IB English Paper 2 Questions

1. Discuss how two works you have studied portray the concept of death.
- Suicide

Persepolis:
Chapter: Skiing. Page 274. Marji gets depressed, and tries to kill herself while nobody is
home like she had seen in a film.
“Stretched out waiting for my blood to empty out”
Black background shows how she was in a dark place mentally
Ugly face, squeezing her arm.
Then tried to kill herself by overdose.
“Told myslef it was the last time I would see the sun”
Woke up 3 days later, bed was black, rats were chasing here, all black.
Visuals of her clutching her face, the lines on the black bed as she curled up, black rats
coming through, teeth flashing, shows how menacing they looked.

BUT: She survived. Her transformation on the next page, along with her thought
that she will take herself in hand→ thought bubble + small panels showing how she
changed every aspect of herself bit by bit to recover.

AMS: Joe Keller’s suicide once he realises that Larry killed himself out of shame when
he found out about his father selling cracked cylinders.
→ Savagely ironic foreshadowing earlier. “I’m his father and he’s my son if there’s
anything greater than that i’ll put a bullet in my head”. “To him, they were all my
sons”

→ Auditory imagery + off stage: gunshot. They stand frozen for a second- impact of
his suicide on all his other family members.
→ looking at the letter prop.

Contrast: Successful vs failed suicide.

Marji’s suicide was the result of isolation and an identity crisis which had been
brewing a long time. Keller on the other hand killed himself as the result of a sudden
abrupt realisation.
 Similarity: How they both aimed to do it calmly without startling their families. Marji last
minute backs out from the family trip, calmly with arms folded and smile assures her dad
that she cant be left alone.

Joe Keller just says I’ll be down before he exits and the last thing which is heard is the
gun shot.

- Death arriving as powerful news (Anoosh and Larry)

Persepolis: Page 70. Russian Spy Executed.

Comes as a newspaper which occupies the whole upper level of the page.

→ Not a typical panel.

Anoosh is in dark background, showing how he had been drained during his time
captured by the regime.

→ The bread swans have dark shadows, were symbols for Marji’s love for him
but now in a bad state. Darks shadows of the paper as well.

→ That was my last meeting with my beloved Anoosh…. Ellipsis.

→ Squiggly lines, visual detail which shows that the content didnt matter,
Marji only lead the headline and was sad. Also shows that it was all
propaganda.
→ Death has a powerful impact on MArji: Emanata of tears, yells at God with
a pointed finger. Floating in blank space, feels alone and isolated. Black
backgroung- graphic weight. Lying there with her arms and legs spread out-
shows her helplessness.

AMS: Ann pulls out Larry’s letter.

→ Letter is a prop which is used to show that Larry actually killed himself. It is passed around
on stage, snatched and looked at a lot so the stage directions bring emphasis to the prop.
→ Violence over the letter- mother snatches it out of Ann’s hand and Keller snatches it out
of Chris’ hand. Stage directions.

→ Chris reads the letter in first person, makes it seem more authentic.
→ Ellipsis
Contrast: While Larry’s death arrives as news from another major character Anoosh’s death
has been reported by the news. While Larry’s death was suicide, Anoosh was murder.

Similar: Both writers use stylistic conventions which are typical of their literary works
(differentiated panels and props) to clearly make the news stand out.

Normalised violence in war leading to death

The Key, the boys blowing up, keys still around their necks, violent image of them flying, the
fire etc. .

Ams: Keller justifying himself. Its dollars and cents, nickels and dimes, what's clean. Half the
Goddamn countire;s gotta go if I go.

2. Relationships are often central to literary works. How is this true of two works you have
studied?

Romantic relationships as a cause of conflict

P: Dad are you for or against social classes Black background, jagged speech bubble, visuals of
hands on head, stress marks on forehead, mouth wide open, lots of question marks “But is it her
fault where she was born”.
AMS: Chris: And I'm his brother and he's dead, and I'm marrying his girl Mother: Never, never in this
world!
Keller: You lost your mind?
Mother: You have nothing to say!

Keller: (cruelly) I got plenty to say. Three and a half years you been talking like a maniac...

Mother smashes him across the face.

Mother: Nothing. You have nothing to say. Now I say. He's coming back, and everybody has got to wait.

Chris: Mother, Mother...

Mother: Wait, wait... (stichomythia)

Chris: How long? How long?

Mother: (rolling out of her) Till he comes. Forever and ever till he comes!

Chris: (as an ultimatum) Mother, I'm going ahead with it.

Mother: Chris, I've never said no to you in my life, now I say no! IRONY

Chris: You'll never let him go till I do it.

Mother: I'll never let him go and you'll never let him go!

Chris: I've let him go. I've let him go a long... (Ellipsis)

- Familial relationships
P: Grandmother yelled at her, that whole page. Crass language- I think you’re a
bitch. No speech bubles for grandmother, more direct aggress and yelling, almost
like a monolouge. Finger raised motif, Impact on Marji- in a foetal position, then
mirror motif. Grandmother ugly face closeup, then her torso, then her whole body.

Father and Chris arguement in Act 3

Chris: (pulling violently away from him) Don't do that, Dad. I'm going to hurt you if you do that. There's
nothing to say so say it quick.

Keller: Exactly what's the matter? what's the matter? you got too much money? Is that what bothers
you? Tone- questions, makes it aggressive.

Chris: (with an edge of sarcasm) It bothers me. Sarcastic passive aggressiveness from Chris.

Keller: If you can't get used to it, then throw it away. You hear me? Take every cent and give it to
charity, throw it in the sewer. Does that settle it? In the sewer, that's all. You think I'm kidding? I'm
tellin' you to do it, if it's dirty then burn it. It's your money, that's not my money. I'm a dead man, I'm an
old dean man, nothing's mine. Well, talk to me! What do you want to do.

Chris: It's not what I want to do. It's what you want to do.

Keller: What should I do? (Chris is silent) Jail? You want me to go to jail? If you want me to go, say so! Is
that where I belong? Then tell me so! (Slight pause) What's the matter, whay can't you tell me?
(Furiously) You say everyting else to me, say that! (Slight pause) I'll tell you why you can't say it. Because
you know I don't belong there. Because you know! (with growing emphasis and passion, and a persistent
tone of desperation) Who worked for nothin' in that war? When they ship a gun or a truck outa Detroit
before they got their price? Is that clean? It's dollars and cents, nickels and dimes; war and peace, it's
nickels and dimes, what's clean? Half the Goddam country is gotta go if I go! That's why you can't tell
me.

Chris: That's exactly why. Keller: Then... Why am I bad?

Chris: I know you're no worse than most men but I thought you were better. I never saw you as a man. I
saw you as my father. (Almost breaking) I can't look at you this way, I can't look at myself!

He turns away, unable to face Keller

 - Neighbourly relations

Sue and Jim Bayliss and the Kellers

Baba Levy

The sharp shading, the hand covering mouth, shock in eyesà wide eyed. Also,
bracelet as symbol, graphic failure- no scream in the world could have relieved
my suffering and my anger.

STUDY MARJI ROM RELATIONS ALSO

Romantic Relationships- Marji and Reza, Chris and Ann

3. The depiction of historical setting is an important aspect of many works. Referring to two
works you have studied, discuss how and to what effect this depiction is achieved.
- Depiction of war and post war societies

Pg 116

Chris: speech on learning of love in the war.

t take a little time to toss that off. Because they weren't just men. For instance, one time it'd been
raining several days and this kid came to me, and gave me his last pair of dry socks. Put them in my
pocket. That's only a little thing... but... That's the kind of guys I hd. They didn't die... They killed
themselves for each other. I mean that exactly. a little more selfish and they'd've been here today. And I
got an idea ...watching them go down. Everything was being destroyed, see, but it seemed to me that
one new thing was made. A kind of... responsibility. Man for man. You understand me? To show that, to
bring that onto the earth again like some kind of a monument and everyone would feel it standing
there, behind him, and it would make a difference to him. (pause) And then I came home and it was
incredible. I.... there was no meaning in it here. The whole thing to them was a kind of a ... bus accident.
I went to work with Dad, and that rat-race again. I felt... what you said... ashamed somehow. Because
nobody was chaged at all. It seemed to make suckers out of a lot of guys. I felt wrong to be alive, to
open the bank-book, to drive the new car, to see the new refrigerator. I mean you can take those things
out of a war, but when you drive that car you've got to know that it came out of the love a man can have
for a man, you've got to be a little better because of that. Otherwise what you have is really loot, and
there's blood on it. I didn't want to take any of it. And I gues that included you.

- Depiction of economic hardship and insecurity

Pg 87
 Keller- should have put them out on the street

- Depiction of moral values

Moral compromise of society: Jim Bayliss star go out
Marji gets innocent man in trouble. Pg 289

4. How and to what effect are different moral values conveyed in two works you have
studied?
-Individual vs Society
Chris speech at end.

- Moral compromise
Moral compromise of society: Jim Bayliss star go out
Marji gets innocent man in trouble. Pg 289 (Makeup you know well by now)

- Public vs Private morality.

Joe McGuts.

The panel about schizophrenia in persepolis.

5. Discuss how isolation or loneliness is presented in two works you have studied.
- Isolation as necessary
- Isolation in terms of thinking and thought processes
- Loneliness at shattered relationships

6. In what ways are the contradictory or the paradoxical significant aspects of the two works
you have studied?
- Contradictory family values
Social classes, are you for or against + Chris and Joe fight

- Characters behaving in paradoxical ways

Mother, when she strikes chris, is unmortherly towards him, ironically only gets motherly
at the end. Mulla and Bezad
 - Contradictory beliefs as a source of conflict

+ Marji protests against the regime + Joe and Chris at End.

7. Discuss the ways in which philosophical or aesthetic ideas are represented in the two
works you have studied.
- Self preservation morality
Makeup moral compromise + Nickels and dimes speech.
- Role of Money in society
The key economic oppression +
- Impact of hardship on morality
- Makeup + Made yellow

8. Show how aspects of at least two of the works you have studied can be better understood
with a knowledge of the time and context in which they were written.
- Understanding of war and the death it causes

- Understanding economic hardship

- Understanding societal morality and unstated behaviour

Discuss the significance of a pivotal moment, shift, or turning point in at least two of the
works you have studied.
- Theme
Joe Keller finally realises his guilt, Individual vs Society
Marji- leaves for Paris, Realises that she cannot live in Vienna.
- Plot
Marji leaving, airport scene mirrors. Before leaving, is happy, tours Iran, Finally free.

Classical Unities, ending very powerful, gunshot, curtain falls as weeping→ tragedy
stays with you.
- Character development

Good buildingsroman
Keller realises, Chris goes away.

9. Explore the role minor characters play in the development of major characters in at least
two of the works you have studied.
- Minor characters reveal something about major characters
- Minor characters and growth of major characters
- Minor character as a cause of conflict
10. Analyse the role non-human elements play in at least two of the works you have studied.
- Objects as symbols of love (swan and grape juice)
- The use of setting (hoardings panel and poplars)
- Objects used as a means of expression (Posters vs Garbage pail)
11. Many works are concerned with human suffering. How has this concern been expressed
in a way that engages audiences of various times and/or places in at least two of the
works you have studied?
- Suffering due to internal dilemma
- Suffering due to prohibited love
- Suffering due to war

12. Tension often builds to a critical point in a piece of literature. How is tension created in at
least two of the works you have studied and for what purpose?
- Tension in family
- Tension over relationships
- Foreshadowing as a means to build tension
13. In what ways have at least two of your writers explored the role of the individual within
society, and what conclusions might be drawn from these explorations?
- Self Preservation vs broader obligation to society
- Complicity with those in power
-
14. Discuss the significance of particular times, places, or events from real life, either
mentioned or implied, in at least two of the works you have studied.
- Economic hardship
- War and the death it causes
- Cultural milieu
15. How do at least two of the writers you have studied foreshadow events or ideas to come
later in their works, and what is the effect of such foreshadowing?
- Foreshadowing ideas
- Foreshadowing events
-
16. Discuss whether or not the endings/conclusions of at least two of the works you have
studied are satisfactory.
- For plot
- For characters
- For the authors message
17. Appearances can be deceptive. Discuss the relevance of this statement in regard to at
least two of the works you have studied.
- Appearances of minor characters
- Appearances of major characters
 - Appearances of society

18. To what effect is contrast and/or juxtaposition used in at least two of the works you have
studied?
- Contradictory behaviour/hypocrisy by characters
- Contrast in family values
- Contrast in social classes
19. Often, the appeal for the reader of a literary work is the atmosphere a writer creates (for
example, peaceful, menacing, or ironic). Discuss some of the ways atmospheres are
conveyed and to what effect in at least two of the works you have studied.

- Atmosphere of joy
- Atmosphere of aggression
- Atmosphere of sadness

Referring to at least two of the works you have studied, discuss both how and why the
text invites the reader to identify with situations, characters, and/or ideas.
- Situations: Economic hardship as shaping decisions
- Characters: Imperfect families
- Ideas: individual vs society due to fear

20. How is “home” depicted in at least two of the works you have studied, and what is its
significance?”
In Persepolis home is Iran, in AMS Home is the Keller residence.
- The need for escape from home.
Chris has to leave his house: You were killinh my boys and you did it for me.
Rhetorical qtns, What the hell are you, not even an animal. No animal kills his own.
I ought to tear the tongue out of your mouth [with his fists he pounds down upon
his father’s shoulder he stumbles away covering his face as he weeps] What must I do
Jesus… God what must I do. Rhetorical question, ellipsis.
Joe: Chris… Chris. Elipsis/
CURTAIN→ stylistic feature
-