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What is required in the HL Essay?
Overview: At HL, you are required to write a 1,200 –1,500 word formal LITERARY ANALYSIS essay which develops a line of inquiry of your own choice in connection with a text or work studied during the 2 year course.
Overview: At HL, you are required to write a 1,200 –1,500 word formal LITERARY ANALYSIS 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, literary argument examining the work from a broad literary or linguistic perspective, using STYLISTIC techniques/Authorial Choices to frame your argument.
Your line of inquiry should be based on 1-2 of the 7 concepts where you construct a focused, literary argument examining the work from a broad literary or linguistic perspective, using STYLISTIC techniques/Authorial Choices to frame your argument.
It also requires you to adhere to the formal framework of an academic essay, using citations and references (MLA)
It also requires you to adhere to the formal framework of an academic essay, using citations and references (MLA)
You may use secondary sources (only from Google Scholar or Gale Database, but are not required to do so.
Teaching Slides
Advice from IB Experts
The Line of Inquiry /Question
The Line of Inquiry /Question
Thesis Statements
HL :Start to Finish
HL :Start to Finish
Model (for non-literary text/photography
Model (for non-literary text/photography
Prose (Speeches/Essays) of Toni Morrison
Prose (Speeches/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)
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?
To what extent does “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” relevant today in terms of transformation?
To what extent does “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” shape one's political perspective
How is Orwell's socialist perspective revealed through the narration?
Does one particular animal represent the author's perspective?
BTWAM (memoir)
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)
Othello (Drama)
How does Shakespeare show the construction of identity through different perspectives in Othello?
How does language function as a tool of power and manipulation in the play?
How does Othello’s transformation reveal the destructive impact of jealousy and insecurity?
To what extent do the play's recurring symbols (e.g. blackness and whiteness, the handkerchief, animal imagery) communicate ______to reader/audience?
To what extent is Othello’s cultural background as a Moore an obstacle in his success as a military hero?
How are Iago’s tactics of communication similar and where do they diverge?
The Poetry of Neruda
The Poetry of Neruda
How does Neruda's journey in the "Heights of MPicchu" lead to a transformed understanding of humanity?
How does Neruda’s poetry imaginatively and metaphorically reveal cultural, social, psychological, and political transformation?
How does Neruda construct collective identity through cultural and historical memory?
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
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
Frankenstein Gothic Horror
How does pathetic fallacy reflect Victor’s emotional state and moral conflict throughout the novel?
To what extent was Mary Shelley influenced by literary and Greek mythological allusions (Prometheus, Paradise Lost..) and how do they deepen her exploration of ambition and responsibility?
How does language function as a tool of power and exclusion, particularly in who is allowed to speak and be heard?
How does the blend of Romantic idealism and Gothic darkness shape Victor’s transformation and the novel’s tragic outcomes?
How do Gothic settings and imagery create fear while revealing psychological and moral corruption?
To what extent does Mary Shelley reveal the creature’s “otherness” as an aspect of economic and 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?
Maus
Maus
How does visual symbolism reveal systems of power, oppression, and dehumanization?
How does Spiegelman use anthropomorphism as a metaphor to construct identity and represent trauma?
How do structure and shifting perspectives shape the representation of memory and survival?
How do gaps, omissions, and silence communicate the limits of language in representing the Holocaust?
How does the act of storytelling transform both survivor and descendant?
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