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.

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.

Responce to Class Material #3

From 11/12/17 to 12/15/17 Our class has worked on reading and analyzing the kite runner, Reference kite runner summary, and analysis blog post. As a class, we discussed a lot of the symbolism behind the what seemed to be quite straightforward text. I go into more detail about this in the previous post though so I will not go into much more detail.

We also have been working a lot on closed prompt poetry responses for the AP test in May. personally, I find poetry responses to be MUCH harder than straight literature responses. the reason for that being that poetry is a lot less literal and it could mean any number of things without the right background knowledge. Through the peer reviews that I have received I have become more aware of making my thesis and points very clean in the essay so they do not get lost in the confusion of the interpretation (or my attempt at an interpretation.) For future note- take your time in identifying the point of the question and what it wants from you, and then write your thesis accordingly.

not only have we been working on the poetry prompts we have also been working on reading and analyzing poetry and more pieces of literature in the form of practice multiple choice tests. This is to help us learn how to take the AP MC test in may. I have learned that I personally have to take more time in slowing down and actively reading the story, not just buzzing through and guessing at the questions.

Lastly, as a class, we have our read and lead poetry assignment that will be due in early January for my partner and me. It fits in with the trend of reading and analyzing poetry. 

Summary and Analysis of "The Kite Runner"

Summary (With symbolism and side notes):
The Kite Runner,  by Khahled Hosseini, starts off with the main character Amir reflecting on his life story and how everything changed in the 1970s in Afghanistan. Amir starts by describing his home and how it was nicer than the surrounding homes. When he was born his mother died when giving birth to him- which sets up this feeling of resentment from Baba, Amir's father. In the nice house in Kabul, Afghanistan, Amir lives with Baba- his father, Ali- Baba's longtime family servant, and Hassan- Ali's son. The complication of Ali and Hassan living with Baba and Amir is the fact that they are Hazaras, not Pashtuns, which at the time was thought to be the superior race within Afghanistan. It is at this point in the story where Racial inequality as a theme of the story. The story serves as a small-scale representation of current and past events within Afghanistan and how they actually affected the residents of the country. The turning point of the story is when during the winter kite races of Kabul Hassan is kite- running for Amir so he could find him the last kite that Amir took out as the winner of the kite race.When Amir is done with the race he goes to find Hassan. Hassan is found cornered in an alley by Assef and his gang of blind followers. Amir to coward to stand up to Assef to protect Hassan, so Amir watches Hassan get raped by Assef over the blue kite that Hassan wanted to present to Amir. From that point on in the story, a feeling of discontent and resentment becomes established between Amir and Hassan. This is where the theme of loyalty comes into the story- no matter what Amir does to Hassan to try and distance himself from the disloyalty he committed by witnessing his rape and not doing anything and pretending not to of seen it, Hassan never leaves Amir. This progressively upsets Amir to the point where he plants money in the shack that Ali and Hassan lived in, as to frame Hassan of stealing it even though it would have been truley out of character for Hassan or Ali for that matter to steal anything led alone money. This is a turning point in the story because it is there that Ali and Hassan leave Kabul, even against Baba's pleas for them to stay with him and Amir. Shortly thereafter the politics of Afghanistan took a sharp turn for the worst, causing Baba and Amir to escape silently and work their way towards America, the land of safety. Amir and Baba move to San Fransico and are met with a good sized Afghan culture within the city. Through the culture, Baba and Amir became involved with buying junk from garage sales and selling it for a slim profit. Through this Baba and Amir meet the general who sells stuff a couple of booths down. After months of selling Amir starts to notice the general's daughter Soraya. After Amir's desperate and sad attempts of flirting it is shared with the author that Baba is terminally ill, but will not do anything about it because he is a man and will take it like a man. Baba's last wish was that Amir and Soraya marry and be happy together. Shortly after Baba dies and Amir and Soraya start trying to conceive a child but cannot no matter what doctor they see or anything they try. Baba's oldest friend and advisor Rahim Khan calls Amir and tells him that he wishes for him to come and visit him back in the Middle East. Amir does so and upon meeting Rahim Khan, finds out that Hassan was actually his illegitimate half-brother and that Ali, Hassan's "father" was sterile. Not only that, but Amir was told that Hassan and his wife had been killed by the Taliban back in Kabul- hence leaving their son Sohrab in an orphanage there. Rahim Khan asks Amir as his dying wish to go retrieve Sorhab and deliver him to a safe family that Rahim Khan knew in the city. Wanting to atone for the many sins that Amir committed along the way, he went to retrieve Sohrab. After looking high and low for Sohrab he found him in the hands of a local Taliban leader whom he met with to discuss buying Sohrab back. Turns out the local leader just happened to be Assef and he was not about to make it easy to take Sohrab. Assef agreed to fight Amir for Sohrab, as Amir was getting the snot beat out of him he started to laugh and feel atonement for the sin of watching Hassan get abused so many years ago. Sohrab saves Amir by slingshotting a metal ball into Assef's eye, hence giving them enough time to escape. When Amir brings Sohrab back to the city it was found that there was never a family that was going to take him in, so Amir knew that he must take Sohrab back to America with him, so he could live with Soraya and him. The legality of the whole situation was sticky and forced the idea that Sohrab would not be able to come home with Amir for a long time. With that in mind, Sohrab slit his wrists so he would not have to go back to an orphanage and suffer more. Soraya back in America pulled some strings and got Sohrab to be let into America with Amir legally.

Motifs:
Eyes- windows to the soul and reflected a character and or a trait about the character.
Colors- often reflected the mood of the scene and or object.
Kites- youth and forgiveness.
Education- value that can be overshadowed in wartime, showed an honorable trait within a character.

Theme Statement:
In The Kite Runner, Hosseini uses themes of atonement, loyalty and truth to portray the oppressive turmoil in Afghanistan.

Important Quotes:
"Then he [Ali] would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break.
Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words.
Mine was Baba.
His was Amir. My name." (34-37)

This quote is important because it sets up the household hierarchy very quickly within the book. It also foreshadows a kinship deeper than it seems to be between Hassan and Amir. It also serves to show who Amir and Hassan followed and wanted to please. This quote also serves to highlight the racial side of their relationship- even though they were brothers of a sort feeding on the same breast, there was still a divide in how Hassan treated Amir and how Amir treated Hassan. The idea of racial inequality can be seen in the fact that Hassan is a Hazara and Amir was a Pashtun who was thought, at the time, to be the superior race within Afghanistan.

"I stopped watching, turned away from the alley. Something warm was running down my wrist. I blinked, saw I was still biting down on my fist, hard enough to draw blood from the knuckles. I realized something else. I was weeping. From just around the corner, I could hear Assef's quick, rhythmic grunts.
I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run.
In the end, I ran." (137-139)
This quote is important because this is the first true betrayal scene within the book. This part of the book shows how cowardly and selfish Amir was as a child and how he would rather watch his friend get abused than step in and risk it himself. At this point in the story, the theme of betrayal and atonement becomes prevalent. This one scene at the beginning of the story is the driving force behind the whole plot of The Kite Runner. If this had not happened that Amir would have had nothing to guilt over and atone for because if this had not of happened then maybe Ali and Hassan would have moved to America with them and the story would have been irrelevant.

Closed Prompt 2 #4

Eros by Robert Bridges and Eros by Anne Stevenson are both on the same topics of Eros, Greek god of love, but with striking differences in their interpretations. Bridges' version of Eros is classic and beautiful whereas Stevenson's version is dark and disheartening as she describes what people have done to the idea of love. While both poems are written out of sympathy for the god of love, Bridge's tone is a lot more praising, whereas Stevenson is critiquing the way humans have handled love.

Firstly in Bridges' poem, a picture adoration and sympathy towards Eros is pained. First, the adoration, as seen in the first 3 lines of the poem where Bridges refers to Eros as an "Idol" and a "tyrant." Both idol and tyrant show the great respect that Bridges feels towards Eros and his powers. Bridges goes as far as to call Eros, "[The] king of joy," which is a very literal way of expressing his adoration of the god. The poem also flows with the end-rhyme that bridges instilled throughout the peom. The sweet flow of the words makes the poem sound as if it were to be a song of praise to Eros and not just something for the entertainment of meer men who wish to appreciate love and literature. The final token of appreciation that is given to Eros in this poem would be where Bridges says, "And wouldst in darkness come, but thou/ Makest the light where’er thou go." The reason that this is at the end is that Bridges wanted to leave the reader with the feeling that no matter what darkness lays ahead or in their life, Eros can come in and bring with him, light that will eat the darkness up. This is important to the contrast of the poems because it is here that Bridges makes his statement that humans are worthy of Eros attention.

On the flip side, Stevenson's ideas of Eros are that of a beat up god who has become an abused slave to humankind. The first example of Stevenson's view on Eros is seen right in the beginning where she calls for love and immediately thereafter Eros shows up, "With boxer lips/ And patchy wings askew?’. This is to show that as Eros has been called upon frivolously by many others and his talents have been abused to the point of his unrecognizable demise. In Eros' dialogue in Stevenson's poem, he speaks of how he is,"‘the brute you see/ Is what long overuse/ Has made of me." He feels as though he has been overused and underappreciated. The short choppy lines make the reader feel exacerbated- like they are looking into the damage their recklessness has caused. Later in the poem, Stevenson writes through the words of Eros, "We slaves who are immortal" as to say that humans have elevated themselves to such a place of undeserved privilege that they feel they can make a god their slave.

Although both Stevenson and Bridges wrote of their sympathy for the god of love, Eros, They both did so in a way that reflected their individual views on his role within humankind. Bridges chose to do so in a way that reflected his classical writing style and his personal appreciation for Eros. Whereas Stevenson only wrote of Eros' overuse and underappreciation from the mere morals