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 bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. While living at McLean, the author makes several close friends with other admitted patients, some of whom exert peer pressure on Kaysen and each other.

• How does peer pressure influence Kaysen’s actions and the outcome of her mental health care at McLean? (topic sentence)
• Discuss and analyze in support of your topic sentence key actions that Kaysen and other patients take because of peer pressure.
• In your concluding sentences, summarize the impact of peer pressure on Kaysen’s experience.

2. Most events in Girl, Interrupted take place during the late 1960s.

• Why does Kaysen believe the time period contributes to her being admitted to the hospital? (topic sentence)
• Provide examples of some common cultural trends during that era and discuss the ways in which they contribute to Kaysen’s experience.