What does it mean to revise: Themes?

How on earth do you prepare for an A Level Eng. Lit exam?
Welcome to the second in a short series about how to revise English successfully.

It is very likely that at least one of the questions you will face in the exam will focus on how an author presents one or more themes within or across texts. How can you prepare for that?

There are basic areas to cover, regardless of the text. For each of the following:

• Try and make condensed notes / a mind map / list headwords
• Learn a quotation or specific example to illustrate.
  

Selected theme:

Within a text

1) Identify the theme’s emergence – instances of its recurrence
2) What imagery is associated with the theme? Does this create a particular mood?
3) How is the theme worked out through the plot / narrative arc?
4) In prose, do any relationships between characters illustrate this theme?

Across texts

How is the theme dealt with differently in comparative texts?

• Look at 1 – 3 above

Author:

How does the author ‘use’ this theme – what ‘meaning’ does it represent?

• How is the theme outworked to support this (include imagery and mood)?
• Are there direct authorial comments that guide the reader’s interpretation of the theme?
  

Reader:

1) Do you have a personal response to this theme – has it made you reflect on aspects of contemporary life?
2) Are you satisfied with how the author has ‘used’ the theme?

Always keep in mind that themes are highlighted by an author to serve the purposes of the text.

Back to school

The holidays are over, and it’s back for an intensive few weeks where your teachers will be pulling out all the stops to help you do your best in the exams.

Your best chances of success lie in attending these sessions rather than doing your own thing.

Every lesson is crucial:

• Many weeks’ worth of learning will be summarised so that you get the sweep of the whole text
• You get to go back over ideas covered earlier in the course and, with a better understanding, see how they can be applied in potential exam answers
• Disparate themes and images will be drawn together to make sense
• It’s a great opportunity to get help on areas you are not confident in
  

So, make notes like crazy, ask lots of questions and reflect on how far you have already come. This is a time for sharing knowledge, before hunkering down on your own during study leave.

If for some reason you do miss a revision session, if the text features on Crossref-it.info you’re in luck. Otherwise, get a friend to lend you their notes, but don’t be surprised if they don’t want to let them out of their sight for very long…