AP English Literature and Composition Free-Response Essay: Idealism in Literature

Suggested time—40 minutes. This question counts as one-third of the total essay section score.

Select a novel, play, or epic poem in which a character holds an "ideal view of the world." Then write an essay in which you analyze the character’s idealism and its positive or negative consequences.

Explain how the author’s portrayal of this idealism illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. You may choose a work from the list below or one of comparable literary merit. Do not merely summarize the plot.

List of suggested works:

• The Alchemist
• Antigone
• The Awakening
• The Bluest Eye
• Brave New World
• Brideshead Revisited
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
• Candide
• The Catcher in the Rye
• Death of a Salesman
• Don Quixote
• A Gesture Life
• Great Expectations
• The Great Gatsby
• The Handmaid’s Tale
• The House of Mirth
• The Importance of Being Earnest
• Invisible Man
• King Lear
• Lolita
• The Mill on the Floss
• My Ántonia
• Native Son
• Odyssey
• The Portrait of a Lady
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
• The Sound and the Fury
• The Sun Also Rises
• The Tempest
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• When the Emperor Was Divine

Write an essay analyzing a character’s idealism in a novel, play, or epic poem, and its positive or negative consequences. Explain how the author’s portrayal of this idealism illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. Choose a work from the provided list or one of comparable literary merit.