Key Idea: At HL you study two literary works in English, and your oral is built on an extract from one of them. This topic is how to read them: plot, theme, character, voice and style.
Reading a literary work
- Know the story, then ask how it is arranged: find the turning point.
- Read an extract as detail → quotation → effect.
- Analyse, don't summarise.
Themes and characters
- A theme is a sentence with a claim, not one word: "memory can trap us", not "memory".
- Writers build a theme through repetition, contrast, symbols and key moments.
- Prove it: point, short embedded quotation, then what it shows.
- Analyse character by motivation, change, relationships and foils, not adjectives.
Narrative voice and style
- Point of view: first person, third-person limited, third-person omniscient, unreliable narrator.
- Tone is the attitude of the writing; mood is the reader's feeling. Diction creates both.
- Devices: simile, metaphor, personification, symbol, imagery. Name it, quote it, give its effect.
- Style: formal or colloquial words, long or short sentences, rhythm.
The narrator is not the author. If a novel says "I", that is the narrator, a voice inside the story.
Is "love" a theme? No, it is a topic. You need a claim you could argue.
What is the difference between tone and mood? Tone is the writing's attitude. Mood is how the reader feels.
You write "there is a metaphor". What is missing? Its effect on the reader.
How do you show a character, not just describe one? Track how they change, with evidence.
Which device uses like or as? A simile.