English Literature & Composition - PopulationMe.com

Advanced Placement* Instructor's Manual
3. Satire's purpose is to improve society. Apply this concept to specific chapters in Our
Mutual Friend, Gulliver's Travels, and /IA Modest Proposal."
4. Often in literature, women are viewed as the objects of men's desires with no right to
speak or act for themselves. Apply this concept to Ophelia, Celie (The Color Purple), and
Lizzie Bennet (Pride and Prejudice).
A Sample In-Class Exam from an AP course
II. Essay. Answer one of the following questions in a detailed essay. You may use Independent
Reading texts and research paper primary sources as well as texts all of us studied, including
poems, short stories, and essays. Use at least five texts for each question. You may use a text
for only one question: for example, you may use Hamlet for question one but not for question
two. Be sure to write a clear, comprehensive thesis. Your essay score will be based on the
clarity, accuracy, and completeness of your response. Write the number of the question you are
answering, and write your answer in the blue book. (100 pts.)
1. Action vs. inaction, motion vs. stasis, is a central issue for the characters in the texts we
have studied. Explore the tension between these approaches to life in three of the
following as well as in any two others: Oedipus the King, Invisible Man, A Portrait ofthe
Artist as a Young Man, As I Lay Dying, Hamlet, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
2. Growth and change are sometimes painful, as evidenced by the experiences of the
protagonists in Oedipus the King, Invisible Man, Hamlet, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,
and other texts. Discuss the theme of growth in three of these texts and any two others.
3. How much control do we have? Are we merely victims of fate, or do we have the power
to make choices? Assess the interplay of fate and free will in three of these texts and in
any two others: Oedipus the King, Invisible Man, Ceremony, As I Lay Dying, and Hamlet.
4. Trying to find a pattern, trying to order the chaos of existence, is the central concern of
the artist as well as an ongoing effort of others. Discuss some of the ways that people
make sense of themselves and the world as reflected in five works that we have studied
this semester, including at least three of the following: A Portrait ofthe Artist as a Young
Man, Ceremony, As I Lay Dying, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Hamlet.
5. In the quest for truth, people often realize how many illusions they embrace. Granting
the elusive nature of truth-both truth about ourselves and larger truths-discuss the
efforts of protagonists to seek truth or truths in four of the following and in any two
others: The Metamorphosis, Love Medicine, A Gesture Life, A Portrait ofthe Artist as a Young
Man, 1984, The Handmaid's Tale, As I Lay Dying, Hamlet, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
6. Discuss how identity is formed and how it changes as a result of the experiences of the
protagonists and their reactions to those experiences. Include in your discussion at least
three of these works: Oedipus the King, Invisible Man, Wise Blood, The Metamorphosis, A
Gesture Life, or Love Medicine, Hamlet, As I Lay Dying, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
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