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Welcome to the School House Books Online Services Great Teaching Ideas Series! Recommended List of Novels for English AP* Literature and Composition: |
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Toni Morrison, (1993 Noble Prize for her Literature), The Bluest Eye Essay Prompt on a Literary Element: This work highlights the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Write a well-organized essay that analyzes how the alienation of one character reveals the surrounding society's assumptions and moral values. The Big Box; Beloved (1988 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) Essay Prompt on a Literary Element: In this novel, a character--not necessarily the protagonist--is pulled in conflicting directions by two compelling desires, ambitions, obligations, or influences. Write a well-organized essay that identifies each conflicting force and explain how this plaguing conflict within one character illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. Another Essay Prompt on a Literary Element: In this novel, a character's apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role. Write a well-organized essay in which you explain what this eccentric behavior consists of and how it might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the madness to the work as a whole. SulaEssay Prompt on a Literary Element: In this novel, a confidant (male) or a confidante (female) is used to be present when the hero or heroine needs a sympathetic listener to confide in. Frequently, as Henry James puts it, this friend or relative of the protagonist can be as much "the reader's friend as the protagonist's." Write an essay in which you discuss the various ways this character functions in the work. Another Essay Prompt on a Literary Element: This novel includes a scene of social occasion--for example, weddings, funerals, parties--which reveals the values of the characters and the society in which they live. In a focused essay, discuss the contribution the scene makes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Song of Solomon Essay Prompt on a Literary Element: Write a well-organized essay that analyzes how the meaning of this poem is enhanced by sustained allusions to myths, the Bible, or other works of literature. Another Essay Prompt on a Literary Element: Some of the most significant events in this work is mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to gives these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external events. Do not merely summarize the plot. Another Essay Prompt on a Literary Element: This work offers a happy ending through moral development. Write a well-organized essay that identifies the moral reconciliation evident on the ending and analyze its significance in the work as a whole. Another Essay Prompt on a Literary Element: Although not usually identified with the detective story genre, this work does involve the investigation of a mystery. Write an essay which identifies the mystery, explaining how the knowledge gained from the investigation illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot. |