Fences / The Piano Lesson Essay Test

WHEN: Thursday, May 3 / Friday, May 4 (during class)

WHY: To continue building and honing your essay-writing skills, and in particular, to practice writing in the compare/contrast mode in preparation for English 10.

WHAT: A 2 – 4 page essay that responds to one (or a combination) of the following prompts.

1) To what extent do these two plays fulfill Aristotle and/or Arthur Miller’s definition of tragedy?

2) Compare and contrast what these two plays say about the past, and the ways in which humans are haunted by the past. Consider characters’ personal pasts, and ancestral pasts. Can we ever reconcile ourselves with the past? Should we?

3) Compare and contrast what these two plays say about parents and children. In what ways do children both disrupt and perpetuate the legacies of their parents?

4) Compare and contrast what these plays say about gender. How do the characters define masculinity or femininity? In what ways do these perceptions about gender empower characters, and in what ways do these perceptions about gender limit or confine characters? (Why do you think the youngest character in both plays is a girl?)

5) August Wilson uses supernatural elements in both plays. What meaning or effect is achieved through this choice?

6) Music figures prominently in both plays. What meaning or effect is achieved through the use of music?

7) August Wilson weights literal objects—a piano, a fence, a baseball bat—with symbolic significance. How are these symbols used to convey meaning?