Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

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. Several characters in the play have experienced trauma. Albus feels crushed under the weight of the Potter name, Harry never received closure from his traumatic childhood, and even Ron and Hermione find it hard to separate themselves as individuals, beyond being a part of “The Golden Trio.”

• What is trauma? Does any character receive closure from the events and feelings they experienced? (topic sentence)
• Identify scenes from each act that show a character and their response to trauma.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, describe the ways your chosen character either resolves or neglects their trauma.

2. Albus and Scorpius respond in particular ways to the legacies of their fathers. Compare and contrast the two father-son relationships.