Response to Course Material

In all honesty, I am very surprised at how much we have learned in AP Lit in just under a month. I really enjoy the way the class is taught. We don’t have units from a textbook and tests after each chapter, which is exactly how all my other classes are structured. Instead, the class is student-run and student-oriented. For example, right now we are working on reading and analyzing The American Dream. We still receive instruction from the teacher, but we lead our own discussions and come to our own conclusions. We have read formal essays on the play, and afterwards we analyze those analyses; we talk about how those authors use valid logic, how they compliment one another, or how we disagree with them. We add to the authors’ explorations of the play, digging even deeper than they did. I have never had a literature class before where the students are the ones who break down a story in such depth. Normally it is the teacher who leads a discussion, giving strong hints about how the literature should be interpreted, inserting his/her own opinion everywhere, and explaining various themes and motifs. In this class, the students are able to think for themselves, which is a vital skill for success in college as well as in future careers. 

            Aside from just talking about The American Dream, we have learned the basics of close reading and annotations, which is extremely important when trying to analyze literature. Again, these are more skills I have never been formally taught at school: I have had to annotate and analyze various pieces of literature before, but I have never had a teacher actually tell me how. They have said that we should mark important passages that might portray the meaning of the piece, or simply to note different literary devices throughout, but this is my first time formally learning about close reading and annotations.

            So far, I have really enjoyed this class. I feel as though I have already learned a lot more about how to analyze literature and, if I make this much progress every month, I will be thoroughly prepared for the AP Lit exam in May.

Open Prompt, 2009

2009 Prompt: A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

Essay 3A

The first student wrote a very strong, well thought-out essay. The essay has a bit of a rough beginning with a rather ambiguous thesis statement, but redeems it self later on with in-depth analysis. An elevated  (but not pompous) and controlled vocabulary is used, along with many claims supported by evidence. The student brings up many examples and even quotes the play, The Wild Duck, but refrains from ever summarizing the story. The student breaks down the symbolism, explaining what each symbol is, how it represents something else, and the effect the symbol has on the story and the reader. Later, the student goes on to analyze various relationships within the characters of the play. The essay explains how these relationships add to the story and describes the “double meaning” each connection creates. The final paragraph explains the importance of the symbol of the wild duck, but lacks additional analysis and doesn’t conclude the rest of the essay very well. Overall though, this was a very good essay that closely examined The Wild Duck.

Essay 3B

I would say this second essay is average. It is not a horrible essay, but seems to lack depth. On top of this, the essay seems very repetitive. The student even ends a paragraph with the following phrase: “Her desire to appear young at first seems to be just a woman who wants to appear prettier than she is.” The whole essay discusses just the one symbol of the lampshade in A Streetcar Named Desire. The covering of the light bulb with the lampshade is supposed to represent the lack of honesty of the one of the characters, Blanche. The student explains why the symbol came about and why Blanche never wants to share the truth anymore, and even explains Blanche’s “unreal and fantastical view of things.” This student could have gone a step further with the essay, developing this symbol even more and explaining the impact of it. The student could have stated how Blanche’s lack of honesty affects her and her relationships with others. The student seems to continuously restate the fact that Blanche is covering up her flaws or her lies, but if the student had analyzed this symbol a bit more, this essay would have definitely received a score higher than a six.

Essay 3C

This third essay was not very well written at all. It wasn’t well structured; there seemed to be a paragraph for each the intro and conclusion, but there didn’t seem to be any apparent reason for the separation of body paragraphs. The essay is about how Okonkwo carried a machete around to make him more intimidating, and it symbolized his pride. In the essay, the first body paragraph summarizes when he used his machete, the second mentions that he never gave his machete to a woman, the third states that it “is used for defense purposes”. These three paragraphs do not seem to add analysis to the student’s argument, because each paragraph essentially says the same thing: that he carries the machete around for defense and pride. The conclusion of this essay is very poor as well. The last two sentences are: “So it symbolizes pride. Most of all.” This essay could have been made much better with more analysis and superior structure, regarding both the sentences and the paragraphs. 

Close Reading, 9/15

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO WRITING BETTER THAN YOU NORMALLY DO.
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-ultimate-guide-to-writing-better-than-you-normally-do

Collin Nissan writes The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do. He keeps the whole piece light yet informative, using a casual, conversational tone throughout. Nissan uses diction, detail, and language to keep his readers entertained while giving advice on how they can improve their writing.

First, Nissan uses diction to access his wide variety of readers. Everyone could probably use some improvement on his/her writing, because no one can claim to be the perfect writer. Therefore, the readers will have varying skill levels in both reading and writing, and it can be safe to assume that a colloquial and simple vocabulary will reach the greatest number of people. Nissan does this when he talks about how writers need to find something that motives them. He says that writers must look out for others who might try to “muse-block [them]”. The phrase “muse-block” is nothing formal nor anything common; it’s just something that Nissan made up, probably in attempt to keep the word-count low with a phrase that can still be understood by many. Other examples of easily understood diction are his choice of adjectives. He describes things as “great”, work as “hard”, and shoulders as “weird”. His simple vocab, however, does nothing to detract from the content of his writing, but adds to the readability of his article, leaving his readers entertained rather than tired or bored.

The second technique Nissan uses is detail. On top of giving writing advice to his readers, he also supplies them with very specific examples of what they should and shouldn’t do. His advice on writer’s block is great. He doesn’t just describe the problem of “the blank white page”, but he goes a step further, calling it “El Diablo Blanco” and “El Pollo Loco”. He continues with examples of people of who never let the lack of ideas stop them from creating something great, specifically mentioning Edison, Mozart, and Picasso. Nissan adds that if there is still trouble with writers block, it is best for the readers to ask themselves a couple questions to get their thoughts flowing, such as “Why did I quit my job at TJ Maxx to write full time?”. For every piece of writing advice Nissan gives, he provides plenty of specific examples, many of which are injected with humor to help maintain a conversational tone and keep the reader satisfied.

The third technique Nissan uses is language. His examples and descriptions are full of metaphors, similes, and personifications to help add life to his list of advice. For example, he personifies muse and writes, “Beware of muses who provide unrealistic timelines for your projects or who wear wizard clothes” and that “the right muse/human relationship can last a lifetime.” Personifying something like a muse makes it more accessible to the average reader, and even makes finding a muse not seem like such a daunting task. Nissan also writes about the horrors of procrastination, saying it “is an alluring siren taunting you” to simply waste time. He even calls it a “seafaring wench”. Just as Nissan joked about finding a muse, joking about procrastination makes the reader more comfortable with the idea of not letting procrastination take over; joking about procrastination makes it seem like something more easily conquerable. On top of this, joking throughout the article also adds to the casual tone of the piece.

Nissan uses language, detail, and diction throughout his article to make his piece readable for the every-day reader. The reader doesn’t have to work to gather meaning from his writing, doesn’t have to pull out a dictionary to look up difficult words. Nissan uses those three techniques to have a conversation with his readers, to keep them captivated while he informs them on how to improve their writing.