Year 10 - English
Analysing images of hope and destruction in Galloway's 'The Cellist of Sarajevo'
Fiction: read around the world
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils read extracts from four novels from around the world, and use them to develop their narrative writing. In particular, pupils explore writers' use of structure. At the end of the unit, pupils consider their own use of paragraphs for effect and write an engaging narrative.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to understand and analyse the opening of 'The Cellist of Sarajevo'.
Key Notes
- The theme of hope permeates the opening of 'The Cellist of Sarajevo'.
- Galloway uses powerful verbs to describe the weapon's destruction.
- Galloway structures the opening paragraph of his novel to mirror the way in which the weapon falls.
- Galloway may have purposely omitted details in his opening to universalise his message.
- When we analyse a text, we must consider why a writer chose to make a particular decision.
Vocabulary To Learn
- besiege: surround a place with armed forces in order to capture it or force its surrender
- permeate: spread through and be present in every part
- core: the basic and most important part of something
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Students may be confused about when the extract is taking place or what war the extract is about as it references multiple moments of time.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
The theme of hope permeates the opening of 'The Cellist of Sarajevo'. Galloway uses powerful verbs to describe the weapon's destruction.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'besiege'
surround a place with armed forces in order to capture it or force its surrender.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: Students may be confused about when the extract is taking place or what war the extract is about as it references multiple moments of time. Correction: The novel opening takes place during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s. However, the reference to the aftermath of WW2 is significant in universalising the themes and messages of the novel.
More Lessons In This Unit
- 'After Dark': exploring Murakami's extended metaphor Study Guide
- 'After Dark': selecting evidence to support language analysis Study Guide
- 'Suite Française': evaluating ideas about a writer's craft Study Guide
- 'Suite Française': forming opinions on fiction Study Guide
- 'The Cellist of Sarajevo': expressing a personal and critical response to a text Study Guide
- Analysing Saramago's use of structural devices in 'Blindness' Study Guide
- Crafting an engaging narrative Study Guide
- Developing reading skills by responding to Murakami's 'After Dark' Study Guide
- Emulating Murakami's craft to write a descriptive opening Study Guide
- Emulating Saramago's use of structure in 'Blindness' Study Guide
- Exploring and emulating Galloway's use of symbols in 'The Cellist of Sarajevo' Study Guide
- Exploring structure in Murakami's 'After Dark' Study Guide
- Exploring the use of time in Galloway's 'The Cellist of Sarajevo' Study Guide
- Structuring paragraphs effectively in creative writing Study Guide
- Using inversion and asyndeton to craft interesting sentence structures Study Guide
- Using onomatopoeia and alliteration to craft interesting sound imagery Study Guide
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