Week 1? (11/15-11/26)

 AP Lit Multiple Choice Questions!

Strategies:

• Read SLOWLY, SLOWLY, SLOWLY! (very important.)
• Read the passage quickly, then go over the passage again, but much slower

Types:

• Rhetorical Function: explain the purpose of a sentence, group of sentences, whole paragraph, or line/stanza of poetry in relation to the rest of the piece; Ex: “Between lines 24 and 25 and between lines 32 and 33, there is a shift from…”
• Context: identify meaning of a word used in the context of a passage; Ex: “In line 10, ‘known to’ is best interpreted as…”
• Antecedent: often discusses elaborate syntax (complex grammar); asks which antecedent the quoted word is referring to; Ex: “All of the following appear to shed tears or be filled with tears EXCEPT the…”
• Style: choices author has made; (#1 place to find 2 correct answers…but only 1 is MORE correct!); make sure both descriptors fit!; Ex: “The grandmother and the child in the poem are portrayed primarily through descriptions of their…” ß Portrayed primarily= amount (countable) in entire passage
• Tone: identify tone of passage; if pairs of words, use style strategy; Ex: “The mood of the poem is best described as…”

Hamlet*

• Based on a Norse legend composed by Saxo Grammaticus in Latin around 1200 AD
• King Rorik of the Danes
• Amleth (Saxo’s Hamlet)
• Beautiful daughter (Geruth)
• Story first printed in Paris in 1514
• Shakespeare used earlier play (Norse Legend by Thomas Kyd)
• Ur-Hamlet
• Amleth marries Gertrude, while in Hamlet, his mom (queen/Gertrude) kills herself

Aristotle Tragedy: imitation of unified action TRAGIC ERROR!

Seneca: TRAGIC FLAW, less fate, more free will

• Hero’s hesitation
• Hero’s insanity
• Hero’s contemplation of suicide
• Multiple levels of intrigue
• Able, scheming villains
• Philosophic soliloquies
• Sensational onstage murder

*Ongoing discussion!

Outside Reading (Reflective Essay #2)

The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell; published 2002
(borrowed from Ms. Holmes)
Essay: "The New German Cinema"
November 15, 2010
Pg 43-45

When reading one of Sarah Vowell's essays, one knows that they will be in for a treat. Vowell's all-knowing yet down-to-earth tone warms the heart of her readers as well as presents her version of the "truth." "The New German Cinema" is no different. This rhetorically strong piece has a quirky voice and keeps the reader thoroughly entertained, as well.

Vowell's best decision is to treat this essay like a story: she uses periods in her life as a beginning, middle, and end. This keeps the piece structured as well as relatable. One noteworthy fault of Vowell's is her obscure choice of words. I found myself at several times confused as to what she was discussing. Not knowing words such as "existentialism" forced me to do a bit of outside "outside reading." And I only understood the terms "oeuvre" and "accent aigu" because I speak French. Other than these few obscurities, I found I was able to comprehend the meaning of this piece fairly well. Vowell's stylistic voice shined through.

Vowell's tone is quite unexpected: both self-scrutinizing and grateful at the same time. Her first sentence introduces this thought, as she writes, "When I was growing up pretentious in Bozeman, Montana, I got all my ideas about going to the movies in New York City from the Woody Allen oeuvre." Towards the end of essay, she has her realization: "It was at that moment that I realized how small the New German Cinema community really was." Here, and in the following paragraph, Vowell decides that although she "outgrew existentialism and subtitles," she needed these experiences to discover fun in her mid-twenties (Pg. 45). I find that this reflective tone allows me to easily understand Vowell's viewpoint, even though I most definitely have never been interested in the German film industry. I can understand the core of this essay: Vowell needed to go through her "teen cineaste" days in order to mature and become the person she is today.

As an AP essay, I'm afraid that I cannot imagine this piece functioning well. Although I could see it as an essay prompt, this essay is much too informal for the tastes of the AP readers. The essay does contain stellar writing and background information, but its casual references are not with the style of the AP test.

Outside Reading (Editorial #2)

Post written November 14, 2010

Editorial written November 3, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/opinion/04thu4.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

In "Halloween's Afterlife," (no author named) the elusive writer recounts what happens, in his or her eyes, after Halloween has ended. Using a casual narrative voice and style, the writer not only presents an intriguing viewpoint into the shenanigans that occur in the days following Halloween, but also makes smaller, less noticeable political and social accusations.

The mysterious author's voice crafts a story that is both entertaining and convincing. Using definite phrases in the present tense, such as "But for another day or two this is still a block apparently preoccupied with irreverence toward death, which is much less frightening than death’s irreverence" make the reader believe the editorial in a sense of fact rather than opinion. The narrative style of the piece also leads to this belief, with the article structured as a story with a "beginning," "middle," and "end." Also, I appreciate how the author did not list his or her name with the article. I find that this just adds to the distant feel of the piece.

When the author writes, "the only remnant of Halloween will be the inflatable rat — 20 feet tall, paws raised, incisors exposed — sitting on its haunches in front of a building down the street, the site of a protest against nonunion labor" I wonder whether the author is trying to make a political point to their audience. Since the author later alludes to the rat, saying that the rat looks "less like an emblem of protest and more like the best decoration of all" and later that the rat "will be back to business," I am forced to believe that the author is trying to point out that this certain protest group will never stop trying to achieve their goals.

Oddly enough, I could picture this article as an AP essay. It exhibits a unique voice amongst its descriptive flow of language. If "Halloween's Afterlife" were to be an AP essay, however, I think that it would need to be a bit longer. The author might consider discussing more about the importance of the rat remaining in the day's after Halloween. Or they might elaborate on the sentence discussing the irreverence of and towards death. I'd also like the author to change the piece's last sentence, which, in my opinion, does not do the article justice.

Outside Reading (Book Review #2)

November 14, 2010
http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Reviews-Essays/Rogue-Island/ba-p/3561
Article Published November 4, 2010

Howard Frank Mosher's review of Rogue Island, by Bruce DeSilva, gives an excellent summary of the book's best points. His review gives much praise to both the descriptive nature of the investigative journalism industry and the plot and character development of the story. Mosher's informal writing style, along with his thorough descriptions, leads to an all-together excellent review of Rogue Island.

Mosher's reader-friendly stylistic writing allows even the most simplistic reader an excellent understanding of the book as a whole. There are few sentences that do not fit the constant "flow" of this piece. Mosher first describes to the reader the main protagonist, Liam Mulligan, and some of his more recent struggles. The reader then learns of some of the more quirky minor characters, such as a "74-year-old numbers racketeer," that add to the novel's first-rate writing. Mosher then praises DeSilva's accurate depiction of investigative journalism. Mosher only writes in the first person during this one sentence, noting, "As a bonus, Rogue Island also contains some of the best writing about the embattled newspaper business I've ever read—unsurprisingly, the author is a former investigative journalist and Associated Press editor." When reading this sentence, I was definitely surprised by Mosher's sudden use of the first person; though I think that his decision to do so helps give the reader a better understanding of his opinions on the novel.

Rogue Island's main character, Liam Mulligan, reminds me of the main character in a few of Jodi Picoult's books, (such as Perfect Match) Nina Frost. Though Liam is a journalist and Nina is an assistant district attorney, they both must face the scummy underbelly of their society and seek the truth amongst it. Another similarity between the two lies in their inability to not make their jobs personal. Mosher writes in his review that Liam disobeys his editor when he discovers that an arsonist is burning down his childhood buildings. In Perfect Match, when Nina discovers that her 5-year old son has been sexually abused, she goes on a man-hunt that leads to the fusing of her personal and work lives.

Although this review does a stupendous job of complementing the novel's highlights, it point outs none of its faults. Mosher points out the less-than-great character traits of Liam Mulligan, though he never once makes any negative comments directed at DeSilva. This is the greatest fault of Mosher's article. His nearly flawless writing would initially make me believe that this review is suitable for an AP assignment; however, his failure to make a counterargument overrules such a notion. I most also note that I do not detect any critical perspective in its entirety: the closest perspective I can detect is formalism, although he does not outright mention any literary devices what-so-ever.

Class Notes Week 2 (11/8-11/12)

Oedipus Rex:

A majority of our week has been spent discussing different aspects of Oedipus Rex. Here, I will just point out some of the highlights.

• When discussing the validity of Psychoanalytic Criticism, our class unanimously decided that Green's outlook on Oediupus was highly improbable, and that Freud is absolutely crazy. My class highly doubted that Sophocles was trying to make such intense subconcious sexual references that Green refers to in his writing.
• My class also discussed the power of blindness. We noted that Teiresias is blind for a reason; that because he is blind, he is able to see the truth in people and situations easier than most. We also discussed what effects Oediupus's loss-of-sight has to do with his ability to see the truth. My class determined that although he claimed outwardly that he wanted to avoid all of the atrocities he had created, blinding himself allowed him to finally see the world clearly.
• One of the biggest arguments in my class was in regards to Free Will vs. Predestination. We debated the effects of the prophecy: whether it determined Oedipus's actions from the beginning (predestination) or whether Oedipus's strong desire and his decisions to go against the prophecy ultimately created the events he was trying to avoid (free-will).

The Secrets to AP Thesis Writing*:
1) Thoroughly read the prompt. Twice.
2) Identify goals in the question by circling or underlining.
3) Write a thesis that addresses all of these goals.
4) Review prompt and thesis. Make sure you have addressed all of the goals.
5)When addressing a theme, make sure it is a theme and not a subject that you are addressing.
6) Thesis
    Answer
    Prompt
7) Analyse effect AND meaning.
*Ideally, spend about five minutes for this entire process.

Example: (#3 from The Packet)
3. A critic has said that one important measure of a superior work of literature is its ability to produce in the reader a healthy confusion of pleasure and disquietude. Select a literary work that prouduces this "healthy confusion." Write an essay in which you explain the sources of the "pleasure and disquietude" experienced by the readers of the work.

1) Have you read through this twice? What goals have you noticed?
One thing I noticed is that the writers of the prompt roughly defined for us what this "healthy confusion" really is (A healthy confusion of pleasure and disquietude/uneasiness).
2) Let's identify the goals. I will italize them in this case.

3. A critic has said that one important measure of a superior work of literature is its ability to produce in the reader a healthy confusion of pleasure and disquietude. Select a literary work that prouduces this "healthy confusion." Write an essay in which you explain the sources of the "pleasure and disquietude" experienced by the readers of the work.

So we know that we must first find a literary work in which the reader feels both content and uneasy. In other words, this theory of "healthy confusion"  is when a work is disturbing, yet we as readers are better off after reading the work. Our goal in this prompt is to think of a work in which this theory is displayed.

3) This is what my group came up with for our thesis:

In The Great Gatsby, the reader feels wiser and emotionally fulfilled through the excellent, yet disturbing quality of the writing and feels uneasy with the moral depths of the characters.

Class Notes Week 6 (10/25-10/29)

This week, we began our unit on DRAMA.

From the "Notes on Drama" worksheet:

• drama is both an auditory and a visual medium
• movement, dialogue, and monologue are the tools with which drama creates plot, character, theme..
• drama has multiple functions; dig through the layers of dialogue to get to the true meaning(s)!
• drama is usually performed to create an illusion of reality (verisimilitude: feeling that what you see on stage is actually happening)
• "Willing suspension of disbelief"
• there are limitations to drama, and sometimes actors and playwrights must make compromises in the fullness of a drama
• "Break the 4th wall"= making a play seem like a reality using deliberately staged or written ways
• A play is meant to be looked at all in one sitting; plays are made to get the audience's attention and keep it
• built around a series of "dramatic questions" that provoke new questions when others are resolved

Some types of drama (still from said sheet):

• Tragedy: ruin of the leading characters; destruction of some noble person through fate (Greeks); death or destruction of some noble person through a flaw in his/her character (Elizabethans); may not involve death but more dismal life (present); tragedy not of the strong and noble, but the weak (modern)
• Comedy: lighter drama; leading characters overcome initial difficulties in their lives; action/dialogue is usually humorous
• Melodrama: blend of serious action of tragedy w/the happy ending of comedy; usually structured with a series of escapades by the protagonist from various threatening circumstances; clearly defined "good" over "evil"
• Tragi-Comedy: serious action w/happy ending; complex, with carefully drawn characters and more thoughtful treatment of serious subj. matter (love, friendship, death...); more likely to have humour than melodrama
• Problem Play: drama of social criticism that discusses social, economic, or political problems
• Farce: when comedy involves ridiculous or hilarious complications w/o regard for human values
• Comedy of Manners: comedy which wittily portrays fashionable life
• Domestic/Bourgeois Drama: serious play that deals with "ordinary" people from everyday life; in the last 150 yrs replaced both classical tragedy and "heroic" drama
• Theater of the Absurd: *see other handout

Perrine Chapters on Drama
Chapter One (The Nature of Drama) :

• drama makes use of plot and characters, develops themes, arouses emotional responses, and may be either literary or commercial in its representation of reality
• written to be performed, not "read"
• presents action A) through actors b) on a stage c) before an audience
• impact is direct, immediate, and heightened by actors' skills
• Plays can use all of an audience's senses
• facial expressions, gesture, speech rhythm, and intonation can influence an audience's interpretation
• Playwrights cannot directly comment on the action or characters; cannot explain the inner workings of the characters' minds
• Soliloquy/Aside: characters are presented as speaking to themselves: "thinking out loud"; with this device, presumed to be telling the truth
• performance on a stage gathers the attention of the spectator (lighted stage, dark theater, no extra noises...)
• difficult to shift scenes rapidly
• setting limits a playwright's ability to make a play more complex
• The experience is communal!
• Central meanings can be grasped in one performance
• few long, narrative passages

Chapter Two (Realistic and Nonrealistic Drama):

• Realistic: drama that attempts, in content and in presentation, to preserve the illusion of actual, everyday life
• Nonrealistic: drama that in content, presentation, or both, departs markedly from fidelity to the outward appearances of life
• Elaborate and realistic stage sets are the exception, not the norm.
• Details such as costuming, stage sets, and makeup are usually at the hands of the producer and not the playwright
• some playwrights reproduce the vulgarities of language to imitate reality; the purpose is not to imitate actual human speech but to give accurate and powerful expression to human thought and emotion
• Dramatic conventions: any dramatic devices which, though they depart from reality, are implicitly accepted by author and audience as a means of representing reality
• Chorus: a group of actors speaking in unison, often in a chant, while going through the steps of an elaborate formalized dance
• The study of drama requires purposeful learning of its conventions, both realistic and nonrealistic.
• in most plays, the "world" it creates is considered self-contained; however, some authors continually remind the audience that this is a play and NOT the real world
• The adjective realistic, as applied to literature, must be regarded as a descriptive, not an evaluative, term

Other terms to know:

Romantic (Comedy): a type of comedy whose likable and sensible main characters are placed in difficulties from which they are rescued at the end of the play, either attaining their ends or having their good fortunes restored
Protagonist: central character in a story or play
Antagonist: any force in a story or play that is in conflict with the protagonist. An antagonist may be another person, an aspect of the physical or social environment, or a destructive element in the protagonist's own nature
Foil Characters: a minor character whose situation or actions parallel those of a major character, and thus by contrast sets off or illuminates the major character; most often the contrast is complimentary to the major character
Suspense: that quality in a story or play that makes the reader eager to discover what happens next and how it will end
Theme: the central idea or unifying generalization implied or stated by a literary work
Didactic Writing: poetry, fiction, or drama having as a primary purpose to teach or preach
Dramatic Exposition: the presentation through dialogue of info about events tat occurred before the action of a play, or that occur offstage or between the stage actions' this may also refer to the presentation of info about individual characters' backgrounds or the general situation (political, historical, etc.) in which the action takes place.

We've been reading Oedipus Rex in class. *See sticky-note annotations

We also discussed Plagiarism in class.
"Don't plagiarize. It is BAD."
~Ms. Holmes
Yeah...there really isn't much else to say about that. :)