = blue can be negative associated with sadness, fear and depression but on the positive side it can signify harmony, confidence and cleanliness. Pappachi, Baby Kochamma and Margaret Kochamma represent the old social order under threat of losing its grip everything about them is blue, symbolised by the “skyblue Plymouth”.

Red = red represents rebellion and change in the characters of Ammu, Rahel, Estha, Velutha and Comrade Pillai with the Communist “red flags”. Red and blue signify warring parties. Red is also associated with impending danger and an omen of bad consequences such as Velutha’s red blood is his symbolic sacrifice at the blue altar of the Ayemenem Police Station. Rahel’s “yellow-rimmed red plastic sunglasses” make her a prophet predicting the future.

Yellow = represents fear in the context of cowardice, illness, dishonesty and weakness. The “yellow church” is a chorus of fear and tragic fate that is the sadness of Sophie Mol’s funeral. Sophie Mol’s “yellow Crimplene bellbottoms” are bell shaped indicative of silent, fearful bells. The “yellow teeth” of the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man represent fear.

Green = green is the colour of earth, fertility, youth and the undergrowth. Green can also have final cruel power taking over Baby Kochamma’s garden but most importantly is linked to the river that is part of the cause of Sophie Mol’s death with its “thick, viscous water … of green scum”.

Main Characters

Pappachi: Imperial Entomologist position in Delhi, upper-class education, father to Chacko and Ammu, habitually beats his wife Mammachi with a brass vase until Chacko forces him to stop. Never overcomes the professional disappointment of discovering a new species of moth but not having it named after him.
Mammachi: Esther & Rahe’s blind grandmother who is unhappily married to Pappachi who regularly beats her and smashes her violin before he dies.. After Pappachi dies becomes an entrepreneur starting successful Paradise Pickles and Preserves business.
Baby Kochamma: Pappachi’s sister who is fearful because of the western media she consumes. Loves Father Mulligan and tries to become nun to win him over but fails, embittering her. Was forced to wave communist flag in rally by men and is traumatized by this, aims all her anger about this event towards Velutha after finding out about him having sex with Ammu.
Chacko: Ammu’s brother and self-proclaimed communist, takes over factory and makes female factory workers call him comrade and flirts with them. Has a door built into his room so the women he sleeps with can secretly leave. His only love is Margaret Kochamma, who divorced him and took their daughter Sophie Mol to live with her and her husband Joe in England, who dies. Margaret is his only love.
Ammu: mother of Estha and Rahel who got married to Bengali Hindu man Baba in order to escape from her parents to an alcoholic, then separated from him after he offered her to his boss for sex. Had a taboo sexual relationship with the Paravan Velutha, leading to his death. Dies at 31 while waiting for a job interview/trying to provide for her twins.
Baba: Estha & Rahel’s father and Ammu’s ex husband, is an alcoholic who tires to persuade Ammu to safeguard his job by sleeping with his boss. He gives Estha a loveless home for 2 decades, then decides to emigrate to Australia sending Estha back to Ayemenem
Rahel: fraternal twin of Estha who studies architecture and moves to America marry Larry McCaslin. She separates from her husband and eventually moves back to Ayemenem in 1992 as a 31 year old because she hears Estha has returned.
Estha: Rahel’s male fraternal twin, in 1969 after the death of Sophie Mol is sent to live with his alcoholic father Baba in Calcutta & stops speaking, due to his traumatic abuse in childhood, remains mute for rest of the novel. His reunion with Rahel after a 23 year long separation is a poignant event in the novel.
Velutha Paapen: Paravan/untouchable son of one-eyed father Vellya. Mutual love between him and the twins. Works as a handyman in the Paradise Pickles factory. Has a taboo sexual relationship with Ammu, is the God of Loss & Small Things. Member of the Communist Party. Tragic figure betrayed by everyone and dies as a result of being beaten by the police.
Vellya Paapen: is in debt to the Ipe family for providing a glass eye, putting his son in the Reverend John Ipe’s Paravan school and allowing his family to live on the land. Confesses to Baby Kochamma and Mammachi about seeing his son have sex with Ammu.
Sophie Mol: daughter of Chacko and Margaret Kochamamma. After Joe’s death she and her mother arrive in Ayemenem for a Christmas visit. Dies because she is flipped off a boat with Rahel and Estha in the Meenachal River. Her death is the central traumatic event that leads to the disintegration of the Ipe family, separating the twins and her death is blamed on Velutha by Baby Kochamma, contributing to the climax of the story.
Kochu Maria: Temperamental cook and housemaid at Ayemenem House, lives with Baby Kochamma until the twins return as adults, watches constant TV like her employer.
Comrade K.N.M Pillai: Leader of the Communist Party who takes advantage of Velutha’s death by causing a strike that shuts down Chacko’s pickle factory. He is not interested in protecting Velutha when he is arrested by Inspector Mathew.