IB Paper Two Prep: Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, July’s People by Nadine Gordimer, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

For 3 of the 4 novels, answer questions 1-6 and complete the passage work. This is due April 30.

PROTAGONIST!

1. Identify the protagonists of each novel. Address the following questions for each protagonist, and use specific details from the text to reinforce your answers: To what degree are these protagonists complex? Do they have a propensity for evil alongside a will to do good? What ideas most interest them (justice, mercy, truth, honor, generosity, rebellion, love, etc.)? What stands in their way? What question seems to drive this character? What does this character seem certain about? What do they seem clueless about? Do they have a foil that leads you to understand them better? Who is their antagonist?

SETTING?

2. When did this happen? How much time passes in the course of the events of this novel? How important is timing to the character’s concerns and behaviors (do some concerns seem outdated or antiquated in light of ‘progress’)? How important is the time in relationship to the conflicts? Where does this happen? How important is the geographical setting to the concerns of the characters? How important is political landscape to the concerns of the characters? Is this a place of wealth, poverty, or other? Are there specific geographical, economic, sartorial, or other items in the novel that take on a special significance?

SYMBOLS ¥

3. What are the most obvious, Sparksnotes answer-type symbols here? How do these symbols relate to theme within the novel? Does your understanding of the symbol develop as the novel progresses or is the symbol clearly established and understood from early in the novel? Is there a layer of complexity to the symbol beyond what the characters understand?

IMAGERY

4. What are the most present colors in this novel? What moments or places in the novel are presented in striking detail? What auditory details were presented? What tactile details? What olfactory details? What gustatory details? How do the images presented contribute to the atmosphere and mood of the novel? Does the mood change over the course of the novel?

STRUCTURE:

5. How is the novel divided up? What is interesting about the order in which the story is told? Are there chapters? Can you tell how chapter divisions were decided? Do the chapters have titles? Are there breaks in the narrative that are surprising or interesting in some way? What is the climax? How does the story resolve? Would you prefer it ended differently?

META QUESTIONS Ω

6. Could this story be told as effectively through dance? Film?Poetry?Graphic novel?Painting?Etc.? How would this look? What would be sacrificed?

Do you think the author approves or disapproves of his/her characters? What suggests this attitude?

Do you approve or disapprove of the characters? Why?

Which of these authors calls special attention to the constructedness of their story? How do they do this?

PASSAGE WORK: For ¾ novels, choose five significant passages which you indicate by page numbers and beginning and end of passage. For each passage indicate how this is a significant passage in relationship to character development, plot development, and theme.