Core Concept #7: 3/7/11-3/18/11

Modernism

• Disillusionment following WWI - many expatriates
• Stein - "Lost Generation"
• New narrative techniques
• Slogan: "Make it new!"
• Throw out old philosophies, especially arts (which could create a false picture of reality)
• Suspicion of the tools of art (during the olden eras, artists were too manipulative)
• New forms of narrative
• Unreliable narrators and multiple narrators
• Minor characters as 1st person narrators
• Nonlinear narrative
• Stream of consciousness
• Connection: Such characteristics are common in many novels published today
• Readers were no longer expected to accept the story passively
• Superimposition: one point of view layered over another (the truth lies where they intersect)
• Belief: There must be a universal truth
• Tragedies like WWI wouldn't happen again if we knew this truth
• What is the universal truth? Something that is true for all people in all times in all places

Then WWII happens...

Postmodernism

• Connection: Death of a Salesman, which we've previously read, was a postmodernist piece
• Postmodernism arrived in the U.S. and U.K. at different times: Why?
• The U.S. got TV right after WWII (postermodernism start then)
• U.K. got TV in '60s (postmodernism start then)
• Why TV? The local point of view ceased to be the only one. Teachers and parents are not always right. People began to see global points of views
• Postmodernism = Modernism - Universal Truth + Irony
• Terrifying thought: our lives are meaningless!
• Everything means nothing, so let's make fun of everything!
• Characteristics
• All truth is local
• Blending of high and low culture
• Connection: We studied such phenomenon in AP U.S. History
• No boundaries (No reason why fictions can't be mixed up, or interactive)
• The Simulacrum (Endless loop of self-reference is so self-reinforcing that a simulated world is more real to us than reality. This false copy has in essence become reality)
• Self-reference (An endless repetition of in-jokes; i.e. a video refering to another video)

Surrealism

• A movement in the arts (visual, musical, dramatic, literary) between WWI and WWII
• Connection: We studied the artworks of Salvador Dali (a surrealist artist) in Spanish
• Uses unexpected juxtapositions in ways intended to activate subconscious associations that highlight truths hidden from us when we are trapped in linear, logical, patterns of thought
• Uses juxtaposition of images, words, etc. determined by psychological thought processes rather than logical thought processes
• Attempts to join the worlds of dreams and fantasy to "reality" to create a larger reality - a "surreality"
• Dreamlike, playful, sometimes eerie or bizarre
• Influenced by the work of Freud and Jung
• Connection: See previous notes for more on Freud and Jung's philosophies

The Hollow Men

• "A penny for the Old Guy" refers to paying to cross the River Styx
• "valley of dying stars" refers to the Valley of Despair of the psalms
• The "multifoliate rose" is a classic allusion to Christ
• "For Thine is / Life is / For Thine is the" is a prayer that is almost finished, but the person cannot finish it
• Famous line: "This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper"
• Questions
• What do the eyes symbolize?
• What do the kingdoms symbolize?

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

• Poem begins with an exerpt from Dante's Inferno: significance? Foreshadowing. We now know that the poem ends badly because Prufrock tells us in the very beginning that, "If I believed my answer were beign given to someone who could ever return to the world...", thus we (the audience) is in hell, which we can never leave
• Reinforces the modernist idea that Earth is hell and hell is Earth
• Who is the poem addressed to? Three possibilities:
• You = unknown audience who can't respond
• You = Prufrock (he's arguing with himself: it's an internal monologue)
• You = some guy (Prufrock's just talking to this random guy)
• What is the "overwhelming question?"
• "There will be time to murder and create"
• Bible reference (there is a time for everything)
• It's not a paraphrase, it's not mocking, but there's been disturbing diction changes
• New meaning: something needs to die, and it needs to be replaced
• "For the yellow smoke that slides along the street"
• The fog is like a pet following Prufrock, trying to get into the party
• Elliot is tying Prufrock to the industrial revolution (Prufrock is personifying the era)
• "Before the taking of a toast and tea"
• Like a modern sacrament; debasing; people are so trivial that they just get toast and tea
• "Time to turn back and descend the stair"
• French expression for when you want to reverse time because you just thought of the perfect zinger too late
• "Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets"
• What Prufrock wants to say, but he keeps on being distracted by the women!
• "the eternal Footman" = grim reaper
• "Almost, at times, the Fool"
• Prufrock's ridiculous, so he can tell us the truth
• "I grow old...I grow old..."
• Epizeuxis
• Turning point of poem because Prufrock has finally reached his final decision
• "Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?"
• Prufrock has reached his mid-life crisis
• Peach is a literary symbol for the female genitalia
• "I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each." **sad pause** "I do not think that they will sing to me"
• Prufrock is still under the spell of the mermaids, like sirens

"A Mythic Novel of the Balkan Wars" by Liesl Schillinger | Published 3/11/11 | A Book Review Analysis

In “A Mythic Novel of the Balkan Wars,” Schillinger weaves together a skillful essay using many rhetorical devices to analyze The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht.

Schillinger uses details to a great extent in her essay to give the readers an idea of the emotional impact The Tiger's Wife evokes. For example, she tells the tale of Luka, the butcher's son who goes to great lengths to learn the almost-forgotten traditional instrument of gusla. This helps the reader understand that much of the plot of the novel occurs at a time when modernization made traditions almost obsolete. Schillinger also retells us of the story of a band of diggers digging for a relative on someone else's private property because that relative had died without proper rites, giving us an idea of the personal impact of the Balkan Wars.

In addition, Schillinger uses language to better her essay. For example, she writes, "In 'The Tiger's Wife,' Obreht weaves the old man's richly colored reminiscences like silk ribbons through the spare frame of Natalia's modern coming-of-age," using simile to build up imagery, and giving us a feel of the foundation of the story, and what really makes the story go, all in poetic language that leaves the reader wanting more.

Furthermore, Schillinger uses great syntax in her essay, such as when she says, "too rational to be cowed by old-fashioned superstitions, too modern for corny old-fashioned folk music." Here, she uses asyndeton and anaphora, creating a poetic sound to facilitate the flow of the piece. She also uses passive voice, such as when she writes, "a curfew is imposed," to create an impersonal tone and to obscure responsibility. Overall, Schillinger's use of rhetorical devices in her essay makes it flow easily and helps her convey her point in an easy-to-understand manner.

"A Mythic Novel of the Balkan Wars" was a pretty flawless piece.

In analyzing The Tiger's Wife, Schillinger mostly uses New Historic and Formalist criticism. In her book review, Schillinger gave a pretty complete summary to the novel, thus making her book review partially Formalist. Yet Schillinger also talks about how Obreht wrote the novel without actually having been in the Balkans during the times of war, thus making her novel a novel of imagination rather than experience, which makes her book review partially New Historic.

Schillinger's description of The Tiger's Wife really reminds me of The Diary of A Young Girl. Both books are about dealing with reality during a surreal time of war and change.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/books/review/book-review-the-tigers-wife-by-tea-obreht.html?_r=1&ref=review

“Sympathy for Japan, and Admiration” by Nicholas D. Kristof | Published 3/11/11 | A Reflective Essay Analysis

In “Sympathy for Japan, and Admiration," Kristof uses a pensive, awed, and inspirational tone in order to tell us of his past experiences with the resilience of the Japanese spirit. He creates his tone with his diction, detail, syntax, and imagery. For example, Kristof is awed when he describes, "Uncomplaining, collective resilience is steeped into the Japanese soul," he is inspirational and pensive when he writes, "This will also be a time when the tight knit of Japan’s social fabric, its toughness and resilience, shine through."

I like Kristof's tone in “Sympathy for Japan, and Admiration” because it makes me believe once again in the human spirit, in the ability of bad times to bring out the best in people. The tone is perfect for such an essay about a person's descriptions of people during a critical period. The essay is beautifully written and really makes one think.

I think the tone in "Sympathy for Japan, and Admiration" would work perfectly for an AP essay because Kristof uses ample details to support his claims, he uses good diction and syntax, he wrote in the plain style, and the spelling and structure was good. Moreover, Kristof manages to reach out to the reader and really resonate with the reader, which is pretty essential in any essay, especially an AP essay.

Through Kristof's use of imagery, details, and synatx in “We Are All Egyptians,", he not only allows the reader to understand his essay better, but also helps it flow better.

Kristof took great advantage of syntax to better his essay. He used sentence fragments to create a lyrical, poetic “sound”, such as when he writes, "But also, our deepest admiration." Even though Kristof is writing about events that happened in the past, he incorporates a lot of present tense into his essay, such as when he writes, "Our hearts are all with the Japanese today..." to convey ideas forcefully.

Kristof used details to help make his point hit home. He told the stories of Japanese kids going to school in shorts during the winter to make them tough. He talked the 1995 Kobe earthquake, specifically about a looting that had occured and the yakuza setting up counters to give away supplies to earthquake survivors. This all makes the earthquake so much more personalized. After reading the article, the earthquake became less about death tolls and infrastructure destruction, but more about a collection of individuals striving to help each other out and their resilience in the face of disaster.

Kristof uses language throughout his essay to help us better understand the Japanese culture by explaining to us the significance of Japanese terms that characterize key characteristics of the Japanese that Kristof thinks we can learn from. For example, he writes, "People always say “shikata ga nai” – it can’t be helped. And one of the most common things to say to someone else is “ganbatte kudasai” – tough it out, be strong." to demonstrate the social significance of the Japanese's strong spirit.

All in all, "Sympathy for Japan, and Admiration" is a enchanting and emotionally appealing essay that is neatly executed. There were no weaknesses whatsoever that I could discern in the essay.

Source: http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/sympathy-for-japan-and-admiration/#more-8679

"Can You Hear Libya Now?" by Dan Gonzales and Sarah Harting | Published 3/4/11 | An Editorial Analysis

The authors of "Can You Hear Libya Now?" use rhetorical devices to help the reader understand the argument that we should send cellphone base stations to Libya to facilitate communication and to help the argument flow. For example, they use imagery when they write, "the revolutions that are rocking Arab countries." This helps paint a vivid picture in the reader's mind of the historic events that are happening. The authors also write, "fighting for their voices to be heard," creating an image in the readers' minds reminiscent of the American Revolution in which colonists fought for democracy. The authors also use syntax for better flow so the reader can be more receptive to their message, such as when they use alliteration to ease the flow of the passage, such as when they write, "democracy demonstrators have had a harder time" They also take advantage of the natural rhythm of English to leave the important information for the end, where the reader will remember most, such as when they write, "Fortunately, there is an easy step the United States and its allies could take to help: deploying cellphone base stations on aircraft or tethered balloons."

I thought the main weakness of this essay was that it should've included more details of the personal impact that its proposal of increasing cellphone communication would have. The essay overall seemed too impersonal for me.

In this essay, the narrative persona is very biased and passionate. The authors builds such tones mainly through their use of diction, such as when they use the words, "trapped" (hopeless connotation), "confisticated" , and "deteriorated (disease connotation)," thus making their position clear in that they are obviously condemning the situation in Libya. The authors also use imagery and syntax to further build up the narrative persona. This tone makes me like the essay more because I know the author cares for the issue, thus I feel like I should care too. Furthermore, such clear positions created by the tone helps me understand the topic and the sides involved as I am reading the article.

I think the speaker would still be appropriate if this were an AP essay because the speakers really try to reach out to the reader, but they do it in a way so as to still sound formal. Moreover, the authors make claims, support it with evidence, and link them with warrants.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/opinion/05Gonzales.html?_r=1

Core Concept #6: 2/22/11-3/4/11

Comedy

• Comedy is based on irony, and its awareness is an intellectual process
• Connection: See previous notes for more on the types of irony
• Comedy allows us to feel superior to the characters, who may be similar to us
• Comedy is a way to change the individual or society
• The Comedic Ladder: Comedy of Ideas (wit & clever language: subtle) -> Comedy of Manners (love affairs & witty language) -> Farce (coincidences,mistimings, puppets of fate) -> Low Comedy (dirty jokes & slapstick)
• For something to be humorous, it must appeal to the intellect, be mechanical, be inherently human, be related to a set of established society norms, be inconsistent, and be perceived as harmless

Comedy and the Free Response

• It is a Comedy of Ideas that uses lots of irony
• The characters are relatable to us, and they are blind to their misconceptions
• It is an irrational take on marriage
• There has been a lack of effective communication

Pride and Prejudice

• Austen uses italics to emphasize characters' tone during dialogues to build comic effect
• Connection: This use of italics is similar to teachers underlining notes on the board because they want to make sure that the students take notice
• When reading, it is important to differentiate Austen's ideas and thoughts from Elizabeth (the narrator)'s
• Through the novel, Austen is saying that one should not compromise when it comes to marraige (Elizabeth didn't and she came out at the top of the social order in the end)
• Connection: the characters in the free response prompt compromised, and I don't think they'll be happy in the future

Core Concept #5: 2/7/11-2/17/11

Allusions in Heart of Darkness

• Eden references (wild forest, river looks like a serpent)
• But Dante references also (three levels of hell)
• Connection: The Dante handout from class should come in especially handy
• Lots of description of maps also because there is a metaphysical map in Africa
• The people represent something; the landscape represents something too

Characters in Heart of Darkness

• The three stages of an archetypal woman shows up in Heart of Darkness
• Marlow's aunt is the smothering mother
• Connection: Juxtaposition to Linda as an absentee mother
• Kurtz's fiancee is the damsel in distress
• The secretary women are the Fates, they represent the crones
• Irony: they are not knitting a golden thread, instead, they are knitting black wool (the hair of Africans were described as black wool)
• This means that the Company holds the fate of the world in their hands because they are extracting resources from Africa (at the expense of the Africans) to power the world
• The Jungle is the sexualized mother figure
• The Russian wears motley, which means that he is the fool, the one who can speak the truth because he's so dumb/innocent
• The Russian also wears clothes of many colors, which reminds us of Joseph, who had worked for the pharoh (the Company)
• Kurtz's mistress is warrior-like, regal, and is the anima (the spirit of the land)
• Thus Kurtz's real mistress is the Congo: he was never going to go home to his Intended because his heart is with the anima
• Connection: she reminds me of Neytiri of the recent movie Avatar

Discussion Items

• Why is the Heart of Darkness written in frame narrative?
• Agree/disagree with Achebe in his article, "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness"?
• Reactions to Dintenfass (his central claim, minor points of interpretation)
• Heart of Darkness as a "quest": Romance or Irony?
• Marlowe is portrayed as an idol (bad connotation)
• Connection: in parts of the Bible that we read over the summer, people were punished for worshipping idols
• He doesn't understand the meaning of his journey
• Maybe he's trying to understand by telling his story?
• An irony "quest" undermines the point of a romantic quest (reinforce values) because it's trying to tell us that something's lacking in society because society is meaningless

Final Exam

• Situational irony is when the same situation is turned around (i.e. misery into happiness caused by the same action)
• Dramatic irony is when we know something the characters should know, but don't
• Verbal irony is when someone says something and means the opposite
• Comic characters are blind to their own misperceptions
• Conceit is a long, extended metaphor

"Exit Mubarak" by Roger Cohen | Published 2/11/11 | An Editorial Analysis

            The author of "Exit Mubarak" uses rhetorical devices to help the reader understand the argument and to help the argument flow. For example, he uses imagery when he writes, "ashen-faced Omar", and "The revolution was...seeping out of a packed Tahrir Square like a dam breaking." This helps paint a vivid picture in the reader's mind of what exactly the author is trying to say. The author also uses syntax for better flow so the reader can be more receptive to his message, such as when he uses interrogatives to question assumptions when he writes, "How far could Mubarak be from the scene as long as Sleiman was guiding the process?" Cohen also uses anaphora and asyndeton when he writes, "long trampled-upon, long subjected to the humiliation," creating a poetic "sound." Finally, the author uses details to build up his voice and help us understand the situation in Egypt from his point of view. Examples of such usage include "The Arab world has awoken from a long conspiracy-filled slumber induced by aging despots determined to keep their peoples from modernity," and "the building blocks we were trying to use were rotten to the core and we had been complicity in that rot."

           There were no weaknesses in the essay that I could perceive.

            In this essay, the narrative persona is very informal and passionate. The author makes a lot of cultural references, such as when he writes, "which wizened specimen from the Arab Jurassic Park is next?" But he is also very passionate about his subject, emphasizing that "there is nothing anti-democratic in the Arab genome." Such imagery, syntax, and details help the author build up his narrative persona. This tone makes me like the essay more because the informal tone makes the essay more interesting to read, and the passionate tone makes the essay more attractive because I know the author cares for the issue, thus I feel like I should care too.

            I think the speaker would still be appropriate if this were an AP essay because the speaker really tries to reach out to the reader, but he does it in a way so as to still sound formal. The only problem is, the author makes a claim and does not support it very well with evidence, thus although the speaker would work for an AP essay, I don't think the essay itself would.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/opinion/12iht-edcohen12.html?ref=rogercohen

“We Are All Egyptians” by Nicholas D. Kristof | Published 2/3/11 | A Reflective Essay Analysis

          In “We Are All Egyptians," Kristof uses a pensive, awed, and inspirational tone in order to tell us of his recent experience in Tahrir Square. He creates his tone with his diction, detail, syntax, and imagery. For example, Kristof is awed when he describes, "that seemed to be an example of determination that could never be surpassed," he is inspirational when he writes"Today, we are all egyptians", and he is pensive when he writes, "I will keep fighting."

           I like Kristof's tone in “We Are All Egyptians” because it makes me believe once again in the human spirit, in the ability of bad times to bring out the best in people. The tone is perfect for such an essay about a person's descriptions of people during a critical period. The essay is beautifully written and really makes one think.

           I think the tone in "We Are All Egyptians" would work perfectly for an AP essay because Kristof uses ample details to support his claims, he uses good diction and syntax, he wrote in the plain style, and the spelling and structure was good. Moreover, Kristof manages to reach out to the reader and really resonate with the reader, which is pretty essential in any essay, especially an AP essay.

          Through Kristof's use of imagery, details, and synatx in “We Are All Egyptians,", he not only allows the reader to understand his essay better, but also helps it flow better.

           Kristof took great advantage of syntax to better his essay. He used short sentences to convey ideas more forcefully, such as when he says, "I was awestruck." Even though Kristof is writing about events that happened in the past, he incorporates a lot of present tense into his essay, such as when he writes, "...they are willing to sacrifice their lives..." to also convey ideas forcefully. Kristof uses fragments, such as "So did many, many others" to create a choppy and distressed sound and also to emphasize ideas. Moreover, he he uses interrupters between the subject and the predicate, such as when he writes, "Maged, a 64-year-old doctor who relies upon a cane to walk, told me..." to create suspense and a kind of forward motion.

           Kristof used details to help make his point hit home. He told the stories of a carpenter named Mahmood, Amr the cripple, Maged the doctor, Dr. Nawal El Saadawi the feminist, and Leila the young woman to make the movement in Egypt personalized. After reading the article, the revolution became less about a large group of rebels, but more about a collection of individuals each putting their own precious lives on the line for an idea.

            Kristof uses imagery throughout his essay to add a certain spice to it that would not have existed otherwise. For example, when he writes, "...Mahmood whose left arm was in a sling, whose leg was in a cast and whose head was being bandaged in a small field hospital," and "...pitched battle involving Molotov cocktails, clubs, machetes, bricks, and straight razors." These words create an image of the battlefield in Egypt, of rebels who have made countless sacrifices for the cause, and yet still continues to do so; of rebels who are fighting for their ideals with whatever household items that they have lying around.

         All in all, "We Are All Egyptians" is a enchanting and emotionally appealing essay that is neatly executed. There were no weaknesses whatsoever that I could discern in the essay.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/opinion/04kristof.html?_r=1

Core Concept #4: 1/24/11-2/4/11

Changes in Literature

• Dante (13th century) is a part of the Italian Renaissance but it was the Middle Ages in the rest of Europe
• Until the 1700s/1800s, creativity was an insult so authors recycled stories
• Authors were seen as a conservative force: they were meant to continue the social order/culture
• Allegories don't have to make a lot of sense because they're already externally validaded by society
• During the Middle Ages: Roman Catholicism was prominent, thus allegory was also prominent in the Middle Ages
• Connection: Animal Farm is an allegory
• If you think about it, Animal Farm makes absolutely no sense without its external context
• In the play, Everyman learns valuable lessons about faith
• Everyman represents the average person
• Connection: in AP U.S. Government, we were discussing how the president sort of needs to be an "everyman" figure
• If Everyman refers an era, it's capitalized, if it refers to qualities, it's not capitalized
• i.e. In a sense, Golding's boys are more "everyman" figures than they are real boys-they lack the development one expects of fully realized characters
• Romantic v. romantic qualities, Existential v. existential qualities
• i.e. The Wizard of Oz, a Postmodern allegory, has romantic features, laid over grittily realistic themes
• At the beginning, in literature, things happen because of natural law, the audience is passive, the literature is serious, and there are many rules
• The literature focused on Gods and societal values
• The medium of communication was poetry, plays, essays, and myths
• The narrative voice was elevated, 3rd person omniscient
• The characters focus on Gods, nobility, everyman, and the upper class
• At the end, in literature, individuals caused plot, more people have a voice in literature, literature became less serious, and there were fewer rules
• The literature focused on the individual vs. nature/self/technology/society, there was general dispair & rage over inherited society, there was a lost of trust in society, and literature began to focus on unnecessary pain that is not fixed
• The medium of communication was poetry, plays, essays, myths, and graphic novels
• The narrative voice was limited, omniscient, unreliable narrator, multiple narrator, or stream of conscious
• The characters focused on everyone

The Novel

• Definition: a fictional prose narrative of considerable length and complexity that deals imaginatively with human experience
• It is conveyed by the author through a specific point of view and connected by a sequence of events involving a group of persons in a specific setting
• The novel is any extended fictional narrative almost always in prose writte before the 18th century
• Connection: The novel arose as an result of changes in literature and has caused many more changes in literature as seen above

Everyman

• Everyman is an example of a type of Medieval drama: the morality play
• The play is about a complacent Everyman who loses everything upon finding out that he is going to die soon
• When he dies, the only thing remaining that he owns is his Good Deeds
• Point of the play: we can take with us from this world nothing that we have received, only what we have given

Medieval Literature

• The Divine Comedy by Dante is an allegorical vision of the Christian afterlife
• The speaker is lead through the three realms of the dead by Virgil, and leader Beatrice
• The poem is emblematic of the medieval worldview
• The Divine Comedy's Circles of Hell, Terraces of Purgatory, and Spheres of Heaven, have been called the most perfect and longest lasting map in the history of Western culture

Archetypal and Mythological Criticism

• Every story ever told is a part of one story, but it is always dressed up in new clothes, because even though it's always the same story, the old stories have already been told
• Romance: "the quest"
• The quester starts as an embodiment of society's values, he is separated from high social standing, he enters the "belly of the whale" (the low point), and he comes home and reestablishes himself at the pinnacle of society
• Tragedy
• Guy falls and can't get back up
• Misstep can end in disaster
• The story ends at the low point
• Connection: Compare Frye-tragedy with the tragedy of earlier notes
• Irony
• The story starts at the low point, things get better? (maybe), but no, everything's useless
• Comedy
• Start at low point, main character follows the rules, so he reaches the top
• Usually ends in windfall and marraige
• When using these terms, make sure that the reader knows that these terms are used in the Frye-sense, not the normal sense

What Makes Good Writing?

• Good content, good style & usuage (diction, syntax, plain style, concise-ness, and tone), and good spelling & structure
• Connection: diction, syntax, plain style, and tone have all been discussed in previous notes
• Don't say stuff like "really" and "very"
• Don't use evaluative language (i.e. Shakespeare is the best...)
• Remember your audience
• Don't use informal language (colloquialisms)
• Be specific
• Use quotes

"Young Writer Searches for Harlem" by Dwight Garner | Published 1/25/11 | A Book Review Analysis

           In “Young Writer Searches for Harlem,” Garner weaves together a skillful essay using many rhetorical devices to analyze Harlem is Nowhere by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts.

           These rhetorical devices include diction, such as alliteration and specific diction choices. For example, Garner uses alliteration when he writes, "Watch the walking". Furthermore, Garner skillfully uses specific diction choices to better his writing. A specific diction choice that really struck me is when he says, "some of the sentences wheeze." That is not only an example of personification created through a single diction choice, but it also creates great imagery of sentences not being able to live up to readers' standards.

             In addition, Garner uses a lot of imagery in this essay, such as when he says, "sound, one you cock your head at an angle to hear," and "you climb inside her skull." This all helps the reader better understand the book because it allows us to understand that the book is not only intriguing and intimate, but it also gives us this information by creating a mental image in the reader's head, allowing such information to stick.

              Furthermore, Garner uses great syntax in his essay, such as when he says, "But that vanaishes as the book moves forward, and charting the sensorium of Harlem's ghosts becomes her primary occupation." The consistent use of passive voice, "the book moves forward," "...becomes her primary occupation", suggests that the book progressed almost without the author's will. Overall, Garner's use of rhetorical devices in his essay makes it flow easily and helps him convey his point in an easy-to-understand manner.

          The only weakness I see in Garner's essay is that its language is kind of bland. The sentence structures are not very varied and it doesn't include a lot of interesting vocab or intresting introduction/conclusion to capture and intrigue the reader.

            In analyzing Young Writer Searches for Harlem, Garner mostly uses psychoanalytic criticism. In his book review, Garner analyzed Harlem is Nowhere mostly from the author, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts' perspective. He emphasizes the effect of the author being from Texas and having attended Harvard's effect on her life, and thus her book. It also explains how her other experiences, being the only black student in her high school English class, and the other literary works that she has researched has affected her take on Harlem, and thus her novel. The book review is mostly about how the book is simply a manifestation of Rhodes-Pitts' subconcious take on Harlem. Garner also uses formalist criticism when he criticizes Rhodes-Pitts' writing style.

            Timberg's description of Harlem is Nowhere really reminds me of A Raisin in the Sun. In both books, the author took the title from another Harlem author's work. Moreover, both books are about reaching for the American dream amist the culture and neighborhood and oppressions of Harlem.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/books/26book.html?ref=books

Core Concept #3: 12/13/10-1/7/11

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

The Play

• We all become a part of the performance because we willingly suspend belief
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" "breaks the 4th wall" between actors and the audience
• The play breaks into our comfort zone
• It is meant to be a part of Hamlet (layered over Hamlet)
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have vastly different personalities, yet Stoppard insists on confusing them
• Famous quote: "Life in a box is better than no life at all"
• Although Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is supposed to be the missing layer of Hamlet, the universe is vastly different, and many tricks are played

Delving Deeper

• The play is one of the Theater of the Absurd and asks existential questions
• The play is an allegory: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are us; the box, boat, play are the container/vehicle of life: it has the illusion of boundlessness, but it is in fact written for us: it's all an illusion; the playwrite is fate/god
• Hamlet is a paradoxical character, he is the most important/powerful person in Denmark, but he is stuck in a web not of his design and in the end, he resigns himself to the providencial God
• Is a life in a box (life) really better than no life at all?
• Stoppard turns Hamlet's messages inside out

Being Born

• A character is born when the playwright commands it, people are born when God/fate commands it
• In the beginning Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are in a dark bar, and then they are summoned into the light (they are born)
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern can't remember anything after that: when they're on the horse, they mention that they can't remember how they got there
• "There must've been a time in the beginning when we could've said no". This quote is ironic because it is a life. In the beginning, we had no choice but to be born.

Lecture on Stoppard

• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a highly derivative play
• The play belongs to the Theater of the Absurd, thus the play does not have the "horizon of significance" of other plays, the protagonists' attempts to deal with their world is often absurd, its heroes lacks what it takes to act confidently in the world, the protagonists are often waiting for something to happen, there is bleak humor, and the language is unpredictable, unreliable and deceiving
• This reminds me of British Literature, when we read The Tempest by William Shakespare. In the play, Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano decide to take over the island, but the world is absurd to them because they don't understand the traditions of the upper class that surrounds them, nor do they understand that their every move is being guided by Prospero through magic (much like a playwright guides his characters), and they often get distracted from their goal (much like how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern get distracted from their goal of getting information out of Hamlet)
• Stoppard builds a lot of the absurdness of the play with rhetorical devices (using many of the devices that we've learned of before: such as repetition, irony, diction, syntax, parallelism...)
• There is a unique element of friendship in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, giving each of the main characters more of a specific identity
• Art is at odds with the world of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern because art confers order

Death of a Salesman

• Death of a Salesman is a play. Form follows function and Miller must've chosen to write Death of a Salesman as a play for all that a play can offer, and despite all the limits of plays
• We learned about the good parts about plays previous: it's powerful, and it gives the audience the sense of a communal experience that heightens meaning
• Limits of plays are that it has to be able to hold the attention of the audience and it requires artificiality,
• Linda is like a mother to Willy because Willy is a man who never grew up
• Evidence: his name is Willy (not William, not Bill, but Willy), he says "gee", a lot of people call him "kid", Biff calls him a "prince", not a "king"
• Linda keeps on trying to feed Willy dairy products, like breastfeeding
• Linda does not respect Willy, if she did, she would treat him like an equal and call him out on his lies
• Thus, Biff and Happy have to compete with Willy to win the affection of their mother
• Did Ben really make his fortune in African diamonds, or is he a shadier character?
• In Death of a Salesman, the women are either "mothers" or "whores". This is actually a motif in Western literature
• Well-liked v. Loved
• Willy wanted to be well-liked, but he didn't realized that he was loved and that was what mattered
• This idea of well-liked v. loved is very relevant even today because people want to be liked, and sometimes, in that quest to impress people and to get others to like them, people often lose sight of their loved ones who have stayed by them and loved them all along
• It turns out that Willy had the wrong dream all along
• Death of a Salesman is about the corruption of the American Dream
• Willy, like Biff, was born to work with his hands, but he choose a career as a salesman because he thought it will bring him success and happiness, when in fact if Willy had been a farmer or carpenter instead, he would've most likely have found success and happiness
• Willy seems to be afraid to take risks
• He did not go to Alaska with Ben
• He was scared by the new technology of the tape recorder
• He didn't ask for a promotion until Linda talked him into it
• The Lomans (Lo-Man) are not "leaders of men", as Willy would like to believe
• Biff might be right in that he is "a dime a dozen"
• Thus it is ironic when Willy says that he is not "a piece of fruit" because he is. All of his resources have been extracted by his company, so in the end, they have no more use of him and he is fired
• Happy seems doomed to follow Willy's footsteps, while Biff is not

Homework

• Read "Lecture on Stoppard"
• Death of a Salesman Annotations
• Tragedy Forum
• "Fathers" Forum
• Core Concept Notes and Outside Readings Journals

“Haiti Without Walls” by Kettly Mars | Published 1/1/11 | A Reflective Essay Analysis

           In “Haiti Without Walls”, Mars uses a pensive, hopeful, and inspirational tone in order to tell us of her experience in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. She creates her tone with her diction, detail, syntax, and imagery. For example, Mars is pensive when she writes, "How eerie the huge cloud of dust rising...over Port-au-Prince", and she is inspirational when she writes, "we were a people lost in a tremor but united by a common fate."

           I like Mars's tone in “Haiti Without Walls” because it makes me believe once again in the human spirit, in the ability of bad times to bring out the best in people. The tone is perfect for such an essay about a person's experiences in a disaster. The essay is beautifully written and really makes one think.

           I think the tone in "Haiti Without Walls" would work perfectly for an AP essay because it is formal, written in standard English, and the author manages to reach out to the reader and really resonate with the reader, which is pretty essential in any essay, especially an AP essay.

          Through Mars’s use of rhetorical devices in “Haiti Without Walls”, she not only allows the reader to understand her essay better, but also helps it flow better. For example, Mars uses parallelism and tricolon, such as when she says, “...we have known the wrath of storms, the terrors of the cholera epidemic, the frustration of being locked in an incredible political stalemate..." to facilitate the flow of the passage and to add power to her recollection of the effects of the Haitian earthquake.

            Florey made a good diction choice with the phrase "concrete and iron" when she wrote, "...survivors pulled the wounded from concrete and iron." Although what the Mars means to say here is that the wounded were pulled out of fallen buildings, her use of "concrete and iron" (synecdoche) carry the connotation of something that is machine-made and of the industrial age, something that she wants to contrast with the completely human experience that she is describing in her essay. This clever utilization of words' connotations and synecdoche add power to the sentence. Moreover Mars uses alliteration, such as when she writes, "without walls", "telluric wave twisted", "dying day", and "dream from destruction." She also uses repetition, such as when she writes, "our country was on her knees; we were on our knees." Such use of rhetorical devices throughout her essay adds a certain spice, imagery, and flow to her essay that would not have existed otherwise.

         All in all, "Haiti Without Walls" is a enchanting and emotionally appealing essay that is neatly executed. There were no weaknesses whatsoever that I could discern in the essay.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/02/opinion/20110102_Op_Postcards.html?ref=opinion

"Success and Failure on the G.E.D." | Published 12/31/10 | An Editorial Analysis

        The author of "Success and Failure on the G.E.D." uses rhetorical devices to help the reader understand the argument and to help the argument flow. For example, he uses alliteration in the essay such as when he says, "innovative instructional" and "programs that prepare people", which helps the passages sound smoother, and makes the readers more receptive to what the author has to say. The author also does a really good job of taking advantage of the natural rhythm of English to get his points across. For example, he ends his sentences with phrases such as, "the way forward", and "their economic future - and the country's". By ending his sentences with something memorable, the readers walk away remembering that the G.E.D. allows people, allows America, to have a brighter future. A diction choice of the author's that really struck me is when he mentions, that "Nearly 40 million Americans are locked into dead-end jobs." I think the author's choice of "locked into" is a good diction choice here because "locked into" has connotations of confinement and being shut off from opportunities, which are situations in which no one wants to find themselves. As a result, through this diction choice, the author manages to evoke both pathos and logos in the same sentence.

           Although the author does a really good job with taking advantage of most of the rhetorical devices, I think he could’ve done more to use a wider variety of rhetorical devices in his essay, such as repetition, the rule of three, or questions.

            In this essay, the narrative persona is very formal and explanatory. The author sticks to the facts, without any embellishments, and uses statistics to describe to us the necessity of having better programs in place to help those adults who are trying to pass the G.E.D. The author creates such a tone when he writes things like, "Nearly 800,000 people take the exam each year, and about 500,000 pass" and "The test is free in some states and costs as much as $400 in others." Such parts help build up the author's voice, which is formal and informative yet impassioned. The author clearly supports one side of the issue and cares deeply for this issue, yet the author is also trying to present us with the facts and let us make our own judgment. This tone makes me like the essay more because in persuasive writing, one needs to convince an audience of something, one needs to be able to show that one cares for the issue and get others to feel the same way (pathos). One also needs to be able to back up one's claims (logos). The author pulled both off very well.

            If this essay were an AP essay, I think the voice would be appropriate because it is formal enough, but it isn't a strict and detached voice: the narrative persona is there, warm and welcoming you to see the issue as the author sees it.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/01/opinion/01sat2.html?_r=1

"To Wagner, With Love and Morbidity" by Scott Timberg | Published 12/27/10 | A Book Review Analysis

           In “To Wagner, With Love and Morbidity”, Timberg weaves together a skillful essay using many rhetorical devices to analyze The Metropolis Case by Matthew Gallaway. One of those rhetorical devices is parallelism. This is seen when he describes how The Metropolis Case is propelled by "...mix of exuberance and morbidity, fatalism and erotic energy" (Timberg). In this quote, Timberg uses four nouns to describe the novel, creating parallelism and making his essay sound better. Furthermore, Timberg uses a lot alliteration in his writing. For example, when he writes, "funny first", "things together", "wily ways", and "from feeling". Furthermore, Timberg skillfully used diction to better his writing. A specific diction choice that really struck me is when he says, "there's hardly a lazy sentence here" (Timberg). His word choice of "lazy" struck me because I've never thought of a sentence as "lazy" before and I didn't understand why he wrote "hardly a lazy sentence" instead of "all the sentences are active". But on further consideration, I realized that Timberg most likely decided to use "lazy" in this sentence because it carries with it certain connotations that brings up thoughts of dull and lifeless, which is something that Timberg wanted us to associate with certain sentences that we know of in novels, but he is telling us that such sentences do not exist in The Metropolis Case. Overall, Timberg's use of rhetorical devices in his essay makes it flow easily and helps him convey his point in an easy-to-understand manner.

          The only weakness I see in Kakutani's essay is that it tries so hard not to give away the wittiness of The Metropolis Case that it ceases to let the reader know anything about the novel's plot except that it's about three characters from different time periods who are connected by music. How does the novel start? What do the characters do? We don't know. At many times, "To Wagner, With Love and Morbidity" read more like a characters list than anything else.

            In analyzing The Metropolis Case, Timberg used Formalist criticism. In his book review, Timberg analyzed The Metropolis Case from many perspectives. He looked at characterization, rhetoric, setting, plot, and style: many of the aspects of the novel itself.

            Timberg's description of The Metropolis Case reminds me of the novel One Day. In both novels, the plot progresses in small vignettes centered around different characters. Thus, although the plot of the two books may be vastly different. The style in which the two stories are told are very similar.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/books/28book.html?ref=bookreviews