Ap Literature Open Response Questions Essay

2011 In a fresh by William Styron, a father tells his son that action is a seek for umpire. submit a flake from a refreshed or act who responds in several(prenominal) significant way to justice or injustice. beca enforce save a well-developed experiment in which you examine the portions understanding of justice, the degree to which the sources search for justice is successful, and the significance of this search for the bring as a whole. 2010 Palestinian American literary theorist and cultural amateur Edward Said has scripted that Exile is strangely obligate to think both(prenominal) to a greater extentover terrible to scram. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home its essential distress can never be surmounted. Yet Said has also utter that exile can become a potent, level off enriching experience. Select a wise, process, or epic in which a quality experiences such(prenominal) a rift and becomes cut off from home, whether that home is the characters birthplace, family, home disgrace, or other special place. and so write an strive in which you lose it how the characters experience with exile is both alienating and enriching, and how this experience illuminates the gist of the piddle as a whole. 2009 A symbol is an object, action, or event that re ease ups something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary flora a symbol can express an idea, clarify moment, or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or trifle and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the puzzle out and what it wear outs about the characters or themes of the shit as a whole. Do not stainlessly total the plot of land. 2008 In a literary piss, a excusable character, often k instantern as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by credit line or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main characte r. For example, the ideas or behavior of the nipper character efficiency be used to cotton up the weaknesses or strengths of the main character. spot a novel or symbolise in which a minor character serves as a foil to a main character. Then write an essay in which you give out how the relation between the minor character and the study character illuminates the meaning of the naturalize. 2007 In legion(predicate) kit and boodle of belles-lettres, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present actions, attitudes, or pry of a character. spot a novel or function in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, individually personal or societal. Then write anessay in which you lay d deliver how the characters relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. 2006 Many writers use a country setting to nominate values within a work of books. For example, the country whitethorn be a place of virtue and peace or primit ivism and ignorance. shoot a novel or walkover in which such a setting defends a significant role. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the country setting functions in the work as a whole. Do not merely take up the plot. 2005 In Kate Chopins The waking up (1899), the protagonist, Edna Pontellier is said to possess that outward existence which conforms, the inbound life which motilitys. In a novel or play that you have canvas, observe a character who conforms outwardly while questioning inwardly. Then write an essay in which you analyze how that tension between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid mere plot summary. 2004 Critic Roland Barthes has said, writings is the question minus the answer.Choose a novel or play and, considering Barthes observation, write an essay in which you analyze a aboriginal question the work raises and the extent to which it offers any answers. Explain how the authors word of this questi on affects your understanding of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary. 2003 According to critic Northrop Frye, Tragic heroes are so very much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightning. Select a novel or play in which a tragic guess functions as an instrument of the suffering of others.Then write an essay in which you develop how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole. 2002 Morally evasive characterscharacters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or purely ethicalare at the heart of many working of literary productions. Choose a novel or play in which a object lessonly indefinite characters plays a pivotal role. Then write an essay in which you ex empt how the character can be viewed as cleanly ambiguous and wherefore his or her moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary. 2001 One definition of indulgence is psychogenic delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it. But Emily Dickinson wrote Much tomfoolery isdivinest SenseTo a discerning EyeNovelists and childs playtists have often seen madness with a discerningEye. Select a novel or play in which a characters apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an pregnant role. Then write a well-organized essay in which you apologize what this delusion or eccentric behavior consists of and how it might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the madness to the work as a whole. Do not merely tot up the plot. 2000 Many works of lit not readily identified with the mystery or detective stratum genre nonetheless involve the investigation of a mystery. In these works, the termination to the mystery may be less crucial than the knowledge gained in the process of its investigation. Choose a novel or play in which one or more of the characters confront a mystery. Then write an essay in which you identify the mystery and formulate how the investigation illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.Do not merely summarize the plot. 1999 The eighteenth-century British novelist Laurence Sterne wrote, No body, but he who has felt it, can apprehend what a plaguing thing it is to have a mans judgement torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both stubbornly pulling in a contrary direction at the like time. From a novel or play choose a character (not necessarily the protagonist) whose mind is pulled in strange directions by two compelling desires, ambitions, obligations, or influences. Then, in a well-organized essay, identify each of the two conflicting forces and explain how this conflict within one character illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. You may use one of the novels or plays listed down the stairs or another novel or play of similar literary quality. 1998 In his essay Walking, Henry David Thoreau offers the by-line assessment of literature In literature it is only the wild that attracts us.Dullness is but another bring in for tameness. It is the uncivilized free and wild thinking in Hamlet and The Iliad, in all scriptures and mythologies, not learned in schools, that delights us. From the works you have studied in school, choose a novel, play, or epic poem that you may initially have thought was conventional and tame but that you now value for its uncivilized free and wild thinking. save an essay in which you explain what constitutes its uncivilized free and wild thinking and how that thinking is central to the value of the work as a whole.Support your ideas with specific references to the work you choose. 1997 Novels and plays often include scenes of weddings, funerals, parties, and other social occasions. Such scenes may reveal the values of the characters and the society in which they live. Select a novel or play that includes such a scene and, in a centre essay, discuss the contribution the scene arrives to the meaning of the work as a whole. 1996 The British novelist Fay Weldon offers this observation about cheerful closing curtains The writers, I do believe, who scram the best and most lasting response from readers are the writers who offer a happy destination through moral development.By a happy ending, I do not mean mere fortunate eventsa marriage or a last-minute rescue from deathbut some kind of spiritual reappraisal or moral reconciliation, even with the self, even at death. Choose a novel or play that has the kind of ending Weldon describes. In a well-written essay, identify the spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation evident in the ending and explain its significance in the work as a whole. 1995 put outrs often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated fro m that culture or society because of gender, race, partitioning or creed. Choose a play or novel in which such a character plays a significant role and essay how that characters alienation reveals the surrounding societys assumptions and moral values. 1994 In some works of literature, a character who appears briefly, or does not appear at all, is a significant presence.Choose a novel or play of literary merit and write an essay in which you show how such a character functions in the work. You may deal to discuss how the character affects action, theme, or the development of other characters. 1993 The true canvass of comedy is that it shall awaken thoughtful laughter. (George Meredith) Choose a novel, play, or great poem in which a scene or character awakens thoughtful laughter in the reader. Write an essay in which you show why this laughter is thoughtful and how it contributes to the meaning of the work. 1992 In a novel or play, a confidant (male) or a confidante (female) is a character, often a adept or relative of the hero or heroine, whose roles is to be present when the hero or heroine needs a sympathetic listener to give in. Frequently the result is, as Henry James remarked, that the confidant or confidante can be as much the readers friend as the protagonists. However, the author sometimes uses this character for other purposes as well. Choose a confidant orconfidante from a novel or play of recognize literary merit and write an essay in which you discuss the various ways this character functions in the work.1991 Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play thatcontrasts two such places. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work. 1990 Choose a novel or play tha t depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. 1989 In questioning the value of literary realism, Flannery OConnor has written, I am inte recessed in making a faithful case for torture because I am coming to believe that it is the only way to make people see. Write an essay in which you make a good case for distortion, as distinct from literary realism. Analyze how important elements of the work you choose are distorted and explain how these distortions contribute to the issuanceiveness of the work.1988 Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological for example, awakenings, discoveries, and changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the gumption of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external actions. Do not merely summarize the plot. 1987 Some novels and plays seem to advocate changes in social or governmental attitudes or in traditions. Choose such a novel or play and note briefly the particular attitudes or traditions that the author obviously wishes to modify. Then analyze the techniques the author uses to influence the readers or audiences views. Avoid plot summary. 1986 Some works of literature use the element of time in a distinct way. The chronological sequence of events may be altered, or time may be suspended or accelerated. Choose a novel, an epic, or a play of recognized literary merit and show how the authors use of goods and services of time contributes to the effectiveness of thework as a whole.1985 A critic has said that one important measure of a superior work of literature is its ability to produce in the reader a red-blooded confusion of joy and disquietude. Select a literary work that produces this sun-loving co nfusion. Write an essay in which you explain the sources of the pleasure and disquietude see by the readers of the work and how this sexual union contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. 1984 Select a line or so of poetry, or a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reasons for its effectiveness. 1983 From a novel or play of literary merit, select an important a character who is a villain. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the nature of the characters villainy and show how it enhances meaning in the work.1982 In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. Choose a work of literary merit that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work. 1 981 The meaning of some literary works is often enhanced by sustained allusion to myths, the Bible, or other works of literature. Select a literary work that makes use of such a sustained reference. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain the allusion that predominates in the work and analyze how it enhances the works meaning. 1980 A recur theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other perception or drive may conflict with moral duty.Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a clubby passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work. 1979 Choose a complex and important character in a novel or play of recognized literary merit who mighton the basis of the character s actions alonebe considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. 1978 Choose an unbelievable or strikingly unrealistic incident or character in a work of fiction or drama of recognized literary merit. Writean essay that explains how the incident or character is related to the more realistic or plausible elements in the rest of the work, and why the pairing of these elements contributes to the meaning as a whole.1977 In some novels and plays certain line of latitude or recurring events prove to be significant. In an essay, describe the majorsimilarities and differences in a sequence of parallel or recurring events in a novel or play and discuss the significance of such events. 1976 A characters attempt to recapture or to stand firm the past is important in many plays, novels, and poems. Choose a literary work in which a character views t he past with such feelings as reverence, bitterness, or longing. Show with clear evidence from the work how the characters view of the past is used to develop a theme in the work. 1975 Unlike the novelist, the writer of a play does not use his own enunciate and only rarely uses a narrators voice to guide the audiences responses to character and action. Select a play you have read and write an essay in which you explain the techniques the playwright uses to guide his audiences responses to the central characters and action.You might consider the effect on the audience of things like setting, the use of comparable and contrasting characters, and the characters responses to each other. Support your argument with specific references to the play. 1974 Choose a work of literature written before 1900. Write an essay in which you present arguments for and against the works relevance for a person in 1974. Your own touch should emerge in the course of your essay. You may refer to works of l iterature written after 1900 for the purpose of contrast or comparison. 1973 An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant gag rule has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In a well-organized essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit.Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot. 1971 In retrospect, the reader often discovers that the first chapter of a novel introduces some of the major themes of the work. Write an essay about the first chapter of a novel inwhich you explain how the chapter functions to set forth major themes. 1968 In many plays, a character has a misconception of himself or hi s world. Destroying or perpetuating this illusion contributes to a central theme of the play. Choose a play with a major character to whom this statement applies and write an essay in which you consider the following points what the characters illusion is and how it differs from reality as presented in the play and how the destruction or perpetuation of the illusion develops a them of the play.1966 An individuals struggle toward understanding and awareness is the traditional subject for the novelist. In an essay, harbour this statement to one novel of literary merit. Organize your essay correspond to the following play 1) Compare the hero as we see him in an early scene with the hero as we see him in a scene near the end of the novel. 2) Describe the techniques that the author uses to reveal the radical understanding and awareness that the hero has achieved. 1963 Character determines incident. Incident illustrates character. Write a well-organized essay evaluating this statement through a discussion of one character from each of two novels.1959 All kinds of books have been attacked, suppressed, or disapproved of by authorities, groups or individuals. Select an important work which you admire and which you propose to defend against doable objections. In a well-organized essay, present reasons why the work might be attacked, and base your defense on a consideration of such matters as its language, the people in it, its mood and spirit, and consequently its artistic purpose and its value for the readers. ? Choose an implausible or strikingly unrealistic incident or character in a work of fiction or drama of recognized literary merit.Write an essay that explains how the incident or character is related to the more realistic or plausible elements in the rest of the work. Avoid plot summary. ? The conflict created when the will of an individual opposes the will of the volume is the recurring theme of many novels, plays, and essays. Select the work of an essayis t who is in opposition to his or her society or, from a work of recognized literary merit, select a fictional character who is in opposition to his or her society. In a critical essay, analyze the conflict and discuss the moral and ethical implications for both the individual and the society. Do not summarize the plot or action of the work you choose.