How to tackle guiding questions

Every Individual Oral Commentary-fragment is accompanied by guiding questions. It is not required to answer them directly and explicitly, although you can of course do so; their function is to help you structure your commentary.

Always make sure to decide first what the question expects of you. Let's take the two guiding questions from the Heart of Darkness practice fragment as an example:

1) How are some of the motifs from the story presented here?
2) How does Conrad create tension in this fragment?

What do you have to know?
1) what the motifs in HoD are
2) what devices an author can use to create tension

What information does the question provide you with?
1) This fragment contains clear motifs.
2) There is tension in this fragment; you just have to find it.

What do you have to do?
1) Find the motifs; identify them; then analyze them: what effect do they have on the fragment/story?
2) Identify the tension in the fragment; explain how it is create and how it affects the fragment.