Writing a body paragraph (PEE)

Exploding a Paper 2 Question

Every year, examiners point out how candidates sometimes fail to answer the set question or answering only addressing one part of it (if it is a multi-part question).  

One whole criterion (Criterion B) is devoted to just this aspect, so learning to unpack and interpret a Paper 2 question is a crucial part of exam success and a vital skill to develop.

Below we give you a snapshot of what that “unpacking” might look like. Remember that in all cases, nothing can replace consistent practice over the course of a term. If you need this, contact us.

 “The theatre brings into the open important issues of the time.” How have dramatists presented "important issues” in plays you have studied?

1. Identify the key words and instructions in the question

‘brings into the open’: makes public, suggests that theatre can examine difficult topics, reveals what is hidden ; taboos?
‘important issues’: things that matter to society, themes and messages conveyed to an audience
‘of the time’: issues that were important at the time the play was written that may or may not still be important now
‘presented’: how do we see these issues explored in the play? – characters, actions, events, dramatic techniques etc.

2. Define exactly what the question wants you to examine and explore.

I should identify the issues that are important in the play and discuss the various techniques (dramatic and literary) that the writer uses to reveal these issues (themes). I should also discuss the writers’ message in relation to the issues.


3. Which plays fit this question best?

Sizwe Bansi is Dead and Death and the Maiden OR Streetcar!

3.1. What aspects of the plays will you write about? (Brainstorm.)

• Sizwe: A play that centers on the Pass Laws and the oppression of South African Blacks under Apartheid. Central purpose of the play is to show what blacks must do in order to survive. The play was inspired by two photographs and contains autobiographical elements from all three co-creators of the play

• Death and the Maiden: Deals with issues of justice and morality faced by a nation that has recently become democratic after a period of harsh, oppressive dictatorship. It forces the audience to examine who is to blame and what can be done to recover from past memories. The ambiguity in the play is quite relevant for countries that must try to sort out the truth of what happened but also move on and heal as a nation.

4. How are these aspects similar and different in the two plays? (Organise ideas)

Both plays are designed to hold a mirror up to society and to examine issues of oppression and morality. Both plays use the alienation effect to force the audience to examine themselves. This is a clear plea to consider an important issue of the time. Both plays also have universal truths that extend beyond one particular time and place. That is, Sizwe is about how human beings oppress others all over the world and how inequality and oppression is something that the human race will always need to deal with (even after Apartheid) DATM is not just about Chile (as it states in the opening of the play but is about any newly democratic country or a country healing from past abuses (Rwanda, South Africa, Argentina, Uganda for example)

Sizwe deals with a specific law and centers around the pass book. It also is about a regime that is/was CURRENTLY oppressive. DATM is about the past and past abuses. The country is no longer suffering under dictatorship. It is mostly about how Paulina must recover from her past and learn to move on. “Isn’t is time we stopped?”

5. Construct a thesis statement

Both texts bring out into the open issues concerning human rights abuses and what human beings must do to overcome these obstacles. However, although the themes are similar, the writers employ different techniques to develop these ideas in the play.