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. 

Scaffolded/Short-Answer Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the play over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Connie is forced into a terrible situation by Arnold Friend where she has no choice but to comply with him.

• What is the story trying to say about the options available to women in a patriarchy? (topic sentence)
• How is the extreme situation Arnold Friend presents similar to ones faced by Connie’s mother and sister?
• How does Connie’s lack of power resonate with these other characters’ situations?

2. The story’s first section details Connie’s public life out of the house, which foreshadows the darker tone of the events to come.

• How do Connie’s experiences serve as foreshadowing? (topic sentence)
• What similarities are there between the boys Connie sees and Arnold Friend?
• How does the ending of the story fulfill that foreshadowing?

3. Connie feels like she doesn’t fit in, both in her home and in the suburbs.

• What is Connie’s opinion toward the rest of her family? (topic sentence)
• How does her relationship to each character reveal something about herself?
• When Arnold says she is different from them, is it true?