A2 English Literature comparative coursework piece

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could explain the comparative coursework piece for A2 English Lit? I have to compare The Bell Jar with another novel of my choice. I have chosen to have the focus of Bildungsroman /coming of age, when I am deciding on a coursework title for my essay should this be included? or does the question have to be about something else with my approach as the coming of age between the two novels?

I hope I haven't confused you too much, it's just my teacher has given us sample questions from previous years and they all seem to be about a theme, instead of an approach! My understanding was that we chose an area to focus on, for example feminism, coming of age, etc.
I'm just not sure on what the question should look like?!

Any help is appreciated, thank you

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could explain the comparative coursework piece for A2 English Lit? I have to compare The Bell Jar with another novel of my choice. I have chosen to have the focus of Bildungsroman /coming of age, when I am deciding on a coursework title for my essay should this be included? or does the question have to be about something else with my approach as the coming of age between the two novels?

I hope I haven't confused you too much, it's just my teacher has given us sample questions from previous years and they all seem to be about a theme, instead of an approach! My understanding was that we chose an area to focus on, for example feminism, coming of age, etc.
I'm just not sure on what the question should look like?!

Any help is appreciated, thank you

Well, for starters, a theme is one way to approach a text- this is called a "thematic approach". If you are looking at a coming-of-age (which is a theme within itself), you're looking at genre approach.

Another thing, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath isn't a bildungsroman novel, it is a Roman a clef novel, which means a novel that is about real life but replicates parts of fictional writing. So you need to understand it is not a coming-of-age novel.

Whatever your focus will be, then you should often incorporate that into your title. Genre is a hard one to pick at A-level unless your teachers are a specialist in a particular genre. Usually it's easier to go with theme because that's what you've basically been taught at school. Genre is something more amplified at undergraduate/postgraduate study.

A coming of age story are texts such as To Kill A Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, Atonement, The Go-Between, Great Expectations. It's a novel that centers around the childhood of the protagonist and follows their troubled life into adulthood. Themes usually are centered around education, moral dilemmas and conflict in society. So from this, I would suggest you pick a completely different novel if you were to stay on this genre.

If, however, you want to pick The Bell Jar and still wanted to keep to the genre, then something like I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is very similar to that with genre and theme of mental illness/breakdown. Another one is Maurice by EM Forster that is about homosexual love in early 20th century England. It also heavily focuses on the "cures and treatments" for homosexuality. Remember, homosexuality was illegal and classes as a mental health disorder back then. The bell Jar is often praised for its criticism of mental illness and treatment for it. Maurice is said to also be inspired from Forster's friend Edward Carpenter and his partner George Merrill. So again, if you want to go through a genre essay, you'd need to find a few literary criticisms of this to add to your essay.

These few things should be a starting point for you to consider. Feel free to ask questions if you're still unsure in which direction to go.

The Bell Jar being compared against I Never Promised You A Rose Garden would work REALLY well but not on coming of age.

Or you could do The Bell Jar with The Valley of the Dolls if you focus on Mental Health and Feminism.

I've never read The Bell Jar, but I have read Regeneration. That is a good one for mental health, but it doesn't focus on the social criticism of mental health, it'd a social critique of the war and its aftermath.

I don't know what the OP's c/w requirement is, but the play Equus explores mental illness and the breakdown of society through Alan's mental illness.

It does have social criticism of mental health... Also, that doesn't really matter! It doesn't have to be a social critique. I do the same course as this user and the comparative is whatever you want it to be . A girl does Regeneration and The Bell Jar in my class and her first draft was like 20/30 marks. Definitely lots to say on both.

Equus should be fine too.