Blessing: Making a Level 4 PEE into a Level 6+ PEE

You are all au fait with PEE chains - the way we structure our responses.

Point
Evidence
Explanation

But are we aware of what 'explanation' truly means?

What I like to do is change 'explanation' to 'analyse', turning PEE into PEA.

Read this response to the question "how does Imtiaz Dharker show what the water means to the people in 'Blessing'?"

Dharker compares the water to money. She says "silver crashes to the ground". This shows that the people treat the water like money.

This is an OK response, but it is only Level 4. It doesn't go into any ANALYSIS of the METHOD used to present the water.

What this person needs to do is:

1. Tell me which METHOD is being used - simile? Metaphor? Personification?
2. Tell me what it tells THEM about how the people feel about water
3. Tell me WHY Dharker chose this comparison.

Read this new, improved response:

Dharker uses metaphor to show that the people think the water is a luxury. The poem reads "silver crashes to the ground". This indicates that the people in the slum see the water as something rare and precious, something they don't get to enjoy very often. By comparing the water to an expensive metal, Dharker makes us see that this is how precious the water is to the people of Dharavi - we have a lot of water which we often take for granted so to understand, she makes us think of something that WE see as precious. I think that Darker chose this metaphor to impress upon us just how rare the water is, and to drive home how excited the people are when it arrives.

This is a Level 7 response. Do you see the difference? This response uses the same information, but makes an effort to ANALYSE the choices made. The writer also proves to me that they know which method has been used. The examiner isn't psychic - they don't know that you know what metaphor means unless you show them!