Activities for Section 1: Pages 1-47 of Peter Temple’s novel, The Broken Shore.

Activities for Book 1 Chapters 1-9

Brief video by the New Yorker, Flanagan’s Island. The video is an interview with Richard Flanagan, author of The Narrow Road to the Deep North. It covers the setting where he writes his books, his process of writing, his background and his beliefs. This resource is part of a unit of work on Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Analysis of the online book review of The Narrow Road to the Deep North by ReadingBukowski. The reviewer discusses the character of Dorrigo Evans, the perspectives of the Australian POWs and the Japanese guards, the fragmented and non-linear structure of the novel, the themes of surviving trauma, memory, how we memorialise things and the futility of war. She mentions that the railway is a metaphor for life’s journey, that beauty and horror are not mutually exclusive in the way that good and evil may be. This resource is part of a unit of work on Richard Flanagan’s novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Activities for Richard Flanagan’s novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Book 1 Chapters 10-18.

Analysis of 4 scenes from the film version of The Broken Shore. The scenes are analysed for poses, gaze and gestures, placement in foreground/background, atmosphere, subtle messages, costuming as visual cues and the use of light/darkness. This resource is part of a unit of work on Peter Temple’s novel, The Broken Shore.

Explanation of the concept of intertextuality and student activities based on the explicit, implied and inferred intertextual connections in Craig Silvey’s novel, Jasper Jones.

Set of activities relating to the character, Ruth Bucktin from Craig Silvey’s novel, Jasper Jones.

Herr Winz is a former-Stasi counter-espionage operative who is living in the past when his power and authority was significantly greater than that of his life in the re-united Germany of the 1990s. This activity includes background information and extracts from the text relating to his physical attributes and personality. Students are asked to use this information to write their own description of him.

Exposition assessment task on Jackie French’s novel, Hitler’s Daughter. The task includes guidance for students, marking guide/rubric and scaffold for students to draft their response.

Set of activities on the protagonist of Craig Silvey’s novel, Jasper Jones, including analysis of key passages, his personality and relationship with other characters.

Analysis of the author’s context vs. the reader’s context, social, historical, cultural and ideological context to Craig Silvey’s novel, Jasper Jones.

Former East German rocker, Klaus Renft stands apart from the other characters interviewed by Anna Funder. He has found peace with his treatment by the Stasi and has his Stasi file as a means of reminding him of his younger days, not to explain how the Stasi meddled in his personal life. Is his contentment a product of alcoholism or something else? This set of activities includes background information, passages from the text and an analysis of Klaus’ character and history.

Explanation of the concept of comparative texts and activity comparing the plot, characters, setting, themes and symbols, recurring images and motif.

The authors mother, Christine is a complex character who suffers increasingly from a serious mental illness as the narration of the memoir proceeds. At times she is highly depressed and neglects her children. At other times she is promiscuous and manic. 1950s rural Australia is neither the time nor the place for others to understand her condition, nor provide support. This set of activities includes background notes and passages from the text that relate to Christine’s true personality, her relation with Romulus, her interraction with members of the Anglo-Celtic community, the effects of her illness on her life and relationship and the views of Christine from other character’s hindsight. Students are asked to list the positive and negative influences of Christine on the author, Raimond Gaita.

Romanian migrant, Hora is arguably the strongest character in Raimond Gaita’s memoir. he is certainly the most loyal family friend. This set of resources includes background notes on Hora, key passages from the text and student activities based on these. the last activity asks students to develop a mind map of incidents from the text in which Hora is a friend and mentor to Romulus and Raimond.

Hagen Koch was a Stasi officer who marked out where the Berlin Wall was to be built. But when the state began to interfere in his own family life, Hagen took a stand to resist. The decision resulted in retribution against him and his family. This set of activities includes background information on the character of Hagen Koch, passages from the text and questions related to his character, influence of the state on hi upbringing and the reasons behind his decision to resign from the Stasi.

Known as the Black Prince, Darky Gardiner is a larrikin Sergeant in the Australian Army. His plight is representative of the worst excessives of brutality and deprivation in the POW camps on the Thailand-Burma Railway. His tragic death is the turning point in Richard Flanagan’s novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North. A twist in the narrative in Book 4 makes his life, suffering and death even more poignant.

Miriam Weber is the author’s inspiration for the investigative journalism behind Stasiland. This resource provides the character’s history, character, living with trauma and significance of her character to the text. The first activity requires students to look through Chapters 2, 3, 4 and 28 to discover Miriam’s personality and relationships. The second activity asks students to write an extended response to the question: To what extent has Miriam’s life been affected by the Stasi? In your response refer to: • Surveillance • Restricting personal freedoms • Denial of human rights • Torture • Concealing the truth. Students must use quotes from the text to support their response.

An ordinary citizen who claims she has no story to tell the interviewer, Julia is a victim of Stasi oppression. The nature of the surveillance, control of her life and interrogations have a deep impact on Julia. The activities in this resource include analysing a variety of passages relating to Julia and completing a timeline of her life from Chapters 9-11.