2022 Category 2 Extended Essay (The Bell Jar and The Vegetarian)
In this week’s update, we’ve published an excellent Category 2 Extended Essay. The student takes a well-known, classic piece of literature and compares and contrasts it to a contemporary award-winning novel from South Korea. In her essay, the student asks this question: How do Sylvia Plath and Han Kang critique the social construction of female mental illness in The Bell Jar and The Vegetarian?
This is a great model example to give to students who are embarking on a Category 2 EE or a Category 1 EE using two literary works originally written in English.
In this EE, the student compares and contrasts the two novels well. There is an original research question and angle. The essay is rich in terms of the literary analysis and research. But it’s also not perfect. The attention to MLA citations needs some improvement. Some phrasing is a bit awkward or long-winded too.
However, taken as a whole - especially when one considers the questions that arise from the powerful conclusion - there's a whole lot to celebrate in this EE!
You can find the Extended Essay here.
Best,
Tim and David