What the exam asks
In Paper 2, the four general questions ask how two works present or use something inside them (a character or speaker, a voice, an ending, a recurring image); none asks about sources, adaptations or why a work stays valued, because a candidate has only the two works in their head. These ideas come from the area of exploration Intertextuality: connecting texts, and they still earn: when a question is about voice or a figure who refuses a role, knowing what a poem rewrites tells you what its choices are choices against. Answering well earns marks in Criterion A (knowledge, understanding and interpretation of both works, including what they borrow and change), Criterion B1 (analysing how specific allusions or structural choices work) and Criterion B2 (comparing how two authors transform inherited material).
In Paper 1, unseen non-literary passages—such as political cartoons, advertisements, opinion columns or film reviews—can rely on allusion (a deliberate reference to another text), parody (a mocking imitation) or pastiche (an admiring imitation) to create instant meaning or humour. When a passage does this, recognizing how it reworks a familiar image or phrase is key to top-band marks in Criteria A and B.
Core ideas
Two levels of intertextuality
Intertextuality is the shaping of a text’s meaning by other texts. The IB course views it on two levels:
- Deliberate allusion and reference: A writer consciously points to a specific myth, religious story, historical text or literary work (or imitates its style through pastiche or parody). When you spot an allusion, ask how the new text alters the original’s meaning.
- The wider network of texts: Even without a deliberate quote, every text relies on a shared web of genre conventions, archetypes (familiar character types and story patterns, such as the trickster or the quest) and cultural codes (shared signs, such as a white dress for a bride in many cultures). A reader understands a detective novel or a charity appeal because they have read other texts like it.
Adaptation, retelling and performance
When a source text is reworked—through adaptation into a new medium, retelling from a marginalized character’s perspective, or performance on stage or aloud—the course concept of transformation takes centre stage.
| Form of transformation | Key authorial and directorial choices to analyse | Typical effect on meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Retelling / Counter-narrative | Shifting narrative perspective; giving voice to a silenced character; changing the ending | Critiques the ideological assumptions (such as colonial or patriarchal bias) of the source text |
| Screen or graphic adaptation | Framing, camera angles, colour palette, montage, compression of plot, visual symbolism | Translates internal prose monologue into visual and auditory shorthand for a modern audience |
| Stage performance or spoken word | Casting, staging, lighting, costume, vocal pacing, intonation, gesture | Makes a written play or poem immediate and embodied; highlights specific contemporary themes |