A2 English Literature comparison coursework help

hey, urm completely new to this, don't know at all how it works and if anyone will even reply but just needed some advise. I've read a lot of comments on here before and they've been super helpful so thought I'd sign up, anyway...
So I'm doing AQA Lit B and I have to compare any two novels of my choice and I've spent the whole week trying to even come up with some ideas, I'm so undecided. I have eventually narrowed it down to The Bell jar but I'm completely stuck on whether it's best to compare this to One flew over the Cuckoo's nest or The Yellow Wallpaper?? I've not actually read any of these books yet so any advise or ideas I don't know would be great. Sorry for the long-winded question really don't know what I'm doing but would really really appreciate anyone taking the time to respond or even let me know which books they're doing/did x

Reply 1

Puddles the Monkey

21

Original post by bethfaye

hey, urm completely new to this, don't know at all how it works and if anyone will even reply but just needed some advise. I've read a lot of comments on here before and they've been super helpful so thought I'd sign up, anyway...
So I'm doing AQA Lit B and I have to compare any two novels of my choice and I've spent the whole week trying to even come up with some ideas, I'm so undecided. I have eventually narrowed it down to The Bell jar but I'm completely stuck on whether it's best to compare this to One flew over the Cuckoo's nest or The Yellow Wallpaper?? I've not actually read any of these books yet so any advise or ideas I don't know would be great. Sorry for the long-winded question really don't know what I'm doing but would really really appreciate anyone taking the time to respond or even let me know which books they're doing/did x

Heya, welcome!

I'm going to put this in the English forum for you as you should get more responses there. :smile:

You should also check out the forum to see if there's any other threads there which might be helpful to you! http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=82

Reply 2

Gibus_pyro

7

Original post by bethfaye

hey, urm completely new to this, don't know at all how it works and if anyone will even reply but just needed some advise. I've read a lot of comments on here before and they've been super helpful so thought I'd sign up, anyway...
So I'm doing AQA Lit B and I have to compare any two novels of my choice and I've spent the whole week trying to even come up with some ideas, I'm so undecided. I have eventually narrowed it down to The Bell jar but I'm completely stuck on whether it's best to compare this to One flew over the Cuckoo's nest or The Yellow Wallpaper?? I've not actually read any of these books yet so any advise or ideas I don't know would be great. Sorry for the long-winded question really don't know what I'm doing but would really really appreciate anyone taking the time to respond or even let me know which books they're doing/did x

I would certainly recommend doing the Bell Jar, its amazing. I havent read the other two books you mentioned but i can tell you that the catcher in the rye would work very well with the Bell Jar as both novels share similar themes and settings.

Reply 3

Pandora.

15

The Yellow Wallpaper is a fabulous book. I've done some work on it, so if you choose to study it I'll be happy to help. :smile:

(I haven't read The Bell Jar, so I don't know how good TYW would be as a comparison. :smile:

)

Reply 4

RadishWadish

12

I used One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Animal Farm for my comparative essay, really enjoyed writing about them and ended up with an A* for it :smile:

I think I still have it on my laptop, would it be helpful if I sent it to you?

Reply 5

Gibus_pyro

7

Original post by Pandora.

The Yellow Wallpaper is a fabulous book. I've done some work on it, so if you choose to study it I'll be happy to help. :smile:

(I haven't read The Bell Jar, so I don't know how good TYW would be as a comparison. :smile:

)

The Bell Jar's key themes are mental health (specifically depression) and its treatment, and the position of women in 1960s america (mostly new york).
Self discovery is arguably also a key theme.
Haven't read TYW but you should be able to tell from this if it would be a good comparison or not.

Reply 6

Pandora.

15

Original post by Gibus_pyro

The Bell Jar's key themes are mental health (specifically depression) and its treatment, and the position of women in 1960s america (mostly new york).
Self discovery is arguably also a key theme.
Haven't read TYW but you should be able to tell from this if it would be a good comparison or not.

Thanks! In that case, I think TYW would be an ideal comparison.

It focuses VERY heavily on mental health / how perceptions are altered by mental health, as well as the treatment/position of women. One point of difference that could be interesting for the OP to look at is the time periods in which the two stories are set. The 1960s was a time of feminism/social change, whereas TYW was written during the 'fin de siecle', another time of great change when the feminist ideal of the 'New Woman' was gaining prominence. It might be interesting to observe whether there was truly any great change in the views of mental health and women between the two eras. :smile:

Reply 7

The Empire Odyssey

21

Original post by bethfaye

hey, urm completely new to this, don't know at all how it works and if anyone will even reply but just needed some advise. I've read a lot of comments on here before and they've been super helpful so thought I'd sign up, anyway...
So I'm doing AQA Lit B and I have to compare any two novels of my choice and I've spent the whole week trying to even come up with some ideas, I'm so undecided. I have eventually narrowed it down to The Bell jar but I'm completely stuck on whether it's best to compare this to One flew over the Cuckoo's nest or The Yellow Wallpaper?? I've not actually read any of these books yet so any advise or ideas I don't know would be great. Sorry for the long-winded question really don't know what I'm doing but would really really appreciate anyone taking the time to respond or even let me know which books they're doing/did x

I haven't read TYW, but I have read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and it was so good!

If I were to compare The Bell Jar to OFOCN, I would compare the ways men and women a treated in society and look at how different both genders are and how their roles are reversed in each of the novels. Bell Jar, the character seems to take on every by herself, not to break down and become the "defenseless woman", however the main character in OFOCN, acts all "hard", but at the end he comes defenseless, thus the roles are reverse and you could compare it to that...

But that's just a thought :P

Reply 8

pseudonymegg

14

ahh I did this coursework this year, my question was "Parents f*** you up" - Philip Larkin. How true is this statement in relation to Hard Times by Dickens and Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare?

Have you decided on a question, or something you'd like to focus your essay on? I chose the focus of my essay first - family, and then researched books which would have a lot to talk about, I found it easier like that

If you're looking into mental health sort of thing my friend did something like that and used 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' which could be good because you could compare the young protagonist in that to the older Sylvia Plath in the Bell Jar

Reply 9

Changing Skies

22

Original post by pseudonymegg

ahh I did this coursework this year, my question was "Parents f*** you up" - Philip Larkin. How true is this statement in relation to Hard Times by Dickens and Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare?

Have you decided on a question, or something you'd like to focus your essay on? I chose the focus of my essay first - family, and then researched books which would have a lot to talk about, I found it easier like that

If you're looking into mental health sort of thing my friend did something like that and used 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' which could be good because you could compare the young protagonist in that to the older Sylvia Plath in the Bell Jar

That's such a cool question! :tongue:

I wish I could have thought of something like that!

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Reply 10

pseudonymegg

14

Original post by Changing Skies

That's such a cool question! :tongue:

I wish I could have thought of something like that!

Posted from TSR Mobile

haha thank you :colondollar:

I asked my teacher if AQA would mind it and she was like nah Larkin was poet laureate so it shouldn't matter - sweeet! :colone:

Reply 11

abbie97:)

Original post by RadishWadish

I used One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Animal Farm for my comparative essay, really enjoyed writing about them and ended up with an A* for it :smile:

I think I still have it on my laptop, would it be helpful if I sent it to you?

Could you please send me your comparative essay I'm really struggling on making a choice of which books to choose and the structure of the essay and it would really help if I could see an example :smile:

Reply 12

Changing Skies

22

Original post by abbie97:)

Could you please send me your comparative essay I'm really struggling on making a choice of which books to choose and the structure of the essay and it would really help if I could see an example :smile:

Hey, sorry if you've already seen it but I posted one of mine if you'd like an example :smile:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2776621

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 13

abbie97:)

I hadn't seen it thanks so much? :smile:

Reply 14

chai_pasco

one flew over the cuckoos nest has a similar anti-psychiatric theme and societal criticisms, so is good to do with the bell jar. I'm doing bell jar and john green's looking for Alaska

Reply 15

Monstermeep

1

Original post by RadishWadish

I used One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Animal Farm for my comparative essay, really enjoyed writing about them and ended up with an A* for it :smile:

I think I still have it on my laptop, would it be helpful if I sent it to you?

I'd really love this

Reply 16

shortstuff04080

7

Original post by Gibus_pyro

I would certainly recommend doing the Bell Jar, its amazing. I havent read the other two books you mentioned but i can tell you that the catcher in the rye would work very well with the Bell Jar as both novels share similar themes and settings.

I am really interested in doing these two books for my coursework, but am struggling to form a question. I am thinking along the theme of mental health, but I want it to be quite an interesting and unique question. If you have any suggestions, please let me know! Thanks x

Reply 17

timbuktoo

1

can you send it to me I'd really appreciate it

Reply 18

timbuktoo

1

Original post by RadishWadish

I used One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Animal Farm for my comparative essay, really enjoyed writing about them and ended up with an A* for it :smile:

I think I still have it on my laptop, would it be helpful if I sent it to you?

do you mind sending it to me??

Reply 19

shortstuff04080

7

I am currently doing The Bell Jar and The Yellow Wallpaper for my a level coursework and there are definitely some good comparisons and also differences that can be drawn from the two novels. Definitely lots to talk about! I would seriously recommended reading all the books you are stuck between before making a decision, as you are going to spend A LOT of time reading and analysing them and you will really struggle if you don't like the texts. If you do choose to do The Yellow Wallpaper and The Bell Jar, let me know what your question is and I would love to compare ideas and opinions :smile:

A2 English Literature comparison coursework help

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