Introduction
English Lit: AQA A Level Death of a Salesman, topic 10.1.1
Introduction
This section examines the expectations and guidance of your exam board, AQA.
Independent responses
- The NEA (Non-Exam Assessment) component of the AQA A2 & A-level courses requires you to write two independent responses to texts of your choice, informed by the ideas present in AQA’s Critical Anthology.
The anthology
- This anthology offers different ways of approaching literature. For example:
- Marxist criticism examines the power relations within texts, considering economic and class factors.
- Feminist criticism investigates how gender is represented within texts, focussing on power relations and cultural stereotypes.
- Eco-criticism analyses the relationships between humans and nature.
Preparation
- While your study of Death of a Salesman is for an exam component of your AS/A2/A-level course, AQA strongly recommends that you use the ideas contained in the Critical Anthology throughout your studies of all of your chosen texts.
- This approach will help you prepare more fully for each component of the AQA course.
Test yourself on Introduction
What type of criticism analyses the power relations (especially economic and class factors) within texts?
What type of reading of A Death of a Salesman will focus on how gender is represented within texts?