Breathing Underwater

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

1. Nick’s past is told through journal entries while he also relays present-day events that occur to him.

• What is the role of time in the novel? (topic sentence)
• Explain how the journal entry dates serve a purpose in the novel and how the novel portrays the past and the present.
• In your concluding sentences, describe a reasonable scenario for Nick’s future based on his later journal entries.

2. Nick is described as coming from a wealthy family.

• How does the socioeconomic status of Nick and his father function in the story?
• Explain how Nick’s wealth provides both allowances and constraints in the novel.
• In your concluding sentences, evaluate the potential purpose(s) the author had in characterizing Nick’s household as she did.