Selecting Paper 2 Texts

Teachers and students frequently ask us which texts work best for Paper 2. While it’s
ultimately up to students to make this decision, we do have some thoughts on which
works well for Paper 2.

Part 1: Deciding On Paper 2 Texts

We know there are four literary forms eligible for Paper 2 in both IBDP English A. Here
are some things to keep in mind when guiding students.

1. Literary Form:
We like to vary the genres when selecting texts, as there is automatically a
significant difference to discuss. For example, novels and plays are drastically
different in terms of structure, authorial choices, and the way the audience
interacts with the text. Why not leverage these difference in form and make it a
cornerstone of your comparative work?

In terms of poetry and short stories, we’re not huge fans. To succeed, students
need to discuss two or three of these shorter texts while comparing and
contrasting with the other main text. Yes, it can be done, but more times than not,
we see candidates having major problems juggling so many pieces.

2. Geographic, Time and Gender Diversity:

It is also helpful to have various time periods, cultures and genders represented in
the works we choose. Again, this makes for some great comparative points.
There’s so much to talk about when working across time and space. Consider how
different readers in different contexts responded to the texts during the time of
production. How might those ideas be similar and different to ideas today?

3. Literary Richness:
This is a subjective term but we need to be sure our texts offer students a rich array
of literary features from which to draw from. This is not the time to get into the
nitty gritty of passage analysis and discuss obscure terms like polysndeton and
epistrope. Rather, students should be looking at the “macro” elements of literary
such as structure, characterization, motifs, and other “big” authorial choices that
are pervasive in the texts.
 4. Thematic Richness: It is useful if texts offer students various complex ideas to
consider in the given text. The most successful candidates will select texts that
offer access to a range of themes and ideas rather than simply anchoring in one or
two dominant themes.

Part 2: What are Others Using?

One of the great things about workshops is seeing the combinations of texts that various
teachers around the globe are using. Here are the pairings from participants in our
previous workshops:

Paper 2 Texts Among Some Past Workshop Participants

Teacher 1 Death and the Maiden (Dorfman)

Sizwe Bansi is Dead (Fugard)
The God of Small Things (Roy)
Sing, Unburied, Sing - (Ward)

Teacher 2 An Inspector Calls (Priestley)

A Doll’s House (Ibsen)
Persepolis (Satrapi)

Teacher 3 Persepolis (Satrapi)

Master Harold…and the boys (Fugard)
Animal Farm (Orwell)
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Garcia)

Teacher 4 The Alchemist

Life of Pi
Things Fall Apart
Macbeth
Hemingway short stories
Poetry of choice

Teacher 5 A Doll’s House

Master Harold…and the Boys
A Streetcar Named Desire
Oleanna

Teacher 6 Frankenstein (Shelley)

 Cat’s Cradle (Vonnegut) (I super recommend this for Paper 2 or IO)
Collection of poetry from Szymborska
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Albee)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Williams)
Persepolis (Satrapi)

Teacher 7 The Visit (Durrenmatt)

Macbeth (Shakespeare)
Poetry by Carol Ann Duffy
Persepolis (Satrapi)
This Earth of Mankind (Pramoedya Ananta Toer)
The Bluest Eye (Morrison)

Teacher 8 Poetry of Maya Angelou

Oedipus Rex
Never Let Me Go (Ishiguro)
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Marquez)
And the Mountains Echoed (HL)
Poetry of William Blake (HL)

Teacher 9 Maus (Spiegelman)

The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
Tartuffe (Moliere)
Things Fall Apart (Achebe)

Teacher 10 Candide
Bloody Chamber
Othello
Kindred