ENG1501 Assignment 3 (DETAILED ANSWERS) 2024 - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED

ENG1501 Assignment 3 (DETAILED ANSWERS) 2024 - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED Answers, guidelines, workings and references .................... Section A: Reflective essay: Novel (Unit 4) In 300 – 400 words reflect on Unit 4 of your study guide and how it relates to your prior knowledge and experience, as well as how it has informed your appreciation of novels. Write your reflections in paragraph form guided by the questions below. 1. Have you read any novels? If so, what types of novels have you read? (When we refer to a type, we really mean a “genre”. A genre refers to the categories into which novels can be classified, such as crime novels, romance novels, science fiction or fantasy novels. Share the title and author of a South African novel you have read (if you have read one). Does it have any similarities with Small Things? Mention a few. 2. When working through Unit 4, which parts of this unit were the clearest to you? (Elaborate) Which ones did you struggle with? (Expand) 3. Did you find the prescribed novel interesting and was it easy for you to read? ASSIGNMENT 03: The novel Due date: [Will be announced on myModules] For information about correct quoting and referencing, consult Unit 1 of Tutorial Letter 501. Warning! Using ideas and facts from other people, books or web pages without saying where they come from is the same as stealing those ideas and facts. This is plagiarism and it is a serious offence. If you are found guilty of plagiarism, you will fail this assignment. ENG1501/101/0/2024 19 What made the novel interesting? Did you dislike this novel? If so, why did you dislike it? Section A total: 20 marks Section B: Small Things – Nthikeng Mohlele In the novel Small Things, the depiction of the body plays an important role. The reader sees everything through the eyes of the nameless narrator, and it is his description of the people with whom he interacts that allows us to identify with the other characters in the novel. The narrator’s focalisation on the appearance of other characters, whether on the clothes that they wear or the emotions that they express, affects his response to them and allows the reader to identify with them. • Think about the fact that you live in and through your own body, what you touch, smell, feel and hear as well as through the emotions that you feel. Your body is central to who you are, and you are often judged on how you appear, how you act and the emotions that you express. Now you will realise how important the portrayal of the body and the emotions might be in the creation of a character in a novel. The Question for the Essay: Using the extract below, discuss how both the main character and the reader experience the body and emotions of the character Mercedes as she is focalised through the eyes of the narrator. The extract you need to read for this question starts on page 62 at line “The door opens, cautiously at first” and ends at “breathing, unpredictable melodies”. You can listen to a reading of the passage on the Module site for ENG1501. When writing your essay: • Focus on how the narrator describes Mercedes’s body and her reactions. • Consider how the reader experiences Mercedes through the eyes of the narrator. • Do you think that the way Mercedes is described by the narrator makes her a more fully developed character in the eyes of the reader (can the reader identify with her)? Before you start writing your essay, you should: 1. Revise the sections on page 52-55 in your Tutorial Letter 501 2. Then carefully read Unit 4 of Tutorial Letter 501 3. Then go back and pay specific attention to pages 67-75 20 4. When performing your close reading of the required extract, pay careful attention to diction, or how words are used and how they contain meaning. Remember that literary devices such as alliteration, metaphor, imagery, hyperbole, assonance, and onomatopoeia are all part of diction and are the building blocks of any novel and make any story appealing for a reader. When doing a careful reading of a novel, or any literary work, examining diction (word choice) is where you start. 5. Carefully plan your essay, following the steps in the section on ‘How to Write about a Novel’ in Unit 4 of Tutorial Letter 501. Section B total: 40 GRAND TOTAL: 60 Bonus question: 5 marks (This section is not compulsory, but if you do it, you can earn five (5) bonus marks for this assignment.) Now for the fun part of this section: Imagine that you are involved with the production of a televised version of this novel. Using the extract for the assignment question, write your own script based upon what is happening in this passage. OR Share your favourite character in Small Things using the character map you drew in unit 4 and explain how this character influences the plot (storyline). Consider if this character is linked with the main character or other characters.