Response to Course Materials #3

            Coming into AP Lit, the idea of reading books over and over was tedious. But now, after analyzing The American Dream time after time, and currently working on a read-through of Death of A Salesman, I understand why we do it. Honestly, I like it. I feel like I actually get to understand every little detail in the piece, which makes for an overall more enjoyable reading experience. The first time through The American Dream, I literally had NO CLUE what was going on. But by the end, after reading it multiple times myself and participating in numerous class discussions, I finally understood the symbolism, the characters, and all the other dynamic, dense aspects of the story.

            So what else? Along with dissecting the American Dream, we learned about The Theatre of Absurd and comedy rules. Both of which, as awful as those packets were to annotate, actually helped me understand both the play and future readings. It is so strange to me, at first, this class seems like it is filled with such useless information (no offense Ms.Homes) but then, it all actually helps you. Even when I am sitting at home watching a movie I will think of some rule of comedy and see it in the movie. The more we discuss it in class, the more I understand how to use it. But that’s how everything is. The more discussions we have, from The American Dream to the literary terms, I understand it better and better. That is why those are my favorite days: the ones where we sit in a round circle and talk about whatever the topic of the day is.

            I am interested to see how I did on the in-class writings. It is hard to say if I need a tremendous amount of help on them or if I am some-what on tract. Hopefully, we will review those papers soon (both the ch.4 and The Century Quilt) so I can see what I need to do for them. While talking about the Ch.4 essay I will say I liked the paper MUCH better then the quiz. I felt like it helped me to actually have my book open while writing. The information actually made sense and I was able to put it to use instead of just attempting to memorize it for a quiz. I also really liked how we tied it to The American Dream. It was not only fun, but made me think abstractly too.

            And last, but certainly not least, the terms test TAKE 2. I am so frustrated with this test. I spent hours studying for it and I actually felt like I understood the information but then I ended up getting the exact same grade as last time. This was not only discouraging, but also confusing. It is hard for me to understand how some of those questions were fair. I mean honestly, something can be incongruity, verbal irony, and invective all at the same time. But on the brightside, I now feel like I actually understand the majority of the words and will be able to put them to use. Even now, I feel like my vocabulary has grown and that’s what that exercise was for. Right?