Rationale

This approach was introduced to bring some variety to the manner in which texts are studied at Leaving Certificate level and to give students another perspective on literature’s potential in their lives. 

Although literary texts are aesthetic artefacts they can be gainfully approached from a range of other viewpoints, e.g., cultural, historical, social, which can enrich the understanding of literature’s role and significance. 

Studying texts comparatively from these perspectives invites students to interact with the different imaginative worlds encountered and to make discriminations and evaluations. Such study will reflexively focus back on the student’s own world and raise her/his awareness of it. 

Modes of Comparison

For each Leaving Certificate Course three modes of comparison will be prescribed. This means that the texts chosen for comparative study must be studied under those particular modes (headings). 
 

At Higher Level the Modes are: 
  A theme or issue
  A historical/literary period
  A literary genre
  The cultural context
  The general vision and outlook
 

At Ordinary Level the Modes are:
  Hero/heroine/villain
  Relationships
  Social setting
  Change and development
  Specific themes: love, race, prejudice, violence 
  Aspects of Story: tension, climax, ending.

While some of these modes are self-explanatory others need some elucidation:

Theme/Issue
Comparing texts on a prescribed theme(s). These would have to be themes which were pervasive and central to the texts chosen for study. e.g.
 
 

•   Power:    King Lear, Antigone, Wild Swans, The Third Man (F)
•   Love:    Jane Eyre,Far From the Madding Crowd, City of the Mind, 
•       Room with a View (F)
•   War/violence:  How Many miles to Babylon, Fly Away, Peter, Henry V         Dances With Wolves (F)

Historical/Literary period
Choose texts from different periods and compare them as products of their    respective periods. This comparative mode focuses on the manner in which 
the dominant literary and philosophical ideas of a period are expressed in    a text.  Students should develop some understanding of how authors from    different periods saw their art and their own role .e.g.

•   Jane Eyre is a product of the Romantic Movement. How is this evident in the text?
•  In what way is Things Fall Apart a Modern text?
•   What Victorian ideas about the novel are found in Great Expectations? 

A Literary Genre
This mode focuses on the ways that texts tell their story. The following    kinds of questions should be asked about the texts being studied:

•   How is this story told? (Who tells it? Where and when is it told?)
•   Why is the story told in this way?
•   What effects do all these have?
•   Is there just one plot or many plots? How do these relate?
•   What are the major tensions in the texts? Are they resolved or not?
•   Was this way of telling the story successful and enjoyable?
•   How do the texts compare as stories?
•   Is the story humorous or tragic, romantic or realistic?
•  lTo what genre does it actually belong? Is it Romance, Thriller,   Social Realism, Saga, Historical, Fantasy, Science-fiction, Satire?
•   How do the experiences of encountering a novel, a play (performed),     and viewing a film differ?

Some Options
Compare texts of the same genre e.g. 
  travel books, In Patagonia, Wheels within Wheels,.
Compare plays as tragedies:
  Death of a Salesman, King Lear, The Remains of the Day, Antigone. 
Compare novels: 
  Great Expectations, Huckleberry Finn and How Many Miles to Babylon?
Compare a novel, a play and an autobiography.e.g.
  Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, An Evil Cradling and Things Fall Apart.
 

The Cultural Context 
Compare texts focusing on social rituals, values, and attitudes. This is not to be seen as a sociological study of the texts. It means taking some perspectives which enable the students to understand the kind of values and structures with which people contend. It amounts to entering into the world of the text and getting some insight and feel for the cultural texture of the world created. This would imply considering such aspects as, the rituals of life and the routines of living the structures of society, familial, social, economic, religious and political: the respective roles of men and women in 

society, the position of children, the role and nature of work, the sources and structures of power and the significance of race and class. 

Some Options: 

•  Cat’s Eye, The Remains of the Day, December Bride, Cinema Paradiso (F).
•   Huckleberry Finn, The Road to Memphis, Things Fall Apart, Othello.
•   Philadelphia, Here I Come, My Oedipus Complex and Other Stories, My Left Foot.(F)

General vision and viewpoint
Compare texts from the standpoint of the view they offer on life. Is it optimistic or pessimistic? What aspects of life do they concentrate on and why. Evaluate the coherence of the viewpoints as presented in the texts. e.g., 

•   Huckleberry Finn, The Remains of the Day, Antigone
•   Henry V, Fly Away Peter, Death and Nightingales.

Ordinary Level

Hero/Heroine/Villain
Compare the major protagonist(s) in chosen texts. This would include qualities, values, outlook of protagonist(s) and responses and evaluations of reader. e.g., 
  The Road to Memphis, Lies of Silence, The Silent People, 

Relationships
Compare central and significant relationships. Outline how each was significant and contrast the nature and quality of the relationships and their effects. E.g., 
  Philadelphia Here I Come, Fly Away Peter, Cinema Paradiso. 

Social Setting
Compare the social worlds of the texts. How do they compare in terms of attitudes and values in relation to such aspects of society as the respective roles of men and women, structures of power and matters of class and race. e.g., 
Cinema Paradiso/ My Left Foot and My Oedipus Complex and Other Stories

Change and Development
Compare the changes (or lack of changes) that take place in either an important character or society or a relationship. What causes these changes and how do they contribute to the respective texts. e.g.,
Fly Away Peter, How Many Miles to Babylon, Things Fall Apart.

Themes
Compare the treatment of a similar theme which is of central significance in texts. e.g. Love: The Homesick Garden, December Bride and Much Ado About Nothing.

Aspects of Narrative
Compare the techniques that texts use to create interest and pleasure for readers. e.g. 
In Patagonia, Someone Who’ll Watch over Me, The Third Man(F) 
 
 

Exemplars of Comparative Study

EXEMPLAR A
Higher Level
 

EXEMPLAR B
Higher Level
 

EXEMPLAR C
Ordinary Level
 

EXEMPLAR D
Higher/Ordinary Level
 

FOCUS NOTE:   Comparative studies should illuminate the unique world and
the distinctive imaginative qualities of each text.

Comparative studies of texts are not intended to reduce the aesthetic/imaginative encounter that lies at the centre of literature teaching. On the contrary they are intended to bring into relief the unique imaginative world that each text of quality and substance creates. By taking a variety of perspectives the human and moral texture of the world will be illuminated and students’ engagement with the specific experiences,questions, dilemmas and tensions inevitably enriched and refined. In comparative approaches literary texts talk to one another and students can become involved in this conversation.
 
 

General Considerations

The objectives of comparative studies are:
 

•   to encourage wider reading in different contexts 
•   to introduce different ways of looking at texts.

If these objectives are to be achieved, it is important that a different approach should be adopted in the classroom to emphasise the change in orientation.

The traditional approach to reading long texts, i.e. a linear reading, perhaps extending over months and accompanied by various forms of commentaries on all aspects of the text, is not appropriate. Texts for comparative study should be read relatively quickly and then returned to for more detailed selective readings, guided by the modes of comparison prescribed. 
 

The Modes of Comparison should be seen as specific pathways through texts which will give a clear purpose to each rereading.

Specific Approaches 

1. From recommended list choose group of texts mindful of class ability, interests and the prescribed modes of comparison which are to be studied.

2. From the texts (A, B and C) select one as the anchor text for the study, This text, Text A, will be the base from which to depart.

3. Read Text A reasonably quickly (Two/three weeks). Generally it would be expected that students would do much of this reading, especially at these early stages, as assignments. These assignments could be quite directive to give the students a definite sense of purpose to their reading. Asking students to give summaries of the action in each chapter would not be an appropriate assignment. It would be much preferable to request them to do one of the following:
 

  In these chapters what events are significant for the main relationship?
  What conflicts emerged in these chapters?
  Which characters did you find of most interest. Whom did you like or dislike?
  What surprised you here?
  Did you find the world of the book attractive or not?

Clearly these questions can be given more focus in relation to specific texts.
The response journal could play a significant role here. It is not incumbent on the teacher to read every line of the text in class. In class discussion focus on general impact of the text in relation to setting, action, tension/conflict and main characters. 

4. Choose one comparative mode and do selective reading of text to highlight its significance.

5. Then read Text B. as above.

6. When Text B is finished choose another comparative mode and do selective reading of text to highlight its significance. This should be different from the mode examined relative to Text A. In that way the comparative modes can be use to give variety of approach and perspective to the texts and help to avoid predictability. Having studied A. and B. from different perspectives the texts can then be studied comparatively from the point of view of the two modes.

Approach Text C. in the same manner. i.e.

  Read for general impression and outline. 
  Re-read selectively for relevant comparative mode.
  Compare with other texts on basis of chosen mode
  Compare with other texts in all modes.

The time taken to study the comparative section of the syllabus should be at a maximum about 40 class periods. 

Outline exemplar of Comparative Study based on some texts on the present Leaving Certificate Course.

(This is merely an exemplar to illustrate the kind of commentary and knowledge that would be expected in this context - this comparative option using these texts is not available for the course in 1999-2001)

Texts selected: King Lear, Wuthering Heights, Lord of the Flies.

Theme/Issue
The Concept of Nature/Human Nature/Civilisation

King Lear
Nature, Wild, Barbarous, Instinctive . . . Seen as Destructive 
V.
Nature, Humanised and Moral . . . Seen as Creative and Nurturing.

Wuthering Heights
Nature a source of freedom and power . . . Elemental and Amoral . . . Essential for living at depth . . . Ambiguous in impact
V.
Nature tamed into artificiality and urbanisation . . . Inadequate and shallow.

Lord of the Flies
Human nature is savage and power driven . . . Aims at Domination. . . . Civilisation is a Sham
V.
Human nature as control and awareness . . . Weak and Vulnerable . . . Easily a victim of the lust for power

Literary Genre

King Lear

•   Shakespearean Tragedy: Story of a Moral Hero causing destruction
•   Poetic Language and Imagery
•   Two plots; parallel meanings
•   Much death and treachery, violent action
•   Sacrificial resolution . . . Awe and sympathy.

Wuthering Heights

•   Romantic novel of passion, desire and celebration
•   Unique narrative structure, variety of viewpoints, complex chronology
•  Lyrical statement of the author’s vision
•  Takes a melodramatic approach subject and energises it with poetic resonance

Lord of the Flies

•   Modern novel
•   Powerful and direct narrative line
•   Variety of viewpoints adopted
•   A novel basically of social realism with satiric intent
•   Could be seen as an allegorical story with a definite lesson to teach
•   Perhaps less purely imaginative and exploratory than the other texts considered.

Cultural Context
 

King Lear

•   Medieval/Renaissance Court: Absolute power of monarch
•   Family context; Sibling Rivalry brought to its extreme: No mother, No heir . . . 
•   Political Intrigue, treachery and betrayal; desire for power excludes most other values
•   Aristocratic context . . . However, the ordinary people play a small but usually    significant role usually positive.
•   Few details of the texture of the world are given, e.g. food, clothes, 

Wuthering Heights

•   Nineteenth century rural setting; Yorkshire Moors and its weather.
•   Patriarchal world. Where men hold sway economically and socially; role of    women . . . ?
•   Issue of class of much significance: Earnshaws V. Lintons
•   Issue of race: Heathcliff’s origins
•   Rituals of Life much in evidence, Social Life, Religious Belief

•   Late twentieth century/post nuclear holocaust
•   Tropical island setting/public school boys shipwrecked
•  Isolation of group essential ingredient of meaning
•   Class difference most significant
•   Rituals of life and customs subverted by context
•  No female, no adults of significance present. Why?