#4 "The Known World" Essay and Reflection

"He was the only man in the realm, slave or free, who ate dirt.”

 With careful selection of detail, this is one of the many ways Edward P. Jones reveals the character of Moses in his novel, The Known World. Throughout the excerpt, Jones uses elements such as point of view, selection of detail, and imagery to show that Moses is a caring character, deeply attached to the world around him.

The imagery of Moses closing his eyes, bending down, and pinching the soil to eat it as “if it were a spot of cornbread” brings up an interesting visual scenario. It portrays a situation of poverty – as a slave, perhaps Moses cannot afford the basic necessity of food. Poor or not, however, the text goes on to include details about Moses purpose: The dirt helps him know the “strengths and weakness of the field” and ties him to the only thing that means “as much as his own life.” Moses has an attachment to the Earth and an appreciation for all it has to offer, a concept again displayed when he compares the taste of “July dirt” and “the dirt of June or May.”

With more selection of detail, Jones shows that Moses is hard working. Jones purposefully chooses to include how Moses continued to work even after he “sent [the other adults] back with hunger and tiredness.” Jones does not include anything about Moses’ own hunger or tiredness, which reveals a selfless character, a diligent man. Even Moses’ mule wanted “home and rest,” and despite the fact that he had been out on the fields for fifteen hours, he does not once complain in text.

In fact, this lack of personal discourse might come from the text’s third person point of view. Using third person limited, Jones did not want the reader to get too deeply engaged in Moses’ inner dialogue. He wanted the audience to only see Moses in a distant, admirable light, which reinforces Moses’ `positive characterization.

 

Reflection:

Compared to my first prose passage essay, I had a lot more to say in this essay because I was able to address more topics. This prompt made it easier, compared to the first one, because it gave suggestions of things to analyze such as point of view and selection of detail. I was able to take advantage of that and do a better job of answering “how?’ Regarding complexity, however, I felt I was consistent with my previous essay. I was at the surface level, for example when I talked about Moses being a hard worker and “deeply attached to the world around him.” I did not, however, delve deeper into the complexity of him finding freedom in nature, even while being a slave. This lack of complexity would lend itself to a lower score, so I hope to improve in this area.

I believe starting with a quote, even though it’s not always suggested, brings something unique to the essay. Along with that hook, I also had various other examples to support my claims. Despite the fact that I didn’t recognize the complexity and didn’t finish due to time, I did a good job of making this essay well-organized and well-written.

For these reasons, I would give myself a score in the 4-5 range. In terms of writing, I think I have a strong place, but regarding the text, I think I have more to work on in  understanding and recognizing complexity in the text.

 

 

#3 "The Flowers" Essay and Reflection

"An armful of strange blue flowers." A unique way to mourn a stranger. Alice Walker tells a tale of Myop and those blue flowers in her short story, "The Flowers." Using imagery and symbolism, Walker emphasizes a contrasting strategy in the story to convey the meaning of "the flowers" and unveil an ending with a twist.

With purposefully developed imagery, Walker is able to show by the flowers play a significant role in the story. By contrasting the "strange" flowers to the "various common" things Myop finds in her outings, Walker establishes early on that he flowers are our of the ordinary: After finding the deteriorating corpse of a tall man, "gloomy" compared to the "golden surprise" and excitement her days usually bring, Myop "laid down the flowers."

 This act instigates a dramatic shift in the story, ending with one short sentence, "And the Summer was over." This syntax choice was made by Walker to create that drama and demonstrate the significance of the flowers. Summer normally indicates a season of fun, especially for a ten-year old. In fact, "the days had never been as beautiful as these," in the beginning of the story shows this contrast.

After her morbid discovery, however, Myop was faced with death -- a concept uncommon for most people her age. Although Myop wasn't scared to see the body per se (the diction choices such as "unafraid," "yelp of surprise," and "gazed...with interest" indicate that her curiosity overpowered any fear), the experience was a life changing one. Walker's symbolic flowers and ending of summer represents Myop's sudden loss of youthful innocence.

Reflection:

“I’m a little rusty.”

My feelings after taking a practice essay for the AP Lit exam. Although we practiced analysis quite frequently in AP Language and Composition last year, coming back to essay writing was not smooth sailing. My experience last year, has given me knack of approaching a prompt the correct way, ‘working the prompt,’ if you will. I consider this a strength because knowing what the question is asking is the first step in tackling the essay. Another strength of mine, I believe is in the introduction of the essay. In this case, I started out with a direct quote to begin my analysis: “’An armful of strange blue flowers.’ A unique way to mourn a stranger.” After the quotation, I wrote a short sentence to sum up my response to the prompt, saying “unique” showed that I understood that the flowers were significant and “mourn” showed that I understood their purpose in the story. Although it’s not a very deep or complex thought, I think that introduction was a quick way to hook the reader in and get my point across. Later in the essay, of course, I go more in depth with my analysis.

Despite these strengths, my weaknesses lie in addressing complexity. I was almost caught off guard by the time restraint, and realized at the end that I hadn’t written very much (my large, sloppy handwriting is also actually pretty misleading). Even though I talked about the contrasts in the story and explained the loss of innocence in the story, I didn’t go as much in depth as I could have. This lack of development encourages generalizations and discourages sophistication in thought and language. Sophistication in language, I think, is another weakness I have when it comes to timed writing, when I have even less time and even more pressure to make the right diction or syntax choice.

After thoughtful reflection, I have come up with three goals to accomplish before the AP test.

Firstly, I want to identify and analyze complexity better. Becoming a more complex thinker is a general goal I have for this class, and I think that ties in well when it comes to analyzing prose for the AP exam.

Next, even though I’m able to identify similes and imagery, I’m not sure I explain ‘how’ they convey the meaning. I want to recognize the purpose of certain rhetorical strategies and devices employed by authors.

Lastly, I want to include a lot more detail in my writing, which I think will improve as I practice taking more of these tests. As I get used to the pacing, I’ll get accustomed to thinking faster and conveying my analysis with sophistication.

 

#2 AP Multiple Choice Test Reflection

Reading literature can be tough enough for some people. But reading literature in a timed, test-taking environment can exacerbate that challenge.

Yesterday, I took my first AP Literature multiple choice exam for practice, and below I share my results.

I found that my strengths in literary analysis include reading with the right pacing, although I struggle with close reading and comprehending right away. Also, the practice exam we took, poetry seemed to be more comfortable for me. I’m also good at making educated guesses.
 

One of my weaknesses was answering a question towards the end that contradicted an earlier question. I need to do a better job to “maintain an open mind” and “consider both answers.” (5STA5) I’m also not very good at using logical strategies like process of elimination and  fill in the blank.
 

My plan to improve is to read more challenging texts throughout the course and work on comprehension and analysis.  I am used to responding to text emotionally, however, I need to advance that and analyze the text to gain even understanding. I also hope to go beyond my comfort zone of contemporary work and read older texts, like Jane Eyre and Shakespeare, to help me for the type of passages on the exam.

 

I plan on taking multiple practices tests to become familiar with the pacing of the exam and the types of AP questions.
 

Some of my goals for this year:

 

Before the AP exam, I want to be a more interactive, close reader.
 

Referring back to the text of course is necessary sometimes in the exam, however, I want to have better comprehension the first time I read -- that way I avoid wasting time to go back and understand the basic meaning.

 

I want to be familiar with all the technical literature terms that could be on the exam.

#1 ‘Literature Connoisseur” Design Justification

One of the biggest lessons in online communication is that how you say something is just as important as what you’re saying. With that in mind, I made some strategic choices for this blog.

 

Firstly, I chose to name this blog Literature Connoisseur, not because I am overconfident about my English abilities, but because my name Rashika actually means connoisseur. It only felt fitting to keep this definition and see how this AP Literature course will help me truly reach that status of ‘Literature Connoisseur”
 

I chose a dark purple shade for the background of my blog because it has a more formal look and simultaneously adds a pop of color, without looking too ‘stiff.’ I wanted to convey a youthful, modern look while also appearing sophisticated, which is why I avoided bright, neon colors. For the typography I chose the Walter Turncoat font for the post title to deliver a cooler, more exciting message on the page. While keeping those modern touches, I chose IM FELL DW PICA SC for the blog title because I wanted the capital letters to be a bit dramatic, and I felt like the typography’s ‘classic’ look fit with the topic of discussion – literature.
 

For the layout, I chose to embed the blog posts in between two side bars to keep the information more sectioned and conveniently accessible. I also adjusted the width of the entire blog to fit the entire screen so that it can literally consume the viewer’s space and emphasize the content. The slight map background in the layout demonstrates global awareness to a certain extent, which speaks for the author's worldliness and this literature class, where “we examine the people of the world.”