How to write a good conclusion:

1) Re-state the text and author and your answer to

the question but in different words to your intro
thesis
2) Re-list the evidence you talked about in your intro
but don’t repeat it EXACTLY word-for-word from
your thesis
3) End with FLAIR, (if you can) leave the marker
thinking. Ponderous statement, question etc.

Intro:

The subgenre of the War film is one where we have come to expect a somber
tone, large-scale battles, young “Allies” fighting in the trenches, body parts flying
in the air, no women for miles unless they are brides farewelling their boys and
themes of duty, camaraderie, and glory through serving one’s country. Jojo
Rabbit, directed by Taika Waititi and released in 2019, a comedy about a young
idealistic Nazi whose imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler, certainly subverts the
conventions typically seen in the War genre. The film subverts typical characters
by trivialising villains as infamous as Hitler, privileging the perspective of a Nazi
sympathizer, including a powerful woman in the mix and even representing
civilians as complicit in all the horror that unfolded. The director claims to have
done this because he was “getting tired of seeing World War II through the lens
of the soldier and began to wonder what the experience was like for ordinary
people” and because mixing comedy with the genre presented a “challenge.” We,
in turn, can begin to comprehend how events like this happened, perhaps
squirming in our seats just as the director intended.

Conclusion:

Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit plays with the conventions of genre for several
reasons. By giving us an unexpected comedy, unexpected characters to
sympathise with like young Nazis and women and civilians on the home front on
the losing side, the film is forcing audiences to question how they have viewed
World War II previously. The director seems to want to shake us awake so we do
not become numb to the events that transpired in World War II. When we see
film after film address the subject matter in the same way, we will learn little. If
films don’t subvert our expectations and make us reckon with the fact that World
War II was the result of very successful brainwashing and propaganda working
on ‘innocent civilians’ and only ever deal with the battlefield, how will we
recognise something like that coming again?

PTO
Stories have the power to explain who we are. Discuss this statement with
reference to a text studied.

Good intro:

Writers are only human and thus the stories they tell can only be reflections of
themselves. As such, stories are imbued with the power to explain who we truly
are. The Road by Cormac McCarthy tells of a post-apocalyptic America, where a
man and a boy trek a dread-filled road in search of a warmer place to pass
winter, and as we follow them, looking over our shoulder, we get an insight into
the true nature of humans. Thesis: Their perilous journey reveals that a
darker instinct, one that we share with animals, lies within us. The
characterisation of marauding blood cults, the point of view of a mother
who has lost all hope and the bleak, dead world they walk through come
together to explain who we are in terms of our animalistic tendencies,
showing us that we are inevitably creatures who will do anything to stay
alive for one more wretched day.

Good conclusion:

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road explores human nature in a way that would make
most of us squirm. The idea that we are but civilised animals, our true,
murderous nature lying dormant due to the constraints of society, is explained
through the cannibals’ actions, the mother’s point of view and the physical
setting that is the catalyst for all the horror that unfolds. McCarthy’s novel is
ultimately suggesting that man is not so different to beast, that we are not
so stable on our pedestal that we cannot fall. (This is flair.)

How to write a good conclusion:

Q: Stories have the power to explain who we are.

Discuss this statement with reference to a text studied.
Colour-coded to show differing wording

(The Road – novel)

Intro Thesis: Their perilous journey reveals that a darker
instinct, one that we share with animals, lies within us. The
characterisation of marauding blood cults, the point of
view of a mother who has lost all hope and the bleak, dead
world they walk through come together to explain who
we are in terms of our animalistic tendencies, showing us
that we are inevitably creatures who will do anything to stay
alive for one more wretched day.

Conclusion: Cormac McCarthy’s The Road explores

human nature in a way that would make most of us squirm.
The idea that we are but civilised animals, our true,
murderous nature lying dormant due to the constraints of
society, is explained through the cannibals’ actions, the
mother’s point of view and the physical setting that is the
catalyst for all the horror that unfolds. McCarthy’s novel is
ultimately suggesting that man is not so different to beast,
that we are not so stable on our pedestal that we cannot fall.

Q With reference to at least one text, discuss the idea that fiction texts can be
seen to represent social issues in meaningful ways.

Good intro and conclusion

Intro

What value does a text have if it does not enlighten, empower or warn readers?
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a powerful play, as it touches on the universal fear
of intolerance and oppression. Miller chooses the setting of the 1692 Salem witch
trials to represent the issue of institutions abusing their authority to suppress
individual thought and maintain their power. He warns us of this danger through
the characterisation of Judge Danforth, stage directions and image patterns
which rely on binary oppositions.

Conclusion

The Crucible by Arthur Miller tells of the danger of power in the wrong hands.
Through the use of characterisation, stage directions and image patterns, Miller
represents the issue of the abuse of authority by reigning institutions in the most
meaningful way possible, as a warning, a sharp, direct warning, that should we
ever let this happen again we may be forced to, like Proctor, to choose the noose
to save our name.
Q: Discuss how a text you have studied has utilised a distinctive voice to convey
an idea.

Intro:
G
I (Ruby Moonlight)
S
T(hesis): The novel conveys the voice of the Aboriginal people, the ‘other’ in their
own country – it presents the quiet, solemn and resigned voice of a hunted
people because it is told from the point of view of a massacre survivor – Ruby. It
also gives them the unmistakeable and distinctive voice of a deeply spiritual
group, whose ancient connection to their land is palpable, unshakeable, due to
Colby’s every present nature imagery. Ruby’s voice is the voice of her people –
and as she stays alive and finds a new beginning with a new tribe against the
odds, we see the idea that a connection to country, tradition and heritage will be
how her people survive, as she rejects the influence of the white man.

Conclusion:

Ali Wright-Colby’s Ruby Moonlight presents a voice not often heard in Australia-
the voice of Aboriginal people telling their story their way. The voice of a woman
whose whole tribe is hunted and murdered is distinctive in that she never
sounds ‘alone’, as the birds, trees and spirits are looking out for her. The third
person limited point of view of a young Aboriginal woman and the constant
connecting of her feelings to the natural and spiritual world through imagery
demonstrate the close link that Aboriginal people have to their land and that this
is their strength. Colby’s idea about how her people will cope and survive after so
many years of torment is clear: They will find the answers in the very soil they
walk on.