Due Wednesday, February 14th - Essay for "Big Fish" by Daniel Wallace

Directions:  Choose ONE of the following AP English Literature Questions and compose an essay using Big Fish by Daniel Wallace as a lens.  Please use the class rubric as a guide.  (Note:  I will also be paying close attention to your use of specific moments and direct quotations from the entire text.  All six questions below require an analysis of the entire work in order to answer fully).

1970. Using Big Fish, choose a specific inanimate object (e.g., a seashell, a handkerchief, a painting) and analyze why it is important.  Write an essay in which you show how two or three of the purposes the object serves are related to one another.

1980. A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Using Big Fish by Daniel Wallace, describe how a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work as a whole.

1992. In a novel or play, a confidant (male) or a confidante (female) is a character, often a friend or relative of the hero or heroine, whose role is to be present when the hero or heroine needs a sympathetic listener to confide in. Frequently the result is, as Henry James remarked, that the confidant or confidante can be as much "the reader's friend as the protagonist's." However, the author sometimes uses this character for other purposes as well. Choose a confidant or confidante from Big Fish and write an essay in which you discuss the various ways this character functions in the work. Avoid plot summary and remember to discuss the work on the whole.

1996. The British novelist Fay Weldon offers this observation about happy endings. "The writers, I do believe, who get the best and most lasting response from their readers are the writers who offer a happy ending through moral development. By a happy ending, I do not mean mere fortunate events -- a marriage or a last minute rescue from death -- but some kind of spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation, even with the self, even at death." In a well-written essay, identify the "spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation" evident in the ending of Big Fish and explain its significance in the work as a whole.  Remember to avoid plot summary.

1997. Novels and plays often include scenes of weddings, funerals, parties, and other social occasions. Such scenes may reveal the values of the characters and the society in which they live. Using Big Fish select such a scene and, in a focused essay, discuss the contribution the scene makes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Remember to avoid plot summary

2004. The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. Write a well-organized essay in which you show how a specific death scene in Big Fish helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

General Rubric for Mr. Pellerin’s English Classes

(Based on the Advanced Placement Literature Rubric)

General Information:  The score that you are assigned will reflect the quality of the essay as a whole—its content, its style, its mechanics.  I reward the writers for what they do well.  The score for an exceptionally well-written essay may be raised a half step above the otherwise appropriate score (i.e. from an A- to an A).  In no case may a poorly written essay be scored higher than a D.

A	These essays offer a well-focused and persuasive analysis of the assigned prompt.  Using apt and specific textual support, these essays fully explore the assigned prompt and demonstrate what it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.  Although not without flaws, these essays make a strong case for their interpretation and discuss the literary work with significant insight and understanding.  Generally, essays scored an A reveal more sophisticated analysis and more effective control of language than do essays scored an A-.
B	These essays offer a reasonable analysis of the assigned prompt, and what it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.  These essays show insight and understanding, but the analysis is less thorough, less perceptive, and/or less specific in supporting detail than that of the A essays.  Generally, essays scored a B+ present better developed analysis and more consistent command of the elements of effective composition than do essays scored a B or B-.
C	These essays respond to the assigned task with a plausible reading, but they tend to be superficial or underdeveloped in analysis.  They often rely upon plot summary that contains some analysis, implicit or explicit.  Although the writers attempt to discuss the assigned prompt and how the relationship contributes to the work as a whole, they may demonstrate a rather simplistic understanding of the work.  The essays demonstrate adequate control of language, but they may lack effective organization and may be marred by surface errors.
D	These lower-half essays offer a less than thorough understanding of the task or a less than adequate treatment of it.  They reflect an incomplete or over simplified understanding of the work, or they may fail to address the assigned prompt directly.  They may not address or develop a response to how it contributes to the work as a whole, or they may rely on plot summary alone.  Their assertions may be unsupported or even irrelevant.  Often wordy, elliptical, or repetitious, these essays may lack control over the elements of composition.  Essays scored a D- may contain significant misreading and demonstrate inept writing.
F	Although these essays make some attempt to respond to the prompt, they compound the weaknesses of the papers in the D range.  Often, they are unacceptably brief or are incoherent in presenting ideas.  They may be poorly written on several counts and contain distracting errors in grammar and mechanics.  The writer’s remarks are presented with little clarity, organization, or supporting evidence.

A Few Key Quotations from Big Fish by Daniel Wallace

“When a man's stories are remembered, then he is immortal.”

 “Dreams are what keep a man going.”

 “The ending is always a surprise.”

 “This is what is meant by last words: they are keys to unlock the afterlife. They're not last words but passwords, and as soon as they're spoken you can go.”

 “You’re not necessarily supposed to believe it…You’re just supposed to believe in it.”

 “Remembering a man's stories makes him immortal.”

 “In the land of the dying, sentences go unfinished, you know how they're going to end.”

 “People were so cheap there... they ate beans to save on bubble bath.”

 “We all have stories, just as you do. Ways in which he touched us, helped us, gave us money, sold it to us wholesale. Lots of stories, big and small. They all add up. Over a lifetime it all adds up. That's why we're here, William. We're a a part of him, who he is, just as he is a part of us. You still don't understand, do you?"

I didn't. But as I stared at the man and he stared back at me, in my father's dream I remembered where we'd met before.

"And what did my father do for you?" I asked him, and the old man smiled.

"He made me laugh," he said.”

“He became just a man, a man without a job, without a story to tell, a man, I realized, I didn’t know” (17).

“I thought it was my destiny. A big fish in a big pond – that’s what I wanted” (21).

“I think…that if a man could be said to be loved by his son, then I think that a man could be considered great” (22).

“Normal people and their plans.  This rain, this dampness – it’s a kind of residue.  The residue of a dream.  Of a lot of dreams actually.  Mine and his and yours”.

“Not mine,”  Edward said (42).