Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. In literature, an author creates character foils by juxtaposing two different characters to highlight subtle similarities between them. This draws the reader’s attention to an important idea underlying the comparison.  

• How do Redd and Alyss foil one another in the novel? (topic sentence)
• Compare Alyss’s and Redd’s respective experiences and internal conflicts throughout the novel. Cite examples from the text to support your response.  
• In your concluding sentence(s), identify the key difference between Alyss and Redd and connect it to one of the novel’s themes.

2. The hero’s journey is a common plot structure that is often applied to coming-of-age journeys in literature.

• Which steps of the hero’s journey are present in Alyss’s character arc? (topic sentence)
• Identify the important moments in the novel that shape Alyss.