Response to Class Material #5

From the last response to course material that was posted, we, as a class, have continued to read and work with Hamlet through analysis and discussion. For a more in-depth explanation of Hamlet see Summary and Analysis of Hamlet. The Hamlet open prompt proved to be somewhat of a challenge for me for some reason. When we were given the open prompt in class I did nothing short of panic and forget every word that I know. Upon rereading and reworking the essay, I realized that I really REALLY need to practice timed writing. My initial essay was rough as heck, but after rereading and reworking it, I feel that it turned out okay and I was okay to attach my name to the work. The key things that I had to work on were really nailing my intro and forming a solid thesis that I could easily revisit throughout my essay. From there the essay was much easier to write and made my ideas a lot more clear and understandable.


Onto Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard, the second to last book that our class is reading for the year (wow... that went fast). For an in-depth analysis check out my Summary and Analysis on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which shall come shortly after this post. R&G was a harder story for me to grasp and understand due to the confusing and pretty ambiguous nature of theater of the absurd. To help myself I just need to notice motifs and themes and stick with them through all the nonsense.


We have also been working on my questions for the AP exam in may. I often find those more daunting than writing the prompts because of how confused I can become when all the words do not make sense and you do not know what you are reading in the first place. The silver lining is that I am getting better at faking it, and acting like I totally know what I am talking about. The confidence seems to help my score when it comes down to it, so even if I'm still unsure, at least I am getting some of the questions correct.