Professional Documents
Culture Documents
You are required to have a question for you Individual Study by the end of
Term 2. I will arrange a conference time with you, prior to this, so that we can
discuss possible questions and develop the question that is most appropriate.
You should devise a question that will enable you to demonstrate your
knowledge and understanding of the texts you have studied. Most importantly
you should develop a question that will allow you to make lots of connections
between each text. Your question should focus on the devices used by the
authors to achieve their purpose hence a How do the authors question will
help you meet all the Performance Standards for this assessment.
The following list of questions is only intended as a guide to assist you with the
development of your won question. In other words, you do not have to use
one of these questions. However, once you have completed your supporting
study it will be useful for you to read this list and mark all the questions that
you think you could answer with your pair, then shortlist your selection to 6
questions or less. This will be useful when it comes to my conference with you
toward the end of Term 2.
Examples:
How do Oscar Wilde in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and Alan Hollinghurst in The Line
of Beauty present the pursuit of beauty?
How does author of Cats Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut, and director Mel Gibson, in his film
Apocalypto, show the protagonists responding to challenge in similar and different ways?
In what ways are Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, and James McTeigue, director
of V for Vendetta, critical of societys tendency to repressively control its citizens?
Compare the ways that Andrea Ashworth, author of Once in a House on Fire, and Peter
Kosminsky, director of White Oleander, explore the idea that while abusive situations appear
inescapable, there is hope for those who are willing to confront their circumstances.
How and why are journeys of personal growth important in Cold Mountain by Charles
Frazier and The Reader by Bernhard Schlink?
Our suffering is our humanity, or redemption. How is the redemptive power of suffering
explored in Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks and A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J Gaines?
How does John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and M. Night Shyamalan,
director of the film The Sixth Sense, explore life through the innocent perspective of
children?
Which techniques in Margaret Atwoods novel Cats Eye and Kazuo Ishirguro novel Never Let
Me Go most effectively illustrate human response to change?
A novels structure reminds us that history personal and public is a mosaic ant that artists
piece together its fragments to suggest patterns and meaning, so help us make sense of
ourselves Anthony Minghella How is self discovery conveyed through narrative style and
structure in Michael Ondaatjes The English Patient and Abdulrazak Gurnahs Desertion?
Only connect!....And human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer,
writes EM Forster in Howards End. How do Mitch Albom in The Five People You Meet in
Heaven, and Alice Sebold in The Lovely Bones, explore Forsters sentiment in their novels?
The theme of the effects of addiction in some texts is glamourized as well as demonized.
Discuss with reference to Candy by Luke Davies and the film Trainspotting directed by Danny
Boyle.
How does Margaret Atwood in her novel Alias Grace and Kazuo Ishiguro in The Remains of
the Day explore the impact of conformity on individuals?
What elements of the texts contribute to the intellectual and emotional appeal of Rolf de
Heers film, The Tracker, and Euripides The Bacchae?
How do the authors Joanne Harris in Chocolat and Marsha Mehran in Pomegranate Soup use
the device of the stranger to alter both the rigid patterns of a closed community and the
strangers themselves?
How does Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley challenge
the idea that science will have a positive impact on the future?
How do authors DBC Pierre in his novel Vernon God Little and JD Salinger in The Catcher in
the Rye show individuals in conflict within the world of the text?
How does author Irvine Welsh in Trainspotting and director David Fincher in the film Fight
Club utilize the journey of their protagonists in order to reveal the consequences of living
outside the social paradigm?
Even in the darkest of settings, authors often let the light of hope and redemption shine
through. How is this portrayed by the author Paulo Lins in the novel City of God and by
director Tony Kayes in the film American History X?
How do Jane Austen in Persuasion and Pat Barker in Border Crossing portray manipulation
and its effects on the individual?
How significant are the techniques employed by RK Narayan, in The Guide, and Alexandr
Solzhenitsyn, in A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, in exploring the human capacity to
endure adversity?
Compare the ways Louis de Bernieres, in novel Captain Corellis Mandolin, and Anthony
Minghella, in the film The English Patient, explore the nature of love?
How do authors Jill Paton Walsh in the novel Knowledge of Angels and Arundhati Roy in The
God of Small Things utilize setting to reflect the growth and development of the central
characters?
How and with what effect do the authors use of use of narrative tone and structure convey
the major themes in Joseph Hellers Catch 22 and Erich Maria Remarques All Quiet on the
Western Front?
Compare and contrast the ways in which authors Lynn Austin in Candle in the Darkness and
Seamus Dean in Reading in the Dark explore the damaging consequences of keeping secrets.
Both Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
focus on the disempowerment of women due to cultural restrictions. How do the central
characters in these texts overcome these restrictions and achieve self-empowerment?
Janette Turner Hospital goes from strength to literary strength ever brilliant in ideas,
graceful in expression, resourceful in story (Fay Weldon) Discuss and analyze the
techniques utilized by Janette Turner Hospitals novels The Last Magician and Due
Preparation for the Plague.
Both Jane Austen, author of Pride and Prejudice, and Sharon Maguire, director of the film
Bridget Jones Diary, show the roles and choices of women in their time. Discuss their
similarities and differences in their interpretations of women.
Compare and contrast the ways Ian McEwan in Enduring Love and Anthony Minghella in the
film The talented Mr Ripley explore the nature of obsessive love.
How does Isabel Allande use similar ideas and techniques to connect her novels, Daughter of
Fortune and Portrait in Sepia?
It is better for a man to be bad than to be conditioned as good. To what extent does A
Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and the film V for Vendetta directed by James
McTeigue support this statement?
Both Alice Sebold in her novel, The Lovely Bones, and Robert Redford in his film, Ordinary
People, explore the way that the process of grief can damage or positively shape the lives of
individuals. Discuss the different ways they do this.
Free will is the single greatest burden placed upon any individual. How is this burden of
free will explored by authors Fyodor Dostoyevsky in The Brothers Karamazov and Peter van
Diest in Everyman?
How does and Truman Capote in his novel In Cold Blood and Jed Rubenfeld in The
Interpretation of Murder use the idea of conforming to comment on the central
protagonists relationship with society?
Compare the ways in which authors Barbara Kingsolver in The Poisonwood Bible and Naguib
Mahfouz in Palace Walk explore the effects religious fanaticism has on the women it
dominates.
In what ways has the paring of the novels The Life of Pi by Yann Martel and The Raw Shark
Texts by Steven Hall enhanced your understanding of the idea that personal development is
wrought through adversity?
Nothing is random in the world created by the author. Discuss how authors Oscar Wilde in
The Picture of Dorian Gray and William Makepeace Thackeray in Vanity Fair use the features
of a novel to discuss ideas?
The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven or hell. How is the strength of
the human spirit explored in The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak and A Lifes Music by Andrei
Makine?
How is the notion of obsessive love explored in The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov?
How does the author Toni Morrison in The Bluest Eyes and director Sam Mendes in the film
American Beauty explore the flaws in American society?
There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. How are the
notions of sin and innocence explored in Albert Camus The Fall and Leo Tolstoys The
Forged Coupon?
How does Sylvia Plath in The Bell Jar and Gillian Armstrong in the film My Brilliant Career
reveal the responses of their protagonists to societys expectations?