AQA GCSE in English Literature · Free · no account needed
Telling Tales
Graham Swift, D. H. Lawrence, Helen Dunmore, John McGahern, Kazuo Ishiguro, Claudette Williams and Penelope Lively · Seven short stories · Lawrence (1911, revised 1914) to the late twentieth century · Set text on AQA GCSE English Literature (8702) — Modern texts option; not on Pearson Edexcel International GCSE (4ET1) — 8702 Paper 2, Section A — Modern texts (closed book; one essay from a choice of two, no extract: a named story and one other of the learner's choice)
Seven short stories about families, grief, growing up and being seen — and how to write about any two of them.
Two ways to study it
- Grade 9 Notes — condensed and exam-focused: 7 full character studies, 4 themes, quotation analysis, thesis statements and essay plans.
- The Complete Guide to Telling Tales — the long version: 15 chapters from the world behind the text to the examination.
The characters
- Chemistry (Graham Swift) — A boy, his widowed mother, his grandfather and the man who comes between them · notes · character analysis, then teach it and defend it
- Odour of Chrysanthemums (D. H. Lawrence) — A miner's wife waits for a husband she thinks is drinking, and meets him at last as a stranger · notes · character analysis, then teach it and defend it
- My Polish Teacher's Tie (Helen Dunmore) — A school dinner lady, a Polish penfriend, and the identity she was made to forget · notes · character analysis, then teach it and defend it
- Korea (John McGahern) — A son on his father's eel boat discovers what the father has planned for him · notes · character analysis, then teach it and defend it
- A Family Supper (Kazuo Ishiguro) — A son comes home to Japan, a father cooks fish, and nobody says what everyone fears · notes · character analysis, then teach it and defend it
- Invisible Mass of the Back Row (Claudette Williams) — A girl in the back row, in Jamaica and then in England, learns to answer back · notes · character analysis, then teach it and defend it
- The Darkness Out There (Penelope Lively) — A girl visits a sweet old lady, and learns what she did in the wood · notes · character analysis, then teach it and defend it
The themes
- Parents and children — Five of the seven stories are built around a parent and a child, and in most of them the child sees something about the parent that the parent cannot or will not say. · notes · teach it and defend it
- Grief and loss — Every story contains a death or a loss, and most are about what the living do with grief: hide it, turn it into anger, or let it change how they see. · notes · theme analysis, then teach it and defend it
- Growing up and lost innocence — Several stories capture the moment a young person learns something that cannot be unlearned, usually about an adult. · notes · teach it and defend it
- Identity, class and belonging — Two stories are directly about identity, and several more about where a person is placed by class, colour, money or culture. · notes · teach it and defend it
Think you understand it?
In Literature the thing you master is an interpretation. Each study above has two gates: Teach it — explain your reading to Ember, an AI pupil — and Defend it — hold it against Graham Swift, D. H. Lawrence, Helen Dunmore, John McGahern, Kazuo Ishiguro, Claudette Williams and Penelope Lively in a structured debate marked against descriptors you can read first. Completely free.