Reading between the lines

If you’ve ever done Shakespeare in high school, your English teacher has probably pulled out some famous passage or soliloquy in front of class and asked you to look for symbols and metaphors. To many students, this might seem like pure guesswork. What does the symbol of the dagger represent in Macbeth? What role does the mysterious Boo Radley play in To Kill a Mockingbird? These are questions that we can’t answer from a straightforward, literal reading of the text. To some extent, we have to learn to read between the lines.
 
Identify the genre of your text
Dividing works of fictions into separate genres can be a good starting point for analysis. The genre of a text will give you a rough idea of what themes are likely to appear in it. Wuthering Heights is a Gothic narrative, which means that there will probably be supernatural elements in it. Some texts don’t fall easily into one genre and are considered to be hybrids. Life of Pi begins as a survival adventure novel, but then is suddenly left open for interpretation as the central narrator is revealed to be unreliable.
 
Discuss the text with others
The old cliché ‘there is no one right answer’ applies here! If there was only one correct way of analysing a text, we would quickly toss it aside and forget about it. In Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo, the reader is asked to question Galileo’s decision to back down from his views when he is threatened by the Church. Some will argue that Galileo is taking the coward’s way out here, while others will suggest that Galileo is right to preserve his life because he still has more to offer to the world.
 
The easiest way to hear other opinions on a particular text is to discuss it with other people. This is easily done with classmates. Even if you don’t agree with them, weighing up other perspectives will strengthen your existing understanding of the text.
 
Do some research
While you aren’t expected to do any kind of historical research (except in Context, where it is good to demonstrate some background knowledge), it is always useful to know some context. Shakespearean plays, for example, were performed live in amphitheatres to large audiences, so rhyming couplets were a good way of signalling the end of a scene. Historical context is also central to the films Mabo and Invictus, so it is important to do a bit of extra reading to understand the real-life settings in which these films take place.
 
Look for some good VCE® Exam study guides
Study guides can add to your knowledge of the text. Brief text outlines are usually available online, while more comprehensive guides can be purchased in bookstores or from VCE® Exam revision companies. Schools often also produce guides of their own for students, with lots of questions to practise on. Just remember: looking at a study guide is no replacement for reading the original text, it is only there to supplement your understanding.
 
See beyond the plot
While the plot is clearly important to a narrative, you are expected to do more than just summarise the key events of your text in the VCE® Exam exam. Ask yourself why these key events unfold in the way they do. Look for character development, symbols and recurring motifs. Don’t be afraid to form original opinions: you don’t need a doctorate in English to have an opinion about a classic work of fiction. If you come across something that strikes you, like a quote or a particular image, then there is a good chance that it is significant in some way and so is worth discussing.
 
Everything on evidence
Any point you make on the VCE® Exam exam which another person might disagree with (i.e. an opinion) needs some evidence backing it up. This means using quotes, referring back to important scenes or passages, and explaining themes and symbols. Going back to an example from Shakespeare, you might quote the famous scene where Macbeth sees the imaginary dagger floating before him to justify your claim that he has become paranoid.