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EE in English literature


Miss.E

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Hi everybody! :) I'm doing my EE in English literature and I could use some help with my research question. I find it really hard to decide which books I am going to use and what kind of elements should I analyze, as there are so many great books and I don't want to do about something that's already been done a hundred times before. I was thinking about picking up a couple of English classics but I don't want anything too common like Jane Austen (besides I don't even like them very much, no offence) so I thought about taking W. Somerset Maugham's The Painted Veil as one of my books. I was thinking then that my research question could have something to do with the theme of loneliness,I'm not completely sure yet though... What do you think about The painted veil, would it make a good EE book and do you know any other good book I could compare with it in case I decide to take something related to loneliness as my research question? I can't take Of Mice and Men as my other book because we are reading it in English class. Other research question proposals are appreciated as well :) Thank you!

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Sounds like you've put a decent amount of thought into this.

I haven't read The Painted Veil. Is it the "I'm lonely in a crowd" kind of loneliness or the "I'm a hermit/pirate. Fear me. Arrrr" loneliness. Maybe if you could find a book that showed a different side to loneliness... hmm

Scarlet Letter

Great Gatsby

God of Small Things [Author: A. Roy]

Tenth Man [Author: Greene]

I don't think I can recommend a book because I don't know what you've read and I haven't read your book. Luckily, loneliness isn't an uncommon thread in books. Everyone's lonely, it seems. How they act upon it and how it shapes their decisions makes the tale interesting.

Why can't you do Of Mice and Men? Is your teacher restricting you? As far as I know, IB is okay with it.

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Heya!

You know what, I REALLY like that...I mean I think exploring the theme of loneliness would make a 'one-of-a-king' EE. But I'm not at all familiar with any of the books you mentioned, except for Austen, of course, which brings me to my doubt:

I'm doing my EE in English Literature too, on Pride and Prejudice. Should I worry about my EE being based on a book that's been examined and re-examined so many times?

On the whole, I think it'd be a good idea to go ahead with the 'loneliness' theme...! Good luck!! :)

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At the behest of my teacher I'm doing mine on two modern, little known novels - no sparknotes, no cliffnotes, no any-notes at all. It's pretty liberating for me... I have no secondary sources, just the books, but it makes the essay that much more focused. I would recommend you do something similar. Some good modern writers:

Ian McEwan

Cormac McCarthy

Philip Roth

Haruki Murakami

John Updike

gl!

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Thank you all for replying, your comments were really helpful!

sweetnsimple786: The Painted Veil is "I´m lonely in a relationship" kind of loneliness. It´s also about finding yourself and that kind of stuff. The idea of picking up a book with a different kind of loneliness sounds good, I was actually thinking that too... now I just have to find the right book hahah. Out of the books/novels you proposed I've only read the Great Gatsby but the other ones sound familiar too. As for Of Mice and Men, my teacher said that we can´t choose a book we are going to do our final exams about because we talk about them in the class and that would help us when we are doing the EE.

Work hard party harder: Personally, I wouldn´t do my EE on a book like Pride and Prejudice exactly for the reasons you mentioned, but oh well, that's just me. However, I think that you should do your EE about something you enjoy (not too much though, because then you´ll find it hard to be critical) so I think that if you make up a research question that examines the book in an original way from a new perspective or if you compare it with a more unknown book it´s usually not compared with, then you´ll be just fine :) Good luck!

justanotherone: Thanks for the idea, but I think I´ll stick with the more classic literature because I like it that way :) what you´re doing sounds interesting though!

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