Remember that all of extension english is based around the same core principles: values, attitudes, characters and CONTEXT. Take Anil's Ghost, garbage on about forensics, the conventions of crime fiction shown in the novel, go to town on the subversions there is SO much you can say for that bit but don't forget that you need to include stuff about the context of the author and of the novel itself. Mention that its from a Sri Lankan perspective which it totally different to the other texts on the list.
Here's some of what I had for Anil's Ghost.
Values & attitudes give the responder a certain perspective. Ondaatje's values lay not only in depicting the darkness of the world which AG describes but also in celebrating the beauty of such a world and the richness of the culture of its people. (shown in elements like the recreation of the Buddha). the values of Ondaate's stunningly unique characters are shaped by the world in which they live (how are Anil's values as an ex-patriot different from Sarath or Gamini's). thus, while the story is a quest for truth, it is also the story of three main characters & their struggle for survival, a struggle that is representative of the population of Sri Lanka. So Ondaatje used Anil, Sarath & Gamini to represent crime on a large scale as compared to the small scale crimes in the other texts.
Still reconstructing an identity after the end of colonisation, a postcolonial perspective of the text highlights how this imposition of Westernized values upon an ancient Sri Lankan culture impacted upon the way the story is told.
Context of civil war - challenges the perception of war as a crime. It is implied that there are murders on all sides, have the leaders committed war crimes? "Every side was killing and hiding the evidence"
Anils' Ghost reflects a chaotic power structure where there is no peace. This is reflected in Gamini's insomnia & the death of traditional culture.
Anil's search for answers in skeletons reflects her own search for identity and the people's search for missing loved ones. (link to mystery as key element) the mystery is more than just who killed Sailor.
use of anthropologist as sleuth reflects modern era - who could be more rational than an anthropologist. (solution by rationality)
Accretion of evidence is anthropological, at least for the central crime. But we are also gathering evidence as responders. AG renders the responder a foreigner in a land they don't understand. therefore the novels lends clues that assist with our understanding.
AG is a mixed genre novel which uses conventuons to drive a complex novel. it employs a profound meditation on the nature of truth and varying perceptions of it
* Is a fictionalised account of some of the most violent episodes of contemporary history.
* Focuses of elucidation of particular crime chosen to typify many thousands of others. "One victim speaks for many victims, one village can speak for many villages."
* more than one voice, shifting time frames and locations, fragments of memories all contribute to greater sense of mystery.
* Narrative method is marked not only by great fluidity of time, place and point of view but also by a variety of materials (intertextuality - poem at beginning of novel, incorporates the Amnesty International List which is factual materical)
* Anil is our eyes we see through her perspective, her context & her values and this adds to the mystery as she is as much a foreigner as a native.
* by not naming warring factiosn Ondaatje universalises the issues he presents. E.g. the suicide bomber is named R___
* Challenges perception of what crime is. "There was a casual sense of massacre."
" We are often criminals in the eyes of the earth not for having committed crime but for knowing crime has been committed" (link to religious values)
"I wanted to find one law to govern all being...I found fear."
I don't have time to put up any more at the moment but if anyone wants the rest of my crime fiction notes (and there is a little bit more on Anil's Ghost) PM me