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 bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. For most of the novel, Patty is desperate for her parents to love her.

• How do Patty’s parents’ own relationships with their respective families influence how they feel about their children? (topic sentence)
• Select either Patty’s mother or father and analyze the character’s respective relationship with her/his parents.
• How does this cycle of treatment speak to the larger theme of The Desire For Parental Love?

2. When Patty’s father comes to her despondent, asking why she helped Anton, whom he calls a Nazi, Patty states she can no longer bear her father’s grief as her own.

• Is this movement away from empathy for her father necessary for Patty, or not? (topic sentence)
• Find 2-3 examples from the text where this moment signals a change in Patty’s relationship with her father.