\'Nine Days\' sample essay 2 loss and hope Teacher PDF

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Sample essay with the prompt "Nine Dyas is more about loss than it is hope. Do you agree?"...

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‘Nine Days is more about loss than it is about hope.’ Do you agree? ‘Nine Days’ is a text written by Toni Jordan; written in non-chronological order it depicts the lives of nine separate (but linked) characters over a single day within their lives. Covering a time period from 1939 to 2006 these individuals are all connected and have influence over each other. Jordan (the writer) bases her text around the specific themes of loss and also hope; it could be argued that ‘Nine Days is more about loss than it is about hope’ due to each specific character experiencing loss in some manner either financially, personally or professionally; however all nine individuals also experience hope during their specific documented days. Connie passes away in the text experiencing what some would say is the greatest loss of all however it could also be argued that she is also the most hopeful of all the characters in the text; furthermore the context and non-chronological structure of the narrative create interconnections of themes that demonstrate that a prominent idea cannot be argued but rather a shared ‘amount’ of focus. Each character’s individual chapters incorporates the thematic ideas of loss and hope equally throughout ‘Nine days’; Toni Jordan makes this a conscious effort in her writing in order to provide depth both to the characters and to the narrative. Connie one of the protagonists of the text exhibits belief, aspirations and optimism throughout, making her a pivotal character and somewhat a symbol of light for the individuals around her ‘I can hardly my good fortune. Everything will be alright’; however it is with this that the author positions her to be the focal point of the climactic event in the narrative creating a set of circumstances that result in her death. This specific character is one key example of how loss and hope are both interconnected and equally prominent throughout ‘Nine days’.

The non-chronological structure of ‘Nine days’ emphasises an equal representation of both loss and hope. The author draws parallels between these two ideas consistently throughout the text ‘…on account of the sudden demise of Kipper’s old man’ ‘I’m my own boss now’, each character in their chapter experiences hope to begin their days but in some twist of fate experiences loss at the end of it. The text itself is written in non-sequential order however the author gives each chapter its own narrative structure creating parallels between the two specific ideas as each character’s day progresses. It is this relationship that demonstrates that there is an equal focus of both loss and hope by the author rather than a weighted approach of one over the other. Lastly the time periods and the location choices of the author create circumstances that focus on both loss and hope. Jordan (the writer) has made a conscious decision to focus each of her characters chapters during a time of conflict in their lives or the world ‘when I see a tower in the distance I half expect to see a plane fly into it.’, this in turn forces turmoil on each individual in the text. With any challenge in life people are challenged to remain hopeful and experience loss in some manner (sometimes involuntarily). War can indirectly affect people in a range of ways including but not limited to feeling unsafe, loss of income and even extreme amounts of anxiety or fear; these can all be categorised as ‘losses’. Although not all the characters are affected by war during their time period, they are affected by a conflict within their lives and this is created due to the time periods and location that they live within. A pattern emerges for all of the characters and they approach their conflicts in a variety of ways however they all exhibit signs hope to combat their situations. The writer wants the characters to face such challenges in order to show the interconnection and relationship between the two themes. Thus further reiterating the equal partnership and focus between loss and hope. In conclusion, loss and hope as themes are equally weighted in their focus for the text. Toni Jordan uses a plethora of text features including narrative structure, context and characterisation in order to create a text that challenges each character to be hopeful however all ultimately experience a loss of some manner. Thus the text ‘Nine days’ doesn’t specifically focus on one specific theme but rather it is an a relationship between two and how each character approaches these and are affected by them....