Write a critical appreciation of the passage, relating your discussion to your reading of American literature between 1880-1940.

When writing a critical appreciation of an extract from a specific genre or period of literature, it is imperative that students show an awareness of combining analytical workings with contextual and thematic knowledge. Whilst it may be helpful in the planning stage of the essay to highlight as many linguistic and figurative techniques as the student notices, simply listing a number of techniques is not the best way to structure your essay and certainly won't ensure you achieve the top marks at A Level. Instead, a student should consider how the specific techniques they've picked out link to certain themes that structure the passage, or help the extract to build a certain literary tone. Not only explaining the effect of the individual technique, but also how it works within the passage as a whole will allow the student to demonstrate to the examiner that they have good close reading skills which are transferable beyond specific elements of language use.By structuring the critical commentary thematically rather than through specific techniques, this will also allow the student to evoke contextual knowledge support their argument as to how specific uses of language hold weight within American literature. Quoting from other examples of American literature will highly strengthen the student's critical appreciation, demonstrating an excellent degree of preparation and contextual knowledge. However, if a student is unable to remember specific quotes from the contextual reading they have done, linking the themes in the passage to themes within other literary examples is also an effective way of demonstrating a broad knowledge of American literature as a whole.