1. 2010 HSC Paper 1 Area of Study Using the Board of Study website and sample answers from CAMBRIDGE CHECKPOINTS Mel Dixon and Deborah Simpson

2. Section I Question 1 a) Describe how the image depicts the idea of belonging or not belonging to a family. 2 In better responses, candidates engaged well with the visual elements of the text and established a link between the visual and how the concept of belonging or not belonging to family was depicted. Weaker responses attempted a description of the image without addressing the ‘how’ aspect in the question. Criteria Describes how the image depicts the idea of belonging or not belonging to a family 2 marks Attempts to describe how the image depicts the idea of belonging or not belonging to a family 1 mark

3. suggestions Families offer a sense of belonging but can also be limiting. This is suggested by the image Family Sculpture by John Searles. The similarity in the head shapes which incline inwardly towards each other suggests a strong bond but the organic shapes and different colours of the bodies which seem to float away from the centre suggest a struggle against the constraints of belonging. The image therefore illustrates the paradox of belonging which gives a sense of unitybut can also be restrictive. Consider: What are the visual techniques in the text? How does each visual technique illustrate belonging? How does each visual technique illustrate not

4. Text two — (b) ‘… I was more aware of our difference.’ Explain the speaker’s relationship with his brother. 2 In better responses, candidates clearly explained the nature of the relationship, using textual support to provide depth to the explanation. Weaker responses tended to provide a recount of the relationship. Criteria Explains the speaker’s relationship with his brother 2 marks Attempts to explain or explains in a limited way the speaker’s relationship with his brother 1 mark

5. Sentence starters Lack of mutual respect (Understanding/acceptance)… The dysfunctional, strained relationship… …feelings of inadequacy and inferiority… …simultaneously idolizes and resents… The symbolic use of doors and clothing… Essentially, the main character feels…

6. Alternative response In the metaphor of standing outside a door, the reader is conscious of the author’s sense of exclusion from his brother. While he starts with a negative anecdote about his brother’s oppressive nature in handing down his clothes, the persona uses positive adjectives about his brother who wore his clothes “with ease”, “blended in” at school and had a “natural ability” at sport. This all suggests envy of his brother, and reinforces the statement that he admires his brother.

7. Text three — non-fiction SISTERS In strong responses, candidates focused on the portrayal of friendship as an alternative source of belonging. They used textual references insightfully to identify issues in the text and went beyond literal interpretations to provide points about the idea of friendship as an alternative to family in establishing a sense of belonging. In weaker responses, candidates tended towards explanation with less apt choices in textual referencing and made more generalised statements about friendship and/or families. Criteria Discusses with aptly chosen textual references how this text portrays friendship as an alternative source of belonging 3 marks Explains with some textual references how this text portrays friendship as an alternative source of belonging 2 marks Describes aspects of friendship/family/belonging/not belonging 1 mark

8. Sentence starters The speaker uses emotive language to… The connection with Beth is emphasised through… Lack of connection with her “real sisters” is painful, as shown… She acknowledges… By exploring the similarities she feels…

9. Suggestion for your opening lines The lack of belonging experienced by the speaker in relation to her “blood sisters” is juxtaposed with the friend who is metaphorically described as being of “one skin” which explains how the composer sees friendship as an alternative form of belonging when the connections with family are broken or weak. The composer explores the acceptance and understanding the speaker feels for her friend by emphasising their similarities in light of the differences with her sisters…

10. Text four – Poem (d) ‘This is the record of our desired life.’ 3 Explore the speaker’s attitude to the family photo album as a record of belonging. Question 1 (d) In better responses, candidates examined elements of the text in order to interpret the text holistically. Explorations of the text’s meaning were supported by apt references that revealed the complexity of the speaker’s attitude. In weaker responses, candidates dealt with the text on a more literal level and often misinterpreted the attitude of the speaker or failed to refer to it at all. Criteria Explores effectively with aptly chosen textual references the speaker’s attitude to the family photo album as a record of belonging 3 marks Explores with some textual references the speaker’s attitude to the family photo album as a record of belonging 2 marks Describes with limited textual references, the speaker’s attitude or general aspects of family/belonging as depicted in the poem 1 mark

11. Sentence starters The speaker sustains a tone of… The use of metaphorical images to… The tone of the poem is… She believes that photo albums…

12. suggestions Within the photo album that forms the title of the poem is contained a “record of a desired existence”. The use of the adjective (“desired”) is important as the poem is about the difference between the reality and the images that are contained in the album as a family maps out the life that they live. The speaker lists the formal occasions for photos (“weddings, graduations, births and official portraits”) but then follows with descriptions that highlight the falsity of the experience through such language as the word “rigid”, the exaggeration in the phrase “too buoyant”, the adjective “tinny” and the explanation of staged scenes and artificial beach. These words emphasise that the album is not about reality, but about the “desired” reality. In contrast, the speaker talks about “aimless nights”, “tears” and “brittle lost intentions” which fail to be recorded in the album of family life. The lack of importance of any family event is indicated by the enjambment and lack of capitalisation for each line, which reduces life events to a more prosaic but continuous level. Near the end, the use of the homonym “negative” (meaning both something that is not positive and the original image) is a further statement about the ambiguity of the realities we construct. Ultimately, what the speaker is telling us is that we make choices about the past that we belong to and the events that we share

13. Texts one, two, three and four – Image, Nonfiction extracts and Poem (e) Analyse the ways distinctive perspectives of family and belonging are conveyed in at least TWO of these texts. In stronger responses, candidates analysed the distinctive perspectives provided in the texts and understood that ‘ways’ could be conceptual. They avoided generalisations and effectively addressed all elements of the question and provided aptly chosen textual evidence in support. Weaker responses tended towards explanation and textual referencing was limited. Criteria Analyses effectively ways in which the distinctive perspectives of family and belonging are conveyed in at least two texts marks 5 Analyses adequately ways in which the distinctive perspectives of family and belonging are conveyed in at least two texts marks 3–4 Demonstrates limited understanding of perspectives of family and belonging and/or limited understanding of how perspectives are conveyed marks 1-2

14. Sentence starters In both text two and three, the composers delve into the… Whilst text two, presents……, text three, offers another…. In text three, the composer uses a variety of literary techniques to purport… In contrast, in text two, the composer conveys… In conclusion, both text two and three, explore the … The texts reflect disparate and distinctive perspectives of family and belonging... This evocatively suggests that belonging to a family… In contrast, the other three texts reflect some of the more…. Thus it may be understood that perceptions of belonging…

15. Family and belonging but they also similarly attack accepted notions of family as a positive and harmonious unit of belonging. Extracts two and three both deal with sibling relationships of different genders and extracts one and four look at the way the whole family unit operates. The three written texts are from the first person perspective while the visual text uses an abstract image to create a sense of family. In Like My Father, My Brother, Michael Sala shows the family as a competing and antagonistic unit leading to a “rage”, while Drusilla Modjeska suggests in Sisters that the family is a source of misunderstanding with “mismatched memories”, the sisters feeling “abandoned and bereft” and the persona feeling “expelled and exiled”. Sala speaks from the point of view of a younger brother whose grievances about being made to buy ill fitting hand- me-downs (“they never sat on me properly”) reflect an insecurity about being “solitary” and not fitting in with the wider community. Modjeska, in contrast, is the older sister and her experience is about a sense of exclusion from the younger sisters who are separated from her by physical and emotional distance. In both the non-fiction extracts, friendship is considered a positive relationship but for Sala it is unattainable because of his personality, while for Modjeska friendship provides a meaningful alternative to “blood” sisters. Friendship is not a consideration in the other two extracts which focus on the family unit. The visual extract suggests through the outflowing shapes of the body contrasted with the intimate position of the heads, the delicate balance between the group and the individual needs in a family. The family portrait that emerges has an overall effect of unity just like the photos in the album, “the record of our desired life” in the poem “Looking in the Album”. Both these extracts deal with the image of family that we project to the world. There is a consciousness of the family as a construction that perpetuates the idea of people united and belonging together, “Pleasant, leisurely on vacations … showing / in our poses that we believed what we were told”. Memories become an integral part of the way we see the family unit in all the written extracts. In the poem we are told about negative memories of “brittle, lost intentions”, moments and the “wilderness of ourselves” where the individuals felt a lack of family bond. Negative moments are removed from the image of the family created in the album, which captures “formal times” and shows a perfect family with even children’s hair showing the“recent marks of combs.” There is a tension between belonging and not belonging to family, which is evident in all four texts. There is also a clear assumption of the family unit as being the place where belonging is expected to take place. As we can see, however, in all the extracts, belonging to family can be a struggle.