Crabbe

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. Although Crabbe finds his formal education all but useless, he seems to appreciate Mary’s lessons, and he learns a lot from her.

• Why is Mary’s approach to education one that Crabbe learns well from? (topic sentence)
• Explain 2-3 separate characteristics of Mary as a teacher and provide examples from the story that illustrate these characteristics; explain why these characteristics match up with Crabbe’s needs as a learner.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how Mary’s approach to education is related to the themes of The Quest for Identity and Autonomy and the Value(s) of Education.

2. The pipes that Crabbe’s father owns contrast in several ways with the pipe that Mary gives Crabbe, and these differences convey important ideas about the meaning of Crabbe’s pipe.

• What is the symbolic significance of Crabbe’s pipe? (topic sentence)
• Describe 3 ways that Crabbe’s pipe differs from the pipes his father owns; explain how these differences support the symbolic meaning of Crabbe’s pipe.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how the symbolic meaning of Crabbe’s pipe supports one or more of the novel’s themes of The Quest for Identity and Autonomy, The Relationship Between Humanity and Nature, The Value(s) of Education, and Actions Versus Words.

3. One of the things that bothers Crabbe the most about other people, at least in the beginning of the novel, is when their actions do not match up with their words.

• Does Crabbe’s attitude about hypocrisy change during the course of the novel? (topic sentence)
• Give examples from the beginning, middle, and end of the novel that support your interpretation of whether his attitude changes.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how this change--or lack of change—relates to the novel’s theme of Actions Versus Words.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Crabbe is an epistolary novel. This means that it is told through a series of documents—the hospital chart and Crabbe’s journal entries. How does the epistolary format of Crabbe impact the reader? Is he a reliable or unreliable narrator, and why does this matter? What does the reader learn from Crabbe’s “digressions”? Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about the impact of the novel’s epistolary format on the novel’s audience. Support your ideas with evidence drawn from throughout the novel.

2. The candelabra that sits on the table between Crabbe and his parents in the beginning of the novel seems to represent more than just a physical barrier between them. How does Crabbe describe this object? What ideas of his about life and other people are related to his feelings about the candelabra? What evidence does the text offer that shows whether he is right or wrong in his judgments about his parents, and how does this relate to the symbolism of the candelabra? Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the symbolic significance of the candelabra and its relationship to the novel’s theme of Actions Versus Words. Support your ideas with evidence drawn from both the beginning and end of the novel.

3. The two main settings in this novel contrast with one another in important ways. How would you describe Toronto as it is depicted in this novel? How would you describe the wilderness as it is depicted in this novel? How are events and emotions in this setting different from the events that take place in the city? Write an essay in which you describe these two settings and explain which differences between the two are most significant. Show how the differences support one or more of the novel’s themes of The Quest for Identity and Autonomy, The Relationship Between Humanity and Nature, The Value(s) of Education, and Actions Versus Words. Support your ideas with evidence drawn from throughout the novel.