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A level English Literature: Spies (Michael Frayn) and The Go-between (L.P. hartley)

So for my English literature I have to study Spies and for my comparative text I have chosen The Go-Between as a recommendation from my teacher. I have seen that there are quite a few comparisons between the two but not sure if these are strong enough to base a whole essay on!

Any advice or ideas of similarities between the two?
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copril
10
I haven't actually read The Go Between but I have studied Spies. I think the similarities between the novels would definitely be enough to write an essay on. The things you could look at are:

Loyalty and betrayal e.g. Stephen's sense of loyalty towards Mrs Hayward
The impact the events have on the characters as adults.
The relationship between adults and children.
Growing up and childhood naivety.
How each novel is structured, compare and contrast this and look at which is more successful. Spies narrative is particularly interesting and it would be good to look at how this compares to The Go Between.
General style of each of the writers and how they have chosen to write their respective works.

This is just a few ideas I could think of off the top of my head. It may be helpful to jot down all the themes, interesting passages and quotations of each of the works in a table and use this to help you compare and contrast. Remember when it comes to writing the essay to be specific if your focus is too broad you'll struggle to get started. It would also be good to look at the views of various critics and perhaps, if this is relevant to your course, to include these in your essay. Hope this helps. :smile:

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