A Learning Object created in PPT where students can learn about the different texts (Subliminal Man, Chronopolis, Manhole 69 and Billenium) and how to write an analytical essay based on their understanding.

1. YEAR 12 ENGLISH
TEXT RESPONSE

2. TEXT RESPONSE
SHORT STORIES
YEAR 12 English
Communications
MERRITT

3. • Written, Visual, Aural and
FORM Oral Communication
• To Entertain, Inform,
PURPOSE • Explain.
AUDIENCE • Reader, Viewer, Listener
CONTEXT • Reader, Viewer, Listener
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4. TEXTS can be …
WRITTEN
ORAL
AURAL
VISUAL

5. WRITTEN
• In written communication, written signs
or symbols are used to communicate. A
written message may be printed or
hand written. In written communication
messages can be transmitted via
email, letter, report, memo etc.
Messages, in written
communication, are influenced by the
vocabulary & grammar used, writing
style, precision and clarity of the
language used.

6. ORAL
• In oral communication, Spoken words are
used. It includes face-to-face
conversations, speech, telephonic
conversation, video, radio, television, voice
over internet. In oral
communication, communication is influence
by pitch, volume, speed and clarity of
speaking.

7. AURAL
• Aural communications include all
communications that rely on the recipient
hearing the communication. This includes
spoken words, sirens, alarm bells, and so on.
• Aural communications can be useful over long
distances (as is the case with fog horns on
ships). They are useful for communicating to
several people at once and also in situations
where the exact recipient of the
communication is not known (for example,
warning sirens).
• The Radio and Spruiker‟s are examples of Aural
Mass Media.

8. VISUAL
• Visual communications can be thought of
as all forms of communication that rely on
the visual perception of the recipient (with
the exception of written
communications, which are described
separately below). Examples of visual
communications are traffic
lights, billboards, smoke signals, and so on.
• The Television and the Internet are
examples of Visual Mass Media.

9. PURPOSE
Texts are pieces of spoken or written
language created for a particular purpose.
When we speak or write, we create texts.
When we listen, read or view texts, we
interpret them for meaning. A good piece
of text requires the creator to make the
right choices from the language system;
choices about words, sentences, processes
and features. These choices will reflect our
purpose and context.

10. PURPOSE
ENTERTAIN INFORM EXPLAIN
Make (an
idea, situation, or
To keep, hold or To give the
problem) clear to
maintain the audience facts
your audience
attention of the or information to
by describing it in
audience, often make them
more detail or
through the use aware of
revealing
of humour. something.
relevant facts or
ideas

11. AUDIENCE
Socio-
Interests Economic Religion
Background
Age Gender Background

12. CONTEXT
Every text is influenced by the fact that it is
created at a particular time, in a particular
place, and by a particular person with
particular purposes, ideas, experiences and
attitudes – in other words, every text is
influenced by context.

13. TEXTS and CONTEXT
•This refers to the values, beliefs, behaviour, and ways of
SOCIOCULTURAL thinking and acting that influence the creators of texts.
It also includes the ways in which people interpret, alter
CONTEXT meaning, are altered by, and respond to the texts they
encounter, are engaged by, and choose.
•This refers to the function, audience, subject, and mode
(e.g. written, spoken, or visual) of a text. Consider how
SITUATIONAL these elements influence the choices made by the
CONTEXT creators of texts in their efforts to communicate their
message most effectively, and how these elements
affect other people‟s responses to the texts.

14. Responding to Text
The Author … Critical Understanding
• What ideas has Ballard discussed in his
IDEAS stories?
• Where do you think he got these ideas?
• What does Ballard value?
VALUES • What things may have influenced his
values?
• Does Ballard hold any preconceived
BELIEFS beliefs about modern society?
• Why might this be so?

15. Responding to Text
Personal Understanding
CHALLENGE •How has Ballard challenged the way you view
society?
•Has Ballard raised questions in your mind about
QUESTION society and the power of the individual?
•Have these stories made you question humanity?
•Why do you think Ballard wrote these stories?
ANALYSE What message was he trying to convey to his
audiences and how effective has he been in
capturing their attention?

16. Textual Analysis – Analytical Essay
When writing an analytical essay on a
text you are aiming to show that you:
•can analyse and understand the topic;
•can answer the question, i.e. discuss the topic;
Knowledge
•know the plot and characters;
•know the themes, messages, issues well;
Textual
understanding •understand the topic in relation to the text, the characters, themes;
•can draw upon appropriate evidence from the text and use brief
quotations which can support your argument.
Evidence

17. Textual Analysis – Analytical Essay
Throughout your essay you are
showing that you can:
• write an argument
Knowledge and
Communication
understanding
• develop a point of view
• support that view through close textual references and analysis
Application

18. Dystopia
"A dystopia is any society considered to be undesirable, for any of a
number of reasons. The term was coined as a converse to a Utopia, and is
most usually used to refer to a fictional (often near-future) society where
current social trends are taken to nightmarish extremes. […] Often, the
difference between a Utopia and a Dystopia is in the author's point of view.
[…] Dystopias are frequently written as warnings, or as satires, showing
current trends extrapolated to a nightmarish conclusion. […] A dystopia is
all too closely connected to current-day society." (Wikipedia On-line
Dictionary)
Many dystopias found in fictional and artistic works present a utopian
society with at least one fatal flaw, whereas a utopian society is founded on
the good life, a dystopian society‟s dreams of improvement are
overshadowed by stimulating fears of the "ugly consequences of present-
day behavior.“ People are alienated and individualism is restricted by the
government. (Wikipedia On-line Dictionary)

19. Essay Structure
• Essay titles come in two types, the specific and the
general.
QUESTION
• You must write the question or thesis statement at
the start of your essay
• Say how you intend to approach the
question, define terms, outline the points you
INTRODUCTION
intend to elaborate on in the order you plan to
tackle them
• take each point you have outlined in the
MAIN BODY introduction and discuss it using evidence from the
text and quotes as support.
• This single paragraph pulls together the parts of
CONCLUSION your argument in a summary, do not include new
information here

20. Essay Questions
• J G Ballard‟s stories often
reveal a dystopian view of
Question future society. How is this true
One of any of stories you have read
as part of his short story
compilation?
• J G Ballard‟s short stories are
Question prophetic in that they offer
Two insights into current society.
Discuss.

21. Essay Planning
STAGE 1
STAGE 2
Analyse the
question. Define STAGE 3
key terms and ideas Outline, in point
and rewrite these form, the main STAGE 4
ideas for each Begin writing.
in your own words Ensure that each
to ensure that you paragraph. This Proof read your
means your paragraph has a
understand. topic essay and let it sit
introduction, main for a while – you
body and sentence, clear
argument and that may find errors
conclusion later. Submit it for
this is supported
with evidence. drafting prior to the
due date.

22. Writing an Introduction:
Question One: ideas
J G Ballard‟s short stories evoke deeper meaning as they ask the reader to question future society, and the world in which
they live . Billenium and Subliminal Man are two short stories set in the future that present dystopian views of the societies in
question. Billenium present‟s a world that is so over crowed it has reached the point where people have become like
cattle, inhumanely walking through the streets, pushed up against each other and crushed due to a lack of space; both in a
physical and personal sense, and “Subliminal Man” depicts a futuristic society that has lost their rights for freedom due to the
use of subliminal advertising that has invaded their mind turning the cities occupants into nothing more than robotic
consumers.
Question Two: ideas
J G Ballard‟s short story collection, “The complete works of J G Ballard”, contains stories that are prophetic in nature. Many of
the stories offer insights into present day society and our future, as they describe issues such as governmental control, the rise
of all-powerful companies, population growth and the impact of new technologies on society. Through reading the stories the
reader becomes aware that Ballard‟s view of the future society was somewhat bleak as he sought to draw attention to the
problems of the time and highlight them by creating stories about imagined futures that could occur if things were left
unchecked, Billenium and Chronopolis, are two such stories.

23. J G Ballard –
Shared Text
• Billennium, 1961
• Subliminal Man, 1961
• Chronopolis, 1960
• Manhole 69, 1957
Information about J. G. Ballard

24. Billennium
Billennium was written in 1961 and is set in the future. Ballard
depicts a society, who concerned with its economy and
productivity, have encouraged a population boom. The city at
the centre of the story is described as noisy, always
illuminated, over populated, and completely without any
privacy. The character at the heart of the story, John Ward, lives
in a cubicle; a narrow alcove in a bend of [a] staircase (267). It
is through him that the reader learns about the harsh realities of
an over populated civilisation and the strains that this places on
housing, infrastructure and one‟s person freedoms and choices.
QUOTES

25. Subliminal Man
Subliminal Man was written in
1961 and looks at a „dark‟
future where man‟s choices
and freedoms are taken away
through the use of subliminal
advertising. The main
characters in the story are Dr.
Robert Franklin, and his
eccentric friend, Hathaway.
This story challenges the reader
to consider the capatalist
nature of modern society.
QUOTES

26. Chronopolis
Written in 1961, 'Chronopolis„ (city of time), is an ironic name for a
city that has no time. The central character in the story, Newman, is
in prison for understanding time - yet while he is in prison he controls
the situation because of his knowledge of time, and organises the
events of the day for Brocken (the block sergeant). The focus of the
story are flashbacks to when Newman was a child, and when he
first became interested in time. It becomes apparent to the reader
that for some reason time is outlawed. The story is not in
chronological order, and instead it switches between different
points in time. This brings our attention to the way time works in
'Chronopolis'. Due to the fact that they have no time, their world is
„muddled up‟, and things have no real order and much of the city
is in ruins - and this is reflected in the way Ballard writes the story.
QUOTES

27. Manhole 69
Manhole 69 was written in 1957
and it focuses on two doctors;
Neill and Morley, who have
discovered how to block the
Medullary gland so that sleep is no
longer necessary. Ballard tells the
story of the three patients used to
trial this medical breakthrough
and in doing so allows the reader
to question medical
advancement and the almost
„godlike‟ capabilities of our
modern doctors.
QUOTES

28. BILLENIUM quotes:
Ward sits in his tiny cubicle and
• “They smuggled in furniture.” (pg.275)
listens to the endless noise of the 30 • Ward: “relaxing back around the circular red-
million people living in the city wood table. He played with the tassel of the
arsenic-green lamp shade, for a moment felt like a
around him: Victorian man of letters, leading a
• "...Ward‟s cubicle. Built into a narrow alcove in a spacious, leisurely life.” (pg. 275)
bend of a staircase.” (267) • “The size of this room staggers me. It almost gets
• “Ward, at least. Had a certain degree of privacy.” larger every day.”(pg. 276)
(267) • “If you ask me there‟s too many people in here.
• “The street was always full, an endless clamour of Down below they‟ve only got six to our seven, and
voices and shuffling feet.” (267) it‟s the same size room.” (pg. 278)
• “…‟locks‟ would occur when a huge crowd at a • The wardrobe: “It had been a beautiful piece of
street junction became immovably jammed. furniture, in a way symbolizing this whole private
Sometimes these locks would last for days.” (268) world, and the salesman at the store had told him
• “…census statistics … classified information … it there were few like it left … It was a beautiful
was feared they might set off a mass attack of wardrobe. Without doubt, but when it was gone it
claustrophobia.” (271) would make the room seem even larger.” (pg.
• “…The countryside, as such, no longer existed. 278)
Every single square foot of ground sprouted a crop
of one type or another. The one-time fields and
meadows of the world were now, in
effect, factory floors … the internal colonization of
the city. (pg. 271)
• “short-sighted nationalism and industrial expansion
put a premium on a rising population. “ (pg. 271)
• “It‟s fantastic … panel by panel, they prised away
the lower half of the door and nailed it onto a
wooden frame … the sensation of absolute spatial
freedom.” (pg. 275)

29. SUBLIMINAL MAN quotes:
Dr. Robert Franklin is annoyed with
• "I am thinking of them!" Hathaway's voice rose to a
his friend Hathaway, who insists controlled scream. "Those cables were 40,000-volt
that the dozens of gigantic blank lines, Doctor, with terrific switch gear. The trucks
were loaded with enormous metal scaffolds.
signs being constructed all over Tomorrow they'll start lifting them up all over the
the city motorways are being used city, they'll block off half the sky! What do you think
Dora will be like after six months of that? We've got
for subliminal advertising: to stop them, Doctor, they're trying to transistorize
• "...They've started to build the first big signs! Over our brains!"
a hundred feet high, on the traffic islands just • “If you can‟t believe your own senses what
outside town. They'll soon have all the approach chance have you left? They‟re invading your
roads covered. When they do we might as well brain, if you don‟t defend yourself they‟ll take it
stop thinking." (412) over completely!” (419)
• "Your trouble is that you're thinking too much," • “Hathaway was in the grip of an obsession. If he
Franklin told him. "You've been rambling about hated advertising signs so much, why didn‟t he
these signs for weeks now. Tell me, have you dynamite those we can see, instead of worrying
actually seen one signalling?" about those we can‟t?” (425)
• Hathaway tore a handful of leaves from the • “We‟ve no real freedom of choice” (425)
hedge, exasperated by this irrelevancy. "Of • Hathaway started to protest, and Franklin raised his
course I haven't, that's the whole point, Doctor. - right hand firmly. "Listen. For the last time, if you
He dropped his voice as a group of nurses can show me one of these new signs, and prove
walked past, watching him uneasily out of the that it's transmitting subliminal commands, I'll go to
corners of their eyes. "The construction gangs the police with you. But you haven't got a shred of
were out again last night, laying huge power evidence, and you know it. Subliminal advertising
cables. You'll see them on the way home. was banned thirty years ago, and the laws have
Everything's nearly ready now." never been repealed. Anyway, the technique was
• "They're traffic signs," Franklin explained patiently. unsatisfactory; any success it had was marginal.
"The flyover has just been completed. Your idea of a huge conspiracy with all these
Hathaway, for God's sake, relax. Try to think of thousands of giant signs everywhere is
Dora and the child." preposterous. "

30. CHRONOPOLIS quotes:
After his mother‟s death, Conrad • “In its hey-day this city was fantastically complex
social organism … only by synchronizing every
Newman found her wrist watch, an activity, every footstep forward or
item outlawed in modern backward, every meal, bus-halt and telephone
call, could the organism support itself.” (159)
society, and he soon became • “Every individual here had to subserve the
obsessed with it. overriding needs of the city.” (159)
• His Trial had been fixed for the next day. Exactly • “Can you imagine what life was like for all but a
when, of course, neither Newman nor anyone else few of the thirty million people here? … Don‟t you
knew.” (150) think there‟s a point beyond which human dignity
• “Brocken … relied on Newman to programme is surrendered?‟ (161)
the day for him” (150) • “…in this revolt the white collar office worker , living
• “Pointless embellishment” (151) in his tiny so-called modern flat, supporting through
• “…endless afternoons. Sometimes he went to credit pyramids and economic system that denied
school, until he was ten spent most of his time him all freedom of will or personality, chained him
with his mother queuing outside the closed food to a thousand clocks.” (162)
stores.” (151) • “Every revolution has a symbol of oppression.” (162)
• “He was in no hurry to grow up; the adult world • …Stacey had been armed, almost certainly was a
was unsynchronized and ambitionless.” (151) member of the Time Police!” (163)
• “Why is it against the law to have a clock?” • “Marshall … had worked in Central Time Control as
• “Isn‟t it obvious? You can time him, know exactly a programmer, had survived the revolt and the
how long it takes him to do something … Then Time Police.” (165)
you can make him do it faster.” (153) • “…twenty years for the murder of Stacey, five for
• “…on all sides there were clocks. Conrad fourteen offences under the Time Laws, to run
noticed them immediately, at every street concurrently … He made no attempt to defend
corner, over every archway, three-quarters of himself against the charge of killing Stacey … to
the way up the sides of buildings, covering every shield Marshall” (167)
conceivable angle of approach”. (157) • “it was a clock … The irony of the situation … He
• “Time zones. Depending on your professional was chuckling over the absurdity of it all … when
category”. (158) for the first time he noticed the clock‟s insanely
irritating tick …” (168)

31. MANHOLE 69 quotes:
Dr‟s Neill and Morley have found a
• “The gymnasium was shrinking . Inch by Inch , the
way to eliminate sleep. Their test walls were moving inwards, encroaching across
subjects; Lang, Avery and Gorrell the periphery of the floor … the ceiling sank
towards the floor.” (pg. 60)
have just been taken out of • “the gymnasium was closed in. Now less than half
hypnosis to see what effects this its original size.” (pg. 61)
• “Gorrell was slumped over the stool … Dead eyes
may have on the human mind and peered down at his feet” (pg. 64)
body: • “Lang was still staring at the clock, his body in the
stiff unreal posture of a waxworks dummy.” (pg. 64)
• “Dr Neil smiled. „Don‟t worry,‟ he said. „The wires • “I slipped into the office to pick up a few test
are cut. You couldn‟t go to sleep now if you cards, I wasn‟t gone more than ten minutes.” (pg.
tried‟ (pg. 50) 65)
• “The results are going to be spectacular. You‟ll • “after working hopelessly on the three men … He
probably precipitate the greatest social and looked down at them, lying inertly in their cots.”
economic revolution since the Fall. But for some (pg. 65)
reason I can‟t get that story of Chekov‟s out of • “continual consciousness is more than the brain
my mind” (pg. 53) can stand. Any signal repeated often enough
• “In Man sleep is largely volitional, and the reflex is eventually loses its meaning.” (pg. 65)
conditioned by habit‟ (pg. 55) • “They must have reached a stage beyond which
• „What do you think the next step forward will be? they could no longer contain the idea of their own
… I mean up the evolutionary slope. Three identity.” (pg. 66)
hundred million years ago we became air-
breathers and left the seas behind. Now we‟ve
taken the next logical step forward and
eliminated sleep. What‟s next?” (pg. 58)
• “There must be at least one person on duty …
what about that one?” “Locked‟, Lang said. „69
always has been‟. (pg. 60)