Paper 2 Review (Part 3 novels) power point
Remember:
 A question does not necessarily apply to each work in the same way. Differences are just as important as
similarities.
 It’s not about what is “right”; it’s about what you can prove.
 You HAVE to address literary features (criterion C).
1.
Some writers of novels and short stories use cinematic techniques in their works. Using texts by at least two writers you
have studied, examine how and how effectively certain scenes have been written so that the reader can clearly visualize
what is happening.
2.
“In life there are either winners or losers.” How far and to what effect do at least two writers you have studied explore this
idea?
3.
“Fiction is an essentially rhetorical art - that is to say the novelist or short-story writer persuades us to share a certain view
of the world for the duration of the reading experience.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? In your answer
you should refer to at least two of the works in your study.
4.
In what ways and for what reasons do the works of prose fiction you have studied seek to represent thought or interior
consciousness? In your answer you should refer to at least two of the works you have studied.
5.
Almost all novels and short stories have a cultural context. How is such a context presented, and to what extent is it
important for understanding works by at least two writers?
6.
Discuss the ways in which at least two writers you have studied have sought to undermine or interfere with the “voices” of
their characters in order to persuade, manipulate or instruct their audience.
7.
“Where other people exist genuine individuality is never possible.” To what extent does this statement reflect the
experiences of the central characters and the problems encountered by them in at least two works of prose fiction you have
read?
8.
Often in literature there is a character who defies normal standards of greatness and yet rises to heroic stature. In what ways
and to what effect have at least two writers you have studied explored this possibility?
9.
Analyze the extent to which the reliability of the narrator can affect the reader's understanding of events in at least two of
the works you have studied.
10. Discuss the ways in which at least two novels or short stories you have studied demonstrate that the search for identity can
be a conscious or an unconscious process.
11. The trusted friend and betraying ally are recurring elements in fiction. In what ways and to what extent have at least two
writers in your study made some use of such characterizations?
12. Literature is often about crossing boundaries, both physically and mentally. In what ways, and to what extent, does the
crossing of boundaries contribute to two or three works you have studied?
13. “The art of the storyteller is to hold the attention of the reader.” With reference to two or three works you have studied,
discuss ways in which the writers have employed techniques that hold your attention.
14. How far, and in what ways, do writers present issues of self-awareness and/or self-deception in two or three novels or
short stories you have studied?
15. With close reference to two or three novels or short stories in your study, compare the ways in which writers have used
narrative strategies and with what effect.
16. “There is a school of fiction which objects to the passing of moral judgment on anything or anybody.” In the fiction you
have studied, what evidence have you discovered that would lead you to either agree or disagree with the approach of this
“school,” and how would you compare the effects of either strategy?
17. Discuss the part played by apparently minor characters in novels which you have studied, indicating what you think are the
effects of their presence.
18. Comment on how a sense of place is established in novels which you have studied, and say what this contributes to each
novel as a whole.
19. “In reading a novel, we have to know perfectly well that the whole thing is nonsense, and then while reading it, believe
every word of it.” How far can you agree that such a contradiction is relevant to the art of the novel or true in any respect
about novels in your study?
20. A novelist has said of his work: “It is easy to begin and end a story, but figuring out how to hold up the middle is tough.”
From your study of novels, discuss how successfully materials in the middle of the novel are arranged and presented so as
to seem a natural evolution from the opening situation and to what extent they lead on to a fitting conclusion.
21. “Conscious or unconscious motives, assisting and frustrating circumstances: this is the territory of the novel’s action.”
How have motives and circumstances figured in novels you have studied, and to what effect?
22. Some novels draw attention to the fact that they are inventions or constructions of the writer; others seek to conceal this
artifice. Consider chosen novels in the light of this distinction, and say what the procedures adopted add to the effect of
underlining or concealing the fictional status of the writing.
23. An English author wrote: “It is the habit of my imagination to strive after as full a vision of the medium in which a
character moves as of the character itself.” Discuss the use made of the relationship between character and the setting for
character in the novels you have studied.
24. How far do you think that the way in which a writer chooses to tell a story gives indications of his/her attitude to the issues
raised in the work? In your answer, refer to works by three writers.
25. “Nearly all novels are feeble at the end.” To what extent, and for what reasons, would you defend the works you have
studied against this charge?
26. Compare the part played by major characters with the part played by minor characters in two novels by different authors,
saying why you think each writer has adopted that arrangement in that particular work.
27. “A novel’s setting, its home ground, very often plays a more active part in the plot than is at first apparent.” How far do
you think this remark applies to two or three of the novels you have studied?