English Research Question-- F. Scott Fitzgerald

[RNas]

Hello! I am very interested in F. Scott Fitzgerald and his depiction of the jazz age through his different books. I've read The Great Gatsby & This Side of Paradise. I'm beginning to read The Beautiful & The Damned. Basically, I'm trying to figure out a way to tie all three books into a question. Ideally it would be all three but I can settle for just two books tied together. I know that many say that he has depicted himself within these books & that he has a very specific way of how he perceives and describes women within his novels. Please help me by leading me into the right direction with any advice you can provide me!! 

Edited June 23, 2017 by RNas

[Nomenclature]

Hi @RNas, welcome to IB Survival.  

Asking other people to write your research question is a bit like asking someone else to propose to your significant other: people aren't going to do it for you. 

Why? Well, it's really best that you choose the area that you want to investigate for nine months. That's why, and if you don't like it, you don't have anyone to blame (because you're in America I'll also add there's no one to sue).  It's also a fundamental part of the EE, an assignment you were given.

That being said, I can offer advice which you can take if you like, or not take if you don't want to.

I would first urge you to shy away from any possibility where you would have to talk about the real Fitzgerald and his life. IB does not like this particular brand of lit. analysis. I'll go a step further and say that they hate it. IB wants you to analyze the text's effect on the reader, they do not care about the author, his personal life, etc. They don't even care about what the author's intent was. It is all about the text with IB. The only time I would even consider mentioning anything about the author's life would be in the intro, and only as an interesting tidbit to intrigue the audience. E.g. "Eric Blair, better known under his pseudonym George Orwell, railed against the Nazi's and Bolsheviks in his career as a political writer." That's it. I would never use it in my analysis.

You are very well within your rights though to talk about his characterization of male characters/protagonists/insert label here perception of female characters then conclude with a larger statement on its effect(s). That would certainly make for a promising essay.

Edited June 23, 2017 by Nomenclature

[RNas]

Hi @Nomenclature , I've been thinking about my EE some more and I've formed some possible questions. If you could provide your opinion or comments on any of these questions, that would be greatly appreciated: 

1) How does Fitzgerald build the allure of the main female characters in his novels? 

2) What similarities are drawn from Gloria Gilbert and Daisy Buchanan, two of Fitzgerald's female characters?

3) What parallels can be drawn from This Side of Paradise and The Beautiful and Damned?

 

or, I would be much more interested in comparing The Bell Jar & The Catcher in the Rye (my concern with this would be that it's possibly overdone, not original enough)

1) To what extent does the role of gender impact Holden Caulfield's view on life compared to Esther Greenwood's?

Ughh. Both books have the theme of coming of age, virginity, both characters have experienced loss, and both end up in mental institutions. I really want to get started on this EE & it's stressing me out. Please provide any advice you can give me!! You seem very knowledgeable on how the EE works. 

[Nomenclature]

All three of those ideas for Fitzgerald are nice places to start. I say that because those three are all valid; they're going to let you actually reference literary devices, a key component of any IB essay on literature (literary devices sound limiting, but you really can talk about pretty much anything; plotting techniques, irony, structure, syntax, etc.; so you shouldn't feel limited). Ultimately, after having shown the literary devices that Fitzgerald used, you'll want to go further and make a conclusion about their effect.

If I'm an examiner who's reading through your EE, I'm going to be happy about you showing me how Fitzgerald built (the allure/similarities/parallels/whatever), but after you do that, I want you to make a statement about its effect. Why have alluring female characters? Why are the characters similar? What do the parallels point to? Essentially, what is the meaning of these aspects in the work? Usually, that means that you'll have to make a statement on a theme of the work. The statement on your part doesn't have to be extremely surprising or revelatory, though it can be. What's important is that it's there. 

What worries me about your research question for The Bell Jar and The Catcher in the Rye is that it doesn't directly consider literary devices. You could rephrase it and have a better probability of success, but I'm wary of going down the path of a psych/gender studies essay masquerading as a lit. essay. I'm not at all criticizing the focus on gender, I'm just worried that it will lead outside of the bounds of formal literary analysis. One of IB's biggest pet peeves is medical/psychological assumptions or diagnoses in lit. essays. You could change the question to something like (I've not read either work, so this is a shot in the dark) "To what extent does Holden Caulfield's characterization as masculine compared to Esther Greenwood's characterization as feminine inform their respective works?". But again, tread carefully. I don't wholly recommend it. 

P.s. The things you listed as themes are not themes. They are motifs (coming-of-age is actually a paradigm). Themes are independent clauses; they are statements. For example. "Loss" is a motif. The idea that "Loss provides new beginnings and an opportunity for growth" is a theme. 

Don't worry too much, you'll do great. 

[RNas]

@Nomenclature Thank you so much for your advice. I was originally set on writing a psych EE & therefore chose my psych teacher as my advisor. Now that I've recently changed my subject to english, I've had a hard time finding someone to turn to for advice (I have some doubts asking for help from someone who has only ever guided psych EEs). Basically, my point is that I really value your elaborate comments and for your help. I have much more to work with now. 

[Nomenclature]

I'm happy to hear that. Don't hesitate to ask more questions on this site if you have them. Good luck and godspeed with the essay. 

[IJustWanaPass]

You can try comparing how different authors portray the jazz age in their books and how they do it, it would let you talk about perspectives and that type of TOK stuff.

Nomenclature had great suggestions as well  by the way.