A Wizard of Earthsea

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. Though the novel involves predominantly male characters, women play an important role in Ged’s journey. Choose one female character for the focus of this essay.

• What role does this female character represent in Ged’s coming-of-age journey? (topic sentence)
• Describe the character’s relationship to Ged. How does she help or hinder his journey? In what ways does she influence him? Explain your reasoning using 2-3 examples from the text.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, state what universal role, lesson, phase, or trial this character represents in a youth’s coming-of-age story and why it is a vital part of the genre.

2. As a character, Ged is blessed with a high degree of magical talent, but he does not always have the knowledge or wisdom necessary to use his power well. For this essay, explore the role that knowledge and experience play in Ged’s ability to use his talents wisely.

• How does Ged’s growing knowledge and experience impact his temperament and allow him to eventually learn from past mistakes? (topic sentence)
• Explain the nature of Ged’s most significant mistakes. Why does he make them? How does Ged use his experiences to respond to major trials with better judgment? Explain your reasoning using 2-3 examples from the text.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain the impact age and experience often play in a person’s attitudes toward their abilities.

3. The shadow may fulfill the role of the monster in Ged’s heroic journey, but the choice to leave it mysterious, unknown, and horrifying subverts the role by tying its existence directly to Ged’s unformed and untested psychological state.

• Why is Ged afraid of the shadow, and why does he feel the need to fight it? (topic sentence)
• Describe the similarities between The Uncanny Double and Ged’s inner conflicts over the course of the novel, focusing on how the shadow’s form and behavior change throughout Ged’s struggle. What is symbolic about Ged’s defeat of the shadow, and why must he defeat it alone? Explain your reasoning using specific examples from the text.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain how the psychological battle between a person’s competing desires can shape their individual growth and development.

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. Teaching and learning plays an important role in Ged’s journey and eventual defeat of the shadow. Not every teacher has good intentions for Ged, but each one influences him and shapes who he becomes. Trace the development of Ged’s knowledge throughout the novel. Which teachers and lessons help him, and which hinder him? How does his attitude toward his teachers, their lessons, and learning in general change as the novel progresses? Ultimately, what lessons or warnings are conveyed regarding both the pursuit of knowledge and the keepers of it?

2. The passage from childhood to maturity provides the focus for the novel’s themes, conflicts, and character development. In what ways is Ged’s journey a typical coming-of-age story? Where does it differ? What are the benefits and drawbacks of blending the fantasy and coming-of-age genres? Does this coming-of-age story offer the same instructive lessons and benefits to modern youth? Why or why not?

3. Ged’s journey is circular and spirals, rather than progressing in a straight, linear fashion. In what ways might this narrative shape be symbolic? If Ged ultimately repeats the same mistakes and travels the breadth of the archipelago and beyond to essentially arrive where he began, then what is the meaning of all the action, and what is the ultimate lesson learned? What has changed, if not the setting and circumstances? In what ways do these structural choices reflect every person’s journey toward self-discovery and maturity?