Structure
English Language: AQA GCSE, topic 2.2.8
Tips for Dealing with Structure
Looking at structure is about looking at how the text is put together and considering why the writer chose to say/do something at that particular point in the text. Some aspects of the structure you could explore are:
Changing depth
- Zooming in on small details.
- E.g. Moving from describing New York City, to the items in the protagonist's New York apartment.
- Zooming out to look at the whole picture.
- E.g. Moving from looking at different characters' perspectives on an event to the omniscient narrator's overview of the scene.
- Changing from a small focus to a big focus.
- E.g. Changing from how one character feels to the actions of a whole group of characters or the description of a place.
Narrative shifts
- Shifts of perspective.
- E.g. Shifting from the point of view of one character to another.
- Shifts in time.
- E.g. A flashback or flashforward.
- Shifts in place.
- E.g. Switching between characters in different locations.
- Shifts in topic.
- E.g. The narrator moves from discussing a couple's relationship to describing the action.
- Shifts from internal to external.
- E.g. Moving from a character’s internal thoughts to external actions.
Repetition and cycles
- Repetition.
- E.g. Jane Eyre repeatedly fleeing from men (Rochester and St John).
- Cyclical structures (events happening in cycles).
- E.g. The opening setting of Of Mice and Men also featuring as the closing setting.
- Foreshadowing.
- E.g. A writer using lots of gun imagery to warn about an upcoming murder.
Developments
- How characters/events develop throughout the text.
- E.g. How Harry Potter develops from being the boy under the stairs to a hero at Hogwarts.
Test yourself on Structure
What types of narrative shift could you comment on when answering an exam question?
Which of these are you more likely to comment on when discussing structure?