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Resource

Mod C – Discursive Writing – (Nam Le “Love and Honour”)

 
Grade: HSC
Subject: English Advanced
Resource type: Essay
Written by: N/A
Year uploaded: 2021
Page length: 2
 

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Resource Description

“Guard your roving thoughts with a jealous care, for speech is but the dealer of thoughts, and every fool can plainly read in your words what is the hour of your thoughts”

Use this quote as a stimulus for a piece of discursive writing that expresses your perspective about a significant idea that you have engaged within Nam Le “Love and Honour”

Words are not my strong suit. I have always been the kind of person to plan out what I am going to say in a situation before it happens, for fear of being unable to articulate my thoughts correctly. A few months ago, my best friend had be n acting in a way that hurt me. I decided to address the issue with her in a mature manner – so as usual, I took to the Notes app on my phone to draft out a message. Attempting to avoid conflict, I expressed my feelings as neutrally as possible, deliberately exaggerating that I still loved her. I read over and edited it several times to make sure it didn’t” sound accusatory – even adding in a plain declaration, saying that "the last thing I want to do is fight. “Despite this, my words failed to achieve their purpose. We had our first argument in over ten years that day. Naturally, I was left wishing I had never said anything at all, a feeling I am sure most are familiar with. I was hurt, and quite frankly, confused – had I not made my stance explicitly clear? And how could my best friend, who knew me almost as well as I knew myself, assume the worst of my intentions?

Alfred Lord Tennyson’s quote seems to suggest that our words always reflect a mirror image of our thoughts, regardless of any measures we may take to conceal them. I have to disagree. This interaiton with my friend – who, I know, is the farthest thing from a fool – serves as proof that beiause our words are open to interpretation, they will only ever serve as an approximation of what we are truly thinking. We would be fools if we believed otherwise.

In a way, we all live with a course similar to the myth of Sisyphus and his rock. We may get close to pushing the boulder of our words to the impossible summit of our thoughts, but we will never completely get there. At times, our words elude us completely, rolling right back down to the bottom of the hill. Writers dedicate their entire lives to encapsulate their visions with the perfect sequence of words, and still, they are not exempt from misreadings or misunderstandings


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