AP Exam Essay Practice #1

Part bildungsroman and part allegory, The Poisonwood Bible follows the radical changes a vicious environment inflicts upon young Leah Price.  While the characters are certainly strong and well-developed, the alien jungle the Prices find themselves in is ultimately what drives the plot and theme of disillusionment.  The influence of this powerful setting is seen best through Leah Price.  Her evolution is cleanly broken down into a phase of sheltered idealism and one of bitter cynicism.

Prose and Open Essays

Once again, I'll be imposing a loose time limit on myself, for the sake of both exam practice and my sanity.  I'm aiming for forty minutes, but I'll spend as long as I need to finish the essay.  Pre-writes are on a separate piece of paper.  I'll post them if anyone really wants to see them, but they're mostly incoherent scribbles.  The passage and prompts can be found on the main course blog.

At Least Two Essays

Since time restraints have typically been the most difficult part of AP essays for me, I'm limiting myself to forty minutes per essay.  Otherwise, I'm liable to keep writing for far longer than is possible on the actual exam.  Besides that, I'm honestly not too keen on spending my entire weekend practicing essays.

Pre-writes are included in the forty minutes, although I will be doing them on a separate piece of paper to facilitate my rather haphazard pre-writing method.

Groupthink

Our Groupthink today in class was more helpful than I expected.  I thought I had a decent grasp on the poems already, but the group as a whole brought a lot of insightful thoughts to the table.  In particular, the discussion of "Eldorado" taught me a lot of things that I wouldn't have found otherwise (to be fair to Kris, "Epigram for Wallstreet", which he worked on, was easy enough to understand that there wasn't much room for his own analysis).

The gist of "Eldorado", is fairly easy to grasp.  However, in my individual reading I did not notice the subtleties to the poem.  For one, Poe uses the word "shadow" to shifts in each stanza.  In the first, it is used in the literal sense of a shadow.  In the second, it is used figuratively to represent the growing doubt in the knight's heart.  The third stanza's use becomes even more obscure, as the knight meets a pilgrim's shadow, symbolizing his death.  Finally, the final stanza makes reference to the Valley of the Shadow and Death when describing what it takes to reach Eldorado.

One other thing came up on the subject of Eldorado that I found amazing.  Apparently, Poe chose a poem structure that had stresses imitating the cadence of a horse's gallop.  In this way, he hoped to convey the sense of a journey through both the words and raw sound of the poem.  I enjoyed the poem before learning this, but now it's even more amazing.

Gridlock

Justin Thompson and I will be analyzing "Enigma" by Edgar Allan Poe.  Kris Green is analyzing "Epigram for Wall Street."  Gus Blundell and Jason Reinwald are working on "Eldorado."

"Eldorado" analysis is here.
"Epigram for Wall Street" analysis is here.

Since we were having difficulties understanding "Enigma" at all, we've decided to use the simpler TPCASTT grid.  Once we have a more solid understanding, we may revisit with the vendler grid.

Seventh Reading

Justin Thompson and I chose to read poems only by Edgar Allen Poe.  For one, I usually enjoy Poe's writing.  Additionally, we figured that by choosing three poems by the same poet, we would be able to analyze the differences in prose of each one.  The ones we chose differ in rhyming scheme, theme, or both.  Here's what we read:

"Epigram for Wall Street"

"Eldorado"

"Enigma"

I'll be honest, we didn't read all of them the full seven times, but we did read them out loud several times.  The order I have listed them is more or less in order of comprehension.  "Epigram for Wall Street" was short and straightforward.  There was, to my knowledge, very little room for interpretation.  "Eldorado" was also fairly straightforward, but there were also layers to understanding it (what does Eldorado represent to the main character?).  "Enigma" was extremely difficult to understand, to the point that I have only a very vague idea of what Poe was going for.  We'll make sure to pay more attention to "Enigma" when working more with the poems.

Responses to Lit Circles

100th post!  Well, actually this is post 101, but I still have Pride and Prejudice notes that I haven't published.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

1. D

2. B

3. A

4. D

5. A

6. C

Life of Pi Literary Terms

Here's Jason Reinwald and Gus Blundell's work on lit terms from Life of Pi.


-Epigram
“It's happened to all of us: there's sunlight and shade, spots and patterns of colour, your mind is elsewhere - so you don't make out what is right in front of you.”
Chapter 18
-Metonymy
“Tigers go woof when they are caught unawares, a short, sharp detonation of fury that would instantly make your legs jump up and run away if they weren't frozen to the spot.”

Macbeth Act IV Notes

• "Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble"
• the reader's first introduction to the witch's actual wickedness, if it was not already assumed
• is there any symbolism to the items being placed in the cauldron, or are they there simply for weirdness sake
• also, were these actually things believed to have magical/evil properties?

Jane Eyre Questions

The following answers are in response to this document.  In the spirit of AP test prep, I did my best to move through the passages and questions quickly and didn't look for an answer key.

Macbeth Notes Act II

• Macbeth identifies himself as a friend to Banquo
• does Banquo feel the same way?
• Banquo's dream of "three weird sisters"
• is he talking about the witches here?
• Macbeth's soliloquy
• marvels at how unreal the situation feels
• an indication that this is not something that Macbeth truly feels comfortable doing
• he feels that this is out of character for himself
• many allusions to mythology to enforce the mystical surreal tone
• Why does Shakespeare choose not to show the murder itself?
• too gruesome for the audience?  Or perhaps too offensive to the king?
• the Macbeths have, apparently, fooled everybody
• "Is't known who did this more than bloody deed?" ... "Those that Macbeth hath slain."
• Macduff and Ross are ironically correct here, although they do not know it
• They conclude seconds later that Macbeth is next up for the throne
• how do they not connect Macbeth and his "thriftless ambition" to the crime?
• Macbeth ma have too good of a reputation.  It is stated earlier that he is well liked throughout the land.

"Nature can do that?"

At the beginning of the school year, Justin Thompson started a blog to showcase the various wonders of nature.  Eventually, I joined in and lent a hand with research and writing.  There are some genuinely bizarre things showcased, ranging from trees of dragon blood to fried egg jellyfish.  If you've got some free time and are looking to be amazed, give the blog a look!

Nature Can Do That?

Macbeth Act I: Thoughts and Notes -- Barely Awake Edition

I'm tired right now, so apologies if this post falls short.  And no, this late night (early morning?) post is not because of procrastination for once.  Well, not mostly.

• Macbeth is an interestingly contradictory character
• apparently peerless warrior, but is submissive to his overbearing wife
• has ambitions for the throne, but still has morality (or he at least lacks the disregard for human life of Lady Macbeth)
• Why does he want the throne?  Political?  Egotistical?
• Described as being fearless, but recoils at the witches
• Either Macbeth is not what he appears, or the witches are really just that horrendous
• could be both, obviously
• The witches are certainly not a pretty sight, but are they actively malicious?
• there's allusions to their wicked deeds, but what do they gain from the telling of Macbeth's future?
• Maybe not, could just be a convenient method of both foreshadowing and establishing a context for morality
• Banquo is less disturbed by the witches
• indicates that he is more used to their evil?
• What does Banquo think of Macbeth?
• friendly, rival, etc.
• Lady Macbeth is arguably more evil than the witches
• does Macbeth realize how easily he is goaded and manipulated?

Lit Circles: Life of Pi Prose Essay Prompts

The following AP style essay prompts are made for Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

1. Authors often use unusual plot structures to draw attention to important story elements.  In Life of Pi, Yann Martel inserts short italicized chapters written from his point of view.  What literary techniques within these chapters contribute to the overall theme of the novel?

2. Life of Pi is a story as much about the psychological and spiritual aspects of Pi as it is about his worldly struggles.  Analyze the literary devices that Martel uses to separate the physical and the metaphysical.

3. Stylistically, Life of Pi has characteristics of both a fable and a biography.  What devices does Martel use to create this effect?

Literature Analysis: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Once again, Justin Thompson and I worked on a Prezi for March's literature analysis on Crime and Punishment.

If the Prezi isn't showing up for anyone, click here.