Essay question breakdowns

1) Compare how two texts from different contexts have represented Australian National
identity

Hooks A Although Australia national identity is perceived as being inclusive and multicultural,
the refusal to acknowledge its Anglo-centric bias contributes to a lack of progression and blocks
inclusion for those who do not fit that model.

B The lack of acknowledgment of the Anglo-centric nature of Australian national identity

contributes to a lack of progression past this identity

C The generic/dominant National Identity of Australia is exclusive and Anglo-centric.

A While many people often subscribe to a notion of a central and shared national
identity, in reality it is much more subjective and multi-faceted. Even opinions on why it might be
seen as divisive are dependent on the cultural context your opinion is influenced by.

B Australian national identity is often perceived as divisive, with people from different groups
perceiving why it is divisive in different ways.

C Australian national identity is divisive.

 2) Compare how two or more texts have utilised the conventions of one or more genres in
order to convey ideas about Australia

Hooks : ideas about Australia:

A: The Lucky Country stereotype has established a discourse or belief that Australia is accepting of
different cultures. Our relatively recent patterns of immigration to Australia also mean that we are
not perceived to have had a history of conflict between cultures. In reality, this belief disregards
racism and inequities that exist in Australia today, and also silences the violence and trauma of
Aboriginal history. Perhaps the desire to believe we have a stable, peaceful cultural identity has
come from a lack of willingness to examine closely who we really are.

B: Australia is perceived to be accepting of different cultures

C: Australia is culturally diverse

3) Discuss how the authors of two texts utilise narrative conventions in order to promote and
or challenge the values and attitudes of people in a particular context

4) Explain how two texts have represented groups of people in order to reinforce and or
challenge ideas about Australian culture

Australian culture is always tied to the bush

Australian culture is very patriarchal

Australian culture is limited and dull and suffocates the imagination

Australian culture is unstable – because we are such a multicultural society

Australian culture is very controlling

Australian culture is diverse in terms of race but not in terms of its acceptance of wide range of
beliefs

5) Analyse how language features have been used in two texts in order to construct
representations of the Australian landscape

Representations of Australians landscape

At least 12 : Metaphor simile etc

6) “Individual viewpoints, experiences and contexts shape the reading of texts”. Discuss this
statement in relation to two Australian prose texts you have studied.

Personal experience 30/70 balance in each paragraph

First person ‘I’

Brainstorm any personal connection you might have to one of these stories. Try to explain exactly
what it is and how it made you feel. Whether you agreed or disagreed with anything in the story and
why.