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. For King, the concepts of Citizenship and Identity are not synonymous.

• Compare and contrast the concepts of Citizenship and Identity as presented in the story. (topic sentence)
• Which characters represent the perspective that these two concepts are not synonymous?
• Ultimately, how does this character’s understanding of their own identity shape their concept of citizenship?

2. Pride is a characteristic that runs in the narrator’s family.

• How do the narrator’s mother and sister exemplify the trait of Pride?
• Find two examples where the mother and sister exhibit Pride.
• Based on your understanding of the text, do you believe that the narrator believes that Pride is an honorable characteristic? Why or why not?

3. While King’s story primarily follows the narrator, his mother, and his sister, there is a separate collective force of The Outside World.