1984 and The Handmaid's Tale

[nuka]

Okay, so I have to do a paper 2 style essay with the books, 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale.

The question is:

"For a novel to have lasting value, it must make some social or political statement." To what extent is this assertion true based on two or more works you have studied?

I need help; this is our third practice essay for paper 2. On the first two, i've been getting 15/16 out of 25. I just don't know how to answer these questions effectively!

Could anyone help with ideas? or tell me a general structure to follow to help me answer this question or any paper 2 question well?

Thanks!

[dessskris]

Start with agreeing or disagreeing with the assertion.

If you agree, maybe you can say something like:

For a novel to have lasting value, it must do make some social or political statement.

If you disagree, maybe you can say something like:

Novels that make social or political statements have lasting value, but not all novels that have lasting value make social or political statements.

Something along those lines, you know. Then mention the works that you use. Say something like:

As we can analyse in (Author1)'s novel (Novel1) and in (Author2)'s novel (Novel2), .....

or

This can be seen in the novels (Novel1) by (Author1) and (Novel2) by (Author2).

After that you may want to mention whether those novels have lasting value in your opinion, and why (i.e. because those novels make social or political statement, or what?) briefly.

Then you can discuss Novel1 first, whether it has lasting value and why. Give evidences to support your argument. Don't forget to conclude this discussion -- whether a novel has to make social or political statement to have lasting value.

Do the same for Novel2.

To conclude, you can say something like:

As proven in novels (Novel1) and (Novel2) by (Author1) and (Author2) respectively, for a novel to have lasting value, ..... (your conclusion).

Elaborate a little more.

Note that when discussing each work you need to support your thesis statement in the first paragraph. Mention relevant evidences only and not those that aren't supporting your thesis.

Do not add something new in your conclusion.

Sorry I cannot give any book-specific idea as I've never read either book. Good luck with this paper!

[hellwo]

I read the books, so this info can add on to the previous outline.

Both 1984 and Handmaid's Tale were social and political statements, since those are the books you have studied the assertion is true to a great extent. So your essay should contain strong evidence that political and social statements were made in the books, and that 1984 and Handmaid's tale had lasting impacts. Explore the reasons why a statement could cause larger impact. Discuss how the selection(dystopian fiction) of books is not representative of all books.