ENG1501/202/3/2014

Tutorial letter 202/3/2014

FOUNDATIONS IN ENGLISH LITERARY
STUDIES
ENG1501

Semesters 1 & 2

Department of English Studies


IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
FEEDBACK AND EXAMINATION GUIDELINES


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FEEDBACK ON ASSIGNMENT 02

Dear student
In this feedback letter, we have given you some pointers about how you could have
answered the questions based on the following texts: Introduction to English Literary
Studies, The Road to Mecca, The Catcher in the Rye, and When Rain Clouds
Gather. We expected you to expand these ideas sufficiently in order to earn full
marks. Please note that you will pass only if you do the following:

(a) write in paragraph format;
(b) write an introduction in which you demonstrate that you are addressing or
answering the question.
(c) express yourself in intelligible English;
(d) develop and substantiate your answers by providing evidence from your
chosen text; and
(e) avoid merely re-telling the story of your chosen text.

Assignment 02 (a)
The Catcher in the Rye
In this assignment, you were asked to write an essay in which you discussed the
following:
The title of the novel is taken from a poem by Robert Burns. Write an essay in
which you explain how this poem sums up Holdens deepest desire, and how
this theme is developed in the novel.
Below are some of the ideas you could have developed in your essay:

In this novel Holden is negotiating the transition from childhood to adulthood.
This is not an easy journey and in many ways he resists it. It involves the loss
of innocence, and the gaining of experience which accompanies the transition
into adulthood. Holden tries to resist this loss of innocence and his desire to
be a catcher in the rye is an expression of his need to save others, such as
his sister Phoebe, his friend Jane, his classmate James Castle, from this
same loss.

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He regards adulthood as epitomised by phoniness falsehood and falsity on
the part of most of the adults he knows or meets most adults in the story are
fairly disappointing, in his eyes. His parents are peripheral, mostly acting as
reminders of how he has let them down in one way or another, and perhaps
reminders of the guilt he feels for not being able to protect Allie from death.
His brother DB has prostituted his talents in Hollywood; even his teacher Mr
Antolini, whom he admires most, turns out to have what Holden suspects are
homosexual tendencies. Most of the adults in his life he considers have let
him down in some way or another. Adulthood is characterised by sex, racial
issues, lies and phoniness, issues Holden does not want to face.
In his desire to be a catcher in the rye, Holden wishes to protect children and
to prevent them from falling off a cliff the motif of falling and its associations
with death form a thread throughout the novel. He is unable to prevent James
Castle from falling to his death, for instance, and he has a fear of death, which
is associated closely with adulthood, growing older and, inevitably, dying. He
tries to prevent Phoebe from making the transition to adulthood and his
allowing her onto the carousel, in one of the final scenes in the novel, is
symbolic of his acceptance that he cannot stop her growing up. However, he
can be there to watch over her something he could not do for his younger
brother Allie; a sadness which plagues him throughout the novel.
Holden himself is a mass of contradictions in appearance he is closer to an
adult than to a child. He is very tall with greying hair. But in spirit he still has
the innocence of a child about him consider his retreat into the world of the
movies whenever a crisis occurs, and his desire at times to behave like an
adult (his meeting with the nuns, with his classmates mother in the train, with
the prostitute and pimp). His inability to follow through on the actions
associated with adult behaviour suggests an unwillingness to be phony, a fear
of adulthood which is bound up with his fear of loss and his fear of death.
He is fearful of taking that adult step into sexual relationships because he
fears the attendant loss of innocence and because the adults around him
have set a poor example. Holden seems to value the sanctity of sexual
relationships more than most adults or adolescents around him (think of
Stradlaters attitudes, of Holdens desire to protect Jane from Stradlater, his
fear and anger at what he construes as a sexual advance by Mr Antolini, his
desire simply to talk to the prostitute, his behaviour in the Lavender Rooms).
Although he thinks of sex constantly, he cannot take the plunge when the
moment presents itself, and there is an innocence about his thoughts and
behaviour in this regard.

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There is also a certain comfort to be found in revisiting the places that were
important to him as a child. In a childlike way, Holden longs for these places to
have remained unchanged. However, when he finds that both the museum
and his old school have been defiled, he realises that he cannot stop change
or protect the innocence of everything around him, as he would like to in his
role as catcher in the rye. He could not protect Allie, and he is unable to
protect Phoebe or Jane. He comes to understand that children have to learn
about the dangers life holds for themselves. This can be a painful process, but
it is a necessary one. All he can do is give Phoebe his red hunting cap, a
symbol of his difference and innocence and his rejection of conformity, and be
there to watch her and cushion her fall. Just like the carousel, she will come
full circle and return to him, and what he must do is simply watch over her as
best he can.
There are of course other points you could have made in your essay. Remember to
provide evidence from the text to support your arguments; that is, back up your
claims and comments with quotations from the text. Make sure you develop a clear
argument in the opening paragraph. Then ensure that there are clear links between
ideas in the body of your essay and a conclusion which shows that you have
achieved what you set out to do, as expressed in your opening introduction. Check
your work very carefully before submitting it make sure you have dealt with
careless errors and that spelling, punctuation, paragraphing etc. are in order. Make
sure, too, that you have spelt the names of characters and places correctly.
Remember that when you refer to the name of the novel in your essay, this should
be italicised if you are typing, or underlined if your essay is handwritten.

Assignment 02 (b)
The Road to Mecca

This question contained two parts. You needed to submit both of them in order for
your assignment to be complete.
You needed to follow the steps below:

1. First, you needed to study the chapter on Reading Drama in Introduction to
English Literary Studies and answer the questions on the review of The Road
to Mecca.



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This chapter contains an example of a review of a play. Reviews are an
important genre in which critics and audiences respond to plays, and if you
are going to watch plays and films regularly, you will need to engage with
reviews. The review of The Road to Mecca in Introduction to English Literary
Studies is negative (that is, the reviewer did not enjoy the play). For this
section of the assignment, you needed to write a paragraph in which you
responded to the review.

A paragraph has the following features:

It is approximately 10-15 lines long, but should not be longer than a
page.
It contains between two and six sentences.
It contains a topic sentence and some supporting sentences.
It is written in correct grammatical English.
Your paragraph on the review of The Road to Mecca should have mentioned
the following aspects of the reviewers response:
The reviewer did not enjoy the play. (You should support this by saying
We know this because and then provide quotations from the
review of negative comments that she makes.)
She admires the emotional intensity of the play, but she does not enjoy
the long, drawn-out development of Act 2, where Helen and Elsa are
talking to Marius. To her, this extended discussion is too involved and
spends too much time exploring peoples feelings and interactions.
This reflects the reviewers subjective, personal opinion of the play. It
need not be an objective evaluation of the plays structure at all, even
though we know that the second act of the play is longer than the first.
In the first act of the play, we are introduced to the characters of Helen
and Elsa. Their various internal conflicts, as well as the main theme of
the play (Helens proposed move to the old age home) are introduced
to the reader. Act two introduces the third character: Dominee Marius
Byleveld, who has come to persuade Helen to move to the old age
home. The rest of the play sees the characters discussing this
possibility, and it culminates in Helens final refusal to sign the paper
committing her to the old age home.


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2. Then you needed to deal with the next section of the assignment, in which
you needed to answer the question below:

In Act 1, when Elsa and Helen are discussing Katrina (Helens maid), Elsa
says: Theres nothing sacred in a marriage that abuses the woman (p. 11).
Use this statement as a starting point for a discussion of the way the play
represents womens rights to express themselves freely.
This question should have been answered in an essay (approximately 2-3
pages in length).

An essay has the following features:

An introduction, summarising your standpoint with regards to the
question;
A body (3-4 paragraphs), supporting your view of the question;
A conclusion, in which you tie up all the threads of the argument you
have presented;
You use correct referencing techniques (that is, you provide references
for all the sources you consult);
Your language is grammatically correct.
There are several key ideas you should have mentioned in this essay. These are
listed below, but they are not exhaustive.
One of the main themes of The Road to Mecca is womens right to express
themselves. Helen Martins is the central character in the play, and the whole
dilemma concerns her need to express herself artistically through her statues. Your
essay should have focused mainly on her. Helen felt confined and restrained by her
marriage to Stefanus, which, she says, was more like imprisonment than like the
union of two equal souls. It did not allow her to express herself either artistically or
personally. During Act 2 of the play, Helen talks to Marius and remembers what she
felt on the day of Stefanuss funeral:
You didnt know I wasnt mourning Stefanuss death. He was a good man, and
it was very sad that he had died so young, but I never loved him. My black
widowhood was really for my own life, Marius. While Stefanus was alive there
had at least been some pretence at it of a life I hadnt lived. But with him
gone ! You had a little girl in here with you (p. 71)
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With these words, Helen implies that her marriage did not give her freedom to
express herself (which, for her, is the same as living). She was confined and not
allowed freedom.
The church has much the same impact on Helen. It is no coincidence that she does
not go to church on the morning when she makes her first owl. The owl represents
her own creativity, and it is contrasted with the forces of the church, which Helen
experiences as stifling and confining in the same way as her marriage. Fugard
represents both the church and marriage as social institutions that stifle women,
implying that women can express themselves more freely outside of both institutions.
The other women in the play also experience restraints on their self-expression,
although these are not as strong as the restraints on Helens creativity. These
restraints are associated with male behaviour in the play.
Elsa has been badly treated by her lover, David, who did not see fit to tell her that he
was married, and so, when she became pregnant, did not think he needed to help
her at all. Elsa is very bitter about this experience, and feels that her life and self-
expression have been stifled in the same way as Helens marriage stifled hers. Elsa
is a woman who leads an unconventional lifestyle, with a great potential for creativity.
She has strong opinions, especially on political matters, such as the treatment of
women, but the play gives the impression that her potential is not reached.
Katrina is Helens maid. She is very young and is already a mother, with a husband
who drinks too much and who often beats her (as implied by the quotation in the
question). Helen explains that Koos (Katrinas husband) still doesnt believe its his
child. This means that he thinks his wife has been unfaithful, and is taking it out on
her through violent means. There is probably not much hope for Katrina since, as
Helen conservatively points out, Theyre married. This means that social norms
prevent Katrina from leaving Koos and pursuing her own happiness away from him.
Once again, we see a woman whose freedom is curtailed (and, in this case,
completely ruined) by her relationship with a man.
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MARK ALLOCATION
You would have received good marks if you:
a) completed both sections of the question;
b) wrote a paragraph with a clear topic sentence for the section on Introduction
to English Literary Studies;
c) wrote an essay that clearly examined the theme of womens need and rights
to self-expression in The Road to Mecca, including a discussion of all three
female characters;
d) used the correct method of referencing;
e) wrote in idiomatic, grammatically correct English with correct spelling and
punctuation.
Assignment 02 (c)
When Rain Clouds Gather

This question has two parts to it. In the first part, you were expected to show how the
text deals with Makhayas suffering, trauma and eventual healing, particularly when
he arrives at Golema Mmidi. In the second part, you had to show how the novel also
deals with problems of tribalism, greed and hate the community of Golema Mmidi.
In a two to four page essay, discuss these statements by referring closely to the
novel.
It is clear from the beginning of the novel that Makhaya is intelligent, generous and a
gentle soul who cannot put up with being called a black dog. This comes across
later in the text when, in talking to Mma-Millipede, we read that:
Makhaya understood anything that appealed to his generosity because, in the
depths of him, he was a lover of his fellow men. Yet the savagery and greed of
these fellow men had set him to flight. At the same time the experiences of all
forms of twisted, perverted viciousness had knocked out of him most of these
evils. The problem was to control this desire for flight for, in turn, it became an
act of hatred against all mankind (126).
This gives us a very good view of Makhayas character for he has experienced
untold suffering at the hands of the South African apartheid regime. There is clearly
a history of trauma in his life, but having arrived at Golema Mmidi and through the
dignity conferred by hard labour as he works on the cooperative set up by Gilbert
Balfour, he slowly but surely thaws, by allowing himself to see the possibility of a life
lived without pain and suffering. It is this insight that leads him to begin the difficult
but ultimately regenerative process of healing and love.
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Note: Make sure you mention and describe some or all of the characters in the novel
white or black who are good, kind and helpful to Makhaya and, in the process,
provide the healing that he needs, having suffered so much pain and mental turmoil
in his life.
At the same time, the novel sets up a counterfoil of this healing process personified
in the figure of Chief Matenge. He is the direct opposite of the character of Makhaya
precisely because he believes in outmoded ways of organising society. Fairly early in
the novel we read that as independence was seeping through Africa, The tide of
African nationalism had swept down the continent and then faltered at the northern
borders of Botswana (58). This allows the sons of chiefs to take up political office at
the expense of the sons of slaves. This order of things, for someone of Chief
Matenges mindset, establishes in his mind that he is royalty. This idea feeds his
greed and is the reason he represses and torments others, whom he sees as
nothing more than slaves. Coupled with this mindset is the concept of tribalism,
through which people are discriminated against, or even killed, because they are of a
different tribe. Because Matenge is a tribalist, it is easy for hate to fester in his soul
with regard to Makhaya, who is a refugee and thus has fewer rights than ordinary
citizens. Early in the novel, Makhaya clearly shows that his mindset is different when
he tells the old man sheltering him that he is no tribalist(3) even if his own parents
are. He does not, for instance, like his own name, but would rather have opted for a
neutral name such as Samuel or Johnson.
For Chief Matenge, therefore, the emphasis on tribe is important for oppressing
others, while for Makhaya it is anachronistic and needs to be unlearned to ensure a
free, democratic society.
NB
We hope you enjoyed working on this assignment. Please note that we expect you to
read ALL your prescribed books with careful attention in order to prepare adequately
for the examination.

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PRE-EXAMINATION INFORMATION

Welcome to ENG1501. In this module we are aiming to do two things:

We want to inspire you to enjoy the diversity and artistry of English
literature;
We also want to introduce you to some of the ways in which we can think
about English literature and write about it academically and critically.

Your examination will demonstrate how well we (and you) have succeeded. The
format of the exam paper is as follows:

You will be presented with FIVE examination questions, one on each text:
Introduction to English Literary Studies, Seasons Come to Pass, The Catcher in the
Rye, The Road to Mecca and When Rain Clouds Gather). The examination is two
hours long and you will have to answer TWO of the FIVE questions. Each question
is out of 50, although your assignment mark counts 25% of your final mark.
The questions on The Catcher in the Rye, The Road to Mecca and When Rain
Clouds Gather are essay-type questions. Each of these should be answered in an
essay (about two to four pages long) and each question focuses on a controversial
or ambiguous aspect of the text. You will need to answer these questions in essays
that are argued coherently, and present evidence for your point of view.

When we mark your examinations, well be looking for:

1. A sustained focus on each examination question. Answers that re-
tell the story of any of your prescribed texts will definitely fail on the
grounds that they do not address the questions adequately.
2. Clear and grammatically correct expression in English. Because this
is so important, it is worth taking a few minutes at the end of your
exam to read over what you have written for each question to make
sure your grammar, spelling and style are as good as they can be.

Below are our contact details. Do not hesitate to contact us if you need any help:
Ms Ruth Scheepers (012) 429 6914 scheera@unisa.ac.za
Ms B Janari (012) 429 6326 janarbc@unisa.ac.za
Ms R Latha (012) 429 6279 latharh@unisa.ac.za
Prof Raditlhalo (012 429 8928 raditsi@unisa.ac.za