Stasiland: Essay Tips And Additional Information Flashcards
How do you structure an introduction?
. Author, title and type of book
. Contextual information (authors context, historical context and setting) and response to the prompt
. Contention statement
. Signposts
How do you structure a paragraph?
Have at least 3 paragraphs and do not base them around characters, instead use themes.
TEEEEEEL
. Topic sentence . Claim 1 - evidence - link back to topic sentence (explain) . Claim 2 - evidence - link back to topic sentence . Claim 3 - evidence - link back to topic sentence . Make sure everything has been linked back to you contention
How do you structure conclusions?
Restate your main points so you leave the reader with some sense of closure.
Eg. Through her undying determination to hear stories from “this land gone wrong” Funder was able to uncover how “ordinary people” lived in a state that made enemies of its own citizens and had their lives”shared” by the Wall. Funder brings to light people from the GDR, who displayed human courage even though she was told not to bother trying. However, Funder also finds those who are unfortunately fanatically holding onto the hope that a communist state will come again. Never-the-less, she finds extraordinary people who did risky things whilst knowing the consequences could be dire, and as a result she found people who showed immense human courage.
Examples of good active voice for Stasiland.
Funder reveals/uses stories of many perpetrators and victims in order to show the different variations of the truth …..
Funder concludes/asserts/discovers/condemns/examines
Funder draws the reader’s attention to
Funder is sympathetic towards
Funder reminds/alert the reader
Funder shifts her focus to…
Funder intentionally seeks (former Stasi) …
Funder admits shame when (weak when hearing stories) …
Funder emphasises fanatics such as … to alarm the react and make them think of the “horror romance”
Funder draws the reader’s attention to the defiance and resistance against the regime. The characters Charlie, Klaus and Miriam embody the courage that Funder’s descriptions suggest is admirable, but came at a terrible cost.
Whilst Funder’s text focuses heavily on people’s experience during the reign of the totalitarian regime, she also reveals the extraordinary courage people possessed after the fall of the GDR.
Funder also discovers that people today remain dismissive towards the past and try to forget what happened. This is seen quite clearly through Alexander Sceheller’s assertion that “stories of courage would have come out years ago”, straight after 1989.
Funder finds that former Stasi members are also part of this problem because they have moved on with their lives….
Through personal relationships with victims Funder….
Funder emphasises the ongoing anguish of those permanently “damaged” by their past, rendering them unable to move into the future.
Funder’s (blank) (adjective)….. Find blanks
. Narrative . Characterisations . Characters . Descriptions of . Use of settings
What are some good adjectives to use for active voice.
. Explores . Challenges . Reveals . Embodies . Highlights . Examines . Questions . Depicts . Intentionally shows . Contemplates . Admires
What is an example of a good opening to an introduction.
Anna Funder’s investigative narrative Stasiland explores the stories of people from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) who lived under a totalitarian regime as well as the oppression of the Stasi all under the shadow of the Berlin Wall. Through the retelling of the tragic and sinister stories, Funder is able to stop the truth about life in the GDR from dying with its people.
(Good rest of intro - Funder’s interviews work to support her assertion that the former GDR was a land gone wrong. The stories Funder documents reveal remarkable bravery and defiance in the face of a “good father state” gosh in reality was “so dangerous”. However Funder stories also uncovers some extraordinary bravery after the fall of the “father state.” Unfortunately, Funder comes to realise that there are many who try to sweep what happened in the GDR “under the carpet” because it is considered “embarrassing”.)
What is Funder’s text?
. Investigative text
. Documented experiences discovering the stories of people who lived in the former GDR
. Narrative
. Personal account of findings stories of those individuals who loved under the oppressive SED and Stasi, in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.
Discuss the significance of the oxymoron “horror romance”.
Romance - comes from a dream of a better world rising from the ashes of the Nazi past
Horror - comes form what they did in its name
(Ironic)
What is the significance of Koch’s story about the Turkish onions?
Koch’s story about shows how people are still quite separate after the came down. Although East and West Germans are free to venture outside their territories they aren’t truly united. The story of the Turkish onions simply depicts this still present barrier on a smaller scale.
Other ways to describe the GDR.
. Totalitarian regime
Discuss the significance of Tiresias.
Funder sees Julia as a Tiresias figure - wise, insightful and right in what she says.
What does Charlie’s poem capture?
Charlie’s poem captures the plight of those oppressed by the Communist Regime of the GDR; he has become in a way synonymous with the suffering under the Stasi; he “did scream, so loud / That this land howled back at me/ As hideously/ As it builds its houses” - Chapter 28 page 282
