AP Question-Based Essay 3, Sample A
 

Note: Write only about one text.

ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

SECTION II

Total Time--2 hours

Question 3

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

The eighteenth-century British novelist Laurence Sterne wrote, “No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.”

From a novel or play choose a character (not necessarily the protagonist) whose mind is pulled in conflicting directions by two compelling desires, ambitions, obligations, or influences.  Then, in a well-organized essay, identify each of the two conflicting forces and explain how this conflict within one character illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.