Skip to main content

Hot Off The Press

C2 Sample Essay 39 (School or family shapes one's personality)

In the minds of ESL exam candidates, e ssay writing is one of the most daunting tasks they are required to complete, regardless of the level of the exam, the administering body or the ease with which they themselves use the language. The same applies to students who are asked to write an essay by their teachers at school.  In the previous sample essays posted on the blog, the main point I stress is the need to become acquainted with this form of writing (as opposed to writing a letter, review or report, for instance), to get a feel of what authorial voice is and how to organize and progressively express the arguments you wish to make in a coherent manner.  Unfortunately, the best way to prepare for exam writing or learn how to write good essays for school is to read as many essays from as many sources as possible, then write as

Book Review (Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice)

Few books have the ability to astound readers with their portrayal of austere social conventions and ludicrous mores as Jane Austen’s masterpiece Pride and Prejudice does. Written a good many decades ago in a time that seems so far removed from ours that we question the logic behind wanting to read it in the first place, this 400-page novel is considered a novel of manners whose simple plot exposes more than the romantic story which it is clothed in would have readers believe.

 

On the surface of things, Pride and Prejudice is the straight-forward clash of the sexes in the boy-meets-girl style many subsequent novelists have tried to emulate. Elizabeth Bennet, one of five daughters entrapped in her family’s expectations to marry well alongside her elder sister Jane in order to save the family from certain destitution, meets proud and wealthy Mr. Darcy. They naturally decide to disdain each other from the start. Circumstances, however, reveal to each that the other is not what they seem and like any true love story, they understand by the end of the book that they are more alike than they think, each carrying the foibles they reproach the other for. You are indeed right to assume at this point that the ending is expectedly as soppy as it is comforting.

 

Austen’s tour de force is her tone and discussion of themes dear to people’s hearts that are none other than marriage, wealth, social class and self-realization. Through the use of static characters like Mrs. Bennet, Lady Catherine de Bourgh and the delectably servile and pretentious Mr. Collins, one sees not only society’s fixation on public approval and social betterment, but also individuals’ partiality to external appearance and how stubbornness can lead one either to ruin or bliss. Austen colors her words with an irony that takes the sting away from the criticism she unleashes on the norms blindly adhered to by the haughty and the not-so-vainglorious alike. 

 

If a final note were to be made, it would be a warning to those used to reading light romance novels. Austen’s book is for grown-ups, meaning that nowadays not many would be able to wade through its pages without a dictionary on hand from time to time. Add to this the certainty that without a little deeper analysis, the vast majority would close the back cover finally thinking all they read was just another love story. And that, dear readers, is most certainly what it is not.

 

 

[412 words]

 

picture from the 1995 BBC adaptation starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth 

Interested in the BBC version? Get the DVD here: 

 Pride & Prejudice [DVD/BD combo]




FOR MORE LITERARY ANALYSES, CLICK ON THE IMAGE.

https://argutelegacy.blogspot.com/search/label/Literature






Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Writing Letters of Complaint - Useful Phrases

Whether it's to complain about something you bought or a service you found was unsatisfactory, as part of your job or because you are preparing to take an exam in English at B2 or C2 level, it is a fact that you should know the basics about writing or even orally expressing your dissatisfaction.  The following post should help you organize your letter or email (even an oral statement, if necessary) as well as give you some useful phrases you can use.
Read more

Virginia Woolf - The Legacy (Overview)

When a wife dies and leaves her husband her diary, all is possible. In Gil bert Clandon's case, the legacy his wife leaves him is much more than he could ever have imagined.  Virgi nia Woolf signs an exceptional short story which questions the foundations of marriage, people's need for communication by any means possible a nd their inclusion in a mutually beneficial partnership . When one reneges on that contract, the other will seek new outlets to grow , as p ersonal d evelopment in any marriage is inevitable. If that development is undertaken without any consideration for one's spouse, then problems will unavoidably ensue.
Read more

Tobias Wolff - Powder (Overview)

"Powder" is a short story intended to quickly state the obvious - a father's bond to his son is always a difficult thing to forge when parents aren't on good terms with each other. The level of difficulty in achieving this increases as fathers aren't used to explicitly explaining to their sons that they are trying to forge a stronger bond at a particular moment in time to begin with. Accordingly, the complications the father in this particular story is required to overcome are not only the time constraints the mother has placed on the trip as a whole or the mistrust towards her husband she has allowed her son to bear witness to which the father feels he must compensate for, but also the disparity in character traits that father and son exhibit. Having read the story for the first time, students predominantly respond to the query "What was the story about?" either with "I didn't get it. Some father and son skiing" or "S...
Read more

Nadine Gordimer - An Intruder (Overview)

The short story An Intruder was incorporated in Nadine Gordimer's short story collection Livingston's Companions, published in 1970. As such, it must be read and viewed through the prism of her somewhat earlier works which dealt with South African society's inequality and the problems arising from the diseased status quo of the times. An Intruder focuses on relationships between characters and how perceptions of a situation differ in the eyes of each individual based on a combination of nature and nurture, or at the very least that is what Gordimer would have the reader gauge. What made James Seago what he is? Why is Mrs Clegg, Marie's mother, such a typical depthless wishful socialite with an exaggerated respect for higher social status? Couldn't Marie judge the merit of the man who treats her like a child or is she turning a blind eye to his behavior because it suits her? Whatever the answers to these questions, the one certainty we have is that the noti...
Read more

C2 Sample Essay 8 (Parenting)

Writing at C2 level (Proficient User) on English language examinations is the same no matter the awarding body when it comes to writing essays. If you are a candidate giving an exam in English (IELTS, CPE, ECPE, CELP, LRN, ESB, TOEFL), make sure you read my earlier post What do I do with the sample writing found on this blog? to get the most out of the sample essays provided on Argute Legacy .     The topic of this essay is to discuss what the responsibilities of parenting are. If you are not taking an exam but need to discuss this topic, then read on and note down what you deem useful. If you intend to use this essay as part of an assignment, remember to paraphrase so as not to plagiarize. The topic is similar to what candidates expect in any other C2-level examination in that examiners want to see a well-organized, coherent and cohesive discussion of the issue with arguments and examples written in approximately half an hour. Whether or not you ...
Read more