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Hi IB Survival Guide:

I have a World Lit essay on One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and Antigone.

I was planning on doing something regarding Passive and Active Resistance to Rule in Denisovich and Antigone respectively.

I'm having trouble formulating a thesis...

I was thinking:

'The use of varied resistance in the novels Ivan Denisovich and Antigone reveals the character of their respective protagonists and the system which they fight against.

Not really sure what to do...

Any help is appreciated!

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I haven't read Antigone, but passive resistance of Denisovich could probably be interesting. As you probably know, we cannot come up with questions for you, but I think it could be a good essay, but as I have only read one of the books, there are probably other people who can give more help.

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Hi IB Survival Guide:

I have a World Lit essay on One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and Antigone.

I was planning on doing something regarding Passive and Active Resistance to Rule in Denisovich and Antigone respectively.

I'm having trouble formulating a thesis...

I was thinking:

'The use of varied resistance in the novels Ivan Denisovich and Antigone reveals the character of their respective protagonists and the system which they fight against.

Not really sure what to do...

Any help is appreciated!

You just have to turn it into a question. Like "How does the use of varied resistance in the novels.. reveal the character of their respective... etc.". Or "What is the significance of varied resistance in the novels..."

Just one thing to say. If you call Antigone a novel, the exam board will shoot you down, even if it's just slightly implied in the title. In the same vein, make sure that at least some of the differences you pick out between the works of literature are to do with the differences between two different kinds of literature as well as just between two pieces of literature. Similarly make sure some of your differences are time and style - Antigone is excellent to talk about because of all the weird conventions of greek theatre with the chorus and the whole "3 unities" thing for style, and also good to talk about for time because you can discuss, briefly, how society and beliefs of the time shaped the play.

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Hi IB Survival Guide:

I have a World Lit essay on One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and Antigone.

I was planning on doing something regarding Passive and Active Resistance to Rule in Denisovich and Antigone respectively.

I'm having trouble formulating a thesis...

I was thinking:

'The use of varied resistance in the novels Ivan Denisovich and Antigone reveals the character of their respective protagonists and the system which they fight against.

Not really sure what to do...

Any help is appreciated!

You just have to turn it into a question. Like "How does the use of varied resistance in the novels.. reveal the character of their respective... etc.". Or "What is the significance of varied resistance in the novels..."

Just one thing to say. If you call Antigone a novel, the exam board will shoot you down, even if it's just slightly implied in the title. In the same vein, make sure that at least some of the differences you pick out between the works of literature are to do with the differences between two different kinds of literature as well as just between two pieces of literature. Similarly make sure some of your differences are time and style - Antigone is excellent to talk about because of all the weird conventions of greek theatre with the chorus and the whole "3 unities" thing for style, and also good to talk about for time because you can discuss, briefly, how society and beliefs of the time shaped the play.

Is it really true that you should talk about the differences of a play and novel?

Our teacher told us that we shouldn't focus or spend time talking about the differences in the kinds of literature if we're doing a play and a novel. Two of our three texts for WL1 are plays (Antigone is one of them) and we got told that it is recommended to do two texts of the same literary style because markers don't want to see candidates talking about the different styles of literature in their essays.

To OP: I've only read Antigone but that sounds like a good topic to me, although if you just want to talk about the resistance of Antigone and the Protagonist in the other novel then make that clear, because I would say that within Antigone you could also look at the resistance of Haemon, Eurydice and Ismene to an extent as well as Antigone.

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does anyone have any idea on this -

if we've done a book for our IOP are we allowed to do it for our world lit?

one moment my teacher says yes

one moment he says no

another moment he says it's allowed but we're not allowed to cover the same themes that we've covered in our IOP.

anythoughts?

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does anyone have any idea on this -

if we've done a book for our IOP are we allowed to do it for our world lit?

one moment my teacher says yes

one moment he says no

another moment he says it's allowed but we're not allowed to cover the same themes that we've covered in our IOP.

anythoughts?

I was under the impression they're from different subject groups, so you can't do it. Your school has to submit certain pieces of literature in certain categories to the exam board - that's why the school picks the literature with certain IB-given criteria, and you have to study all of it even if you eventually fail to use most of it. Like you should really only write about Group 3 works in your Paper 2 exam (although I believe you may refer to one Group 2 work), I am under the impression that the groups split like Group (1) = oral texts, Group (2) = coursework texts, Group (3) = exam texts. You should check to see how the groups work, and I'm not 100% sure that's accurate off the top of my head :) There is some kind of ruling about it.

Is it really true that you should talk about the differences of a play and novel?

Our teacher told us that we shouldn't focus or spend time talking about the differences in the kinds of literature if we're doing a play and a novel. Two of our three texts for WL1 are plays (Antigone is one of them) and we got told that it is recommended to do two texts of the same literary style because markers don't want to see candidates talking about the different styles of literature in their essays.

It's a key difference so it makes no sense not to mention it! You're marked on your Understanding and also appreciation of culture etc. The pieces are often completely changed by their genre & time period, and although it's true you shouldn't centre your essay on it, it ought to be mentioned as it makes a significant difference to how each author deals with the texts and how the texts are structured. The structure of a play & the structure of a novel, even with the same storyline, are going to have to be presented very differently. We were told it'd show a basic lack of understanding if we didn't dedicate a sentence or two to briefly mentioning it in some way or another! Even if it's just pointing out the use of soliloquy or the use of action in a drama text to convey meaning (and going 'this is because it's a play') it's enough :D

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