Year 11 - English
Considering Chandler's use of similes in 'Trouble is My Business'
Fiction: books that changed my 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 some impactful books to inpsire their own writing. Within each of the five extracts, they identify and analyse a key technique before emulating it in their own piece of writing. At the end of the unit, they craft the opening to an impactful narrative.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explain and analyse Chandler's use of similes.
Key Notes
- Writers may use similes in order to create emphatic, evocative images for the reader.
- Chandler compares Anna Halsey's appearance to "suet" and her desk to "Napoleon's tomb".
- Arguably, the comparison of her appearance to "suet" may imply that she has a hard exterior.
- Furthermore, the comparison of her desk to "Napoleon's tomb" may imply she's cold in business.
Vocabulary To Learn
- emphatic: expressing something forcibly and clearly
- evocative: bringing strong images, memories or feelings to mind
- suet: the hard white fat on the kidneys and loins of cattle, sheep and other animals
- tomb: a large vault, typically an underground one, for burying the dead
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- That we should only consider the image that a simile offers us.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
Writers may use similes in order to create emphatic, evocative images for the reader. Chandler compares Anna Halsey's appearance to "suet" and her desk to "Napoleon's tomb".
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'emphatic'
expressing something forcibly and clearly.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: That we should only consider the image that a simile offers us. Correction: While the image may be particularly evocative, it's also useful to analyse the connotations of the comparative image as that can reveal layers to what the writer is trying to portray to the reader.
More Lessons In This Unit
- 'The Great Gatsby': analysing a writer's craft Study Guide
- 'The Great Gatsby': Developing a personal response Study Guide
- Analysing effective endings in Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' Study Guide
- Considering the use of dialogue in Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment' Study Guide
- Considering the use of motifs in Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' Study Guide
- Emulating Chandler's use of similes in 'Trouble is My Business' Study Guide
- Emulating Dostoevsky's use of dialogue in 'Crime and Punishment' Study Guide
- Emulating the opening to Orwell's '1984' Study Guide
- Emulating the use of motifs in Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights' Study Guide
- Exploring the importance of books and stories Study Guide
- Planning the opening to an impactful narrative Study Guide
- Reading the opening of Orwell's '1984' Study Guide
- Writing the opening to an impactful narrative Study Guide
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