Henrik Ibsen's A Dolls House: Answering Excerpt & Essay Questions: A Guide to Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, #3

By Jorges P. Lopez

A major problem in the study of literature is the students approach to questions. This may result from inability to tell exactly what examiners look for. To address this problem, this book looks at how to answer questions in literature. It examines the required approach to both excerpt and essay questions, the majority of ways in which literature questions are presented in high school, colleges and universities. For the essay, the book loks at how to build a good essay by looking at preparatory steps to essay writing such as planning and organizing ideas. It then looks at paragraphing, rereading and timing the essay. Though this book is based practically on the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination, the exam through which students qualify for college and the university, the ideas discussed here are applicable worldwide; the reader only needs to know how different the timing and question content in the particular examination is in order to make the necessary adjustments. The book specifically looks at the interpretation of excerpt and essay questions based on Henrik Ibsen's play, A Doll's House. however, the skills taught here can be applied to other plays and indeed to other genres of literature.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jorges P. Lopez
• Release date: Dec 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223127529

Jorges P. Lopez

Jorges P. Lopez has been teaching Literature in high schools in Kenya and Communication at The Cooperative University in Nairobi. He has been writing Literary Criticism for more than fifteen years and fiction for just over ten years. He has contributed significantly to the perspective of teaching English as a Second Language in high school and to Communication Skills at the college level. He has developed humorous novellas in the Jimmy Karda Diaries Series for ages 9 to 13 which make it easier for learners of English to learn the language and the St. Maryan Seven Series for ages 13 to 16 which challenge them to improve spoken and written language. His interests in writing also spill into Poetry, Drama and Literary Fiction. He has written literary criticism books on Henrik Ibsen, Margaret Ogola, Bertolt Brecht, John Steinbeck, John Lara, Adipo Sidang' and many others.

Book preview

WRITING YOUR ANSWERS IN LITERATURE

This book focuses on the KENYA CERTIFICATE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION English Papers 101/2 – in which candidates answer questions based on an EXCERPT taken from a specific set text studied during the course to earn 25 marks – and 101/3 – in which candidates answer 3 questions (each with 20 marks) in two and a half hours. The skills taught here, however, are applicable to any examination. The only thing required is to examine the time and marks given in your own exam and make appropriate adjustments. Some College exams, for instance, require the student to answer a question in ONE HOUR to earn 25 marks. The candidate should adjust the time suggested here and paragraphing to fit this particular exam.

Literary writing is a well-thought-out process which you will have to cultivate yourself. Apart from practicing to write like others in the field, you need to adopt the right language, the correct diction and the correct styles; you not only need to know how to interpret questions and how to present answers but also do a lot of practice before the final exam so that planning, timing and other such impediments do not come in the way of performance. This section takes you through a deliberate planning and writing out of your essay, teaches you how to interpret context questions and shows you how to tell in no uncertain terms whether you have done what your examiner requires at every stage of the question by considering the marks awarded and how to earn them. This is done in five stages; interpreting questions, how to approach the context question, planning and writing out your essay, revising your essay and timing your essay. 

I) Interpreting Questions.

It is important to seriously regard what certain question words mean because it is not uncommon to find a student go through the motions of answering a question but end up not doing so because the answer does not address the question. Here are the most common question words that you will find, especially in essay questions, with a considered opinion of what they require you to do. A sample question and the possible approach you might take to the question has also been given.

Analyze. Analyzing means examining systematically by separating constituent parts to see how they work together to form a unit. An analysis of a theme or a character, for example, will also involve an examination of the different aspects of that theme or character traits in order to show how they work together to form a writer’s complete opinion of a subject or how the traits reflect a complete image of the character as shown in the particular play.

Sample Question: Analyze the theme of greed in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.

Possible Approach: Go through the play and examine how many greedy characters you can find. Examine their motives, how they are presented and how they end up to form the playwright’s opinion on the subject. Write out an essay showing these aspects of materialism so as to show Ibsen’s opinion of greed as a subject.

Compare. To compare, draw similarities between things. You might be asked to compare characters, treatment of themes or use of two aspects of style. For characters, discuss how they are treated; which one is more central than the other and what their roles are. For themes, discuss which is given more weight. For style, look at the way the two aspects of style are used; which one is more widely used/which one is more effectively used. Note that in some cases you may be required to compare and