Question about an essay prompt for On the Waterfront

[anjesa]

Terry Malloy is an ambigious character at the start of the film. How does Elia Kazan demonstrate ambiguity through cinematic devices?

Would this mean that every topic sentence would have to do with Terry because he is mentioned in the first line?

[teacher28]

Terry Malloy is an ambigious character at the start of the film. How does Elia Kazan demonstrate ambiguity through cinematic devices?

Would this mean that every topic sentence would have to do with Terry because he is mentioned in the first line?

Not if that is the exact wording of the topic statement and its accompanying question.

Obviously, you would focus on Terry, but the fact that the question does not specify Terry by its omission of 'his' in the phrase "demonstrate ambiguity" you would be wise to consider other examples of aspects of the film that have possible interpretations, for example the characterisation of Charley and the ending of the film.

[VivaTequila]

That's just a horrible prompt - who the hell wrote that?