VCE English Unit 3

Week Two

Objectivity vs. Subjectivity

Objective Subjective

Constituting an object, e.g. Existing independently of the mind

Concerned with or expressing the nature of external reality rather than personal feelings or beliefs

Relating to, determined by, or arising from the mind or self

Peculiar to a particular individual

Personal

Fewer/ more/ less/ overFor items that are countable, use ‘more than’

and ‘fewer than’.E.g. Eight items or fewer (not less); more than

five years

For quantities that are not countable, use less than or over

E.g. Next time, I’ll use less flour

Also, from last week, see also fool-proof plan and well-behaved student, middle-class family

Fear, perception and The Shark Net

Factors affecting reality in The Shark Net Fear Environment (location) Memory Era – (time and location) Childhood/parents Isolation (physical and emotional) Self perception Guilt Acceptance Gender

Fear and reality

Think of a real life examples where fear has altered/distorted a person or group’s reality:

A community/country/culture religion A person real or imagined A personal experience

Phobias An intense and persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, animals, or people. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive and unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject.

When the fear is beyond one's control, and if the fear is interfering with daily life, then a diagnosis under one of the anxiety disorders can be made

FROM: Wikipedia

Coulrophobia is an abnormal or exaggerated fear of clowns

Fear and the fight/flight response

Salem Witch Trials 1692 American

colony of Massachusetts

Over 150 people arrested

19 executed by hanging

One man crushed to death when failing to enter a plea

McCarthyism 1950s Named after Joseph

McCarthy who zealously prosecuted suspected communists in America

Caused thousands of people to lose their jobs

Resulted in people being imprisoned

Religious Cults

• An infamous example is the Jonestown Massacre of 1978, where 918 people drank poisoned Kool-Aid.

• After killing a group of members who wanted to leave, the cult feared that their way of life would end and ordered members to commit “revolutionary suicide”.

• Henceforth, ‘drinking the Kool-Aid’ has been a term applied to those with extreme convictions.

Other texts

Fight Club

The unnamed narrator fears his life is of no consequence and creates an alternate personality (Tyler Durden), to free him from his life of repetitious boredom.

FearA new reality

Other textsBlack Swan

Dorothy Fear Reason: Effect on Reality:

The Sand People Her upbringing in Melbourne and relocation to Perth

Drewe is forced to wear shoes and is mocked by his teacher.

Her upbringing in Melbourne and relocation to Perth

Prevents Drewe from staying out in the sun

Desert Boots

The sexual immorality of Rottnest Island

Forbids Drewe from going there as a child

What people will think of Ruth’s pregnancy

Perth

The people of Perth fear:

How it alters their reality:

Outsiders/invasion

The Night Caller

Supplementary texts Sam de Brito on regret

Practice conditions – essay planning 15 minutes to plan your essay You may plan an expository or a persuasive

essay Plan for an essay that is seven paragraphs

long (around 600 words) Your plan must include:

A clear indication of your contention Your main points/topic sentences and some

suggestion of how you will support those points, including...

Quotes from the text Notes on your introduction and your conclusion

Your prompt is: ‘fear constructs our reality’

Homework – due WednesdayStart putting together an electronic study guide

for the ‘Whose reality?’ context using MS Word or similar including at least 5 features: quotes, with

page numbers, your ideas about whose reality (copy down the material you wrote in class)

needs to be something that you can print later in the year and carry around to study in the lead-up to the exam

For example: Ms Burgess study guide Email to burgess.peta.p@edumail.vic.gov.au