HL English World Literature Essay

I have to write my World Literature Essay for the International Baccalaureate and I have no idea what theme to choose. The choices of books I have are Woman at Point Zero (Nawal El Saadawi), Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) or The Reader (Bernhard Schlink). I could possibly talk about the theme of gender roles in one of these books or possibly the role of guilt and shame.

Please leave any suggestions for themes I can discuss as it would help me gain some inspiration.

I personally wrote about Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Gender roles are not a bad theme to talk about especially in The Reader (I didn't read Woman at Point Zero). Guilt and Shame is definitely prominent in The Reader as well but it is a slightly overexplored topic.

Magical Realism could be interesting in Chronicle of Death Foretold.

What theme did you choose to write yours on? I have considered magical realism but I'm not entirely sure where to start with it.

I chose to write mine on magical realism and the role of the narrator in the novella.

Do you have relevant reflective statements regarding magical realism? identifying magical realism elements in the novella would be a good start. Thinking about how magical realism impacts how the story is told and authorial choices.

I've just looked back over my reflective statement but I seem to talk mainly about social expectations, machismo and honour within Chronicle of a Death Foretold.

Do you suggest any of these be a suitable for the essay?

I have a classmate who wrote about these themes for her written assessment. You just have to focus your question (essay titles).

Ok thank you for the help, I think i'm going to write about the importance of reputation and honour in a chronicle of a death foretold.