Year 10 - English
Analysing Saramago's use of structural devices in 'Blindness'
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 confidently write a piece of structural analysis about an unseen fiction text.
Key Notes
- Considering the ordering of ideas is important when analysing the structure of a text.
- Saramago purposely withholds information in 'Blindness' to build suspense and intrigue.
- We must always ask ourselves why a writer chose to structure their writing in the way they did.
- Time conjunctions can help us to write effective structural analysis.
Vocabulary To Learn
- Time conjunction: words that connect clauses by indicating time relationships between them
- Suspense: a state of anxious uncertainty about what may happen
- Withhold: refrain from giving
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Students may assume that they need to identify and name specific structural devices in their structural analysis.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
Considering the ordering of ideas is important when analysing the structure of a text. Saramago purposely withholds information in 'Blindness' to build suspense and intrigue.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'Time conjunction'
words that connect clauses by indicating time relationships between them.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: Students may assume that they need to identify and name specific structural devices in their structural analysis. Correction: An answer simply referencing 'the beginning, middle and end' can make for a successful structural analysis.
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 images of hope and destruction in Galloway's 'The Cellist of Sarajevo' 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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