Violence

1) Trace Papa's abuse: What causes it and how do family members respond?

Possible introductory paragraph:

There are numerous issues that many societies tend to share across time and place. One of such is violence, be it on personal or societal level. Nigerian-American author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has investigated this theme in her 2004 novel "Purple Hibiscus" through the Achike family dynamics, especially the father of the protagonist, who presents himself to the community as a kind, benevolent man but inside the family compound is overly strict and controlling and abusive of both his spouse and children.

2) Main types of violence in Purple Hibiscus:

• domestic

• gender

• psychological

• colonial

Discussion:

1. What has made Papa such a violent father? 

2. What kinds of things trigger his violence? 

3. Why don’t his wife and children actively resist his violence earlier? 

4. What do you think of Amaka’s statement “Some people can’t handle stress”? 

5. Do you think Mama’s action was justified? 

6. Why do you think Jaja wanted to take the blame for her crime? 

7. What kind of message does the novel as a whole give us about domestic violence?

(https://www.cram.com/essay/Violence-In-Purple-Hibiscus/FKJJ7T8K5J)

8. How would you behave in a similar situation?

9) What advice would you give each character?

3) Make a 3-4-minute oral essay on the topic you drew in class (based on Purple Hibiscus):

* An exploration of the connections between differing forms of violence in Nigeria after colonialism.

* Gender-based violence manifests in the form of domestic violence.

* Papa uses violence to enforce his own kind of oppression on his family.

* Just as colonialism resulted in a corrupt independent government, so papa's violence compels Mama to poison and murder him.

* Papa is a "colonial product", a man who has bought into the colonial mindset. 

* Women of different status are shown to use different means of resisting patriarchy and violence in the quest for liberating relationships.

* Exploration of the intersectionality of gender, class, race, religion, postcoloniality and power.

* Exploration of violence sprung from cultural conflict.

4) Reflection on Violence (1969) by Hannah Arendt

A pair-writing task for your portfolio

Choose one page of the essay on violence that you believe is most representative of her writing style and the main issues in this essay.

Treat it like a Paper 1 text. Come up with your own guiding question, and write.

This will help you recall how to tackle Paper 1: https://philpot.education/mod/page/view.php?id=19

Have another pair read your essay and suggest improvements / additions / alternative approaches.

Hannah Arendt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

5) Exam preparation:

Find a page-long extract from Purple Hibiscus that you believe best reflects abuse and violence in the novel. Compare this to a text provided in class.

Paper 2 again

NB! See also my 21 Feb 2022 blog post.
Generally, Paper 2 exam essay questions seem to be concentrating on the following:
* Form and Structure
* Personal judgement, often can ask about a “lens” - cultural - feminist - etc.
* Themes or characterization - maybe conflict
* Broad Concept - beliefs - home - etc.

NB! See my 16 May 2022 blog post on assessment of essays.

What makes a text timeless and literary???
timeless = not affected by the passage of time or changes in fashion.
literary = having a marked style intended to create a particular emotional effect
Some sample Paper 2 questions:
1) Literature is often said to be timeless. To what extent is this true of two works you have studied?
2) How can we explain the continued interest in a particular work in different contexts and at different times?

The following could all be significant. Put them in the order of importance for you:
* an original, interesting plot
* well-rounded characters that are not perfect but easy to relate to
* a good conflict to build the story around, a good climax and resolution
* a well-done ending
* interesting use of language
* good use of literary devices and techniques
* being set in an interesting world
* themes of major importance and universal interest discussed
* aesthetic value

Possible reasons brought out by some earlier students (not a definitive list):
* reader being able to relate to the themes (real-life history, human struggle, epic fight good vs evil, existential questions)
* the characters have distinctive voices (characteristic of the time and place)
* life-like characters develop throughout the story (round and dynamic vs flat and static, see: https://prezi.com/c7kkzijg2-fa/characters-round-and-flat-static-vs-dynamic/)
* different elements work together (plot, character development, writing technique, etc)
* the text
               includes several different viewpoints
               is easily readable but not simplistic
               allows multiple interpretations
               gives a good overview of the world the story is set in
               caters for the reader's intellectual, emotional, ethical, and
                                                                       spiritual development
               makes the reader question sth, ask questions
                                                                  and search for answers
               makes the reader think about themselves, their times,
                                                                          their society, etc (familiarity)

Literary criticism

15 types: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/literary-theory-explained

Feminist criticism:  https://www.thoughtco.com/feminist-literary-criticism-3528960#:~:text

Marxist criticism: https://writingcommons.org/section/research/research-methods/textual-methods/literary-criticism/marxist-criticism/#:~:text

Queer theory: https://literariness.org/2019/03/04/queer-theory/

Gay/lesbian studieshttps://literariness.org/2018/11/15/gay-lesbian-studies/

NB! See Literary criticism generic questions (on Tera)

Revision for Paper 1

Text types most often featured in Paper 1: revise their characteristic features.

* web page * blog post * infographic * newspaper or magazine article * opinion column * leaflet * cartoon * comic strip * speech * letter * review * brochure * travel writing * tabloid cover

Don't forget about mood and atmosphere and authorial intent and target reader.

This source helps a lot: https://ibenglishguys.com/paper-one/

NB! 

Answer the guiding question. 

Have a proper thesis statement. 

Introduction and conclusion necessary, too.

What you write should be logical, easy to follow, formal and impersonal. Illustrate with specific examples from the text.

Concentrate on analysis.

Assessment of essays

Assessment of essays:

The maximum mark you can get for a subject in IB is 7.

One way of looking at whether you are there already is to assess your work and deduce points for the following:

* not writing on the topic

* illegible handwriting

* focusing on oneself / not impersonal enough

* using past tenses instead of present ones

* logic hard to follow

* missing or extremely weak introduction or conclusion

* no thesis statement

* short forms

* too few literary terms used, or terms used wrongly

* excessive grammar / vocabulary / spelling problems

* important issues not mentioned

* nothing on authorial intent

* faulty structure (we should be able to see since the beginning where the essay is headed, and it shouldn't be jumping all over the place)

PhilpotNew Task 3.12 rewritten for small groups (do NOT go there unless instructed to do so)

* Read the intro and point a (PhilpotNew p 135 Towards assessment).

* Go to Chapter 8 and read / discuss pp 321-322 (up till the end of Task 8.1).

* Refresh your memory of what is available on the blog in connection with the IO (and where exactly).

* Back to p 135. Read Texts 2.27 and 2.28 quickly, discuss point b, and pick a global issue to concentrate on.

* Annotate both texts, and do point c on your own.

* Instead of point d, share your outlines in your small groups.

* Do points e-j using feedback from your small group members.

* Save everything in your portfolio.

NB! You are not allowed to use the same texts for your real IO that you have used for this kind of practice.

Do NOT go past this line yet!

Analysis of The Diet by Carol Ann Duffy (only to be consulted after you have done PhilpotNew Task 3.12 as fully as possible): https://poemanalysis.com/carol-ann-duffy/the-diet/

Task: consult the online analysis, and add another layer to your annotation of the poem.

A student's analysis of Text 2.28: 

https://sites.psu.edu/rclvandevelde/2013/10/17/unit-two-paper-draft-two/

Beauty and fitness adverts: 

https://flashbak.com/beauty-and-fitness-adverts-the-fine-art-of-preying-on-a-bad-self-image-5469/

Portfolio task: Use Text 2.28 as the text for practice for Paper 1, with this guiding question:

How does this advertisement use written and visual language to ‘speak’ to its reader?

Paper 2

The Paper 2 exam consists of 4 essay questions, only one of which must be answered during the timed period. You have to use two of the literary works not used in other assessments in the course for this exam.  Although the questions will change from exam to exam, they will be broad in nature allowing a wide and diverse set of literary works to be used.  

NB!

* Both HL and SL answer 1 of 4 essay questions. SL and HL students receive exactly the same 4 questions.

* Both HL and SL must answer one question in relation to two literary works studied in the course.

* Both HL and SL students cannot write about any literary work studied that was used in any previous assessment component.

* Both HL and SL have 1 hour and 45 minutes answer this essay question. 

* Both HL and SL are graded using the same criteria.

* At SL, Paper 2 grade counts for 35% of the final grade.

* At HL, Paper 2 grade counts for 25% of the final grade.

Sample questions (thanks goes to Mr Philpot)

1. Referring to two of the works you have studied, discuss both how and why the text invites the reader to identify with situations, characters and/or ideas.

2. Often the appeal for the reader of a literary work is the atmosphere a writer creates (for example, peaceful, menacing or ironic). Discuss some of the ways atmospheres are conveyed and to what effect in two of the works you have studied.

3. Writers often choose words, phrases and names of characters and places not only for their literal meaning, but for further meanings that they may suggest to the reader. With reference to two of the works you have studied, discuss how such words and their associations contribute to your understanding and appreciation of the works.

4. How is “home” depicted in two of the works you have studied and what is its significance?

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

6. 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?

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

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

Assessment criteria:

Tip: Practice both self and peer assessment.

Exam papers

Paper 1 is an examination using unseen non-literary texts assessed externally. You are supposed to write a guided textual analysis about one (SL) or both (HL) of the texts provided.

Each text comes with with a guiding question, which will be about a technical or formal aspect of the text.  You do not have to answer the guiding question, and you can propose your own line of argument about the text, it must be focused on a particular aspect that provides focus to the analysis. 
Passages for analysis may be complete pieces of writing or extracts from larger works, or from a visual text or an extract from a longer piece (e.g. advertisements, opinion columns, brochures, extracts, etc. Check the Subject Guide for more examples.
Paper 1 counts for 35% of the final grade, out of 20 marks for SL and 40 marks for HL.

Paper 2 consists of four essay questions (the same for SL/HL, and graded externally using the same criteria), only one of which must be answered during 1 hour and 45 min. You need to use two of the literary works not used in other assessments in the course for it.  Although the questions are bound to change from exam to exam, they will be broad in nature allowing a wide and diverse set of literary works to be used. 
Some sample questions, quoted from InThinking:
1. Referring to two of the works you have studied, discuss both how and why the text invites the reader to identify with situations, characters and/or ideas.
2. Often the appeal for the reader of a literary work is the atmosphere a writer creates (for example, peaceful, menacing or ironic). Discuss some of the ways atmospheres are conveyed and to what effect in two of the works you have studied.
3. Writers often choose words, phrases and names of characters and places not only for their literal meaning, but for further meanings that they may suggest to the reader. With reference to two of the works you have studied, discuss how such words and their associations contribute to your understanding and appreciation of the works.
4. How is “home” depicted in two of the works you have studied and what is its significance?
5. How do two of the works you have studied portray the struggle to be understood?
6. 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?
7. Discuss how two works you have studied present concepts of good and bad, not as absolute notions, but as a matter of individual perception.
8. Referring to two works you have studied, discuss how the author has created a convincing “world”.

LangLit assessment