Open Prompt #1 Revision

2010, Form B. “You can leave home all you want, but home will never leave you.” —Sonsyrea Tate

Sonsyrea Tate’s statement suggests that “home” may be conceived of as a dwelling, a place, or a state of mind. It may have positive or negative associations, but in either case, it may have a considerable influence on an individual. Choose a novel or play in which a central character leaves home yet finds that home remains significant. Write a well-developed essay in which you analyze the importance of “home” to this character and the reasons for its continuing influence. Explain how the character’s idea of home illuminates the larger meaning of the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

               Home is where the heart is and one’s heart is where their love it. In Mr. Gatsby’s case, home is with Daisy. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald perfectly illuminates Sonsyrea Tate’s statement that “You can leave home all you want, but home will never leave you.”  Mr. Gatsby’s tale is one of longing for his heart, his home, and his love. Through tone and characterization, Fitzgerald shows that when you live in the past, your future dreams will always be affected.

             Gatsby was forced to leave his love behind when he was shipped off to war. As they both go on living their separate lives, Gatsby discovers that his happiness lies in Daisy’s hands. Daisy represents material America. She is beautiful, superficial, and shallow. But nonetheless, Gatsby, an accomplished man, lives his life around rekindling his love with her. Consequently, his life revolves around finding Daisy again. By throwing big parties hoping she will come, attempting to intrude on her marriage, and searching for her with every step he takes, he circulates every moment around returning to his home; his Daisy.  His over the top, driven character shows that he will do anything to be reunited with his home.

           Fitzgerald’s complex symbols, motifs, and details disguised in his words help create a tone of desperation and desire. The tone shows how Gatsby will do anything to find his home. The fact that throughout the whole story the mission is to re-spark the fire between Daisy and Gatsby makes the tone one of suspense, excitement, and curiosity. The details in the novel, down to the color of Gatsby’s car and the positioning of the houses, show how specific Gatsby’s search is. The reader sees Gatsby’s obsession.

             By obsessing over finding Daisy, Gatsby’s entire life is changed. He moves to where she lives and throws parties hoping to attract her. Fitzgerald shows how when you live in the past, your future can never excel on its own. Gatsby can’t move on with his life until he finds and is back with Daisy. Daisy is Gatby’s home. She is his comfort, love, and life.

          The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald reflects Sonsyrea Tate’s statement perfectly. His longing for Daisy is what made the story what it was. He knew his home was Daisy. Gatsby would not stop his fight until he made it back home.

         

Summary and Analysis of Ceremony

Author: Leslie Silko- part Laguna Pueblo, part Caucasian

Setting: Mainly the Laguna Pueblo reservation. The book is a series of flashbacks, peaks to the future, and descriptions of the present.

Narrator: 3^rd Person

Characters:

      Tayo-  A war veteran who is “sick” after losing his cousin and his uncle. He is half Laguna-Pueblo, half Caucasian and battles with being mixed throughout the story.

      Rocky- Tayo’s cousin who died during battle. He was a very Americanized Native American and dreamed of playing football, going to college, and leaving the reservation.

      Auntie- Tayo’s Aunt/Rocky’s mom who has taken care of him sine his mom abandoned him. She is ashamed of her sister and wants to make a good name for her family. She is very involved with church.

      Josiah- Tayo’s late uncle/father figure.

      Grandma- Matriarch of the family. She intervenes at important parts of Tayo’s life to provide advice in random comments.

      Emo- War veteran/childhood acquaintance of Tayo. They have always butted heads. He has a shaven head to show disconnect from NA culture. He is very involved with alcohol and ends up murdering Harley.

      Night Swan- Josiah’s Mexican girlfriend. She seduces Tayo at one point in the book too. She represents an aspect of contact between white and NA cultures.

      Harley- Tayo’s childhood friend. He returned from the war not sick like Tayo but with an alcohol problem.

      Robert- Auntie’s quiet, mild-mannered husband.

      Betonie- Medicine man who leads Tayo through his ceremony.

      Old Ku’oosh- Laguna/traditional medicine man.

Plot:

     At the beginning of the book, we are introduced to Tayo who is “sick” after losing Rocky and Josiah. We learn he is tormented by the lack of rain and therefore struggles in the Pueblo Community since he believes it is his fault. He lays in bed sick at home. He lives with Auntie, Grandma, and Robert since his mother abandoned when he was four years old. He has an unknown white father and Auntie is very ashamed of her sister’s (Tayo’s mother’s past) and takes this out on Tayo.

      Through a series of flashbacks, peaks to the future, and descriptions of the present we learn about Tayo’s friends like Harvey, Emo, Pinkey, etc. who are also battling problems from the war, but they do it in the form of alcohol. We also learn about how Rocky and Tayo got involved in the war and Rocky’s desire to leave the reservation, go to college, and play football. Auntie’s wish for Tayo to be dead instead of Rocky becomes more and more obvious.

       Grandma calls for Old Ku’oosh to perform a traditional ceremony on Tayo. The ceremony does not work so Betonie is called in. He is more connected with white culture and knows they need a new ceremony to cure the drought and Tayo. When Tayo leaves to try to find Josiah’s cattle and therefore complete the ceremony, he meets Ts’eh who is a lot like Night Swan (Josiah’s old Mexican girlfriend). With the help of a mountain lion, he finds the cattle in the mountains. He spends the summer with Ts’eh in the mountains until Robert comes to tell him Emo and other people from back home are causing trouble and blaming it on Tayo. 

        Once returning, he uses Ts’eh’s advice to get away from police. While running from Emo, he finds Pinkie and Emo torturing Harvey trying to figure out where Tayo was hiding.

       He returns to Old Ku’oosh who tells him the ceremony is complete. The book ends with Grandma claiming it’ a familiar story but with different names.

Quotes:

“They all mourned Rocky that way, by slipping lapsing into the plans he had for college and for his football career.” –page 25

       -This quote shows how much Auntie and the rest of the family mourned Rocky’s lose. It also expresses how Rocky wanted to be part of the white culture.

“Then they grow away from the earth, away from the sun, then they grow away from the plants and animals.” –page 125

        -This is a line from the poem running throughout the story. It is about the Native Americans (like Emo) who are disconnecting from the Laguna Pueblo culture.

Theme:

Preserving tradition is essential to the Native American community.

Symbols/Motifs:

Direction

Wind

Colors

Water

Alcohol 

Course Materials

I can’t believe we are on our last book. As exciting as that is, it means the AP test is literally right around the corner. This idea is extremely intimidating. I think I am more prepared then I may believe. I will definitely have to refresh on the terms, but with more multiple choice practice and essays I hopefully will feel confident.

Back to class….. After Ceremony, I hope my ability to dissect/analyze books has improved. It is weird how analyzing truly gets easier with each book. I have a feeling this skill will be very useful on the AP.

So far, I really like Fifth Business! It is an interesting plot and contains so many abstract concepts to think about. 

Open Prompt #2 Revision

Open Prompt #2

2009, Form B. Many works of literature deal with political or social issues. Choose a novel or play that focuses on a political or social issue. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the author uses literary elements to explore this issue and explain how the issue contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

        

         In early 20^th century America, frustration, poverty, and unpleasant working and living conditions were commonplace for the working class. Upton Sinclair, a renowned muckraker, wrote “The Jungle” in 1906 in order to expose the dirty secrets running rampant in America that were ruining lives and killing families. Sinclair unveiled the turmoil using tone, characterization, and imagery.

         The story is about Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant, and his struggling family. Sinclair takes us into the lives of the Rudkus’, an ordinary, middle-class, immigrant family. By using an everyday family, the reader was able to relate to the characters. He brings heartbreak to the reader with his use of pitiful characters like the hurt, suffering children and wife. By using characters that the reader related to and felt bad for, his publication of the horrid working conditions and the cruel treatment of the less fortunate were understand by all. With his use of sensitive yet lovable characters, he makes the reader full-heartedly take the side of the suffering family.

The dark tone and vivid imagery  Sinclair uses imprints his message into the brains of all readers. The powerful tone transports the reader into Jurgis’ life, making every blow from the awful political creatures lurking behind the book feel like a blow to the reader them self. Sinclair changes the tone from aggressive frustration to sadness at points in the book too. When the tone transforms into pity and desperation, the reader feels the hardships the characters are going through. Since the book represented how the world truly was at the time, these feelings really made the reader want to make a change. This technique strengthens Sinclair’s message by putting the reader on the level of the characters. The imagery found in the book is grotesque and makes one cringe with disgust. The aggressiveness of the images make the horrors jump off the page. Since the book is exposes a social issue, the loud images and tone bring the message to life.

        Sinclair wrote The Jungle hoping to show how lives immigrants and those living in poverty were. He takes the reader through a real-life example of an American family in order to show the world what was truly going on in the streets of early 20^th century America. He was a muckraking journalist on a mission to reveal the deep secrets that laid within the streets of the early 20^th century in America. With the use of aggressive tone, imagery, and characterization he proved his point to his readers and successfully influenced the passage of multiple laws for a happier, safer America. 

Summary and Analysis: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Author: Tom Stoppard

Setting:  The play jumps around from an unknown forest (no-man’s land), Elsanor, in the stage in the Player’s trailer, and on a boat at sea.

Plot: Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead opens with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in an unknown forest flipping a coin. They unmistakingly get heads every time. This is the first sight of the games/gambling motif present in the play. When they stop the game, they wonder how they got to where they were. Unable to recall any memories, they can only come up with the conclusion that they were sent for by a messenger. As they venture through the forest (no-man’s land) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern encounter a group of actors called the Tragedians, led by the Player.

All of a sudden, Ros and Guil are in Elsanor with Hamlet and Ophelia. Claudius mistakes the two men for one another as he explains he sent for them to try and figure out what is going on with Hamlet. In preparation for their talk with Hamlet, they play word games. One of them then pretended to be Hamlet while the other questioned him. They are unable to find insight as to why Hamlet has gone insane. They talk to Claudius and explain they have no clue as to why Hamlet went crazy. They continue to think about Hamlet, which leads them to pondering the idea of death. Ros and Guil are then invited to a play performed by the Tragedians. This play is the same one from Hamlet that shadows the affair between Claudius and Gertrude. During the play, they see characters that represent themselves die. These deaths foreshadow their death later in the play.

In the next scene, Claudius tells Ros and Guil they will be accompanying Hamlet to England. On the boat ride to England Rosencrantz and Guildenstern try to figure out where they are going and how everything has happened. As they talk about the future, the letter from Claudius to the king of England is opened. They read it and discover it says for the King of England to kill Hamlet. They decide that they have to deliver the letter. Hamlet, who overheard them reading the letter earlier, changes the letter with a different one. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern wake up to find that the letter instructs the King of England to instead execute the two of them instead. Horrified, the characters try to figure out how life has come to this before the scene ends. Horatio ends the play with the speech he gives at the end of Hamlet.

Significant Characters:

Rosencrantz: Childhood friend of Hamlet who was called to Esalnor to get details on Hamlet’s transformation. Right-hand man to Guildenstern.

Guildenstern: Childhood friend of Hamlet who was called to Esalnor to get details on Hamlet’s transformation. Right-hand man to Rosencrantz.

Player: Leader of the Tragedians. He presents a mysterious, god-like presence throughout the play with his accurate predictions of what is going to happen.

Alfred: One of the tragedians. A depressed man who is used in examples in all of the plays put on for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Hamlet: Prince of Denmark who went crazy after his father’s death and mother’s marriage to his uncle. He is the reason Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were called to Elsanor.

Claudius: King of Denmark- the man who called for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Narrator: Since this is a play, there is no narrator.

Quotes:

“Life is a gamble, at terrible odds- if it was a bet you wouldn’t take it.” –Player

-This quote encompasses the idea that the Player had some sort of control over the fate of Ros and Guil. It also showcases the motif of gambling and emphasizes one of the themes present in the book.

“Words, words. They’re all we have to go on.”

-This quote shows how Ros and Guil had no idea as to what was going on in their lives. They had no ability to change anything or remember anything.

Symbols/Motifs:

Death- Death is a common motif throughout the play. This motif symbolizes that fate is inevitable.

Falling/Stumbling/Clumsiness- Throughout the play Ros and Guil stumble, fall, trip, etc. very often. This goes along with the existentialism idea that people go through life this way.

Confusion/Loss of Memory- Ros and Guil are confused and don’t remember anything for the majority of the play. This goes along with an existentialism idea. It also shows their uncertainty and inability to control their own lives.

Games/Gambling- Games are a motif throughout the play. They show the chance in life. They also shadow how Ros and Guil have no control over their lives.

Theme: Life is random and predetermined.

Response to Course Materials #7

FINALLY everything that has to do with Hamlet is done. I really shouldn't be this excited about it...but I am. I am so happy that we are finally on to novels. So far, Ceremony seems like a pretty good book. Somewhat confusing, but still interesting. And on the plus side, it makes more sense the R & G! 

We have been doing more multiple choice and writing. Both of these things, tedious and difficult, are necessary. I can't believe the AP test is approaching so soon. I feel like I need to improve drastically on the multiple choice and my open/closed prompts could use some work. I need to better understand the formula for writing AP Lit papers. Reading examples from past AP's really helped me see what I should be doing. The AP test also means I have to refresh my memory on not only all of the terms but all of the critics, comedy terms, writing periods, etc. from the beginning of this year. 

As the class has progressed, I have noticed things becoming more second nature. Didls examples just jump off the page and not analyzing every single word just seems asinine. Even poems and even Shakespeare are becoming somewhat more comfortable. This is definitely a good and exciting sign. 

Revision: Open Prompt #4

2001. One definition of madness is "mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it." But Emily Dickinson wrote

    Much madness is divinest Sense-To a discerning Eye-Novelists and playwrights have often seen madness with a "discerning Eye." Select a novel or play in which a character's apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain what this delusion or eccentric behavior consists of and how it might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the "madness" to the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

            WHAT IS WRONG WITH WHILLY LOMAN? He talks to himself, undoubtedly has anger management, and couldn’t see the truth if it slapped him in the face. But why? What was Arthur Miller doing when he created this mindless, irrational character? The answer is simple; Willy’s madness is not madness. It is a tool used by Miller to emphasize aspects of the work. Through setting, imagery, and characterization Miller shows that betrayal can lead to devastation and downfall.

      Willy’s problems are the result from the society he is surrounded by. The setting of the book, The East Coast in the early 20^th century, places Willy in a time where happiness and power came from wealth. His madness was born to represent what happens to the everyday hero when they are placed in a world such as ours. Willy exemplifies Northup Frye’s version of a tragic hero, someone who falls because of society. Willy started out a “normal” man. He had a good family, a good job, a good life. But, people betrayed Willy over the years. His brother left, his company was taken over by his boss’s son, and he believed he was betrayed by Biff. He was stuck, surrounded by wealthy, successful individuals like his neighbor Charley, while being betrayed by people he felt closest to. He coped with this betrayed by transforming into this somewhat psychotic being.

Willy’s flashbacks, constant rambling, and hallucinations stand as enormous parts of the play. Miller uses his sporadic flashbacks to show the reader the truth of the past. The imagery wrapped up in these flashbacks give the reader a clue as to what is really wrong with Willy Loman. His hallucinations of his brother represent an important element of Willy’s childhood. We see how he feels betrayed by big brother Ben and his father. The flashbacks to Happy and Biff’s childhood let us see why and how he feels betrayed by them too. Without the imagery found in the play, we wouldn’t have a sense as to why Willy feels betrayed and therefore we wouldn’t understand his downfall and devastation.

         Miller used Willy’s madness to expose the dysfunction in the Loman household. His character is the key to the reader that there is something wrong in their broken down house. With Linda characterized as a mother figure to Willy, we see deeper into his devastation and downfall as a man. The personality of Biff and his inability to please his father is one of the key aspects of betrayal. This idea is a huge piece in Willy’s downfall. The characters in the book and their betrayal of one another are what drive the message of the play. 

         In Death of A Salesman, Miller uses characterization, imagery, and setting to show that betrayal can lead to devastation and downfall. Through the story of the Lomans, a middle-class American family, the reader sees the downfall of a common man.