AP Literature and Composition
Analysis Using Literary Theory
Choose a novel written in the 20th or 21st century. You may choose from the list below or choose one of equal
literary merit.
The Man with the Golden Arm, Nelson Algren
House of Spirits, Isabel Allende
In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez
Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolpho Anaya
The Dollmaker, Harriett Arnow
The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood
Surfacing, Margaret Atwood
Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale, Margret Atwood
Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin
Seize the Day, Saul Bellow
The Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellow
Monkey Bridge, Lan Cao
Waiting for the Barbarians, J. M. Coetzee
Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee
Tracks, Louise Erdrich
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
A Gathering of Old Men, Ernest Gaines
The Conservationalist, Nadine Gordimer
July's People, Nadine Gordimer
Typical American, Gish Jen
Middle Passage, Charles Johnson
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, James Weldon
Johnson
The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston
Obason, Joy Kogawa
Passing, Nella Larsen
The Diviners, Margaret Laurence
The Stone Angel, Margaret Laurence
Native Speaker, Chang-rae Le
A Gesture Life, Chang-rae Le
The Watch that Ends the Night, Hugh Mac Lennan
Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, Jon McGregor
House Made of Dawn, N. Scott Momaday
Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
The Women of Brewster Place, Gloria Naylor
Linden Hills, Gloria Naylor
A Lake in the Woods, Tim O' Brien
Going After Cacciato, Tim O' Brien
Wise Blood, Flannery O' Connor
No-No Boy, John Okada
The Moviegoer, Walker Percy
The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon
Vineland, Thomas Pynchon
The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx
Excellent Women, Barbara Pym
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Mordecai Richler
The Plot Against America, Philip Roth
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safron Foer
Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko
The Last of the Just, Andre Schwartz-Bart
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark
A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley
The Bonesetter's Daughter, Amy Tan
Pocho, Jose Antonio Villareal
Winter in the Blood, James Welch
The Optimist's Daughter, Eudora Welty
Delta Wedding, Eudora Welty
Sent for You Yesterday, John Edgar Wideman
Orlando, Virginia Woolf
Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
For this essay, you will chose from four prompts. Choose the prompt that best reflects the events and characters
in your novel. Remember that the open question begins with a choice, and choosing the right “fit” between
novel and question will make your answer stronger.
Prompts:
1. One definition of madness is “mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it.” But Emily
Dickinson wrote –
Much madness is divinest Sense –
To a discerning Eye –
Novelists and playwrights have often seen madness with a “discerning Eye.” Select a novel or a play in which a
character’s apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role. Then write a well-organized essay
in which you explain 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 using characterization and other
appropriate literary devices. Do not merely summarize the plot.
2.
“And after all, our surroundings influence our lives and characters as much as fate, destiny, or any
supernatural agency.”
–Pauline Hopkins, Contending Forces
Choose a novel or a play in which cultural, physical, or geographical surroundings shape psychological or moral
traits in a character. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how surroundings affect this
character and illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole.
“You can leave home all you want, but home will never leave you.”
– Sonsyrea Tate
Sonsyrea Tate’s statement suggests that “home” may be conceived of as a dwelling, a place, or a state of mind.
It may have positive or negative associations, but in either case, it may have considerable influence on an
individual.
3.
Choose a novel or play in which a central character leaves home yet finds that home remains significant. Write
a well-developed essay in which you analyze the importance of “home” to this character and the reasons for its
continuing influence. Explain how the character’s idea of home enhanced by the author’s use of literary devices
illuminates the larger meaning of the work.
4. In The Writing of Fiction (1925), novelist Edith Wharton states the following.
At every stage in the progress of his tale the novelist must rely on what may be called the illuminating
incident to reveal and emphasize the inner meanings of each situation. Illuminating incidents are the
magic casements of fiction, its vistas on infinity.
Choose a novel or play that you have studied and write a well-organized essay in which you describe an
“illuminating” episode or moment and explain how it functions as a “casement,” a window that opens onto the
meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.
Requirements:
3-4 pages – do not exceed
typed, double-spaced
MLA format
direct quotations from primary source (NO secondary sources allowed, not even cliff or spark or "wiki"
anything - this is a test of your abilities)
General Rubric:
organization: 25
examples and explanation: 100
grammar: 20
format: 5
The detailed rubric/scoring guide is available on my website.
Due: Monday, March 30th. You may turn in the paper prior to this date; no late papers will be accepted.