Open Prompts

1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary

It is not uncommon for teenagers and their parents to get into arguments frequently. Teenagers often believe that they are always right and have a lot of strong knowledge that their parents do not. However, that role is reversed in Death of a Salesmen. Willy, the father of Biff, thinks that he has Biff's life planned out and knows what Biff wants in his life. The source of conflict in Death of a Salesmen is Willy's deteriorating life and health as well as his controlling personality. 

Willy was a extremely successful businessman in his prime, but that is because of actions many would consider to be immoral. Willy would have affairs with the secretaries of businessmen and give them stockings for his business. However, when Willy begins to get older, his business goes down hill. As result, his already fragile relationship with his sons take a turn for the worse. There are a lot of similarities between Willy and Biff in Death of a Salesmen, and Willy recognizes that. He and Linda largely ignore their other son. Willy tries to "relive the glory days" through his son. He tries to get him to become a successful businessman and follow in his own footsteps. Biff, however, has already decided the path he wants to go down and it is quite different than what Willy imagined. The main source for the relationship problems with Willy and his son, Biff, are that Willy's life and business is degrading and he tries to live his younger life through Biff. 

The struggle between Willy and Biff is the source for one of the main ideas and meanings of this book. Death of Salesmen is about the struggle to find who you are and going agaisnt the grain. During this time period, after World War II, was the age of conformity. Everyone was buying, driving, wearing, saying, doing etc... the same thing. In this book, Biff goes agaisnt the mold and walks down a different path than his father. Willy and Happy represent the American Dream and conformity, while Biff represents the free west and being an individual.

1995. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions or moral values.

            The idea of an “American dream” is often criticized by many people, including Americans themselves. Many argue that the American dream is fake because people get caught up in satisfaction and what they want. In the play “The American Dream” by Albee, Ablee highlights the flaws of the classic American dream by portraying a typical middle aged American couple while also showing another character, Grandma, as a sane human. This contrast and alienation of Grandma reveals Mommy and Daddy’s flaws and the overall flaws of the American Dream.

            Mommy and Daddy represent the classic American family who is trying to achieve the typical American Dream. All they want is satisfaction from each other and other people. As a result they are blind to many things and lack quality traits. Daddy is succumbs to Mommy’s command and does not have a voice for himself. He often repeats what Mommy says just to reinforce it. Daddy also often forgets things told to him literally seconds before. This strange habit of Daddy shows the audience and reader that he only hears what he wants to hear and often ignores others and has a robotic like auto response.

            Much like Daddy, Mommy is solely focused on herself and what others think of her. At the beginning of the play she returns and hat just to buy the same hat so people are satisfied. Mommy also controls Daddy a lot and is the dominate one in the relationship.

            Grandma is the only voice of reason in this play. It is through Grandma that we fully understand how insecure and strange Mommy and Daddy are. This is clearly show at the end of the play when Grandma breaks the forth wall and tells the audience the play is over. Grandma ends the play because everyone has what they think they want. This is significant because Grandma is telling us that Mommy and Daddy think they are finally satisfied with the Young Man, when Grandma knows that the only reason they are satisfied is because he is empty on the inside but looks stunning on the outside.  Because Mommy and Daddy represent the typical American couple, Grandma is indirectly saying that the American dream is peoples desire to look good and be accepted by the rest of the community.

1973. An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease; it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant closure has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense; significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In an essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit. Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

There are numerous plays, movies, novels, and poems on the idea of the "American dream," but none of made me question and maybe even understand more than Albee's play titled "The American Dream." The play uses theater of the absurd elements to make it harder to understand and it tests your comprehension. The theater of the absurd also makes it hard to distinguish between elements of that theater and other literary techniques authors use to enforce specific points.
"The American Dream" ends when Grandma speaks to the audience. She says that everyone in the play thinks they have what they want and it would be a good place to end the play. This is an appropriate ending because the whole entire play is about getting satisfaction. Mommny and Daddy make many not so subtle hits throughout the play that they are not satisfied with their lives, often relating it to the idea that you cannot do anything to change your satisfaction; its just the way things are. They are many hints that their sex life is extremely lacking. In fact, they adopted a kid who they ended up killing. Whether the literally killed the kid because it was not the perfect kid they wanted, or just figuratively dismantled the child by parent neglect and abuse is unknown.
Grandma ends the play when the Young Man comes to Mommy and Daddy's house. This was a perfect time to end the play because the Young Man has no feelings or anything on the inside of his body, but he looks gorgeous and on the outside appears to be the perfect child. Grandma chooses to stop the play now because she realizes that the Young Man is the child that Mommy and Daddy wanted from the beginning. They finally get the satisfaction they have wanted the whole entire play. Grandma even says something along the lines of everyone has what they wanted, or has what they think they wanted. 
 Grandma wraps up the play are the ideal time because everyone in the play thinks they are satisfied, something Mommy and Daddy have been looking for apparently for most of their lives. It is a little unusual for a character in play to tell the audience that the play is over, possibly a theater of the absurd element. What is extremely strange is that Grandma is able to break the fourth wall; that is be on stage without Mommy and Daddy seeing her. The significance of this could possibly mean that Grandma is acting as the director in this play. She controls who enters, the Young Man looking for work, and when the play finally ends.


2002. Morally ambiguous characters -- characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or purely good -- are at the heart of many works of literature. Choose a novel or play in which a morally ambiguous character plays a pivotal role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous and why his or her moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

            When you are a young, peaceful hobbit blinding walking through the land of middle earth while trying to reach a destination rather quickly, I am sure a guide would be extremely helpful to you. In fact, that is exactly what Gollum is to Frodo Baggins and his best friend Sam. Despite Gollum’s intentions, he does actually guide the two hobbits to their destination quite well. Gollum is a morally ambiguous character because while he does guide the two protagonists to the land of Sauron, his ultimate goal is to still get the ring for himself.

            Depending on how you look at it, Frodo and Sam stumbling upon Gollum can be considered a fortune or yet another creature that they must conqueror in the end. Gollum is certainly not purely evil. Hundreds of years ago he was himself a hobbit called Sméagol, and hobbits are the farthest creatures from being evil. Then are a genuinely nice people who enjoy their peaceful rural life. Hobbits also like to get together with large groups and celebrate big events. So, by nature Gollum is not purely evil. He also was tortured for days by the evil forces of Sauron in attempt to find out the current location of the ring. And finally Sméagol, despite his intentions, did lead Frodo to Sauron’s kingdom where he ended up destroying the one ring and destroying all evil forever. It is not unreasonable to come to the conclusion that Frodo would not of not achieved his ultimate goal without his and Sam’s guide.

            That being said, Gollum is also extremely far from being purely good. His greed and desire for the ring led him to transform from a carefree hobbit to a hideous and almost pitied creature. In fact, after one of his friends found the ring while they were fishing on Sméagol’s birthday, Sméagol ending up strangulating his friend to death because of his desire for the ring. Sméagol also plots to turn Frodo on Sam. Numerous times throughout the story he attempts to frame Sam for various things that would upset Frodo; one example is Sméagol made it appear like Sam had eaten the rest of the already scarce food in the middle of the night. And finally, right before Frodo is going to destroy the right, Gollum jumps in and tries to murder Sam and Frodo and steal the ring for himself.

            Gollum plays an extremely important role in the Lord of the Rings series because he adds yet another plot line to the already tangled plot. Without Gollum, Sam and Frodo would have never reached Sauron’s land. At the same time however, he is yet another task the two hobbits must overcome. He tries to manipulate Frodo into turning against Sam. Gollum represents how greed an unhealthy desire for power can lead to ultimate destruction. Gollum is also a prime example of how evil and powerful Sauron truly is. He can cause the kindest race of them all to turn into a greedy, power thirsty monster.

 

2007, Form B. Works of literature often depict acts of betrayal. Friends and even family may betray a protagonist; main characters may likewise be guilty of treachery or may betray their own values. Select a novel or play that includes such acts of betrayal. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the nature of the betrayal and show how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

            In desperate times of need, human beings often look to their closest friends and family for support. In Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins is being led to his destination by a creature named Gollum. Despite Sam, Frodo’s best friend, efforts to rid Frodo of this hobbit like being, Frodo continues to rely on Gollum for guidance. Because Frodo is naive and loses sight of who is his true best friend, he is corrupted and almost killed by the greedy and sly Gollum. This adds another dimension and plot to the Lord of the Rings novels and contributes to the meaning and morals of the story.

            When Sam and Frodo first bump into Gollum, they are disgusted by his nature and appearance. However, when Frodo learns that Gollum knows the way to Mordor, Frodo immediately becomes interested in the once upon a time hobbit. During their long and deadly journey to Mordor, Sam becomes suspicious of Gollum. After many failed attempts of trying to warm Frodo about the dangerous creature, Sam basically gives up and accepts that Gollum will be accompanying them for the rest of the journey. Gollum was a hobbit hundreds of years ago, but greed and torture transformed him into a disgusting creature. Gollum and his attentions shed light on how cruel and evil the Lord of the Rings world is during this time period. Humans, elves, dwarfs, even hobbits, the fairest and kindest of all folk, are willing to go great lengths to posses the ring. Because Frodo’s judgment is skewed by the ring, we as a reader understand that this ring has the power to cause turmoil even between the best of friends.

            Not only does Gollum separate Sam and Frodo from each other, he also tricks Frodo into trusting him. As the story progresses, Frodo becomes more and more dependent on Gollum’s knowledge of the land and navigational skills. On the outside, Gollum appears to be helping the two hobbits find their away. However, Gollum is actually planning how to kill them and tries to on several occasions. Because Frodo is corrupted and blinded to Gollum’s blatantly obvious attentions, it allows us as a reader to understand on a deeper level the meaning of the Lord of the Ring series. Prior to Gollum, we were not able to understand why all races gave into the power of this one, powerful ring. However, now that one of the nicest beings in the land is being corrupted and blinded right in front of our eyes, we get a deeper understanding of the power and evil this ring posses.

            Typically when two best friends are separated by another, things are not right. When Gollum succeeds in splitting these two previously thought to be inseparable friends apart, it opens the eyes of the reader to a whole new understanding of the evil and corruption of Sauron and Saruman’s forces and the power they have to rip the good apart.

1994. In some works of literature, a character who appears briefly, or does not appear at all, is a significant presence. Choose a novel or play of literary merit and write an essay in which you show how such a character functions in the work. You may wish to discuss how the character affects action, theme, or the development of other characters. Avoid plot summary.

At the first Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’s first feast in Harry Potter’s third year at the school, the choir is singing a song with the chorus being, “Double, double, toil and trouble fire burn and cauldron bubble.” These are very famous lines said by the three witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, who only make two appearances throughout the play. However, those two encounters with Macbeth lead him to act in an irrational way, even trying to kill his own sons. 

The three witches don’t necessarily use sophisticated logic or reasoning to set in motion the downfall of Macbeth. Prior to their encounter, Macbeth is happy with his kingdom and his King.  However, the three witches tell Macbeth that the throne is in his near future. When he tells his wife this, Lady Macbeth becomes power hungry and devises a plan to bring the down fall of King Duncan. What ensues is total mayhem for the country. Death is widespread and eventually a war breaks out between Macbeth and Macduff. Because the three witches tell Macbeth during their first encounter that he can rule the kingdom, Macbeth and his wife become irrational, power hungry beings who will do anything sit upon King Duncan’s throne.

One of the most common themes of Macbeth is the corrupting power of unchecked ambition. The three witches’ two appearances unleash the ambition of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Prior to Macbeth’s encounter with them, he has no desire and ambition to become king and neither does Lady Macbeth. Unfortunately, when Macbeth finds out what is in store for him, he and his wife’s ambition to be king and queen control their thoughts and actions and they end up destroying themselves. If it was not for the three witches, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth would have never had the ambition and desire to murder King Duncan and take the throne for themselves.

As a result of Macbeth’s new tyrannous rule, other characters have to step up and attempt to bring him and his wife to justice. Macduff is especially furious with Macbeth because Macbeth ordered the murder of Macduff’s family. It soon becomes clear during the witches seconded visit with Macbeth that Macduff should be Macbeth’s biggest concern. Macduff develops into the opposing force that eventually brings about the downfall of Macbeth’s extremely short regime. Macduff’s character develops into Macbeth’s rival in Macbeth because the witches told Macbeth to be weary of Macduff.

Although the three witches in Macbeth only appear in two scenes, they have a significant impact on the play. They corrupt Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, by unleashing their hidden ambitions, and end up developing Macduff into Macbeth’s rival. Their limited appearances do not affect their impact on the play.