A give back: Marking US lit A levels

I recently set this essay for my Upper 6th.

 

The results were variable. For many the essay swiftly became an exercise in listing isolated characters or situations and the Assessment Objectives became lost.

The driving AO is AO3 in this question.

Thus any essay which does not foreground contexts will not be well rewarded. These contexts need to be relevant the creation and reception of the text and are contexts which can be derived from the wider understanding of the era and millieux of the texts themselves.

For me, I wish to see each section of argument introduced with topic sentences which focus clearly on AO3, therefore. The texts are used to illustrate and support the thesis.  Thus, in this question, an outline plan might look something like this:

Introduction: establish understanding of the question – the idea of isolation as a feature of US social context and also the sense of deliberate shutting away which might be perceived. The isolation is, therefore, directly to be linked to societal tropes.

The arguments then can follow:

• The Pioneer- isolated by distance and lifestyle, but left behind as ‘sivilisation’ encroaches on the frontier. This may include the wish to remain untainted by society as a reason for the constant movement Westwards.
• The idea of society developing social structures which isolate the less fortunate who cannot hope to partake of the charmed life of the wealthy
• The deliberate isolation of sections of society due to race.
• The idea of re-invention and the leaving behind of identity as an unwitting cause of isolation
• The exploration of the isolation of the itinerant workers in depression era texts and responses to this
• The idea in later texts (-1940) of society as an inherently isolating paradigm in which wealth, greed and in some cases, success has forced isolation upon areas of society.

There can be more, but that’s enough for a short post.

Within these areas we can explore isolation as regarded in our texts, with focus on Gatsby. We must also be absolutely clear that in creating Gatsby, Fitzgerald is critiquing society for precisely its greed-driven fractured nature. In terms of reception, the utter failure of the book in terms of contemporary sales can be used to indicate the degree to which this society had no wish to engage with any form of self-criticism. This can be a useful link to the overt societal questions raised by writers like Steinbeck in Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men – an utterly broken society in which the itinerants are isolated by their position and also by the harshness, cruelty and immorality of the Californians who treat them with utter contempt. Possibly the war came in 1941 and a revitalised industrial America was not called upon to really explore these areas as society became financially reborn.

• The Pioneer- isolated by distance and lifestyle, but left behind as ‘sivilisation’ encroaches on the frontier. This may include the wish to remain untainted by society as a reason for the constant movement Westwards.

This can be chance to explore the Pioneer ethic and comment perhaps on Pap, left behind by ‘progress’ and the idea of a ‘better time’ which Nick seeks at the end of GG as he makes his lonely trek back to the Mid West. He has tasted modern civilisation and found it wanting. The link to Huck is quite clear.  We might also look at Nick’s references to the original Dutch settlers and compare his closing comments with the sardonic references to the ‘Teutonic Migration’ referred to by his earlier self.

• The idea of society developing social structures which isolate the less fortunate who cannot hope to partake of the ‘charmed life’ of the wealthy

This follows naturally and looks at the Valley of the Ashes, but can be extended into Twain’s critique of Southern wealth in the form of the Feud. Here the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons opt for isolation and mutual destruction rather than to open their doors and their lives to any form of a wider society. Contextual critique of the recognition of the wealthy being generally immoral and in no way ‘charmed’ should be included.

• The deliberate isolation of sections of society due to race.

We can discuss the contextual anomaly of GG being utterly whitewashed, apart from the caustic reference to the ‘bucks’ in the car. This is no Jazz Age New York that should be recognised. Even the jazz is central European… A good chance to include critical opinion of Fitzgerald himself… before turning to the obvious discussion of slavery and later industrial ghettoisation in a text like ‘Native Son’.

• The idea of re-invention and the leaving behind of identity as an unwitting cause of isolation

The land of infinite possibility has thrown up the trope of reinvention. This is the real issue that lies behind Gatsby’s isolation. His invention of his persona leaves no place for company and his profession actively discourages it. Extension into Bigger seeking to ingratiate himself with wealthy white employers and the idea of the Journey, which allows for reinvention in the vast continent which is the USA, and which can be seen in the King and the Duke should be fruitful ground.

• The exploration of the isolation of the itinerant workers in depression era texts and responses to this.

This follows naturally from the idea of the Journey (above) and suggests the need for a constant shifting of allegiances. The Gatsby issue can be Nick’s initial knowledge that he knows no one in the Eggs and the passages reflecting his essential loneliness as he treads the streets of the city imagining himself belonging to a diverse group of similarly lonely people. The idea seems to be that a developing society has forced people to leave the countryside and move into cities where they live in cramped conditions but seem to relate to no one. Sister Carrie would be good here.

• The idea in later texts (-1940) of society as an inherently isolating paradigm in which wealth, greed and in some cases, success has forced isolation upon areas of society.

Following from the previous idea, as society becomes more ‘sivilised’ the ideals of the Pioneers are lost. Pioneers were isolated and hardy souls, yet Pioneer spirit would always provide hospitality and support when required. The New World of industrialised America, chasing wealth since the Gilded Age of the 1890s seems to have created such a Darwinian society that writers have found the need to criticise the isolating characteristics of such wealth-seeking and greed.

 

This is not perfect, but it offers a sense of how one might foreground AO3 throughout the writing and yet explore the named text in depth and provide clear links to other texts which have been read.

 

Please feel free to comment.