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 novel over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Consider Janie’s Development of her Identity throughout the course of the novel.

• What are her main concerns at the beginning of the novel? (topic sentence)
• How do these concerns change throughout the novel?
• How does the discovery of the girl on the milk carton affect the Development of her Identity as a teenager?

2. Throughout the novel, Janie experiences an inner turmoil as she weighs the decision of contacting her biological family.

• What is Janie’s concern with contacting her biological family? (topic sentence)
• Find and share examples from the text where Janie expresses her concern.
• Does Janie come to a conclusion about What Constitutes a Family? If so, what is this conclusion?

3. As Janie processes her feelings of her true Identity, she begins to feel both Guilty and Responsible for what occurred in her past.