Help to find a novel for the English comparative

oneshotfinch

Now I know what you were thinking as you read the title. How have you not picked a novel yet? My teacher chose "Circle of Friends" by Maeve Binchy and to put it bluntly, it's the most vapid, uninteresting, and badly written book I've ever read. There's little to nothing to write about for literary analysis.

Inside I'm Dancing is my film and The Plough and the Stars is my play. A novel set in Ireland and dealing with the the theme of freedom would suit well.

Please don't try and convince me to stick with Circle of Friends. Any help you may be able to offer would be appreciated.

Junai_Dahma

I'm doing Inside I'm Dancing, My Sister's Keeper and Dancing at Lughnasa...

tbh, Circle of Friends has been done to death all over the country, so there would be more material available as well as, of course, sticking to a theme of Irishness!

Other than that, Dancing at Lughnasa would be pretty good? The struggle of the Mundy sister's struggle for social and financial independence versus a repressive society?

soup1

"Never Let Me Go" - awesome novel about how a race of clones are produced for the sole purpose of donating their organs to 'healthy' people! Greaqt fro the old comparisons, and the fact that nobody does it will work in your advantage! The chances are, the examiner wont have read it

aranciata

soup1 wrote: »

"Never Let Me Go" - awesome novel about how a race of clones are produced for the sole purpose of donating their organs to 'healthy' people! Greaqt fro the old comparisons, and the fact that nobody does it will work in your advantage! The chances are, the examiner wont have read it

There's a lot more to NLMG than just that tbh. It's more of a commentary on the human condition and the tragedy of not just these character's lives, but our own lives too. It's a wonderful book but utterly and completely emotionally devastating and in my opinion, it might not work well with your texts. Perhaps with time not on your side you should look at doing a play? Antigone, maybe?

The examiner has to have read Never Let Me Go, right......?

implausible

oneshotfinch wrote: »

Now I know what you were thinking as you read the title. How have you not picked a novel yet? My teacher chose "Circle of Friends" by Maeve Binchy and to put it bluntly, it's the most vapid, uninteresting, and badly written book I've ever read. There's little to nothing to write about for literary analysis.

So, you want to change your novel a month before your LC because you're more interested in literary analysis than passing the exam? Do you not have 6 other subjects to study as well? Stick with it, get your A and save the analysis for studying English at college.

aranciata wrote: »

The examiner has to have read Never Let Me Go, right......?

Most examiners have not read every single text on the comparative list every year.

aranciata

deemark wrote: »

So, you want to change your novel a month before your LC because you're more interested in literary analysis than passing the exam? Do you not have 6 other subjects to study as well? Stick with it, get your A and save the analysis for studying English at college.



Most examiners have not read every single text on the comparative list every year.

Seriously? How can they fairly grade my analysis of a text they have not read themselves? Or do I just get a free pass and what I mention is taken as being true? Several of my comparisons are quite subtle in that they are taken from sections of the book that were even edited out of the movie. This makes me very uneasy.

implausible

aranciata wrote: »

Seriously? How can they fairly grade my analysis of a text they have not read themselves? Or do I just get a free pass and what I mention is taken as being true? Several of my comparisons are quite subtle in that they are taken from sections of the book that were even edited out of the movie. This makes me very uneasy.

That's what the marking scheme is for - to point the examiner towards grading your analysis. In fairness, a novel like NLMG is likely enough to have been read by an examiner, compared to something more obscure and it's only one of three texts on your comparative, technically 1/3 of 17% of your exam, so your unease is not warranted.

Chuchoter

Trying to do your own novel for the comparative with no teacher is a painfully dumb idea.

aranciata

deemark wrote: »

That's what the marking scheme is for - to point the examiner towards grading your analysis. In fairness, a novel like NLMG is likely enough to have been read by an examiner, compared to something more obscure and it's only one of three texts on your comparative, technically 1/3 of 17% of your exam, so your unease is not warranted.

I'm striving for the highest possible grade so, yes, I believe my unease is most definitely warranted. I'm not interested in throwing away that 5-6%, so allow me to be uneasy, this is MY Leaving Cert.

aranciata

crayolastereo wrote: »

Trying to do your own novel for the comparative with no teacher is a painfully dumb idea.

You cannot say that as if it is fact, you don't know peoples abilities and capabilities. I'm doing NLMG alone, as it's my favourite book and I enjoy discussing it, and I think my grades and results have benefited from it. There's nothing "painfully dumb" about independent learning...

ETA : Although, yes, if you're having trouble with other texts and the modes of comparative, it'd probably be best to stick with your class.

J_E

Even if you hate the novel, surely you could just learn the notes off? Not everyone is going to like every text on their comparative. At least it isn't the main text.

I agree with crayolastereo though, even if you are good at English, you're getting an insight off someone who has done it in college and will spot things you don't.

PictureFrame

"How Many Miles To Babylon"- Jennifer Johnston is the one we've studied. It's very short (70 odd pages), is fundamentally set in Ireland (also in France), and deals with the lack of freedom I believe as the two main characters (Alec & Jerry) are not allowed to become friends due to the visible divide in their Social Class. Also, you could deal with the lack of freedom aspect as the two boys are forced to enter the army!. It's a good book actually! We finished it in a week and a half with character references! (I'm in 5th year btw). Best of Luck!

implausible

aranciata wrote: »

I'm striving for the highest possible grade so, yes, I believe my unease is most definitely warranted. I'm not interested in throwing away that 5-6%, so allow me to be uneasy, this is MY Leaving Cert.

How have you made the leap from the examiner not having read one of the novels you are comparing to "throwing away" 5%. Even if the examiner hasn't read it, s/he has to mark it.

OP, it is very late in the day to read a new novel/play, let alone start making out your own notes on it and then prepare an essay, considering you have the rest of the English course to study as well as your other subjects. You could easily spend 20% of your time on 5% of one subject. It's not worth it.

If, however, you insist on making life complicated for yourself, 'Babylon' is a good bet, as the poster above said.

soup1

aranciata wrote: »

There's a lot more to NLMG than just that tbh. It's more of a commentary on the human condition and the tragedy of not just these character's lives, but our own lives too. It's a wonderful book but utterly and completely emotionally devastating and in my opinion, it might not work well with your texts. Perhaps with time not on your side you should look at doing a play? Antigone, maybe?

The examiner has to have read Never Let Me Go, right......?

Of course the examiners wont have read all the options on the comparitive course! They mark you on the structure of your answer, not your knowledge of the text. After getting an A1 in leaving cert English i thought i would be qualified to give advice on the topic, but you clearly seem to know more. :rolleyes:

mpdg

Keep in mind that the examiners usually have a big bundle of papers from the same one or two schools. One school will probably have done all the same texts. So, the examiner doesn't have to read/see every text on the course - just the ones they find out that they're correcting. Also, some texts are more popular than others (Billy Elliot etc) and so the examiner will probably have taught some or perhaps all of the texts they are correcting.

I think fretting over an examiner being enough of a tool not to bother reading a text they're correcting a few hundred scripts on is a far-fetched idea, to be honest man. No disrespect, but examiners find ways to be tools in many other, simpler ways.

oneshotfinch

My main problem with the text is that it's so crap there's not much to write about. I may simply just read other notes on it and try and get some sort of opinion on it

implausible

oneshotfinch wrote: »

My main problem with the text is that it's so crap there's not much to write about. I may simply just read other notes on it and try and get some sort of opinion on it

It doesn't matter how good or crap it is! Freedom is blatantly obvious as a theme in that novel, as Benny strives for freedom the whole way through, from family, from small town Ireland etc. The cultural context is a breeze too - gender roles, the importance of family, the dominance of the church. If you hate it that much, don't have it as your anchor text and let it be the third text you refer to in your essay.

soup1

mpdg wrote: »

Keep in mind that the examiners usually have a big bundle of papers from the same one or two schools. One school will probably have done all the same texts. So, the examiner doesn't have to read/see every text on the course - just the ones they find out that they're correcting. Also, some texts are more popular than others (Billy Elliot etc) and so the examiner will probably have taught some or perhaps all of the texts they are correcting.

I think fretting over an examiner being enough of a tool not to bother reading a text they're correcting a few hundred scripts on is a far-fetched idea, to be honest man. No disrespect, but examiners find ways to be tools in many other, simpler ways.

PLease ask your teacher or anyone thtqa has examined English in the past! Just because they have nto read all 48 or something texts, does not make them a tool! However, i always felt that if you pick the more abstract texts, most examiners wont have read them, and will mark you on your answer and not your knowledge of the text. Having said that, Im sure they all have came across the most popular ones like 'billy elliot' and Lies of Silence : /