Waterland Papers & Assignment Topics

Essay Topics/Writing Assignments

These 20 essay questions can be used as essay questions on a test, or as stand-alone essay topics for a take-home or in-class writing assignment. Students should have a full understanding of the text in order to answer these questions. They ask for a thorough analysis of the text.

1. The idea that the landscape of the Fenlands, the River Ouse, the personalities of the characters, and the course of history are closely intertwined plays a major role in Graham Swift's novel Waterland. Describe the landscape as Swift relates it and then choose three characters whose personalities and fate appear to be tied to the nature of the Fenlands. Discuss how that relationship plays out in the decisions and accidents that shape their life. Analyze whether Swift's view of the Fenlands and its people holds up, given the examples you have just described.

2. One of...
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