The Night Circus

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. The Night Circus is not written in chronological order, as it jumps back and forth in time repeatedly.

• What are the effects of the non-linear narrative on the reader? (topic sentence)
• Identify at least three situations in which the novel jumps in time and explain how each of these transitions impacts the reader.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, discuss the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of using this non-linear strategy.

2. Despite being an ordinary person without magical abilities, Bailey is willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of the circus.

• What are Bailey’s motivations for self-sacrifice? (topic sentence)
• Identify and explain at least three reasons why Bailey would choose to take responsibility for the circus.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, discuss why the author would make the choice to have an ordinary person be part of the solution.

3. Over the course of the novel, Chandresh changes from an ingenious perfectionist to someone with mental health concerns.

• What situations cause Chandresh to feel erratic and lose sense of reality over the course of the novel? (topic sentence)
• Identify at least two situations that impact Chandresh’s mental state and explain how they escalate into a mental health crisis.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, consider what other course of action Chandresh might have taken to avoid a mental health crisis.

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. A foil is a character whose traits are opposite to those of another character. Which characters serve as foils to each other in The Night Circus? What does each character accentuate in the other? How does drawing attention to these opposing qualities reflect the theme of Good Versus Evil, The Passage of Time, and/or Free Will? Identify at least two character foils and incorporate at least three quoted phrases from the novel that strengthen your points of discussion. Cite your quotations with page numbers.

2. The Night Circus is narrated from a variety of perspectives. What impact does this create for the reader? Consider point of view, narrator reliability, and included and excluded information. Why might the author have made the choice to change perspectives? How would the story be impacted if the perspective remained constant? Incorporate at least three quoted phrases from the novel that strengthen your points of discussion. Cite your quotations with page numbers.