Stop Looking for Themes. Start Looking for Arguments.

I am sorry to break it to you like this, but the person who will end up marking your HSC responses probably knows the text better than you do. If your essay merely serves as a reminder of the text’s basic contents, it will struggle to stand out to a marker who has already read dozens of essays making the same observations.

Look at your analysis. Does it stop at themes? If so, this blog is for you.  

Themes are broad ideas that exist within every text. The problem isn't the theme itself, it's stopping there. By relying solely on themes, you may float complacently around the 15/20 territory. Technically, you are not stating incorrect information. Rather, and more problematically so, you are not adding any new insight or value to the ongoing interpretation of the text. This is why most of your results feel capped. 

To overcome this, you must rid yourself of a rigid and mechanised manner of approaching the text. Once you have identified the core theme, be critical. 

Question the theme. 

Branch out as many conceptual possibilities from it as you can. Allow me to demonstrate:

You are studying ‘1984’. You have identified power and control as a recurring concern. You suspect that it may be a key theme within the text. From here, you delve deeper by assessing the role of language in shaping the power seized by the Party. Through continual deliberation, you deduce that the Party is seeking to destroy vocabulary in order to violate intellectual freedoms. As a result, you bring forth the following argument: 

In gaining total power and control over their masses, totalitarian regimes often exploit language to determine the limits of thought itself. In doing so, they impede upon the intellectual freedoms of their subjects. 

Notice how I have just crafted an argument? A clear concept. A personal interpretation that I will then support with judiciously selected evidence. I did not stop at the theme. I gave the theme meaning. Value. Purpose and direction. 

This is what separates stronger essays from average ones. Markers reward students who move beyond identifying ideas and instead construct thoughtful, well-supported interpretations. It is a crucial change to make to your study for English if you are to get closer to producing 20/20 responses. 

The next time you finish identifying a theme, don't close your notebook. Ask yourself one more question:

What is the composer actually saying about this?

The answer to that question isn't another theme.

It's the beginning of your argument.