Owen Meany Essay Prompts and Rubric
Due Date: 4B Tues. 9/20, 4W and 5W Monday 9/19
Directions: Please choose one of the prompts below to use to develop your essay.
Please be sure that your essay follows all MLA guidelines:
1. Heading
2. Title
3. Double spaced-typed/12 font Times, pagination on upper right hand corner
4. Paper does not exceed four pages
5. Quotes are used correctly throughout the essay
Remember that this first essay will help you begin to understand the types of
questions that will be asked of you on the Q3 (Open Response) portion of the AP
Exam. Each of the essay questions below is a modified version of a Q3 question.
Do not skip the step of taking time to brainstorm and organize your ideas before
you write. This will help you keep your essay clearly focused on your thesis. Take
time to design a thesis that will work for you and will sustain you for several
paragraphs.
a. Writer’s often use imagery to reveal motifs in a novel that help to enhance the
overall meaning of the work. Choose one motif from A Prayer for Owen
Meany and, using evidence from the text, discuss the ways in which this motif
contributes to Irving’s larger meaning.
b. Using your summer close reading notes, discuss the journey that your character
from A Prayer for Owen Meany takes in the novel from the beginning to the
end. Does your character go through a transformation (positive or negative) due
to the events in the novel? Does your character not seem changed by the
events? Discuss the ways in which your character’s journey from the beginning
to the end of the novel contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Be
sure to use evidence from the text and avoid plot summary.
c. According to critic Northop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so 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 lightening than a clump of
grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine
lightening.”
Discuss the ways in which the tragic figure of Owen Meany functions as an
instrument of the suffering of others. Then write an essay in which you explain
how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic
vision of the work as a whole.
Owen Meany Take Home Essay Rubric
Ideas (25%) _________
____Writer’s ideas are original and interesting
____Writer’s ideas are fluid and clearly articulated
____Writer is able to create an interesting idea in thesis
and carry that idea throughout the essay without repetition
____Thesis presents a persuasive analysis of characterization or motif
Content (25%) _______
____Writer chooses examples that best illustrate his/her argument
____Writer’s examples precisely illustrate assertions throughout essay
____Writer’s examples reflect a thorough knowledge of the text
____Writer’s examples are not summary but clearly focused on an idea in topic sentence
Analysis (25%) _________
______Writer presents a strong case for his/her interpretation of character or motif
______Writer’s examples enhance the paper’s argument
______Writer’s examples are the STRONGEST evidence for his/her argument
______Writer’s examples support thesis and topic sentence assertions
______Writer uses literary devices to strengthen and enhance argument
Organization (10%) ________
______Thesis is focused and articulate
______Introduction hooks reader into paper
______Topic sentences express an original idea
______Topic sentence ideas connect to and develop thesis
______Essay is not based on plot summary of novel
______Concluding sentences deepen ideas of topic sentence and do not just repeat ideas
______Conclusion deepens and enhances thesis instead of repeating earlier arguments
SEC and Style (10%) ________
______Writer’s language is clear, precise, and effective
______Writer’s language demonstrates an understanding of the complexity of the novel
______Writer’s paper may not be error free, but errors do not impede argument
______Writer’s paper follows all SEC and MLA guidelines correctly
Work Habits (5%) _________
____Paper is turned in on time
____Paper demonstrates effort, thoughtfulness, and prewriting
____Paper carefully follows MLA guidelines
____Paper is paginated