A Little Princess

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. Social class plays a large role in the story, especially in Sara’s friendship with Becky.

• How does Sara and Becky’s friendship go against typical Victorian ideas about social class? (topic sentence)
• Describe three scenes in the book that illustrate Becky’s role as a servant and how it affects her relationship with Sara. Be sure to note how Becky treats Sara before and after Sara loses her wealth.
• In your conclusion, explain how attitudes toward social class reflect Sara and Becky’s characters.

2. The story conveys the philosophy that kindness is more important than wealth.

• How do Sara and Miss Minchin represent the importance of wealth versus kindness? (topic sentence)
• Explain how Miss Minchin treats Sara differently before and after she loses her wealth. Give specific examples. Again, using specific examples, compare that to how Sara treats other people before and after she loses her wealth. Finally, show how Sara and Miss Minchin are rewarded or punished for their actions.
• In your conclusion, summarize the author’s probable intentions in creating these two opposing characters.

Full Essay Assignments

1. How does the story illustrate the purpose of adversity in life? Identify three scenes that develop the theme of adversity in Sara’s life as she moves from luxury to poverty to luxury again. Incorporate at least three quoted lines or phrases that support the theme. Be sure to cite your quotations using chapter and page number.

2. What characteristics are shared by the novel’s main antagonists, Miss Minchin and Lavinia? Write an essay in which you demonstrate how the characters’ similarities help to illuminate the story’s three major themes: The Power of the Imagination, Jealousy of Sara’s Uniqueness, and The Inner Princess: Character Versus Appearance. Support your conclusions with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, and be sure to cite any quoted material.