Color of water essay choices

AP English Language and Composition

Please choose one of the following, and write an essay in response to it. Be careful to fuel your writing with an appropriate blend of textual support andanalysis. Your essay should be approximately 3-5 pages in length, double-spaced, 12-point font, and adhere to the rules of effective, purposeful, and meaningful writing.

1. McBride chose to nottell his story in strict chronological fashion, but in a looping manner, with frequent shifts from past to present. Analyze the structure of the memoir by looking at the sequencing of the chapters.Develop an interpretation of why the author made the sequencing choices he did.

2. Notice the objects McBride keeps mentioning. What symbolic roles do these objects play, beyond their utilitarianpurposes, in the lives of the people McBride writes about?

3. Who is the main character in the book—McBride or his mother? Defend your choice.

4. Some of the major themes in this book areidentity, coming of age, roots/heritage, and race/ethnicity. Pick one of these themes to focus on as you read the text. Keep a dialectical journal tracing the theme you select, and then record,narrate, discuss, or respond to it in essay form. Be careful to analyze as you respond to the theme.

5. List as many of the tensions/oppositions in this narrative as you can think of. From yourlist, pick the one that interests you the most and write for ten minutes exploring how those two things are in opposition. Or, pick two chapters that are in juxtaposition to each other. Analyze thecontrasts and oppositions presented by these two chapters occurring side by side.

6. Make a list of pivotal experiences in McBride’s life. Choose one pivotal experience from your list and find thechapter where it is presented. Analyze what made this a pivotal experience. Imagine what could have happened that didn’t. Develop an interpretation for why the experience turned out the way it did.