How to Write an AP Lit Prompt: the “open” question

1. How to Write an AP Lit Prompt: the “open” question

2. Open Question • On this question you are allowed to select your own text. • Tomorrow’s question on Gatsby!

3. Gatsby #1 “The past is often at the heart of many great works of literature. Choose a novel or a play in which the past is integral. Write an essay explaining what the past represents and how it contributes to the meaning of the work. “

4. Gatsby #1 HOW DO YOU APPROACH IT? 1. First, select which element of the past you wish to use, identify it, then explore it. a. Gatsby's childhood, questionable young adult life, or past love with Daisy b. Larger historical past to which Nick refers in the closing sentence of the novel: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

5. Gatsby #1 2. Second, explain what it represents a. Developed Gatsby’s character, establishes motive b. Holds something that Nick seems to long for: a simpler, better, nobler time, perhaps, a time when people believed in the importance of the family and the church.

6. Gatsby #1 3. Third, explain its significance to the larger meaning of the work a. Thematic connection – effects of aspiration (eschewing of moral values, disconnection between people, etc.) b. Tom, Daisy and Jordan are creatures of the present – Fitzgerald tells us little or nothing about their pasts--and it is this allegiance to the moment that makes them so attractive, and also so rootless and spiritually empty.

7. Gatsby #1 What would be your thesis? “The past is often at the heart of many great works of literature. Choose a novel or a play in which the past is integral. Write an essay explaining what the past represents and how it contributes to the meaning of the work. “

8. Gatsby #1 What would be your thesis? “In the novel, Gatsby’s own past and his lifelong arduous journey to escape it through a fictitious recreation of it is central to Fitzerald’s message. In the novel, Gatsby’s own past and his lifelong arduous journey to escape it, through a fictitious recreation of it, is central to Fitzgerald’s purpose. As the protagonist dies alone at the end, a result of the loss of his true identity, Fitzgerald underscores the message that happiness is found only in real connections with other people – connections made as one experiences his life – his past.”

9. Gatsby #2 “A foil – a character that contrasts with the protagonist – is often used in great works of literature to highlight various features of the protagonist or bring his character into sharper focus. Choose a novel or play in which a foil plays an important role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character serves as a foil and how the contrast contributes to the larger work overall.”

10. Gatsby #2 How to approach it? 1. First select your foil, identify him and explore him. Briefly establish that he is different from the protagonist. 2. Second, explain how it contrasts the protagonist and what about the protagonist is highlighted because of the contrast 3. Third, explain the significance of the highlighted characteristics to the larger meaning of the work.

11. Gatsby #2 What would be your thesis?

12. Gatsby #2 “A foil – a character that contrasts with the protagonist – is often used in great works of literature to highlight various features of the protagonist or bring his character into sharper focus. Choose a novel or play in which a foil plays an important role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character serves as a foil and how the contrast contributes to the larger work overall.”