In what ways are people and their experience brought to life through distinctive voices?
The life and crimes of Harry Lavender, Marele day guides the reader into the world of the novel through narrative perspective, tone, detailed description and personifying the setting. Bruce Dawes anti-war poem, “Weapons training uses a low first person perspective, strong tone, but also uses rhetorical questions and onomatopoeia to convey the brutality of the war, while Day uses descriptive language to convey the characters as well as the action. In both texts we uphold a strong sense of the person behind the distinctive narrative voice.
Introduction
This resource should be used to establish your understanding of the Syllabus requirements through explanation, examples and activities. The ideas provided cannot substitute your own close study of your set text, which you need to know well. This resource should be used in conjunction with that set text as a springboard into the elective, initially, and then into your set text. Always follow your teacher’s guidance and professional approach to achieve the best result in your HSC examination.
Be very familiar with how the syllabus documents describe the Module and Elective:
… students examine particular language structures and features used in the prescribed text and in a range of situations that they encounter in their daily lives. They explore, examine and analyse how the conventions of textual forms, language modes and media shape meaning. Composition focuses on experimentation with variations of purpose, audience and form to achieve different effects. These compositions may be realised in a variety of forms and media.” Stage 6 Syllabus – ENGLISH Board of Studies 1999 page 33
“This module requires students to explore the uses of a particular aspect of language. It develops students’ awareness of language and helps them understand how our perceptions of and relationships with others and the world are shaped in written, spoken and visual language… English Stage 6 Prescriptions 2009 -2012 page 12
“In responding and composing students consider various types and functions of voices in texts. They explore the ways language is used to create voices in texts, how the use of this language affects interpretation and shapes meaning. Students examine one prescribed text, in addition to other texts providing examples of distinctive voices.” English Stage 6 Prescriptions 2009-2012 page 12
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Defining Distinctive Voices
All texts, regardless of form or composer, inherently present different voices in their composition. The voices within a text may or may not be a continuation or extension of the authorial voice.
The distinctive voices, inherent in any text/s, can be deconstructed to develop an understanding which may validate, challenge or disprove society’s values and/or beliefs within a given context. Language, in all its forms, is a human thing, and bears the traces or imprints of human use, not inherently but in its use. It allows opportunities for the composers to use their work to criticise societies; promote a specific political agenda, record or recreate social and cultural perspectives, persuade acceptance or denial of a particular point of view, and develop lifelike recreations of characters. A text may promote obvious distinction between the authorial voice and character’s viewpoint.
However, regardless of the movement between the distinctive voices that assist in defining any text, you cannot surgically remove the voice/s from the creative process without destroying the mechanism of the creative process itself. These mechanisms can be considered in relation to the forms and features of texts, influenceing interpretation and how meaning is shaped in and through texts.
The context of the text is paramount. To successfully understand the context of a text it is necessary to have some understanding of composer’s background. This includes biographical research to establish a social, historical and cultural basis for the text. While a text may be composed outside the life of a composer, there is always an underlying factor for its creation and this information cannot be obtained without researching the composer. Composers can often present information to the responders in such a way that we can see what the narrator overlooks and our interpretation can be swayed through that background knowledge.
All texts convey implications of audience and argument, thereby altering the literal message. This module focuses on how distinctive voices convey those implications.
Student Activities have been placed throughout the resource to provide the opportunity for confirmation that your understanding of the requirements of the module are developing. Complete each activity as you work with this guide. You should be very familiar with your set text. Go To Top
Authorial Voice
Authorial voice may provide the contextual understanding for the text as a whole and the composer’s voice can be present behind the story. The authorial voice may also be purely fictional, created by the author, or it may be a means of historical, cultural or social comment. The purpose may not necessarily be identified with the biographical context of the composer. Therefore it cannot be assumed that the authorial voice is an “authentic” representation of the historical author or composer.
Student Activity
1.Research biographical information about the composer of your set text. 2.What, if any, relationship does this biographical information add to the contextual understanding of the text, as a whole? 3.Is the authorial voice of your set text fictional or authentic? Give examples from the biographical information and the set text to support your decision. 4.During the exploration and study of your set text revisit your biographical research on the composer. Continually add to your notes specific examples from the set text and other texts that identify and explain how the distinctive voices in your set text promote or subvert the biographical information. Explain in relation to the following: ?Purpose: What is the reason for the composer writing the text? ?Argument: What point of view is the composer promoting in order to persuade the reader? ?Persona: Is the personality of the composer clearly definable in the text? Consider how the personality, through the distinctive voice of character/s, is used to better convince the responder of the point of view or argument. ?Audience: Who is the intended audience for the text?
?Assumptions: Has the composer made assumptions about the knowledge base of the audiences? If so, what areas does he/she assume their audience is knowledgeable of and what examples in the text support those assertions? ?Inference: What inferences can be drawn about the composer’s purpose and strategies?
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As you read…
…your set texts and other related texts listen carefully to the voices of the composer and the characters. Consider the use of silences and dialogue. There is generally no single voice as all texts are built on a relationship between composer, responder and character.
Consider the notion of intertexuality. What we understand is driven by what we know, and how that affects our own understanding of meaning.
Student Activity (apply these questions to all texts you explore) 1.Does the composer write from personal experience?
2.Does the composer use first person “I” or does the composer remain removed from the text? 3.What form does the narration of the text follow?
4.Does the composer use slang, irony, humour?
5.Do the voices in the text change? Explain how and why. Give some examples of a shift in the voice/s. 6.Does the publication information (such as cover blurbs and author details) of the text provide any clues to the composer’s purpose?
