Response to Class Material #4

As the last semester came to a close our class was working on our read and lead projects. It was very interesting to see how others deciphered their poems. It was also very interesting how to some things meant one thing to someone and a completely different thing to someone else. I must say after a while the charm of listening to people read their poems did lose some of its charm, not so much that I did not enjoy the presentations, but it could get redundant when you are listening to one after the next.


At the same time we were working on our poetry read and lead, we were also assigned final exam assignments. My group decided that we were going to make a playlist that held all the characteristics of The American Dream (see The American Dream Summary and Analysis blog). The playlist was a quite diverse musical collection, check the playlist out for yourself here.


We, as a class, also read Oedipus Rex (see Oedipus Rex Summary and Analysis blog), and discussed the concept of fate and free will. This was mostly taken care of during the first semester, but it ran over slightly into the second semester. Currently, our class is in our Hamlet “unit” and are discussing Shakespearean literature and the themes within Hamlet (see Hamlet Summary and Analysis blog- soon to come). Under the Hamlet “unit” as a class, we have read and listened to some interesting material- to review visit Google Groups, AP Page. We also talked early in the unit about Shakespearean theater and how it was much different than today's theater. Back in the day, only men were allowed to act and often times there was very little action on stage, only drama on the stage as they discussed the goriest of meetings.


Since the second semester has started, our class has had to write an open prompt essay on anything that was literally applicable to the prompt. I surprisingly did not mind writing this essay because it allowed me to be more creative than in a normal closed prompt essay. I believe I did okay on my essay, both my partners rated it a 7/8 through our partner assessments (see comments on closed prompt #2 for suggestions). In the future, I plan on making an effort BEFORE I start writing to plan out how I want to write my essay so it does not just spin into nonsense.


My goals for the next to months are to go back and study the literature that we have read in class, I believe this will prepare me for the AP exam in may. I also plan on returning to the vocab and truly learn it and not just cramming my way through assessments. The assignment we had in class to make our own AP questions was very beneficial to me, and I plan on doing that for myself and practicing on mock AP MC assessments. I believe that I have the most room to grow when it comes to the MC part of the exam. My goal is to receive at least a 6 on the AP exam but ideally, I would like a 7 or 8!

Open Prompt 2

1975. Although literary critics have tended to praise the unique in literary characterizations, many authors have employed the stereotyped character successfully. Select one work of acknowledged literary merit and in a well-written essay, show how the conventional or stereotyped character or characters function to achieve the author’s purpose.

In The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Walker uses African American stereotypes like the Mammy and the Jezebel archetypes to foil each other in the story. The foiling of the characters and their stereotypical roles is used to explain the misfortune of the characters and how they prevailed through their hardship.

Celie, the main character is that of the Mammy stereotype due to her servile behavior and supine nature. This can be seen throughout the story such as when Celie was expected to care for her siblings due to her mother’s death and her fathers abusive and old fashioned nature. Or when celie’s husband abuses her and she simply takes it and does what she is told- but throughout the whole thing she remains kind and shares that kindness with those who accept it. Celie’s character is the Mammy stereotype because of her servile attitude towards her “superiors” and how she remains kind and love to those who deserve it, in spite of her miserable circumstances. Shug, on the other hand, is the jezabel. The impact that Shug makes is due to her headstrong and openly sexual behavior. This type of impact can be seen when Shug is initially introduced into the story as the mistress, and not as the singer that we was. Secondarily, it was Shug that confronted and stopped the abuse that Mr._____ inflicted upon Celie.

The foiling of Shug and Celie was shown slowly throughout the story. When the characters first interacted with one another it was not present due to their glaring differences. One one hand there is passive and servile Celie and on the other there is aggressive and promiscuous Shug. From the get-go of the story the reader knows that these characters’ purposes are to evolve each other, due to their polar vantage points on life. Through the contrast and growth that the character show throughout the story, Walker was able to show how the separate stereotypes were able to play off each other and help each other.

Through the base of stereotypes, Walker was able to foil Celie and Shug and have them act off of one another in the pursuit of freedom from oppression. The strong African American stereotypes provided a good platform for contrast to be shown throughout the story. Walker through stereotypes was able to show the true depth of the character and not just their offensive and stereotyped outsides.