Analysis of the question P 2

• Engels
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

Goals for today 

General paper 2 tips 

Exploring and unpacking paper 2 questions 

Asking questions about the paper 2 question 

Key tips for paper 2 

1. Answer the question (in every paragraph)
   
2. Show understanding of the works with detailed references
   
3. Show understanding of author choices and their effects
   
4. Compare and/or contrast

Know these elements for your texts  

Author's background (significant biographical details)	context (all contexts) and setting	Narrative point of view
Plot review	Narrative structure	characters
conflicts	Themes, topics or concepts	symbols and motifs
notable stylistic choices for these authors	significant events or quotations from the works	Text type and genre

Relationships are often central to literary works. How is this true for two works you have studied? 

Discuss the ways that writers have presented characters that feel alienated from their society in two of the works you have studied.

Make a mind map for your title. Use the answers to the questions that will follow to generate insightful ideas about the question. 

We will share your findings in Teams and use these to construct a thesis statement. 

The question might not specifically ask you to comment on style, but you always should. 

Before you start making a mind map or developing a plan for your question, you must fully understand the question. 

How? Examine all the implications of the question. 

You can do that by using the question words, above, to explore the question. 

Relationships are often central to literary works. How is this true for two works you have studied? 

Unpacking the question.

Unpack this question. Ask What, when, where, how, why and who? 

Write 6 questions using the question words that would help you to investigate which aspects of this question you will address in your response. 

Discuss the ways that writers have presented characters that feel alienated from their society in two of the works you have studied

- Is/are the character(s) alienated from family and friends? 

- Is the character literally exiled or emotionally cut off? 

- Is there a difference in alienation between work A and work B? 

- does the alienation have similar or different effects on the characters and plot development? 

- what message (theme) does the author want to convey through the use of the concept alienation? 

Unpacking the question. Answer these questions about the question in order to unpack it. 

Thesis statement 

source: https://litlearn.com/ib-english/paper-1/thesis/ (adapted) 

“The writer does this, this and that in order to achieve a purpose.”

Relationships are often central to literary works. How is this true for two works you have studied? 

- What relationships will you focus on?  What about the relationship of the author with the reader/audience? What about the relationship of the author with the topic (context of composition)? 

- When in the timeline of the plot? Key events/key passages - plot construction 

- Where in the work is this of importance? Where and when was the work produced? 

- How do the authors show relationships in their works (authorial choices)?

- Why - what thematic concerns are being addressed through the investigation of relationships?

- Who are the characters that will be focused on? 

Unpacking the question. Answer these questions about the question in order to unpack it. 

The struggle against injustice is a theme that speaks to readers. Compare the ways that two authors of two literary works have depicted unjust worlds. 

What is meant by 'struggle'? Physical? Emotional?

What is meant by 'speak to readers'? Do readers identify with particular struggles?

What is meant by 'unjust worlds?' Evil? Dystopian? Unfair?

Should I compare the unjust world or the authors' 'depictions' of these worlds?

Unpacking the question. Answer these questions about the question in order to unpack it. 

Unpacking the questions 

To unpack the question we have to ask questions about the questions in order to define which aspects of the questions we will answer. This can lead to breakthroughs that will allow you to develop insightful ideas that will raise the quality of your paper 2 essay. 

For the following 4 questions develop at least 4 questions of your own that allow you to explore and unpack them. 

1. How do two of the works you have studied portray the struggle to be understood? 

• Who is struggling to be understood?  Characters? The author?
• Understood by whom? Other characters? The reader?
• How is the struggle to be understood connected to a major conflict?
• In what way does this struggle get resolved in our works?
• What is the main message that needs to be understood?

2. Some literary texts, although set in a particular place or time, convey ideas that are universal. In what ways is this true in two of the works you have studied?

• What is the exact time and place of the works being discussed?
• How are these works applicable to that particular time and place?
• What are the universal themes in the works connected to global issues?
• Are there different ways that they are true? Are there ways when it’s not true?
• What are the different ways that this is true or not true in the two works?
• Are there some universal ideas in BOTH works that are similar or perhaps are there similar WAYS used to show these themes?

3. Discuss how two works you have studied present concepts of good and bad, not as absolute notions, but as a matter of individual perception.

• What methods do authors use to show these two opposing concepts?
• How are characters more nuanced and complex?
• How are bad characters made to look sympathetic? How are good characters shown to have a dark side?
• Whose perspective are we talking about? The reader? The perception of other characters?
• Are there forces besides characters to represent good and bad? Government? Nature? Society?

4. Referring to two works you have studied, discuss how the author has created a convincing “world”

• What does “convincing” mean? Authentic?
• How does the text seem like a microcosm of something bigger?
• Who or what are the different groups in this “world”?
• What dominant features are used to create this world?
• Are there different ways that authors create worlds?
• Does the genre play a role here?
  

Choose one of the questions 

1. Look at the list of questions that you have generated. 

2. Develop rudimentary answers which focus on how you will address the question. 

3. Now you can start to brainstorm the ideas that you can use from your two works to answer this question. We will look at a mind map approach. 

Discuss the ways that writers have presented characters that feel alienated from their society in two of the works you have studied.

Thesis statement 

A good thesis statement offers a clear direction for your paper. It should: 

1. Identify the two works and authors being used

2. Use the wording of the question

3. Acknowledge the similarities and differences

4. Make an argument and share insightful ideas 

Unpacking a question is best done by annotating it or creating a mind map around it. Underline the key words in the question and connect those to two of the works that you have read. On the next slide is an example of how The Great Gatsby and The Reluctant Fundamentalist relate to a question about justice. 

Mindmapping the question 

Goals for today 

Re-visit and add to our mind maps 

Remind ourselves of narrative techniques 

Explore characters in our two works 

Construct character comparatives 

Mindmap your thesis statement 

Using mindmup.com construct a mindmap for your thesis statement. Upload to the dropbox by the end of the lesson. 

Thesis statement connected to question. 

insightful idea connected to Q

Evidence work 1 

Evidence work 2 

Technique

insightful idea connected to Q

Mind Mapping 

Subtopics to be explored 

Thesis statement 

Evidence 

Stylistic feature/ technique 

Example thesis statement 

In The White Tiger by Adiga and Nineteen Eighty-Four by Orwell both authors present the reader with a protagonist who is alienated from the social mores of the society in which the plot is set. For one protagonist this results in their destruction and loss of humanity and for the other there is success; however also moral ruination. 

Discuss the ways that writers have presented characters that feel alienated from their society in two of the works you have studied

Example thesis statement 

While both Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Handmaid’s Tale portray totalitarian control over individuals, Orwell presents power as sustained through external surveillance, whereas Atwood emphasizes internalized oppression, ultimately suggesting that psychological control is more enduring than physical force.

Discuss the ways that writers have presented characters that feel alienated from their society in two of the works you have studied

Goals for today 

Key stylistic choices (recognising the author) 

Mind mapping your question 

Example thesis question construction and initial mind mapping 

Upload to the Dropbox  in the lesson 

Structuring your response paper 2 

Rate the word 1 to 4 (toponym) 

1. I do not know the word, and I have never seen it before. 

2. I've heard or seen the word before, but I'm not sure what it means. 

3. I know the word and can recognise and understand it while reading, but I probably wouldn't feel comfortable using it in writing or speech. 

4. I know the word well and can use it correctly in writing or speech. 

Tuxedo 

Word of the day

Tuxedo (n) - man's evening dress for semiformal 

occasions

1889 named for Tuxedo Park, N.Y., then the chief "pretentious rural resort" for wealthy New Yorkers and site of a country club where it first was worn, supposedly in 1886. (etymonline.com) 

The groom rented a classic black tuxedo for their beachside wedding ceremony.

Dramatic realism 

Recognisable and realistic settings and characters (contemporary middle-class, bourgeois, detailed stage direction) 

Naturalistic dialogue (Interruptions, subtext, unfinished or confused sentences) 

Social critique of social problems 

Psychological complexity characters who are not wholly good or bad (retrospective technique - past influences the present) 

Logical, cause-and-effect plots 

Subtle subtext and ambiguity in the outcome (implied not directly stated) 

Symbolism embedded in the drama

Dramatic realism (Ibsen)

Recognisable and realistic settings and characters (contemporary middle-class, bourgeois, detailed stage direction) 

Naturalistic dialogue (Interruptions, subtext, unfinished or confused sentences) 

Social critique of social problems 

Psychological complexity characters who are not wholly good or bad (retrospective technique - past influences the present) 

Logical, cause-and-effect plots 

Subtle subtext and ambiguity in the outcome (implied not directly stated) 

Symbolism embedded in the drama

(some)Stylistic choices Adiga 

Unreliable narrator (POV)

Direct speech 

Ironic tone (narrative voice)

Analogy 

Metaphor 

Juxtaposition/contrast

Frame narrative 

Imagery 

Colloquial style 

Symbolism 

Motifs 

Epistolary form (direct address to the reader) 

Humour and satire 

Intertextuality

Moral ambiguity

Mindmap your thesis statement 

Using mindmup.com construct a mindmap for your thesis statement. Upload to the dropbox by the end of the lesson. 

Thesis statement connected to question. 

insightful idea connected to Q

Evidence work 1 

Evidence work 2 

Technique

insightful idea connected to Q

Mind Mapping 

Subtopics to be explored 

Thesis statement 

Evidence 

Stylistic feature/ technique 

Example thesis statement 

Both Ibsen and Atwood portray the struggle to be understood through their exploration of how the protagonists grapple with their own understanding of their identities, their ability to express themselves and societal constraints in order to highlight the human need for freedom and self-determination

How do two of the works you have studied portray the struggle to be understood?

Example thesis statement 

Both Ibsen and Adiga portray the struggle to be understood through their exploration of how the protagonists grapple with their own understanding of their identities, their ability to express themselves and societal constraints in order to highlight the human need for freedom and self-determination

How do two of the works you have studied portray the struggle to be understood?

 In what ways and to what effect has the freedom to act, speak and think been explored in two of the works you have studied?