Another in Class Essay

AP Practice Essay

In the novel 1984 by George Owell, Winsten Smith, lives in a society dominated by the totalitarian party and Big Brother. The immense degree of control taken by the government, along with his thoughtful nature, shape Winston into a paranoid and extremely pessimistic person. Winston’s pessimism reflects Orwell’s pessimistic  attitude towards totalitarianism.

Winston inhabits a society in which, even the thoughts of its members are maintained. If anyone is suspected of defiance against the party, even minutely, the government intervenes and eliminates the threat. This extreme degree of control by the government, coupled with the threat of torture or execution, leads Winston to drastically increase control over her, in order survive. This suppression of ideas is always conflicting with Winston’s thoughtfulness, as a result he must be even more careful. Orwell uses this conflict to express the idea that a government with too much influence over its constituents, will eliminate individually and intellectualism.

Winston’s strongest character trait is his pessimism, it is constant throughout the novel. Winston’s hopelessness in his surroundings plays a role in Orwell’s idea that totalitarianism leaves no chance for change from within. Orwell was bringing attention to his belief that totalitarianism regimes should be challenged by other nations, in an effort to persevere freedom.

           

Extra Credit Lit Analysis

The Great Gatsby

 

1.The Great Gatsby is focused around Nick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota, who moves to New York in the summer of 1922. He finds himself in West Egg, an area that is populated by the rich. Nick Carraway's neighbor is Jay Gatsby, a rich, highly mysterious man, who throws lavish over the top parties every weekend. Nick gets invited to one of Gatsby's parties, and through Nick's newfound love interest, Jordan, Nick is able to learn a bit about Gatsby. He founds out Gatsby is madly in love with a woman named Daisy, who he has not spoken to in years. Daisy happens to be Nick's cousin and married to a man name Tom. Regardless of this marriage, Gatsby and Daisy start a love affair. Things turn awry when Tom confronts Gatsby. This confrontation leads to a distressed Daisy taking Gatsby's car and driving off. In the midst of all this chaos Daisy ends up hitting and killing a woman named Myrtle. Myrtle's husband thinking Gatsby was driving the car ends up shooting Gatsby and killing him. Nick throws a funeral for Gatsby where there is little attendance. Nick then ends up cutting off all relationships he has in West Egg and returns to the Midwest.

 

2. The theme of the novel The Great Gatsby the destruction of the American Dream. These characters were after wealth rather than happiness. Being so consumed by money and social status eventually led to the corruption of the true American Dream. This corruption not only destroyed the American Dream, but also destroyed relationships, like that of Gatsby and Daisy.

 

3. The author's tone in The Great Gatsby is cynical.

-"This was untrue. I am not even faintly like a rose."

-"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made..."

-"I shook hands with him; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child."

 

4. The author used similes, imagery, symbolism, allusion, and foreshadowing in order to convey the theme and tone.

Simile: Similes occur regularly throughout this novel

-"In his blue garden men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars."

Imagery: The author is very detailed when describing the world that Nick has entered.

An example of imagery is the constant use of the color green throughout the novel

Symbolism: The green light at Daisy's house represented the unattainable for Gatsby

-"A single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock..."

Allusion: There are numerous references throughout the entire work to literature, such as the John L Stoddard Lectures, and Hopalong Cassidy.

Foreshadowing: Throughout the entire novel the author foreshadows the demise of Gatsby

-"He snatched the book from me and placed it hastily on its shelf muttering that if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse.”

 

AT LEAST TWO ESSAYS

Prompt #1

        The speakers' attitudes towards Helen differ in that Poe evokes her classical beauty and link to nature, while Doolittle seems to hate and revile her completely. Poe's nature imagery, use of punctuation, and lively rhyme scheme convey the joy he feels about Helen. Doolittle's poem is stark in contrast, as is his view of Helen; he uses parallel structure and desolate imagery to express his contempt for the weak, superficial Helen.

            The Poe passage, written in the first person, uses very careful diction to exalt Helen's beauty. Adjectives like "gently ... perfumed" describing the sea to which Helen is compared, communicate a quality of serenity and calmness inherent in her beauty, as does the alliteration of "weary, way-worn wanderer." The imagery of the narrator "long wont to roam [on desperate seas]" gives the reader a sense of isolation and loss, until Helen's beauty "brought me home" to comfort and luxury and familiarity. The description of Helen's beauty is also present in images like "hyacinth hair," "classic face" and "Naiad airs," which recall "the grandeur that was Rome," and "the glory that was Greece." For the speaker, Helen is a source of comfort and glory and majesty.The poem is written in iambic tetrameter, for the most part, and divided into five line stanzas with a gradually constant rhyming pattern. The stability and order of such a literal arrangement provides the perfect atmosphere in which to pay homage to Helen's beauty. The tone is one of infatuation and romance, particularly noticeable in the comparison of Helen to "Pshyche, from the regions which  are Holy-Land.

            In contrast to Poe's poem, full of life, is Doolittle's stark and desolate tone, which contributes to her view of Helen as too beautiful and shallow. The first stanza is five lines long, the next six, and the last seven. This rational progression of gradually building contempt contrasts to Poe's lovely, spirited composition. The repetition of the words "wan" and "white" (4 times) stresses the lack of character in Helen, as well as her lack of color or substance. "Cool feet" and "tenderest knees" do not "move" Greece, because these are merely external things. Each stanza is a single sentence. There are no exclamation points, nor any rhyme scene. The poem seems to be nearly strapped of energetic feeling; its tone conveys cold disapproval. The parallel structure, in which "All Greece" is repeated at the beginnings of the first and second stanzas, serves to emphasize the solid, flat, emphatic hatred of Helen. This hatred is as extreme that the poem closes by mentioning that she could only be loved if she were buried as "white ash." The disapproval is so extreme it seems hard to believe it could be directed against a single woman from antiquity. Perhaps Doolittle, a modern woman, is trying to make a disparaging statement about the traditional "ladylike" woman who lacks any substance or personality, striving only for beauty and marriage.

          Poe is attracted by the same beauty which made Helem such a poisoned object in the past; Doolittle sees past Helen's exterior to the consequences of her magnetism and feels the pain of Menelaus's Greece. The details of the two poems allow the two poets to access their contrasting sentiments and provide two views of the Ancient beauty; her passionate, flowing nature could also bring hardship.

 

 

Prompt #2

 

            The poem “Elegy for Jane” by Theodore Roethke  illustrates the speakers lament over his former student whom he was in love with. He metaphorically describes Jane characteristics but he also suggests his erroneous feelings he had for Jane and his apologetic feelings towards Jane.

            He provides the image of the animal to demonstrate that Jane was cheerful and talkative but most importantly innocent. He gives the reader an image of a wren wagging its tail. He describes her speaking style to be like a startled frog. Wrens wag their tails when they are happy therefore describing her as the wren suggests she used to be happy. Frogs leap suddenly when they are startled, with great energy they leap until they are far away from the startled source, meaning, when she was spoken to she talked until she moved away from her speaker. Animals are innocent unlike humans; in the animal kingdom there is no betrayal, corruption, deception or evilness. Jane is described with animal characteristics rather than human ones which suggests that the speaker believed Jane was innocent.

            Jane and the speaker erroneous relationship is revealed when he says he leaves, their whispers turned to kissing, this metaphorical phrase suggests the importance of Jane innocence. Since Jane was his former student, he leaves and suggests this personification is education related. Teachers can get to know a student views, personality and their beliefs through essays and assignments which are written on papers, the student eaves. Jane personality was whispered to the speaker through the papers. The speaker suggests a shift in the teacher's and students relationship that it turned to kissing.

            The speaker further provides evidence about his unnatural relationship when he confesses his love towards Jane in line 20. He proposes that he had no right to love her since he was either her father nor her lover. Although he loved her, she did not belong to him, and the speaker again uses animals to deliver his attitude. Sparrows and pigeons are common birds, they do not have owners, and it is not natural to own a sparrow or a pigeon. Therefore, by calling Jane his sparrow and his pigeon, he implies the perversity of his feeling towards Jane and again Jane is described as an animal which in our world(stick to their own species to not fall in love with the wrong species, which implies that the speaker thinks Jane was innocent.

 

 

Groupthink

Today in class my group was not on task, so they were not very helpful. I did some research online and that helped me a lot in understanding the theme and meaning of the poem. I also searched definitions of words that I didn't understand.

Gridlock

"Conversation Among the Ruins" by Sylvia Plath

Meaning	"a vision of the devastating effect of a male lover on the female persona".
Antecedent Scenario	The poem is based on Giorgio de Chirico's painting of 1927.
Structural Parts	There is a definite play on words that represents the authors wit. Her opinions as well as personality are revealed through the text. There is also an evident use of symbolism and imagery throughout the poem as a whole. A phrase like 'Through portico of my elegant house you stalk' demonstrate the diction and syntax used by the author as well as her play on words. Plath also uses references to the "elegant house" to describe the woman's elegance and references the "wild furies" when describing the hostilities of the male. There is also an apparent reoccurring contradiction throughout the poem between man and woman.
Climax	The second stanza or sestet is where the climax occurs
Other Parts	The first stanza or octave is where the initial imagery and description takes place. It is where the scenario is laid out: a 'furious' man intrudes on a woman's orderly life, crippling her fantasy of love. The second stanza is where the climax occurs and the relationship is clearly in dismay. There is no emotion between the two, just the resentment the female feels.

Skeleton	The female speaks of the male the same throughout the novel. She speaks of him through her resentment throughout the novel but it isn't until the climax that we see how she will react towards her now broken dream of love.
Content Genre- games	The poem written by Path could be considered a love poem or a poem of solitude, yet the poem fits neither of these entirely. "Conversation Among the Ruins" is a poem about the destructive relationship between male and female. It fits a love poem in that the female was in love with the male until he smashed her dreams of love being shared between them. The poem could also be classified as a poem of solitude because it is a monologue of the female as she feels resentment towards the male as well as herself for ever loving him.
Tone	unpleasant, miserable, cynical
Agency
Roads Not Taken	I could not imagine the poem being written any differently if the meaning were to remain the same. It is because of the style and tone and all other literary techniques used that the poem has such a meaning to it.
Speech Acts	The speech acts in the poem consist of phrases like "Composed in Grecian tunic and psyche-knot" to describe the present state of the female. There are multiple speech acts within the short poem.
Outer and Inner Structural Forms	The poem is a sonnet that consists of two stanzas, the octave and sestet, with irregular meter followed by a question asked at the end. the sentences in the poem are short and only two complete sentences exist. The poem is told in first person by the female speaker in the poem. The poem is told in the present tense, bringing the future into question at the end. There are definite images created by the use of sensual words used in the poem.
Imagination	The imagination in the poem comes from the readers portrayal of the Giorgio de Chirico's painting.

SEVENTH READING

"Conversation Among the Ruins" by Sylvia Path


When I first read this poem I didn't understand it at all, but i read it again a couple of times and i realized that it is talking about the male destruction. The furious man intrudes into the woman’s orderly life, smashing her dream of love. The conception of the blasting whirlwind denotes the male lover's ravaging power. Images, such as "elegant house," "garlands of fruit / And the fabulous lutes and peacocks," "rich order of walls," which represent female elegance, contrast with images of male vulgarity, such as "wild furies," "whirlwind," and "stormy eyes."  The poem is not a conversation between two persons; rather, it is a resentful monologue of a female speaker.

Fahrenheit 451 Multiple Choice Questions

1. “It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You’d find life under the glass,

streaming past in infinite profusion.” (pg. 83)

What is the theme of this book?

A. Books make up life.

*B. Look deep down in a book to get the true meaning.

C. Put a book under a microscope to find its features.

D. There is an infinite amount of aspects of a book.

 

2. When the firemen tell people that if you are caught with a book, your house will be burned

down, what type of propaganda is this?

A. Repetition

B. Loaded Words

*C. Appeal to our basic Needs and Desires

D. Loaded imagery

 

3. When the people are not allowed to read books. It shows that they are…

*A. not knowledgeable (stupid)

B. believing in nothing

C. lazy

D. easily manipulated

 

4. “The Boulevard was as clean as the surface of an arena.” What literary device was

used in this quote?

 

A. Metaphor 

B. Personification   

C. Simile 

D. Foreshadowing

 

5. “Montag approached from the rear, creeping through a thick night.” What

character trait was shown in this quote about Montag? 

 

A. Sneakiness

B. Bravery   

C. Incompetence 

D. Intelligence 

 

6. “When I leave, burn the spread of this bed that I touched.” What common

character trait was shown in this quote about Montag? 

 

A. Bravery

B. Nervousness   

C. Intelligence

D. Sneakiness

 

7. The cities won’t do well over the next few days,” is an example of 

a- personification

b- propaganda

*c- foreshadowing 

d- metaphor

 

8. “I’m not worried,” said Mrs. Phelps, “I’ll let Pete do all the worrying. Not me. I’m not

worried.” The repetition in this quote gives the feeling that 

*a- Mrs. Phelps is worried

b- Mrs. Phelps is confident

c- Mrs. Phelps is happy

d- Mrs. Phelps loves Pete

 

9. “The real reason, hidden underneath, might be they didn’t want people sitting like that,

doing nothing, rocking, talking.” shows the idea that

a- It is bad to relax

b- When people think, bad things happen

*c- Thinking breeds change

d- The government is evil

 

10.  “That’s the good part of dying, when you’ve got nothing to lose, you run any risk you

want,” shows the theme that

a- Everybody needs to die at some point

*b- Doing what is right is more important than one person’s life

c- When one has nothing to lose, they should die

d- When one is going to die, they should do anything they want

 

11. “It’s fine work, Monday burn Millay,  Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner, burn

‘em to ashes, then burn the ashes.” is an example of what kind of propaganda 

a- repetition

b- appealing to fear

c- loaded words

*d- slogan

 

12. The real reason, hidden underneath, might be they didn’t want people sitting like that,

doing nothing,” is an example of the government controlling the information. What

incident in history can this be retaliated to.

a- The Boston Tea Party

*b- The Red Scare

c- The Cold War

d- WWII

 

13. In the quote, “But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of ashes, he got himself born all over

again,” who/what is Granger talking about?

a) The city

b) Phoenix

c) Montag

d) The Hound

14. Granger says, “And it looks like we’re doing the same thing, over and over,” what is he comparing us to.

a) Clarisse

b) Human kind

c) Beatty

d) Phoenix

15. “He waded in and stripped in darkness to the skin, splashing his body, arms, legs, and head with raw

liquor; drank it and snuffed some up his nose,” why did Montag do this?

a) As a substitute for showering.

b) To get rid of his scent so the Hound can’t track him down.

c) To go suicide and burn himself to death.

d) To use as a disease repellant.

16. What device is used in this quote, “Leave that stuff in the blood and the blood hits the brain like a mallet,

bang. A couple of thousand times and the brain just gives up, just quits.”

a) Foreshadowing

b) Metaphor

c) Simile

d) Diction

 

17. In this quote, what is the characters tone’s: “Mildred kicked at a book. Books aren’t people. You

read and I look all around, but there isn’t anybody”(73)?

a. excited

b. disappointed

c. frustrated

d. decisive

answer is c.

 

18."Pride, dammit, and temper, and you've junked it all...", shows Montag's _________?

a. enlightment

b. self-pity

c. happiness

d. disgrace

 

19. The book continuously mentions something that helps find books in people’s

homes. What item are they talking about?

a. Montag’s car

b. Their fire truck

c. The Hound*

d. The city bus

 

20. In the quote, “So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show

the pores in the face of life,” what theme is shown?

a. Books explore detailed feelings and aspects of life

b. Books scare people

c. Pores on a face are hated and feared

d. Books who you what you really look like

ANSWER: A

 

Fahrenheit 451 Prose Essay Prompts

1.    Analyze Captain Beatty. Is he truly an idealogue in support of censorship or is he hiding an allegiance to freedom of expression? Use 3 specific literary elements examples from the text in your argument.

2.     Fahrenheit 451 is about burning books, why is this book then known as a Classic in English classes? What is the significance? Use 3 literary elements to help your reasoning.
3. Faber discusses three things that are missing from the Fahrenheit 451 society.  These missing things are the reasons why the people in this society don’t want or need books.  Identify and explain the three reasons Faber gives and then analyze our own society to see if we suffer from the same maladies that infect the Fahrenheit 451 society.

 

Notes Act V

SCENE I:

• a doctor and "waiting-gentlewoman" (I suppose Lady Macbeth's lady-in-waiting) are watching Lady Macbeth, who apparently has been asleep since Macbeth went "into the field" (he has gone to suppress the revolt of the Scotch nobles)
• Lady Macbeth has been sleepwalking, and even writing letters in her sleep

• the gentlewoman doesn't want to tell the doctor what she has heard Lady Macbeth say in her sleep, for she is afraid of getting in trouble 
• Lady Macbeth appears, still seemingly asleep (though her eyes are open)
• "she has light by her continually; 'tis her command." --Lady Macbeth is afraid of the dark now
• she keeps rubbing her hands; she thinks she sees a bloodstain that she cannot remove
• here, the famous lines come in: " Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One: two: why, then, 'tis time to do't.--Hell is murky!--Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?--Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him."
•  "The thane of Fife had a wife" though she had nothing to do with the murder of Lady Macduff, it weighs on the queen's conscience
• the doctor tells the lady to keep an eye on Lady Macbeth, and to make sure she doesn't hurt herself

SCENE II:

•  "He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause Within the belt of rule." Macbeth cannot control the discontented nobles
• Menteith, Caithness, Angus, Lennox, and soldiers begin their march
• I don't really know what to say about their conversation. Hm.

SCENE III:

•  "The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon!" What a lovely insult
• a servant comes to tell Macbeth that the English soldiers are approaching
• Macbeth is...well, he's not a happy camper at the moment. Rude.
• Macbeth calls for Seyton, and asks for his armor 
• is 'Seyton' really pronounced like 'Satan'? What an unfortunate name
• he wants the doctor to cure his wife of what "weighs upon [her] heart"
• the doctor says that the power to cure herself lies only Lady Macbeth; Macbeth doesn't like this, so he ridicules medicine
•  "I will not be afraid of death and bane, Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane."

SCENE IV:

•  the soldiers arrive at Birnam forest
• Malcolm orders the soldiers to take branches from the trees to conceal their numbers

SCENE V:

• Macbeth is confident that he will be safe in his castle, and that he will be victorious 
• "What is that noise?"/ "It is the cry of women, my good lord"
• Lady Macbeth is dead
• a messenger tells Macbeth that as the soldiers approached, he thought he saw the forest move (for they were camouflaged )
• Macbeth threatens to hang the messenger if he is lying (he obviously doesn't believe him)

SCENE VI:

• uh, well, this is the shortest scene in here
• I'm not sure what to say about this except that they are preparing to attack

SCENE VII:

• Macbeth compares himself with baited bear (in reference to the popular sport of the time, bear-baiting)
• Young Siward asks Macbeth his name
• Macbeth fancies himself pretty scary; Siward just hates him
• they fight, and Macbeth kills Young Siward

SCENE VIII:

• Macbeth has avoided fighting with Macduff, for he knows that he is already guilty of killing his family
• Macduff provokes him; they fight
•  we should talk about Macbeth and Macduff's conversation; I feel I'm missing something important 
• Ross tells Siward that his son (Young Siward) is dead
• Macduff enters, holding Macbeth's head
• I suppose...this is the end. Aw. 

Notes Act IV

SCENE I:

• enter the witches 
• here comes that famous "Double, double, toil and trouble" line

• enter Hecate ('witch boss'), next Macbeth (another famous line: "...Something wicked this way comes")
• Macbeth is seeing things again (three apparitions; think A Christmas Carol)
• an armed head ("Beware Macduff")
• a bloody child
• a crowned child holding a tree

• next, eight kings, the last king with a glass in his hand; ghost of Banquo follows
• exit witches, enter Lennox
• Macduff has fled to England

SCENE II:

• Ross and Lady Macduff discussing why Macduff would leave his family
• Lady Macduff speaking to her son: How will you go on without a father?
• She assumes her husband is a guilty man (murder), because he has fled and she is not suspicious of Macbeth like the others
• enter the three murderers, who call Macduff a traitor (to his son; this makes the boy angry)
• one of the murders stabs the boy, and kills him (stab-die!)

SCENE III:

• Macduff speaking to Malcolm
• Malcolm says he can understand bloodlust, but Macduff disagrees with him
• Enter a Doctor
• "what's this disease he means?"/"'Tis called the evil" (in reference to Macbeth)

• Scotland is suffering
• Ross gives Macduff the news about his castle being "surprised" and his family, servants being killed
• "not for their own demerits, but mine": Macduff feels guilty, as they were killed because of him

•  "Be this the whetstone of your sword: let grief Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it."

Act II

Scene V
Messenger announces Macbeth's arrival to Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth seems to be want to be full of cruelty and evil?
   "And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it!"
Macbeth returns
They discuss Banquo's coming
"Your face, my thane, is a book where men may read stranger matters" What does that mean?

Scene VI
Setting: outside of the castle
Lady Macbeth joins the men outside, greets each other
The men ask of Macbeth, where he is and say they will be their guests tonight
Lady Macbeth denies?/accepts? them
They exit

Scene VII

Macbeth speaks of murdering and assassinating (Duncan?)
He does not bear the knife himself?
Lady Macbeth enters
They talk of someone eating, and Macbeth has asked if he has asked for him (Duncan?)
Lady Macbeth seems to be berating Macbeth, to get the deed done
They ARE talking of killing Duncan, Lady Macbeth is trying to persuade her love that he is not going to fail
They talk of using daggers

 

Practice Test

1. e
 2. a
 3.e
 4. c
5. a
6.b
7.d
8.a
9.d
10.b
11.b
12.e
13. e
14.d
15.c
16.c
17.b
18.e
19.d
20.c
21.b
22.b
23.b
24.c
25.c
26.d
27.a
28.c
29.e
30.c
31.d
32.a
33.b
34.d
35c
36.d
37.e
38.c
39.d
40.c
41.a
42.c
43.a
44.c
45.c
46.d
47.b
48.d
49.a
50.d
51.b
52.a
53.a
54.e

test prep 101

1. More than 6hrs of sleep
2. Eat healthy
3. Exercise

AP Resources

1.     http://www.webenglishteacher.com/ap.html

2.     http://www.appracticeexams.com/ap-english-literature

3.     http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listaplitma.html

4.     http://www.mymaxscore.com/images/stories/docs/MMS_EnglishLit_PracTest.pdf

5.     http://www.totalregistration.net/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=sections&Itemid=227