Navigating the Comparative Modes

Overview

The comparative study requires students to explore connections and contrasts between different texts. This involves understanding various comparative modes—specific perspectives through which texts are compared. Mastering these modes is essential for achieving a H1 in the comparative! 🚀

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Four comparative modes:

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1. Cultural Context

Cultural context examines the societal norms, values, and structures that influence the characters and events within the texts. This includes aspects such as class, gender roles, religion, politics, and economic conditions.

Key Points:

• Societal norms and values: How do these shape the characters' actions and decisions?
• Social structures: What are the dominant social structures, and how do they impact the storyline?
• Character response: How do the characters accept or challenge the cultural norms of their time?

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2. General Vision and Viewpoint

This mode explores the overall perspective or attitude of the texts towards life, often encapsulated in the tone and mood. It reflects the author's vision and how they want the reader to perceive the world presented in the text.

Key Points:

• Tone and mood: Is the overall outlook of the text optimistic or pessimistic?
• Reader's emotion: What emotions are evoked in the reader?
• Character journeys: How do the characters' journeys shape the text's vision and viewpoint?

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3. Theme or Issue

The theme or issue mode focuses on the central topics or ideas that the texts explore. This could range from themes of power, love, conflict, and identity, to issues like freedom, justice, or oppression.

Key Points:

• Introduction and development: How is the theme introduced and developed throughout the text?
• Impact on characters: How does the theme affect the main characters?
• Key moments: Are there any key moments that significantly highlight this theme?

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4. Literary Genre

Literary Genre refers to the style in which a text is written or presented, whether in a novel, play, or film. This mode analyses how the author or director structures and delivers the story to engage the audience.

Key Points:

• Narration and Point of View:
  • How is the story narrated (first-person, third-person)?
  • What impact does the narrator's perspective have on the audience?
• Title Significance:
  • Does the title reveal anything important about the story?
• Symbols and Symbolism:
  • Are symbols used, and what do they represent?
  • In plays, do props or lighting serve as symbols?

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Linking Phrases

Addition	Comparison	Contrast	Time
Further	Similarly	However	Meanwhile
Furthermore	Comparable	Nevertheless	Presently
Moreover	In the same way	On the other hand	At last
In Addition	Likewise	On the contrary	Finally
Additionally	As with	Even so	Immediately
Then	Equally	Notwithstanding	Thereafter
Also	Just as ... so too	Alternatively	At that time
Too	a similar X	At the same time	Subsequently
Besides	Another X like	Whereas	Eventually
Again		Otherwise	Currently
Equally importantly		Instead	In the meantime
First, Second		Nonetheless	In the past
Finally, Lastly		Conversely

Result	Summary	Example	Place
Hence	In short	For example	There
Therefore	On the Whole	For Instance	Here
Accordingly	In other words	That is	Beyond
Consequently	To be sure	Such as	Nearby
Thus	Clearly	As revealed by	Next to
Thereupon	Anyway	Illustrated by	At that point
As a result	On the whole	Specifically	Opposite to
In consequence	In sum	In particular	Adjacent to
So	After all	For one thing	On the other side
Then	In general	This can be seen in	In the front
	It seems	An instance of this	In the back
	In brief

Comparing Similarities	Contrasting Phrases
Similarly	Unlike
Likewise	The texts are different in the area of…
… is common in…	On the other hand
Equally noticeable is…	This is contrasted in…
In the same way	On the contrary…
Furthermore	However, the opposite is seen in…
Both authors take the same approach in…	In contrast/contrastingly…
A common feature of all the texts are…	Nothing like this occurs in…
This is mirrored in…	Whereas
This can also be observed in…	Quite the reverse is seen in…
… is equally important in both texts.	This is the only text where we notice…