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