Lotf Prompt Break Down

The Free
Response Essay
5 Steps to a 5
Cracking the AP English
Literature Exam
What is a free-response essay?

The free-response essay is a thought provoking question that
highlights specific insights that apply to many texts.
The questions allows for varied personal interpretations and multiple
approaches.
It allows students to create the specific substance of their own essay.
The College Board wants to assess your ability to discuss a work of
literature in a particular context.
The evidence/support you include in your essay will demonstrate your
insights and critical thinking as well as your writing ability.
Although the question is the same for all students, you have total
freedom to choose the piece of literature. Once chosen, you have total
freedom to select the specifics examples to support your thesis.
Unlike the other two essays your free-response essay will be uniquely
your own.
What is a free-response essay?

The test reader is expecting an essay that
demonstrates a mature understanding and
defense of the prompt.
Your paper must be specific and well organized.
It must also adhere to the topic.
You will lose major credit for providing only plot
summary.
Your evidence/support should be convincing and
insightful rather than obvious and superficial.
For a high score, you must bring something specific
and relevant to the page.
What are the pitfalls of the

free-response essay?
It is a double-edged sword. Students can suffer from
over-confidence - because of the open nature of this essay
Lack of preparation because they depend on memory
often go for the most obvious evidence/support
ramble on in vague and unsupported generalities
provide incorrect information
The failure to plan and limit can undermine this
essay.
Students often have trouble choosing the

appropriate work and lose valuable time pondering a
variety of choices.
It is important to be decisive and confident in your
presentation.
What do I write about?

There is a list provided, but since this is a
free-response essay, the choice of literary
work is up to you. You should choose a work
that is appropriate to the prompt, one that is
appropriate to AP students, and one that is
comfortable for you.
Its recommended using works that you
studied in class and have read and
discussed throughout the year.
How do I prepare?
By May, you need to be thoroughly conversant with at
least three to five full-length works from different
genres, eras, and literary movements
Practice!
Readers are looking for:
Literary insights and awareness of character
Comprehension of theme
The ability to transfer specific ideas and details to a universal
concept
Understanding of the relationship among form, content, style,
and structure and their effects on the meaning of the work.
Choosing appropriate evidence/support from a full-length work
and connecting them in a thoughtful way
Reference to plot but NO SUMMARY.
Well-organized essay written in a mature voice.
are portrayed as times graced by innocence and a

sense
of wonder; in other works, they are depicted as
Prompt
times of tribulation and terror. Focusing on a single
novel or play, explain how its representation of
childhood or adolescence shapes the meaning of the
work as a whole.
You may select a work from the list below or choose
another appropriate novel or play of similar literary
merit.
Avoid mere plot summary.
The Red Badge of
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Black Boy
Bless Me, Ultima
The Bluest Eye
The Catcher in the Rye
Cats Eye
The Chosen
Great Expectations
A High Wind in Jamaica
The House on Mango Street
Jane Eyre
Kafka on the Shore
Little Women
Lord of the Flies

Master Harold . . .
and the boys
The Member of the
Wedding
My ntonia
Native Speaker
Old School
Pocho
A Portrait of the Artist
As a Young Man
The Prime of Miss Jean
Brodie
Courage
A River Runs Through It
Romeo and Juliet
Sula
To Kill a Mockingbird
To the Lighthouse
Tom Jones
The Turn of the Screw
Wide Sargasso Sea
Woman Warrior
Wuthering Heights
Aspects of the prompt

Opening/Background information:
In some works of literature, childhood and adolescence are
portrayed as times graced by innocence and a sense of
wonder; in other works, they are depicted as times of
tribulation and terror.
Actual question:
Focusing on a single novel or play, explain how its
representation of childhood or adolescence shapes the
meaning of the work as a whole
Something like: Choose/select a work from the list

below or one of equal literary merit and write a wellorganized essay. Avoid plot summary
You may select a work from the list below or choose
another appropriate novel or play of similar literary merit.
Avoid mere plot summary.
What is the major question?

Focusing on a single novel or play, explain
how its representation of childhood or
adolescence shapes the meaning of the
work as a whole
How does childhood/ adolescence shape the
meaning of the work?
What do we need to know to answer this
question?
The role childhood/ adolescence plays in the
story
The meaning of the work as a whole (your HI)
What information in the background

might be useful to shape our answer?
In some works of literature, childhood and
adolescence are portrayed as times graced by
innocence and a sense of wonder; in other works,
they are depicted as times of tribulation and
terror.
In LOTF childhood/ adolescence is clearly a time
of tribulation and terror
Thesis Statement
Childhood in Lord of the Flies is portrayed as a time of
tribulation and terror.
In Lord of the Flies childhood is a time of tribulation and
terror that shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.
The terror of childhood in Lord of the Flies shapes the
theme that there are savages within everyone.
Jacks descent into savagery, the beast and Rogers rock
throwing portray childhood in Lord of the Flies as a time
of terror, which shapes the theme that there are savages
within everyone.
In Lord of the Flies childhood is presented as a time filled
with fears, fear of not fitting in, fear of not being
recognized and, most importantly, the fear of fear itself
illustrating that fear is what causes humans to turn
savage.
Example thesis statement

from AP Test
Golding presents his view that children are never
innocent, only constrained by the limitations of
societal expectations, in his novel Lord of the
Flies.
Your Turn
Choose one of the thesis statements provided and
outline your response.
You have 5 minutes.
Developing the Opening Paragraph

Purpose: to raise the expectations of the
reader and set the tone.
Include the author and title.
Make sure your topic is clear.
That reinforces that you understand what
is expected and what you will
communicate
Opening Paragraph Example from AP

Test
William Goldings Lord of the Flies possess a

very different portrayal of childhood than
the commonly accepted notion of marked
innocence. Wherever this belief is held, the
question of when this innocence is lost
remains. Golding presents his view that
children are never innocent, only
constrained by the limitations of societal
expectations, in his novel Lord of the Flies.
Developing the body of the free-response

essay
PURPOSE: Present your points and interpretation

Use specific references and details from the chosen
work.
Incorporate direct quotations when possible.
Place quotation marks around those words or phrases
taken directly from the work.
Use connective tissue in your essay to establish
adherence to the question.
Use the repetition of key ideas in the prompt and in
your opening paragraph.
Try using echo words synonyms (childhood/
adolescence/terror/tribulation/innocence/sense of
wonder)
Sample Body Paragraph 1

In Lord of the Flies a group of stranded, British school
kids inhabit an island (without the supervision of
adults) after their plane crashes. A microcosm of adult
society, the childrens actions (and inactions); decision
(and indecisions); parallel the adult world despite their
youth. For example, Ralph holds the conch, a
manifestation of the childrens idea of power;
therefore, Ralph becomes the leader even though the
smarter and more qualified choice of leadership is
Piggy, the object of humiliation and scorn. Ralph
attempts to maintain order but human nature gets in
the way as factions form, disagreements blaze, and
eventually tribal warfare erupts. Ironically, as the
children sink deeper into their fighting, the adult world
is completely distracted by their own world war.
Sample Body Paragraph 2

The similarities between the children on the island
and the adults of the world give frightening insight on
the nature of human beings. When left alone, the
children do not play nicely as their parents would
hope, nor do they follow the rules of society when
they have no one to enforce them. The older children
terrorize the younglings, indulge in a disgusting,
sexual slaughter of a mother pig, and eventually
murder Simon, a fellow child on the island. Ironically,
Simon is the only boy on the island that can
insightfully see the root of their troubles and fears.
He eventually understands that the only monster on
the island is the boys themselves, creeping out from
inside, stalking their conscience, and playing on their
fears.
As you continue
As you write, youll notice things that you hadnt at
first. These are things that will depart from your
original ideas and take you in unexpected
directions. Should you include these thing?
YES! (as long as they are relevant and answer the
prompt)
It is impossible to write a tight, well-organized essay
in 40 minutes.
Developing the Conclusion of

the Free Response
Review your main points
Connect the prompt to the overall meaning of the
work (even if youve already done this in your
body paragraphs)
Leave the reader with an overall message based
on the works meaning.
Sample Conclusion Paragraph

Golding presents the childhood of the boys as
terrifying as they are in a situation that allows their
inner monster to emerge. The presumed innocence
of youth evaporates when the boys find
themselves outside the limits of civilized society.
Goldings ironic truth, made apparent by the
downward spiral of the boys concept of right and
wrong, is that children possess the same capacity
for evil as adults. All men, children and adults alike,
share an innate depravity, kept in check only by
institutionalized ideas of morality.
Your turn - break down and outline the following prompt:
A critic has said that one important measure of

a superior work of literature is its ability to
produce in the reader a healthy confusion of
pleasure and disquietude. Select a literary work
that produces this healthy confusion. Write an
essay in which you explain the sources of the
pleasure and disquietude experienced by the
readers of the work. Do not merely summarize
the plot.

Lotf Prompt Break Down

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lotf Prompt Break Down

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Free

What is a free-response essay?

What is a free-response essay?

What are the pitfalls of the

Students often have trouble choosing the

What do I write about?

are portrayed as times graced by innocence and a

Lord of the Flies

Aspects of the prompt

Something like: Choose/select a work from the list

What is the major question?

What information in the background

Example thesis statement

Developing the Opening Paragraph

Opening Paragraph Example from AP

William Goldings Lord of the Flies possess a

Developing the body of the free-response

PURPOSE: Present your points and interpretation

Sample Body Paragraph 1

Sample Body Paragraph 2

Developing the Conclusion of

Sample Conclusion Paragraph

Your turn - break down and outline the following prompt:

A critic has said that one important measure of

You might also like