AP Essay Prompt: Fiat Lux
The 2013 AP Literature open question on the "mysterious stranger" in a novel or play.
2013 Advanced Placement Examination, English Literature and Composition. Question 3. Suggested time: 40 minutes.
Many times in literature a “mysterious stranger” makes a significant contribution to the tone, resolution, or theme of a literary work. Choose a novel or play in which such a “mysterious stranger” appears. Then, in a well-organized essay, illustrate how this unusual, unexpected, or perhaps absent character aids in advancing the work’s mood, resolution, or thematic message. You may choose from the list below or use another novel or play of recognized literary merit.
- A Canticle for Leibowitz
- Bartleby the Scrivener
- Oedipus the King
- The Secret Sharer
- You Can’t Go Home Again
- The Scarlet Letter
- Wise Blood
- King Lear
- Antigone
- Heart of Darkness
- Waiting for Godot
- The Turn of the Screw
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Dracula
- Killing Mr. Watson
- Hamlet
- Everyman
- Light in August
- The Great Gatsby
- Beloved
- Night
- The Piano Lesson
- Jane Eyre
- Cloud Atlas