Paper 1: Vertigo

Question 1

Themes of human experience in Vertigo

Answer 1

• Grief & loss
• The diverse ways in which human beings cope with this
• How challenging environments transform our views of ourselves and others
• Inconsistencies associated with love

Question 2

Motifs in Vertigo

Answer 2

The Boy - most prominent motif in Novella (characters yearn for their stillborns growth/ painful memories associated with the los)
Bird-imagery - symbolic (freedom, peace, omens, fate, death etc.) > supports almost any point in essay!

Question 3

Style & form of Vertigo

Answer 3

• Narrative voice
• Illustrations
• Motifs

Question 4

Narrative voice in Vertigo

Answer 4

Present tense - personal proximity to the protagonist duo
Omniscient 3rd person narrator - enables Lohrey to seamlessly shift between Luk and Annas personal perspective
^Dichotomous voice

Question 5

Illustrations in Vertigo

Answer 5

• 10 images within the Novella (landscape: bush, birds, fire)
• Monochrome colouration (complements rustic setting & vibe of the text)
• Spirit of preceding chapter/passage

Migratory pardalote > transition to Garra Nalla
Bush > constant state of reform & motion
Fire > ultimate symbol of rebirth

Question 6

Chapter 1 quotes from Vertigo

Answer 6

• “the boy”
• “erratic and unpredictable”

Question 7

Chapter 2 quotes from Vertigo

Answer 7

• “blot out emotion…on his own terms, whereas she seems to bleed out into it”
• “she feels like a fly caught in some invisible web”
• “disturbed…panic” when Anna feels “she is losing her power to summon him”
• “swimming beneath the sunlit surface like a water baby” > “detatchment infuriates” Anna

Question 8

Chapter 3 quotes from Vertigo

Answer 8

• “the edge of the city…neat suburban”
• “couldt not bear the thought that the sweater might come to harm”
• “in it’s thick, smouldering resistance, the sweater had saved the house”

Question 9

Chapter 1 brief summary

Answer 9

• Couples grievance in the city after still born
• Motivations for moving
• Initial period of settling into Garra Nalla

Question 10

Chapter 2 brief summary

Answer 10

• Various day-to-day aspects of life in Garra Nalla
• Introduction to most neighbours
• Challenges of rural life
• Learning of their misgivings
• Short-lived return to Sydney
• Learn more about “the boy”

Question 11

Chapter 3 brief summary

Answer 11

• Shortest chapter
• Focus on events surrounding the fire, its prelude, and aftermath
• First half=couples increasing trepidation as fire enroaches upon Garra Nalla
• Attitude is complacency in the fact that fire couldn’t possibly reach the coast
• Becomes clear the fire has overtaken town > couple is rescued in timely fashion by passing fire-truck

Question 12

Interpretations, ideas/themes, concept & technique

“The boy”

Chapter 1

Answer 12

Interpretation:
symbolic motif of paradoxical boy > reason for protagonists migration from suburbia to country

Ideas/themes:
* human emotions of grief and loss
* collective human experience

Concepts & techniques:
* paradox of the boy
* context of migration motivation
* symbolic motif

Question 13

Interpretations, ideas/themes, concept & technique

“Erratic and unpredictable”

Chapter 1

Answer 13

Interpretations:
Describes “boys” presence through migration. Emphasises power of grief over human psyche.

Ideas/themes:
* human emotions of grief and loss
* collective human experience
* how challenging environments transform our views of ourselves and others

Concept & technique:
* paradox of boy
* anomaly of migration
* descriptive language
* symbolic motif

Question 14

Interpretations, ideas/themes, concept & technique

“blot out emotion…on his own terms whereas she seems to bleed out into it”

Chapter 2

Answer 14

Interpretations:
Anna: still experiencing loss
Luke: inconsistent with denial and contentment

Ideas/themes:
* diverse ways in which human beings cope
* individual human experience
* Inconsistencies associated with love
* Annas emotions: anxiety and anquish of grief

Concept & technique:
* juxtaposition
* descriptive language
* gruesome imagery
* Luke is inconsistent
* Paradox of boy

Question 15

Interpretations, ideas/themes, concept & technique

“swimming beneath the sunlit surface like a water baby”

Chapter 2

Answer 15

Interpretation:
Futher emphasising Anna & Lukes contrasting feelings
Reccurent haunt (Anna) vs daydream like memory (Luke)

Ideas/themes:
* diverse ways in which human beings cope
* individual human experience
* inconsistencies associated with love

Concept & technique:
* simile
* juxtaposition
* imagery
* motif
* paradox
* Luke is an inconsistency

Question 16

Interpretations, ideas/themes, concept & technique

“the edge of the city…neat suburban”

Chapter 3

Answer 16

Interpretations:
Juxtaposition from bush they have migrated to

Ideas/themes:
* How challenging environments transform our views of ourselves and others

Concept & technique
* Juxtaposition

Question 17

Interpretations, ideas/themes, concept & technique

“could not bear the thought that the sweater might come to harm”

Chapter 3

Answer 17

Interpretations:
Lukes navy-ribbed sweater - worn during the scattering of his sons ashes

Ideas/themes:
* diverse ways in which human beings cope
* individual human experience
* grief and loss

Concept & technique:
* symbolic object

Question 18

Interpretations, ideas/themes, concept & technique

“in its thick, smouldering resistance, the sweater had saved the house.”

Chapter 3

Answer 18

Interpretations:
Sweater and fire represent Luke’s final closure with loss and rebirth of protagonist duos life

Ideas/themes:
* diverse ways human beings cope
* * How challenging environments transform our views of ourselves and others
* individual & collective human experience

Concept & technique:
* symbolic sweater & fire
* imagery
* descriptive language

Question 19

Essay structure

Thesis statement

1 dot point

Answer 19

• Writers enable the responder to explore the interpretations and meaning of grief and loss, through the utilisation of language and images, coneying universal individual and collective human experiences and challenges.

Question 20

Essay structure

Introduction

Themes/ideas, concepts & techniques, emotions arising

6 dot points

Answer 20

• In the novella Vertigo, by Amanda Lohrey, explores/consists of the (universal human experience/human qualities) of >themes/ideas.
• One of the focal underlying motives of (questions motive, eg emotions arising, resilience) within the plot, revolves around the loss of Luke and Anna’s son, manifesting itself into a symbolic motif.
• Lohrey conveys this notion of a human experience by using a myriad of prose fiction features to convey this to the responder
• This foundation potrayed as the text’s tension > combining elements such as (concepts & techniques) to present a “honed sense of orientation throughout their migrating journey”
• Allowing…interpretation of Luke & Anna’s progress/developement from exp. > holistic collective experience
• Therefore, in contradiction to showing the intrinsic theme of grief = prominent, unstable, collective human exp. , Lohrey > individual exp., cope w/ & overcome it > features of prose fiction.

Question 21

Esssay structure

Paragraph 1: Topic

Chapter 1, diverse ways human beings cope with grief & loss

4 dot points

Answer 21

• Chapter 1 brief summary: pursuit of abrupt migration from suburbia > influenced by “the boy”
• ^ notion manifests itself symbolic motif
• “erratic and unpredictable” > the power grief can hold over human psyche
• Furthermore, exp. of diverse ways in which protagonists cope > deeply juxtaposed

Question 22

Essay Structure

Paragraph 1: Evidence

Chapter 1, diverse ways human beings cope with grief & loss

6 dot points

Answer 22

• “The boy” > paradoxical symbol of stillborn (prominent, yet factually inexistent)
• Anna’s pov: emphasises juxtaposition this perception > Lukes inconcistency to “blot out…”
• Simile: “she feels like a fly…” > prime example of Annas anxiety. towards grief, loss and guilt
• Insight of “disturbed…panic” conveyed > “she is losing her power…” highlighting (theme: diverse ways…cope)
• Contradicting this, Lukes benign recollection of “the boy” > “swimming beneath…”
• ^ “detatchment…infuriates” Anna > expresses (theme: coping of grief, loss) as subordanite, compared to her haunting hallucinations

Question 23

Essay structure

Paragraph 1: Conclusion

Chapter 1, diverse ways human beings cope with grief & loss

1 dot point

Answer 23

• By conveying these juxtaposed, but equally important inconsistencies of grief, Lohrey suggests interpretations of appreciating the diversity of human beings’ experiences and overcoming loss’s nature through similes, and the prominent paradox of “the boy” as a motif.

Question 24

Essay structure

Paragraph 2: Topic

Chapter 3, how challenging environments transform our views of ourself a

2 dot points

Answer 24

• confronting features of the environment > vital role in establishment of the orientation composer places Luke & Anna
• Whether physical, psychological or interpersonal, ft. potraying these confrontations > characterisation of couple (identity and collective percievement)