Eng A1 Extended Essay

[Samra]

I'm doing my EE in English, and my topic is a little hazy and rough right now...I'm comparing the dystopia of 1984 (George Orwell) with the utopia of The Giver (Lois Lowry, 1990s).
As of now. My EE Supervisor isn't that pleased with my topic though, she thinks that The Giver is too simplistic as a novel. Is my topic too broad? I'd be covering the similarities and dissimilarities, such as 'Repression of language in order to curb thought', and 'repression of sexual instinct, love, and family circles' and 'governance of an omniscient body' as well as the obvious features of the societies.
I'd just like your thoughts on this.

[Tilia]

I think you should concentrate on one of these aspects you mentioned, to do all three seems a bit too broad. I haven't read the utopia, so I can't say much about that but there's a lot to write about 'repression of sexual instinct, love, and family circles' in 1984.

Good luck

[Samra]

[quote name='Tilia' post='42502' date='Apr 5 2009, 11:04 AM']I think you should concentrate on one of these aspects you mentioned, to do all three seems a bit too broad.[/quote]

All 3 would be too broad? Maybe...my supervisor said I could club love/sexual instinct together, but I think there's a lot for sexual instinct and not exactly love...I'm not sure.
Thanks

[Vvi]

In a recent IB examiner's report on the EE, the general comment for English A1 EE's was that utopia was an extremely common theme for people to handle. 1984 was one of the most popular books used to discuss the theme. So your EE won't be original in any sense, since the topic has been approached from all angles. I've read an example EE online that deals with your research question, only using one different book.

So I'd suggest that you change your topic from considering utopia in books to something else entirely,and choose different books too. It won't be a catastrophe if you change your topic, you have ages to write your EE. I changed mine in September after having chosen it in June.

[Samra]

[quote name='Vvi' post='42531' date='Apr 5 2009, 09:52 PM']In a recent IB examiner's report on the EE, the general comment for English A1 EE's was that utopia was an extremely common theme for people to handle. 1984 was one of the most popular books used to discuss the theme. So your EE won't be original in any sense, since the topic has been approached from all angles. I've read an example EE online that deals with your research question, only using one different book.

So I'd suggest that you change your topic from considering utopia in books to something else entirely,and choose different books too. It won't be a catastrophe if you change your topic, you have ages to write your EE. I changed mine in September after having chosen it in June.[/quote]

What!?!?
No...that is a catastrophe! Where did you read this? Could you give me a link or something, if possible? I pretty much stumbled upon the idea while I was rereading Giver, and decided to do it for my EE. I really dont want to change it. :(

[Tilia]

[quote name='Samra' post='42562' date='Apr 6 2009, 11:13 AM']I really dont want to change it. [/quote]

I know that feeling. I was determined to do my EE on synaethesia from a philosophical perspective, since that seemed really interesting, rather original and something I had a personal relationship to. When looking for inspiration, I realised that it would be damn difficult, so now I'm going to write about whether law applies to people neglected by society. Still philosophy, so that's fine, but it would have been really cool managing writing an EE on synaesthesia, but it's not worth the risk.