approaches-to-paper-2-with-kumukanda-and-broken-april.pptx

paper 2

1. Paper 2 Compare and Contrast Essay How to choose the right question, quickly plan ideas, structure your answer effectively. Contains one annotated sample using Kumukanda by Kayo Chingonyi and Broken April by Ismail Kadare

2. Brief Paper 2 is a  1-hour 45-minute examination in which you are asked to write an essay about literary works you have studied on the IB course. The paper is the same for all students, whether you study Lit, Lang and Lit, study at HL or at SL. However, there is a difference in weighting: Paper 2 accounts for 35 % of your final grade if you are an SL student and 25% of your final grade if you ar e an HL student. You are given a choice of four questions and must answer one question only. The essay must be a compare-and-contrast essay about two literary works . Paper 2 is closed book , meaning you will not have your works with you when you sit this exam.

3. Choosing a Question Here is a specimen Paper 2 provided by the IB. As you can see, you will be given a choice of four open questions and must answer only one. Choose the right question and your compare-and-contrast points will come easily and be meaningful. Choose the wrong question and you might find it hard to make meaningful points of comparison. For this reason, you shouldn’t be afraid of spending some time at the start of your examination thinking about the questions and deciding which one you want to answer. Paper 2 questions are always broad and open. Actually, the whole paper is designed to test your ability to think flexibly and critically about the texts you’ve studied. While it’s impossible to predict the exact questions that will appear on your paper, there are certain ‘categories’ that you’ll recognize as you revise and prepare for Paper 2 using past questions. These categories are: ‘theme’ questions ‘character’ questions ‘methodology’ questions ‘composition’ questions ‘interpretation’ questions

4. Theme Questions Theme questions are like pot-luck questions. They tend to be either highly suitable or highly un suitable for different students. For example, if a question asks you to compare-and-contrast the ways love is presented in two literary works, and you’ve studied love poems by Pablo Neruda and a romantic comedy by Shakespeare you’ll probably jump for joy when you see this question! If love is simply not a theme in your literary works, you should probably discard this question. However, you should remember that this paper is asking you to think flexibly and critically. Love can be interpreted in different ways: romantic love is only one interpretation of the question. Love for a country, a certain position in society, for oneself or one’s tribe, or loving a job, hobby or lifestyle would all be valid ways of approaching this theme. Love might cross over with themes like ‘obsession’ or ‘loyalty’, both of which you might be able to reframe as ‘love’ to answer this question. While a theme can only be stretched so far, you should be prepared to take a bold approach when setting out the terms of your response. Here are some examples of theme questions taken from past papers. Would you feel confident answering these questions using the works available to you for Paper 2? Which ones could you attempt, and which would you discard? Discuss the role that regret plays in at least two works studied. How is regret central to the works’ ideas or themes? Consider how the idea of freedom is explored in at least two works you have studied. Compare how betrayal is explored in at least two works you have studied. Explore the importance of trust in at least two literary works you have studied.

5. Character Questions All literary works have characters, in one form or another. Novels and plays are most often all about individual people’s thoughts, actions, and interactions with others. Poems have speakers and personas ; for all intents and purposes, you can treat these like characters as well. Non-fiction works have narrators and are also likely to feature real people who you can consider characters. Sometimes, a writer of a literary work can be a character too, especially in the case of (e.g.) confessional poetry, memoir, or autobiography. Remember that this paper is asking you to think flexibly and critically. You might immediately think of the main characters ( protagonist and antagonist ) from the literary works you’ve studied, and this might indeed be the best approach. But, as part of your planning for character questions, think about how supporting characters or minor characters could help you show a deeper knowledge of your works in terms of the question. Here are some examples of character questions taken from past papers. Would you feel confident answering these questions using the works available to you for Paper 2? Which ones could you attempt, and which would you discard? Can it be concluded that characters are better judged by their actions, not their words? Examine the role and function of the outsider in two works you have studied. Explore how women are represented as stronger than men in at least two of the works you have studied. Consider how and why writers create characters who do not conform to norms in at least two of the works you have studied.

6. Composition Questions Why do writers write? What reasons motivate writers to put pen to paper and create compelling stories for others to read? How does time and place effect the content of literary works? What is a writer’s intention when crafting a particular story or describing an event? These kinds of concepts underpin ‘composition’ questions. You’ll need to have some contextual knowledge to answer composition questions well. General statements like ‘make the reader read on’ are almost never worth making! It’s likely that you’ve learned about the context of your literary works throughout your course of study. If you don’t have this knowledge at your fingertips, it might be best to disregard composition questions. On the other hand, some students find these the best kinds of questions to answer. What do you think? Here are some examples of composition questions taken from past papers. Would you feel confident answering these questions using the works available to you for Paper 2? Which ones could you attempt, and which would you discard? Authors often write because they feel their stories need to be told. Compare how and why authors have written two literary works that you’ve studied on your course. The time and place where a literary work is set are of crucial importance to understanding the work as a whole. Discuss with reference to at least two literary works you have studied. How have at least two of the works you have studied pursued overt political aims and to what larger effect? Works of literature can often function as social commentary . Discuss with reference to at least two literary works you have studied.

7. Interpretation Questions How do readers interpret what they read? Why do different readers interpret the same text in similar or different ways? What impact does genre, style, and form have on a reader? Can the meaning of a text change over time? These kinds of reader response issues are the bread and butter of interpretive questions, which ask you to think about the context of interpretation when you read literary works. Interpretation questions tend to provoke the strongest ‘love / hate’ responses from students, with some students gravitating towards questions of interpretation and other students just crossing them out immediately. Your feelings towards TOK might have something to do with how much you enjoy answering questions like these! In many ways, these are the quintessential Paper 2 questions, as they are asking you to think critically and reflectively about not just what you read but how you read as well. Interpretation questions are sometimes, but not always, built around a premise or statement and are explicitly asking you to ‘consider’ your personal response , and perhaps the response of other readers , to literary works. Here are some examples of interpretation questions taken from past papers. Would you feel confident answering these questions using the works available to you for Paper 2? Which ones could you attempt, and which would you discard? Friendship marks a life more deeply than romantic love. Consider this idea with reference to two literary work’s you have studied. Sometimes a crisis creates a positive change. Consider this idea with reference to two literary works you’ve studied. A good life means different things to different people. Consider how a good life is presented in two works of literature you’ve studied. How valid is the assertion that literary works are a voice for the oppressed? Consider this question using two works of literature you’ve studied.

8. Methodology Questions Like ‘theme’ questions, methodology questions have an element of pot-luck about them as sometimes the given methodology is something pertinent to the works you’ve studied (like symbolism). Some students like methodology questions as they feel like a ‘safety net’ in the examination; it’s likely that you know enough about the methods and choices of the writers. Methodology questions also provide the most straightforward route to analysis, which you need to do to get marks in Criteria B. In some ways, ‘methodology’ questions are the most straightforward to answer. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for critical thinking and evaluation. For example, a question about ‘symbolism’ appears simple enough. But you still have to think carefully about the symbols you choose to present. The choices you make will determine how deeply you can discuss the literary works. For example, you should pick symbols that feed into the author’s wider themes and concerns. Here are some examples of methodology questions taken from past papers. Would you feel confident answering these questions using the works available to you for Paper 2? Which ones could you attempt, and which would you discard? With reference to two works you’ve studied, consider how point of view shapes our understanding of the story. Discuss how formal characteristics of literary genres affect meaning in two literary works you’ve studied. How do two writer’s you’ve studied use language to create intense or unforgettable moments? Discuss the creation of setting and its role in creating a physical and/or emotional landscape in two works of literature you have studied.

9. Mixed Category Questions Some of the questions you’ll see on your paper fall into multiple categories. Here’s another look at the IB provided specimen paper. Question 1 is a ‘theme’ question about intolerance. But the question also asks you to consider how the effects of intolerance are presented, encouraging you to write about methodologies too. Question 2 is a ‘methodology’ question asking you to write about the methods writers use to create atmosphere. However, the question also asks you to consider the effects of atmosphere on the reader, drawing attention to the importance of interpretation in this question as well. Question 3 is an example of a truly mixed category question. The question is so broad you can decide to write about almost any aspect of your literary works. The question asks ‘how’ writers invite readers to identify with their writing, encouraging you to discuss writer’s methods. The word ‘why’ reminds you to consider writer’s purposes, making this a mixed ‘methods/composition’ question. But then things open up even more as the question gives you several options: do you want to write about ideas? You can make this a theme question. Do you want to focus on ‘characters’? The question gives you this option. Or if you prefer to explore your personal interpretation of literature, you can write about ‘situations’ the author presents and how you identify with these too! When faced with a mixed category question look out for words like ‘and/or’. This will tell you what you should write about and what you can choose to write about. When answering questions like this it is especially important to write a clear introduction so your reader knows what the focus of your essay is going to be. Go back to the previous slides and see how many ‘mixed category’ questions you can find.

10. Activity: Question Categories Create a pentagon template with the five question types written in each corner: theme; character; methodology; composition; interpretation. Here are 12 questions of the types you might encounter in Paper 2. Place the number of each question on your pentagon to reflect the kind of question you think it is. If you’re not entirely sure, place the number between two question types as some questions do fit into more than one category: Referring to two works you have studied, discuss how the author has created a convincing ‘world’? Some writers shine a light while others criticize explicitly. Compare and contrast these different approaches in two works of literature you’ve studied. Compare and contrast the way people in two works of literature are trapped or confined in some way, and the reasons for this. With regard to two works of literature you have studied, explore the representation of poverty. Writers can present their ideas in unusual or thought-provoking ways. How, and to what effect, has this been shown in two works you have studied? Whether implicitly or explicitly, literary works communicate cultural values to the reader. How have cultural values been conveyed in two works you have studied, and to what effect? Explain how the works you have studied present characters who are complex and multi-faceted. To what extent do male and female characters accurately reflect the role of men and women in society in two literary works you have studied? How, and for what purposes, do writers of two works portray the societies they are writing about? Authors sometimes change the order of events in literary works while sometimes events play out in chronological sequence. Discuss how and why authors change the order of events in two literary works, and the effects created by these choices. Writers choose words, phrases, and names of people and places to suggest further meanings to the reader. With reference to two works you have studied, discuss how such words and their associations further your understanding of the works. Discuss how two of the works you have studied present concepts of good and bad, not as absolutes, but as a matter of individual perception. Theme Methodology Composition Character Interpretation

11. Activity: Question Survey Use the sample paper opposite to complete this exercise. For the sake of this exercise, use four of the literary works from your course (even if one or more is not available for Paper 2). Make brief comments about the suitability of the texts for each question. Here’s an example using questions 1 – 4 from the previous slide. Click to enlarge th e table. Kumukanda The Bloody Chamber Pygmalion Broken April How are plot and structure used? Perfect Question: coming of age story, free verse vs formalist poems, journey through education Excellent: coming of age stories, short stories modeled on traditional fairy tales Good: Cinderella story, subverted romance, five act structure Good: split narrative, Gjorg’s journey, Diana’s journey Shine a light vs explicitly criticize Excellent: SAL = music culture and importance of belonging. EC = racism Good: SAL = marginalization of women in traditional stories, women’s desire, feminism. Perfect Question: SAL = class difference, prejudice, feminism, lots of stuff! EC = importance of education Perfect Question: SAL = women’s status EC = culture of the Kanun and revenge killings Trapped or confined Tricky: can argue he’s ‘trapped’ by the racist assumptions of others, his own loneliness Good: Narrator trapped in the castle by the Marquis, Wolf-Alice ‘trapped’ by the nuns Good: Lisa is ‘trapped’ by her lower class status Perfect Question: Gjorg is trapped by the Kanun, Diana is confined to a lesser role by societal expectation Presentation of poverty Too hard Good: Narrator is motivated by desire to escape poverty, learns that money isn’t everything Perfect Question: Liza’s poverty contrasted against Higgins’ wealth, writer shows poverty prevents self-actualization Tricky: can argue that the Kanun is a system of exploiting poverty, presentation of mountain men vs Bessian and Diana Kumukanda The Bloody Chamber Pygmalion Broken April How are plot and structure used? Perfect Question: coming of age story, free verse vs formalist poems, journey through education Excellent: coming of age stories, short stories modeled on traditional fairy tales Good: Cinderella story, subverted romance, five act structure Good: split narrative, Gjorg’s journey, Diana’s journey Shine a light vs explicitly criticize Excellent: SAL = effect of culture on one’s sense of identity and belonging EC = racism Good: SAL = marginalization of women in traditional stories, women’s desire, feminism Perfect Question: SAL = class difference, prejudice, feminism, lots of stuff! EC = importance of education Perfect Question: SAL = women’s status EC = culture of the Kanun and revenge killings Trapped or confined Tricky: can argue he’s ‘trapped’ by the racist assumptions of others, his own loneliness Good: Narrator trapped in the castle by the Marquis, Wolf-Alice ‘trapped’ by the nuns Good: Liza is ‘trapped’ by her lower-class status and lack of education Perfect Question: Gjorg is trapped by the Kanun, Diana is confined to a lesser role by societal expectations of women Presentation of poverty Too hard! Good: Narrator is motivated by desire to escape poverty, learns that money isn’t everything Perfect Question: Liza’s poverty contrasted against Higgins’ wealth, writer shows poverty prevents self-actualization Tricky: can argue that the Kanun is a system of exploiting poverty, presentation of mountain men vs Bessian and Diana

12. What your examiners say Extract from May 2024 Subject Report The most successful student responses directly addressed the chosen prompt, offering original insights and a clear enthusiasm for sharing interpretation of the works in relation to their argument developed around the chosen question. Examiners observed an issue with some students who do not fully address their chosen question and instead attempt to respond with a ‘prepackaged’ answer – this led to a lack of focus on the specific demands of the question at hand and weaker critical analysis of the works in relation to the question.

13. Planning Method 1: Venn Diagram Once you have chosen which question you would like to write about, you should quickly find several compare-and-contrast points about your two literary works. The combination of these ideas should form your thesis and provide a strong structure for your essay. A great way to quickly generate ideas for a compare-and-contrast essay is to use a Venn diagram . Challenge yourself to find areas in which the works are similar (comparison points) and different (contrast points). Think of points about the content of the works and the methodologies writers use. On the next slide you’ll see an example of how to use the Venn diagram method to quickly generate ideas for a Paper 2 question using the texts Kumukanda by Kayo Chingonyi and Broken April by Ismail Kadare: John Venn gave his name to the Venn diagram in the 1880s. He developed this visual tool to help simplify mathematical problems; happily, you can use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast literary works too!

14. Some writers shine a light while others criticize explicitly. Compare and contrast these different approaches in two works of literature you’ve studied. Uses racially loaded language such as ‘minstrel’ and the N word to make explicit criticisms of Britain: it’s not a ‘post-race’ society. Ultimately, Kadare reveals how oppressive cultures overwhelm individuals, robbing them of free will and hindering personal development, even to the extent of taking people’s lives. Diana as a symbol of possible change in the future. Ultimately, Kumukanda reveals how oppressive cultures can be resisted and individuality can be expressed. Poems as an act of individual expression. Allusions to blackface minstrelsy reveal history of structural racism. Kumukanda Both works shine a light on how traditions affect people’s life chances and define what they can and can’t do. Kumukanda : Kayo’s life is hindered by structural racism. Broken April: Diana is hindered by social expectations of women and confined to a lesser role by her husband. Both works use conflict between characters to shine a light on assumptions that work against individuals. Kayo: conflicts with teachers, lecturers over the N word. Diana: conflicts with Bessian over the Kanun. Kadare explicitly criticizes the Kanun’s culture of revenge killing in Albania’s northern mountain communities. Typecasting: ‘lean dark men who may have guns.’ Uses Gjorg’s internal monologue to question aspects of the Kanun. Repeated questioning ‘why?’ Pathetic fallacy used to reflect how culture can overpower individuals, robbing people of free will: ‘cold’ and ‘pomegranates’. Kayo Chingonyi explicitly criticizes the culture of institutional racism in Britain, especially in educational establishments. Broken April

15. Planning Method 2: Graphic Organizer Some people find the Venn Diagram method effective and helpful; others find it too free-form. In that case, an alternative is to use a graphic organizer to help you plan ideas and select examples from each work. The strength of a graphic organizer is it will provide a very effective and reliable structure for your essay, forcing you to select precise moments and methods from each written text to support your arguments. A drawback is it can be time consuming (although, theoretically, better planning should mean you can write quickly, using the remaining exam time to win more marks). If you have trouble planning and structuring your compare-and-contrast essays effectively, consider using this method. On the next slide, you’ll find an example of how to use the graphic organizer method to help you collect and organize ideas for a Paper 2 question using the texts Kumukanda by Kayo Chingonyi and Broken April by Ismail Kadare: Using a graphic organizer like this guarantees that you will prepare well for writing your Paper 2 essay, including finding the right number of examples to support your ideas.

16. Writing your Introduction Once you’ve given some careful thought to the similarities and differences between your two works, should be able to begin writing your answer. Paper 2 should be written in the form of an essay, requiring an introduction. Make sure that your introduction achieves three things: Defines the terms of the question in the way you want to answer them; Introduces the two literary works and writers you are going to discuss; Provides a compare-and-contrast thesis , stating the similarities and differences you are going to discuss are.

17. Sample Introduction Writers of literary works use different strategies to convey their messages. Some ‘shine a light’, meaning they implicitly reveal their ideas in a subtle way. Others ‘criticize explicitly’, skewering their targets in a more direct way. Both Ismail Kadare in Broken April and Kayo Chingonyi in Kumukanda shine a light on the way ingrained cultures and traditions impact individuals, effecting their sense of self and reducing their life chances. Both writers also explicitly criticize aspects of their cultures, although the precise targets of their criticisms are not the same: on one hand, Kadare’s target is a customary law called the Kanun that dictates how young men who live in Albania’s northern mountain villages must engage in a ritual of blood feuds and revenge killings. On the other hand, Chingonyi explicitly criticizes structural racism in Britain, a supposedly post-racial society, through a sequence of poems ‘calling a spade a spade’ (part of the Kumukanda collection) which reveal moments of overt and covert racism he encountered at school, college, and in his early career. Some writers shine a light while others criticize explicitly. Compare and contrast these different approaches in two works of literature you’ve studied. Clarify the terms of the question as you understand them at the start of your answer. Introduce the two works you will use to answer the question. Set out your compare-and-contrast thesis: in what ways are the works similar and different in terms of the question?

18. What your examiners say Extract from May 2024 Subject Report Creating introductions that provided a clear thesis statement or sense of the forthcoming argument proved challenging for some students. Too often introductions became convoluted with contextual information or lost the sense of the demands of the chosen question as it moved along into the body of the response. Students should practice crafting introductions that present the works, and deliver a clear thesis or argument that allows them to set up their response well for better subsequent development of ideas.

19. Understanding the Mark Scheme As is common in IB English assessments, your writing will be assessed according to four criteria. By understanding the criteria, you can develop an essay that allows you to score highly across the board: Criteria A: Knowledge, understanding and interpretation /10 Criteria B: Analysis and evaluation /10 Criteria C: Focus and organization /5 Criteria D: Use of language /5

20. Understanding the Mark Scheme: Criteria A Criteria A allows you to score fully one third of your marks (10 out of 30). To get 7 or 8 marks in Criteria A you have to demonstrate “good knowledge and understanding of the works and a sustained interpretation in relation to the question answered.” In addition, you must offer “a convincing interpretation of the similarities and differences between the works in relation to the question.” To get 9 or 10, your writing must also be “perceptive”, “persuasive”, and ”insightful.” Therefore, it’s recommended that you begin the main body of your essay by writing about both works (compare) before going into detail about how the works are different (contrast). This overall structure will not only ensure you compare-and-contrast across your answer but will also help you stay on-task and be organized, so you get marks in Criteria C as well. Support your idea(s) about how the works are similar by choosing an example from each work to integrate into this paragraph. You can see how this is done on the next slides:

21. Sample Main Body Paragraph: compare both works In Kumukanda and Broken April, both writers shine a light on the way ingrained cultures and traditions impact the lives of individuals in society. In Kumukanda , Kayo Chingonyi writes from his own personal experience, creating confessional poems that shine a light on the way his personal and professional development is hindered by institutionalized racism. For example, in the poem The Cricket Test he recalls how students would self-select into teams of black and white players. He describes this situation as ‘a shrine to apartheid.’ Kayo purposefully uses such a strong and pointed phrase to call attention to the way ingrained mistrust of other races keep British people apart from each other, hindering opportunities to form a truly multi-cultural community. When he tried to join the other team, he was asked why he didn’t want to be ‘with his own kind’. Such racial language points to divisions in British culture that held him back as a minority student. Similarly, Kadare shines a light on how ingrained inequality hinders people in Albanian society. He uses the character of Diana to illustrate how women’s identities are suppressed in a patriarchal society. For example, despite being well-educated in her own right, when the news of her marriage to Bessian is reported in a local newspaper, he is referred to as ‘the writer Bessian Vorpsi ’ while she is called simply ‘his new wife’. Revealing how the media uses names in an unequal way shines a light on the bias towards celebrating male achievement over women’s stories. Therefore, while one writer is concerned with race and the other with gender, both writers shine a light on issues of inequality in their respective cultures. It’s a good idea to make your first section about both works. Words like ‘similarly’ show you’re focused on the task of comparison. Using connectives throughout sends a clear signal to your reader that you’re on task. Go back to the question at the end of the paragraph, drawing together your points about both works. Notice how this sentence adds nuance to the argument through acknowledging the works are ‘similar-but-different’.

22. Sample Main Body Paragraph: compare both works Furthermore, both writers use conflict between characters as a method that exposes issues of inequality in an indirect way, which is the essence of a ‘shine the light’ approach. Kadare uses the imbalance between Bessian and Diana’s dialogue to represent the way she is dominated by her husband. Bessian speaks for lines and lines in an incessant lecturing tone while Diana offers only brief encouragement and affirmation. Indeed, when she disagrees with Bessian he becomes offended so she either self-corrects or simply stays silent. Throughout these passages, Kadare uses the metonymy of Bessian’s lips so they become symbolic of his dominating the conversation and dismissing Diana’s viewpoint. This is an effective way of indirectly shining a light on how women are silenced and their opinions devalued in the context of a patriarchal society. Equally, Kayo Chingonyi uses conflict between characters to shine a light on institutional racism in education. Just like with Diana, his feelings are marginalized by people in power. For example, in the poem Colloquy in Black Rock, Kayo finds reading ‘the N word’ an uncomfortable and challenging experience. Seeing the word in print reminds him how celebrated writers who are taught on school curriculums saw black people as inferior. However, his lecturer skirts around this issue and dismisses Kayo’s concerns, failing to recognize the power of the N word to diminish Kayo’s sense of self-worth. Therefore, through creating conflict between characters, both writers shine a light on the way prejudices are ingrained into cultures, resulting in structural inequalities between men and women, or people of different racial identities. While this is a ‘composition’ question, it’s time to include discussion of methodologies as well. The answer explains a technique that both writers use to ‘shine a light’. Connectives like ‘equally’ and ‘just like’ signpost comparisons. Your reader will be looking for these to confirm you are comparing throughout. This end of the first section restates the comparison point using the words of the question. So far, the answer is completely on task.

23. What your examiners say Extract from May 2024 Subject Report Schools are encouraged to teach students to carefully analyze the essay question and brainstorm ideas specifically relevant to it before they launch into writing their response. Too many essays were formulaic, so examiners are seeing less evidence of critical thinking in response to the question and more of an effort to list remembered facts without attention or connection to the chosen question. Students should be encouraged to concentrate on addressing the question anew in the examination, brainstorm ideas that ultimately coalesce into an argument that directly responds to the chosen question and select key moments or features in the works that support that argument.

24. Understanding the Mark Scheme: Criteria A Returning to the mark scheme, let’s take another close look at Criteria A, remembering that here is your chance to get a large chunk of the marks available in Paper 2. To get 7 or 8 marks in Criteria A you have to offer “a convincing interpretation of the similarities and differences between the works in relation to the question.” Once you’ve written about how two literary works are similar (compare), it makes sense to spend time writing about how they are different (contrast). As a bonus, this structure will help you stay on task (the task is to write a compare-and-contrast essay), so you’ll get marks in Criteria C as well. On the next slides, you’ll read about how Kumukanda contrasts with Broken April in relation to the way the writers ‘explicitly criticize‘ certain ideas. You can look back at the Venn diagram (on slide 13) to check which ideas from the initial planning of this answer are developed in more detail. To begin with, this section focuses on one work, setting up points to contrast with the second work later on.

25. Sample Main Body Paragraph: contrasting works While both writers are similar in the way they shine a light on ingrained prejudices, they are very different in the way they explicitly criticize. This is largely down to the very different contexts that they are writing in. On one hand, Kayo Chingonyi is writing about racism in education during the 1980s to early 2000s in Britain, a supposedly ‘post-race’ society. He explicitly uses this phrase in the poem Varsity Blues, in which, while directing his graduating play, he purposefully casts white actors to play black characters. His intention was to call attention to the historical tradition of blackface minstrelsy whereby white performers would play exaggerated and distorted versions of black people as a form of mass entertainment. In another explicit moment, Kayo recalls how his lead actress put on a ‘showy minstrel tone’ for this performance. As before, his use of racialized language has the effect of shocking the reader and is a pointed reminder that, while white actors are free to impersonate black people, the same is not true in reverse. In fact, black people are also limited to playing exaggerated and distorted versions of themselves. In the poem Casting, Kayo remembers being typecast when he was forced to play ‘lean dark men who may have guns’ as these were the only roles available for black actors. Through such direct and explicit moments in his poems, Kayo Chingonyi explicitly criticizes the idea that Britain is a post-race society, instead revealing how structural racism continues to disadvantage black students in college and in the world of work. This transition sentence is very effective, smoothly moving the essay from the ‘compare’ stage to the ‘contrast’ stage. As Paper 2 is closed book, you do not need to include exact quotations in your essay. This approach of paraphrasing while embedding key words is effective. Of course, if longer phrases relevant to your argument come to mind, you should feel confident quoting in full, as in this third example.

26. Sample Main Body Paragraph: contrasting works On the other hand, Ismail Kadare writes about the culture of blood feuds and revenge killing in the far north of Albania during the early–mid twentieth century. Unlike Chingonyi , his target is a customary code of law called the Kanun, which is used to administer this far-flung region. His novel is set far from the educational settings of Chingonyi’s poems, in Albania’s ‘cold’ and ‘desolate’ mountain regions. Kadare uses these descriptive words to create pathetic fallacy, revealing how the Kanun dehumanizes the inhabitants of the plateau. He focuses on one such individual, a young man named Gjorg Berisha who is forced to kill his neighbour’s son as part of an extended blood feud between the two families. At the moment of ambush, Kadare highlights how wild pomegranates scattered around the scene felt to Gjorg like ‘silent witnesses’, a personification that suggests he’s being watched and judged by an unforgiving society. While language such as this is less pointed than Chingonyi’s , nevertheless, through describing Gjorg as an unwilling participant in the act of killing, Kadare explicitly criticizes a culture that makes murderers out of its young men. To drive this point home, Kadare depicts Gjorg’s internal conflict, especially his repetition of ‘why?’ Yet each time he questions the Kanun, his mind provides the answer: ‘custom’. Kadare uses this repetition to show how the Kanun restricts Gjorg’s options and takes away his free will. Gjorg has no choice except to follow the laws of the code, leading to a cycle of violence that cannot be broken. Therefore, while both writers explicitly criticize, the targets of their criticism differ as a result of two very different contexts. Equally, the characters they draw have different ways of expressing their resistance to the pressures of the settings in which they exist. The pattern ‘On one hand... On the other hand…’ is a good way of linking contrast points. The answer explains how both works ‘explicitly criticize’ in different ways. At the end of this section, the contrast between the two works is restated. The answer is on task and pertinent to the question.

27. Concluding Thoughts At the end of your examination, you should try to leave some time for a conclusion. As the task is to write an essay, it is expected that you will write a short conclusion. There’s no formula to writing an effective conclusion as your thoughts should derive from the essay that you’ve just written. Try NOT to simply summarize the points you’ve just made. A good conclusion should: Revisit the question you have been answering; Draw together your ideas about how the works are similar and different; Try to give your reader a ‘sense of ending’ (admittedly, it can be hard to capture what this means in practice) by presenting a ‘final thought’.

28. Sample Conclusion In conclusion, both Kayo Chingonyi and Ismail Kadare demonstrate that shining a light or explicitly criticizing are both effective ways of exposing underreported issues for readers, whether the structural racism that still exists in modern Britain, or a customary code that traps young men in a cycle of violence in Albania. The works ultimately differ through their outlook on overcoming these difficulties. As a victim of structural racism, Kayo nevertheless rose above this challenge and became a successful writer, DJ, and university lecturer, proving that individuality can be expressed in society. By contrast, Kadare reveals that some oppressive systems rob individuals of free will and can even cost people their lives. At the end of his work, only Diana remains as a symbol that perhaps, one day in the future, change is possible. Use the words of the question again in the essay’s conclusion. This conclusion delivers a ‘final thought’ about how the works compare and contrast. The final line attempts to leave the reader with a ‘sense of ending’.

29. What your examiners say Extract from May 2024 Subject Report The most effective conclusions draw the essay to a satisfying sense of an argument having been proven; they do not simply summarise the points just made, nor do they introduce new analysis. The most successful student responses directly addressed the chosen prompt, offering original insights and a clear enthusiasm for sharing interpretation of the works in relation to their argument developed around the chosen question. Examiners were impressed by fresh perspectives and in-depth knowledge and understanding demonstrated by some students.

30. Key points to remember as you write: Your task is to write a compare-and-contrast essay, so begin each paragraph with an idea about how the works are similar or different. Present one example per work per paragraph to support what you say about how the works are similar or different. Do not fall into the trap of writing a list of features or retelling the story of the works! Strictly control the length of your paragraphs. End each paragraph by returning to the compare/contrast point, restating how the works are similar or different, ideally providing insight into the similar or different ideas created by writers. Use the words of the question at the beginning and end of each paragraph.

31. Time to Write! Now you have seen how to compare-and-contrast, try writing your own essay by choosing any question from this resource and using your own combination of two literary works. Begin by planning the similarities and differences you want to write about. Use either the Venn Diagram method or a Graphic Organizer to find both similarities and differences between your two works and select examples to support your ideas. Begin your answer by writing about the similarities between both works. Use connectives such as ‘similarly’, ’equally’, ‘just like’, ‘in the same way’, and so on to write comparatively. Use connectives such as ‘on one hand… on the other hand’, ‘by contrast’, ‘however’, ‘unlike’, etc. to write about the differences between works. To practice, it’s fine to work at your own speed. For an extra challenge, set a timer (1 hour 45 minutes) to simulate the pressure of writing in an exam.