IA: The HL Essay
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Overview: At HL, you are required to write a 1,200 –1,500 word formal essay which develops a line of inquiry of your own choice in connection with a text or work studied during the 2 year course.
Your line of inquiry should be based on 1-2 of the 7 concepts where you construct a focused, analytical argument examining the work from a broad literary or linguistic perspective.
It also requires you to adhere to the formal framework of an academic essay, using citations and references.
The Essays of Toni Morrison
How do Toni Morrison's speeches and essays imaginatively and metaphorically reveal the power of communication?
To what extent is the human body a representation of otherness?
In her Nobel Prize speech, what consequence of oppressive/ dead communication/ language does Morrison emphasize? Why is this given prominence?
How does Morrison's Nobel Prize speech weave aspects of creativity?
To what extent does Toni Morrison's "Peril" reflect the oppressive aspects of communication?
How do the essays "Home" and a Foreigner's Home reflect the current crisis in cultural identity?
Animal Farm (novella)
To what extent is identity compromised when you are brainwashed through propaganda?
To what extent are propaganda technqiues overtly/covertly used to communicate power/control?
To what extent do the animals maintain a sense of purpose in the dystopian culture they live in?
By the end, the only commandment on the side of the barn is, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” What is the author saying? What is the relevance of this commandment today in terms of transformation?
How is the perspective revealed through the narration?
Does one particular animal represent the author's perspective?
BTWAM (memoir)
To what extent does Coates use historical and cultural context to reveal the problems that African- Americans face?
To what extent is the body used as an extended metaphor to reveal representation?
To what extent is the body used as an extended metaphor to reveal transformation?
To what extent is the body used as an extended metaphor to reveal cultural identity?
To what extent is the body used as an extended metaphor to reveal a form of non-verbal communication (think fear)
To what extent does the American Dream reveal the problems of American culture?
To what extent does Coate’s memoir writing style reflect the power of communication?
Othello (Drama)
What do the play's recurring symbols (e.g. blackness and whiteness, the handkerchief, animal imagery) communicate to the reader/audience?
To what extent is Othello’s cultural background as a Moore an obstacle in his success as a military hero?
Compare Iago to a villain from another play or novel. (Aiimal Farm or Frankenstein) Iago's motivations are often opaque; what about those of this other villain? How are Iago’s tactics of communication similar and where do they diverge?
The Poetry of Neruda
How does Neruda’s poetry imaginatively and metaphorically reveal cultural, social, psychological, and political transformation?
To what extent is the female body a representation of objectification through imagery in Neruda’s love poems?
How are the exotic images and metaphors of nature a representation of the objectification of the human body?
To what extent do Neruda’s metaphors communciate physiological and psychological emotions?
To what extent was Neruda’s quest for social justice and solidarity a transformative aspect in his life? (Spanish Civil War, the Second World War, and the Cold War)
To what extent does Neruda’s use of creative expression reveal his political identity?
To what extent does Neruda metaphorically and creatively use poetry as a weapon to reveal his identity?
To what extent are Neruda’s poems imaginatively and metaphorically rooted in ancient cultural traditions
The Short Stories of Garcia Marquez
How are magical elements presented in the short stories creatively? Consider the use of metaphorical, symbolic, imaginative elements.
To what extent is magical realism a cultural response to colonization?
To what extent does time (past, present, and future) influence the outcome of the short stories?
To what extent are Marquez’s stories a representation of “timelessness”
To what extent does Marquez’s fascination with death
To what extent does magical realism represent the political conflict?
To what extent does Marquez represent the philosophy and idiosyncracy of Latin American culture?
How does the cultural enrichment of Marquez’s literary production combine traditions? (Indian culture, myths, Spanish
To what extent is Macondo a microcoms of reality and cultural circumstances>
Frankenstein Gothic Horror
To what extent does Mary Shelley reveal the creature’s “otherness” as an aspect of cultural conditions during her time?
To what extent does Elizabeth’s identity shift (from optimist to cynic)
To what extent does the entire Frankenstein family reveal transformation(Victor himself embodies the most drastic form of this change from light to dark.)
How is the creature's growth and identity developed through his knowledge and understanding?
How does the creature remain emotionally stunted by his lack of human culture and physical contact?
How does Victor's thirst for power and his lust after knowledge reveal the Gothic culture and Industrialism as a period of change?
To what extent is the human body a representation of otherness?
