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. Schindler is presented as a complicated character throughout the memoir.

• What are the positive and negative aspects of Schindler’s character? (topic sentence)
• Describe Schindler’s negative and positive qualities, citing details from the text.
• In your concluding sentences, explain whether you believe Schindler is mostly good and why.

2. Leon and his family suffered greatly at the hands of the Nazis during World War II.

• How does the experience of Nazi oppression change the outlook of Leon and his family? (topic sentence)
• Describe how Leon and his family change after experiencing oppression by the Nazis. Provide details from the text to support your ideas.
• In your concluding sentences, describe why Leon chose to include the changes made to his family during the Holocaust.

3. Throughout the memoir, both Germans and Poles behave irrationally toward Jewish people.