GCSE English Language Structure Question 3 AQA : Ideas, Advice and an Example from The Great Gatsby.

 

 GCSE English Language Structure Question: Ideas and an Example from Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

 

A convincing response to the structure question demands that you consider the entire extract or text. Ask yourself what effects the writer is trying to achieve in their opening or chapter. Please read it carefully and think of the narrative as a machine. How does it work and with what effects?

 

And please pay attention to the tone of the extract. Hear the ‘voice’ of the narrator. Are they conveying a sense of foreboding? Or regret? Or even nostalgia? The extract’s tone should help you decide how to read and interpret the narrative.

 

 

Begin your discussion with a thesis statement which helps you to organise your answer. Keep referring to the writer’s purpose and to the effects on the reader.

 

 

For example, are they trying to make the reader sense that something is wrong in the world they are describing?  And is this sense of wrong recognised by the protagonist or other characters? Look at the writer’s use of pace and foreshadowing. How surprised are we as readers with the twists and turns in the narrative?

 

 

Or is the writer using a flashback to reflect upon the reasons the present situation has occurred? Think about the use of tense in such an extract and how the contrast between past and present works to explain the character’s state of mind perhaps.

 

 

Maybe the writer starts outside of the protagonist’s situation and gradually zooms into their predicament giving the reader a sense of perspective on their world.

 

 

Do we stay in one character’s ‘head’ or perspective or does the narrative move from one character’s perspective to another? The former is often linked to the use of first-person narration and the latter, to third-person narration.

 

For example:

 

The Great Gatsby ( Chapter Three extract)

There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls
came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars…..

Question 3 (AQA)

 

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The writer uses a first-person narrator reminiscing in the past tense, and with a nostalgic even wistful tone, to recreate the excessive wealth exhibited in the ‘neighbour’s parties’  in the opening paragraphs of the extract which creates a setting of fabulous wealth catering to the pleasures of anonymous guests where even a ‘Rolls-Royce’ has become little more than a taxi for the visitors from the ‘city’ implying they are opportunists rather than friends. The theme of extraordinary extravagance is cemented by the opening paragraph’s final image of the ‘eight servants’ having to ‘toil‘ every Monday to repair the ‘ravages of the night before’ underling the selfishness of the upper classes and the exploitation of the working classes.

 

 

The writer then develops their use of a non-linear narrative by shifting the focus to an immersive use of the present tense in the last three paragraphs to give the reader more intimate details of the parties through the focus on characters culminating in some unnamed female guest dancing ‘alone on the canvas platform’ ‘ as an enduring symbol of the ephemerality and shallowness maybe of the moment. This shift from the narrator acting as a nostalgic, even awe-struck spectator, ‘ in his blue gardens, men and girls came and went like moths’ to the possibly more cynical ‘ most of his female guests were too young to know one from another emphasizes the sheer indulgence and excessive extravagance of the ‘summer ‘ parties whose transience seems essential to their bewitching yet hollow magic. The reference to ‘ moths’ also makes the reader think of the destructive tendencies of these guests whose quest for pleasure dominates the narrative.

 

 

Once the narrator takes us into the present moment, ‘ the cars from New York are parked five deep in the drive’ he immerses us in sensory details that irresistibly capture the ironically lively, but probably superficial, human interaction, ‘ enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names.’ Thus, the reader enjoys the narrator’s sense of wonder at the extraordinary orchestration of different entertainment to give pleasure to visitors who probably do not even know the host and are without any respect for his generosity.

 

 

The final short sentence announces the ‘party has begun’ in a short sentence which gives drama to the endless preparations which are often narrated in complex sentences, ‘ The group change more swiftly….changing lift’ to communicate the narrator’s continued fascination with the seemingly endless stream of pleasure-seeking visitors. Such a fascination is also tinged with an implied judgment concerning the ‘prodigality’ of such behaviour and pleasures.

 

Any extract will focus the reader’s attention on these three components:

1. Character. Revealed through dialogue, interior monologue or actions/ behaviours. Remember that a character is a construction. Assembled through the careful combination of words to create the illusion of a person. This process is known as characterisation
2. Setting. The environment of the story affects the experience of the characters in some way. It may use pathetic fallacy, or it may act almost as another character in the story.  Time is also part of this environment. Check to see how the temporal markers in the extract serve the purpose of the story. The passage of time links to pace and of course to change and contrast.
3. Objects. What does the writer focus on if not the character in the setting? Or is an object being used as a recurring motif to transmit some message to the reader?

Key Ingredients to look out for in your analysis of structure:

1. Linear or non- linear structure. Does the narrative move ahead chronologically, or does it use flashback or flashforward? Or is it cyclical? Always think about the effects.

2. Consider whether these time shifts deepen your understanding of the characters involved. Do they suggest reflection or that some experience is as yet unresolved? Or do they ramp up the tension through foreshadowing and even dread or an impending sense of doom?

3. Tone: how is the narrative’s tone a reflection of the content? Is it nostalgic, bitter, celebratory, uncomfortable, regretful etc?

4. How is the narrative paced? Does this pace change and if so, why and with what effect? Is this pace altered through sentence length?

5. Think about the use of plot twists and surprises. Again, consider the effects of such structural devices. How do these shifts relate to your appreciation of the characters?

6. How does the dialogue move the narrative forward? Does the dialogue help to deepen the reader’s understanding of the characters and their relationships to others?

7. Think about the overall themes and moral messages of the extract. And consider how these messages are conveyed through the structural devices.

8. Be aware of any temporal shifts in the extract. What effect do these shifts have on the narrative? And on the reader’s understanding of the characters?

9. Finally, consider the POV in the extract. Who is the narrator and with what effect? For example, is the first-person narrator’s confessional or confidential? Or is the use of the third-person narrator close to the thoughts of the protagonist or more detached? Is there more than one narrator? In a dual narrative, how do these multiple perspectives affect the reader and the message of the story?