I am a Rock – choosing not belonging through isolation

Belonging word cloud

The Simon and Garfunkel song, I am a Rock, shows more negative aspects of belonging which makes it an excellent related text, especially if you have relied on positive texts for your portfolio in the Area of Study. Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, for example, depicts a community where belonging become untenable due to the inflexible theocracy and the court’s reliance on lies from young girls. Remember, when preparing for the HSC, you may need to ‘flip’ your thesis and ideas depending on the question: how could you discuss your texts from the opposite perspective, if asked? You must consider both belonging and not belonging.

Read through the lyrics for this folk song which clearly expresses the view of not belonging because of past emotional pain.

I am a Rock

It might help to listen to the song too, although you will need to decide (and declare) the specific text type when writing an analysis: song = lyric and music OR lyric as in poetry.

Once you are familiar with the words, annotate the main features and language devices used. Think in terms of TEE (technique + example + explanation) and practice the idea of writing on a text. When you actually sit the HSC Paper 1 exam, take a few minutes to annotate the texts – this will save valuable planning time when writing extended responses.

Here is my sample annotation Annotated I am a Rock

With clear annotations, it is much easier to write your ideas into sentences that become paragraphs. If you collate your ideas into a table format:

Textual Analysis Table, it is even easier to make sure you have all the information. In many cases, you will have too much detail and will have to decide which are the most important techniques and examples. The benefit of writing your ideas into the table is that you can identify areas of repetition in your explanations and consider where to amalgamate ideas. This will make you writing more coherent.

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