AP lit essay prompts

Modern literature is very diverse: it is not only the books being created today, but also works of “returned literature”, “writing literature”, works of writers of different waves of emigration. In other words, these are works written or first published in the World from the mid-1980s to the beginning of the first decade of the 21st century. A significant role in the development of the modern literary process has been played by critics, literary magazines and numerous literary awards.

If during the period of thaw and stagnation only the method of socialist realism was welcomed in literature, then the modern literary process characterizes the coexistence of different directions.

One of the most interesting cultural phenomena of the second half of the 20th century is postmodernism - a trend not only in literature, but also in all humanitarian disciplines. Postmodernism originated in the West in the late 60s - early 70s. It was a search for a synthesis between modernism and popular culture, the destruction of any mythology. Modernism aspired to the new, which initially rejected the old, classical art. Postmodernism arose not after modernism, but next to it. He does not deny all that is old, but tries ironically to rethink it. Postmodernists turn to conventions, deliberate literary character in the created works, combine stylistics of different genres and literary eras.

In the era of postmodernism there are works that can rightfully be attributed to the realistic. The abolition of censorship and the democratic processes in Russian society contributed to the flourishing of realism in literature, sometimes reaching naturalism.

How to write a prose essay

Prose analysis essay is a written, thoughtful reflection on the elements of a text, literary work, or argument. As a rule, the analysis is a response to the teacher's hints. The written analysis uses key points from a text or literary work that help to make a critical summary and justification of the work. You can learn how to write analysis with thoughtful reading, structuring information, and detailed writing. We would also like to remind you that you can always contact the dissertation service for more detailed help in writing a prose essay.

Step-by-step writing help you answer the following ap literature essay questions :

• Identify the relationship between the work and the audience.
• Add counter arguments. Discuss controversial aspects of the work.
• Select several topics or thesis statement for discussion. Select from text quotes to insert into your analysis.
• Discuss the characters of the piece; the presence of a protagonist and antagonist. Consider whether they are an imitation of other literary characters, how stereotyped they are and their dynamics in the course of the work.
• Discuss the writing style of the author. In literary and artistic analysis, you can appeal to the same audience as the author himself. It will be more reliable.
• Discuss the scene. Determine the time and place of the event, geographical location and other details that are given to the reader to understand the work.
• Analyze the narration and style of writing.

AP literature sample essays

As an ap prose essay example, take Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”.

The hero of “The Metamorphosis” Gregor Zamza - the son of poor Prague inhabitants, people with purely materialistic needs. Five years ago, his father went bankrupt, and Gregor entered the service of one of his father’s creditors, became a traveling salesman, a cloth merchant. Since then, the whole family - the father, the mother with asthma, his younger beloved sister Greta - rely entirely on Gregor, financially completely dependent on him. Gregor is constantly on the road, but at the beginning of the story, he spends the night at home between two business trips, and then something terrible happens to him.

This is the beginning of the metamorphosis of a kind, sensitive, sacrificial person into a disgusting beetle. Kafka describes in great detail the new structure of Gregor's body, now inconveniences and new pleasures experienced by him, new tastes. In the chitinous shell, the process of human loss is taking place: first, Gregor loses speech, and then one after another and many of his spiritual qualities, which he was proud of, but at the same time, in his new, frighteningly disgusting appearance, he remains more human than his family .

Yes, a terrible misfortune struck them, their son and brother turned into an insect, but the reaction of the Zamza family to the metamorphosis of Gregor is truly amazing in this story. With tremendous psychologism, Kafka draws burghers, in which (at least in women) natural feelings and Christian impulses for some time struggle with disgust and hatred for those who, with their metamorphosis, destroyed their modest wealth, forced them to look for work, rent a room to residents, the main thing is to hide a terrible family secret. Something happened to the Zamza family that never happened in any familiar family, so the shame of the metamorphosis is added to the chagrin of Gregor.

The story is built on the thinnest image of changing feelings within the family. As the mother and sister lose hope for the reverse metamorphosis of Gregor, the hatred of his father for him increases. In one scene, the father pushes Gregor into his room, throwing red apples at him; one of these solid shells is stuck in the back of Gregor and becomes the cause of his death. His death is a release for a family that, in the meantime, improved its affairs: everyone found a job, a sister flourished, now they can finally change the apartment to a cheaper and more convenient (while Gregor was alive, it was impossible to move anywhere) - in the last scene they were all together they go by tram for a country walk and plan a new life.

We also offer you for consideration and another example of an essay of global history thematic essay.

There are many  ap literature essay examples. You do not need to dwell on the theme and epoch we have chosen - choose something close to yourself in spirit!