Open Prompt #1 2008

Student 1 wrote of the contrast of the foils within the Joy Luck Club. Having read the book before reading their response really helped me understand what it was that they were contributing to their thesis. Student 1 did a great job of using an appropriate amount of retelling the story and highlighting what the different aspects meant. That is something that I know that I will have to work on because I have the habit of just reciting and then explaining the meaning, not explaining as I go. I would give this response a 9 on the AP grading scale due to their eloquent phrasing and due to their ability to say what they mean. I honestly cannot think of anything that they could have done better in their essay. The penmanship was nice, the wording was deliberate, and the thesis answered the prompt perfectly.


Student 2’s essay was also about the foils within a story - which correctly follows the prompt (points for that.) This time it was about the book The Color Purple, which I have been able to read as well outside of class and attempted to do understand all its layers of complexity. Through this essay response student 2 was able to convey their thoughts on the foiling of the characters between the main character and her father who beat her down to the point of understanding herself and what she stands for. Although this essay was not as smoothly worded as the first one, I still believe that it answered the prompt pretty well. I would give this essay a 6 or 7 on the AP grading scale due to their lack of eloquence when explaining their arguments. I believe that roughness translates to a slightly less mature writing style, which is not bad, but it is not ideal for the AP exam.


Student 3 wrote their essay on The Kite Runner, which we have studied in class this year so I am pretty fresh on the content and what it should look like. With that being said I feel that student 3 did a subpar job explaining why it is that Baba was a foil to Hassan. My first criticism of the essay would have to be that out of all the foils that are present in the story, why student 3 picked a small and what I could call weird comparison. The reason I feel this way is that they are both foils to Amir, the main character, but to each other, I am not sure that they highlight much a difference between each other. As far as the actual essay goes, student 3’s explanation(s) were severely underdeveloped and lacked the full circle of thought. Although their argument was not very strong, they did technically answer the prompt and they sort of explained why they answered that way. I would give this essay a 3 or 4 on the AP grading scale.

Summary and Analysis of Oedipus Rex

Summary:

“Oedipus” stars right in the thick of the action, as per the style of an in medias res and also takes place for the duration of a day as a tragedy typically does. Before the story officially stars, there is a family in the city of Thebes where king Laius and Queen Jocasta who give birth to a son Oedipus. Prior to his birth the king and queen were told by an oracle that they were doomed to have a son who will kill his father and marries his mother. With that in mind, when baby Oedipus was born, The king and queen of Thebes had Teiresias, a herdsman take him out to a field for death- so that the prophecy could not come true. Not only was Oedipus left for dead, his ankles were bound so he could not move anywhere. Ironically Oedipus means bound ankles in greek, and no one caught that in the world of Oedipus Rex. On his way to dump the child, the Teiresias runs into another herdsman from Corinth. Meanwhile, in Corinth, the king and queen were trying desperately to conceive a child of their own. So when the herdsman from Corinth came across Teiresias he offered to take the baby off his hands knowing of the king and queens situation back home- he took Oedipus back to Corinth. Oedipus was raised like any other child in the city of Corinth with mother,  queen Merope, and father, king Polybus. During one of the many grand dinners held by the queen and king of Corinth, a prophet claims that Oedipus is bound to kill his father and marry his mother. Although Oedipus was raised normally in Corinth, he was never made aware of the fact he was adopted and therefore not biologically related to the king and queen of Corinth. Oedipus, fixed on the idea of not following the prophecy, decides it best to leave Corinth. While on the road away from Corinth he runs into a caravan of people- long story short Oedipus kills everyone over a disagreement over who had the right of way, leaving only one survivor. The one survivor ends up being Tiresias- unbeknownst to Oedipus that Tiresias knew the whole story. As Oedipus continued on his quest away from Corinth he ended up in Thebes and beat the sphinx that was terrorizing the city. The legend was that if the traveler missed the riddle that the Sphinx gave, the traveler would be killed on the spot. As Oedipus entered the city he met her and beat her and became the hot man on campus and soon thereafter attracted the affections of Jocasta the queen of Corinth. Jocasta, newly widowed took to the new handsome stranger and sought to marry him. And with that Oedipus became king of Corinth with his wife (mother,) Jocasta at his side.

Now with that background information in mind, the play actually starts with Oedipus questioning why the city of Thebes is being cursed and plighted. To figure out what was going on, he requested that Creon, the brother of Jocasta, go to Delphi to seek the wisdom of Apollo. During his brief time in Delphi, Creon discovers that the curse will be lifted once the city finds out who killed the late king Laius and prosecute him. Since Oedipus was the leader he was he went right to work at finding who was the murder of King Laius. While interviewing citizens of Thebes, Oedipus comes across Teiresias- the herdsman who was not only present for the removal of Oedipus but the killing of Laius. Teiresias fights at first, saying that Oedipus did not want to know the truth. After several pushes, Teiresias tells Oedipus that he was responsible for the death of Laius. Rattled, Jocasta tries to calm Oedipus by saying Oracles are not always right. As an example, she shared how her and Laius’ child was prophesied to kill his father and marry his mother but he was killed and that the prophecy did not come true. The story that Jocasta told reminded Oedipus of what was told to him when he was back in Corinth- that he was to kill his father and marry his mother. Not only that but he was reminded of how he also killed a man at crossroads, which sounds eerily similar to how Laius had died. Jocasta desperately pleads with him not to keep looking into the murder because she is scared of what will be found. After a couple more interviews with other people around The Ribs, it is connected that Oedipus was Jocasta’s child. Horrified, she kills herself and shortly after Oedipus stabs his eyes out and pleads to be exiled from Thebes.

Theme:

In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles uses themes of ignorance and sight to show that fate is inevitable, humans can choose how they confront it.

Motifs:

Blindness- all blind characters can “see” more and are more enlightened. Can be seen in the blind prophet, Tiresias.

Ignorance- throughout the story characters face their own ignorance and their own “blindness” to the situation. For example, Oedipus lives through the whole story and it takes him the longest to connect all the dots.

Fate vs. Free will- There is a constant struggle within the characters whether they have the option and or power to go against fate. The removal of Oedipus from Thebes was the first shown example of characters trying to deny fate. Laius thought he was above fate and could fight it- he did not succeed.

Quotes:

"Ah! my poor children, known, ah, known too well,

The quest that brings you hither and your need.

Ye sicken all, well wot I, yet my pain,

How great soever yours, outtops it all."

This quote is important to the setup of the story because this quote sets up the feeling of extreme self-importance that Oedipus feels. Although he sees himself in such high esteem, he still feels for the people of Thebes and all that they endure. The quote is ironic in and of itself because Oedipus is talking of the great pain he feels when in reality the pain and suffering have not even started since he is not aware of his wife is his mother at this point in the story.

"The trusty Creon, my familiar friend,

Hath lain in wait to oust me and suborned

This mountebank, this juggling charlatan,

This tricksy beggar-priest, for gain alone

Keen-eyed, but in his proper art stone-blind.

Say, sirrah, hast thou ever proved thyself

A prophet? When the riddling Sphinx was here

Why hadst thou no deliverance for this folk?

And yet the riddle was not to be solved

By guess-work but required the prophet's art

Wherein thou wast found lacking; neither birds nor sign from heaven helped thee, but I came.

The simple Oedipus; I stopped her mouth."

In this quote, Oedipus is puffing his chest in the face of Creon. As Oedipus questions Creon’s credibility and skills. He also highlights his own accomplishments and how he, “the simple Oedipus,” was able to take down the sphinx when no one else could, especially Creon- the brother of Jocasta who grew up in Thebes. With this being said, Oedipus thinks himself to be just the greatest thing, and how dare anyone question his legitimacy when it came to his alibi of where he was when King Laius was killed.