Response to Course Material

These past few weeks have gone by a little too quickly. We have spent most of our class time doing various forms of practice for the AP exam. While I missed the Blitzkrieg activities, I found the other ones quite useful. Perhaps the most helpful activity for me was the quick annotation and analysis of poetry and prose. This is pretty much exactly what we will have to do to prepare for the essays on the exam. The same skills also carry over to the multiple choice section, where analysis is certainly required, although it is a bit more predetermined which direction we go. We have also started reading Fifth Business, and have had one discussion. I did not find the discussion extremely useful because we were limited by the amount of the book everyone had covered. How can we connections and draw conclusions when we are limited to the first few pages? What is there to draw a connection with? I hope that after everyone has read, we will have deeper ideas to discuss. We have also done a practice closed prompt, which I thought went well, but I will never truly know because peer grading is like that.

Open Prompt 2004

Often a great work of literature will provoke the reader by raising questions related to the material that prompt discussion and possibly new composition. This could not be more true in the case of Shakespeare's Hamlet, where the roles of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in relation to the play as a whole were enough to inspire Tom Stoppard to develop an entirely new play revolving around these two characters. In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Stoppard raises a the central question of whether we are in control or can be aware of our own fate. He poses and attempts to answer it using  existentialist dialogue that reflects major thematic material in Hamlet. Rosencrantz's and Guildnestern's search for meaning drives the action of the play and is one of the most important aspects of the work as a whole.

From the very onset of the play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern question their origin. They find themselves on a journey and struggle to remember the reason for it. The way their deductions follow, it is clear that the cause of their journey is really their conception, because their purpose from the audience's point of view is to serve as friends of Prince Hamlet who forward the plot of Shakespeare's work. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's function as a plot device in one play and as free-thinking beings within their own narrative is what creates the existential quandary Stoppard uses to explore how "fated" the two characters are. For example it does not seem to bother them that they are instantly transported to Denmark, or when the Tragedians show them a miniature version of  Hamlet concluding with their own deaths. While the play is written a certain way, the subjects of it cannot know how little free will they have. Thus the plot can exist as an elaborate conceit for our own experiences in life, which may seem random as they occur and scripted in retrospect.

However, Stoppard really explores the question of whether Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are aware of their inevitable end once they board the ship bound for England with Prince Hamlet. At this point, Guildenstern becomes very distraught because he realizes that no matter what he and Rosencrantz do at this point, they are stuck on the boat and will go wherever it takes them, despite their ability to move about the cabin creating an illusion of control. At this "point of no return," Rosencrantz and Guildenstern still have no control over their fate, but they seem much more aware of it. When they act out their meeting with the King of England and read the duplicate note calling for their own deaths, they face death as if it is simply a stage direction, not a surprise.

Stoppard's meditation on Hamlet seems to come to two conclusions about our relationship with fate. First is that we have fixed paths that have a beginning and an end, possibly both at the same point, the way that the pattern of the brother usurping the throne recurs cyclically during the Tragedian performance. The second is that we can be aware that our fate is beyond our control, but only when we can see the result of our actions in sight and thus when it is too late to change. We can read the script we follow, but never edit its contents.

Open Prompt Student Responses

"Literature is the question minus the answer"

Student N:
This student used Voltaire's novella Candide to tackle this rather specific but at the same time dangerously open-ended prompt. The student is able to effectively discuss the central question in Candide, which he/she defines as "is this the best of all possible worlds?" While the language is not very advanced and contains numerous repeated phrases, especially in the first few paragraphs, the structure is well-organized. Appearing to focus too heavily on plot, the writer actually spends the beginning of the essay establishing a context, in this case Candide's quest to answer his question, which will then allow for clearer exploration of the prompt. The student writes a great deal developing and explaining the meaning of the central question and its ambiguous resolution. The strength of this final portion of the essay is undoubtedly what earned it a near-perfect 8.

Student J:
After a solid but brief introduction in which the student poses that the central question in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin is "what does it mean to be free?," the student uses a variety of examples from the novel to expand on this in the context of slavery and "civilization." However, the student's development is rather general and civilization could be restated as "social expectation," although the student is clearly thinking of the exact words Twain gives Huck at the end of the novel. This is not an ideal approach to begin with, because while a teacher grading the essay may notice subtle nods towards events in novels that suggest understanding, these are by nature unsubstantiated and less impressive than a developed point. The student also does not give a very thorough explanation of how the different events he/she brings up involving Jim and Huck really contribute to answering the central question, thus earning a 6.

Student U:
While not a wholly terrible essay, it is simply too short to really answer the prompt adequately. Ultimately, the student has a solid central question, but it comes far too late relative to the overall length of the essay. Had the preceding content been simply an introduction to a more developed explanation of how the village in Things Fall Apart changes or stays the same, this would have been a much stronger response. Unfortunately, possibly due to time constraints or poor preparation, the student failed to do this. The result is unfocused, unresolved, and unfocused writing that confounds  the reader.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead- Summary and Analysis

Summary: R&G are walking along flipping coins and debating over the philosophical, mathematical, and existential consequences of a ridiculously long streak of heads. At the same time, they are attempting to recall what they are doing and why they are there, and conclude that they were sent for by a messenger on urgent business.

They soon encounter a roving group of players known as the Tragedians who boast their questionable but extensive repertoire, but get involved in a bet over the result of a coin flip that mysteriously ends with R&G noticing that it landed tails.

The next scene is in the castle. R&G spend the rest of their time in Denmark participating in the roles written out for them in the script of Hamlet but also interacting with the players and passing time with lengthy discussions, including a game of "questions."

When it comes time for them to take Hamlet to England, they simply appear on a boat. At this point in the play, R&G rehearse how they are going to address the king, and accidentally read a note intended for the king with instructions to kill Hamlet. Hamlet, overhearing the conversation, swaps this note for a replica calling for the immediate death of R&G. They only discover this when they act out their meeting with the English King with the Player and read the mandate themselves. Meanwhile, the Tragedians appear on the ship. Soon after, "pirates" invade, and "take" Hamlet, although this all happens very quickly and Hamlet seems to act much on his own accord, disappearing into a barrel. In their final encounter with the Tragedians, Guildenstern claims that the head player cannot and has not created a convincing death scene. Guildenstern stabs the Player with his own dagger and he appears fatally wounded, but then gets up and shows R&G that the dagger is a stage prop. The play ends with the announcement in the end of Hamlet  Act V when the ambassador announces that "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead."

Analysis: The play involves a great deal of dramatic irony and humorous devices, but also reaches deeply into absurdism and existentialism. The play also contains motifs of meta-reality, duality, and paradox. While many individual scenes have ironic elements, such as when R&G are not aware of the letter swap but the audience is, the entire play can be seen as a piece of dramatic irony, given that any informed viewer knows the main characters are doomed from the onset.

The meta nature of the play really becomes obvious when R&G witness their own deaths as part of a marionette production within a version of Hamlet staged as part of a production of the "Murther of Gonzago," which is really a production of Hamlet within the main plot of Hamlet. However, each version of Hamlet portrayed is ultimately a version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. In the film version, this meta-narrative extends even further, as the last scene suggests that all of the actions since the encounter with the players have been a production they in fact staged. Outside of that is the actual written play serving as the final layer. If we're counting, that's around five nested plays, but really they all interact to form a more cyclical pattern. The evidence for this would be when, during the Tragedians' rehearsal, the real Hamlet and Ophelia burst through doing (or acting out, depending on the desired degree of meta-reality) the Nunnery Scene.

As for duality, the coin flipping establishes itself as a metaphor for R&G's fate. It seems that with the reversal of a coin flip result, they are whisked away into the narrative of Hamlet. In a similar way, it almost seems up to chance whether the letter for the English King calls for Hamlet's death or their's. One could even say that the whole "To be or not to be" soliloquy, or Guildenstern's paraphrasing of it, is really the message driving this entire motif. The difference between life and death is just a single coin toss. However, this version contains an existential twist: Life and death are not two choices in the hands of the bearer. They are at the hands of the players, or rather the playwrights-- The ones who manufacture comedy, tragedy, and most importantly death itself. In this way, Shakespeare is the puppet master. When he leaves a gap of interpretive ambiguity, the characters are subject to it, and since novel interpretation has a degree of chance about it, so does the very existence of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Whether they live or do not, the choice is already written down for them somewhere, making this whole idea of chance rather paradoxical in the first place.

Quotes: "Where we went wrong was getting on a boat. We can move, of course, change direction, rattle about, but our movement is contained within a larger one that carries us along as inexorably as the wind and current." - Guildenstern

Guildenstern is distressed because the sequence of probabilities or dual realities that seemed completely in their hands have now converged on a point of no return. Until R&G got on a boat, they could have walked away from Denmark as free men. However, it seems from their perspective, as they are merely characters and thus incapable of perceiving the inevitability of their death, that they made this choice willingly. We, as an audience, would disagree. They appear on the boat the same way they appear in Elsinore and even at the beginning of the book. Maybe those were all choices, but for our two poor heroes, it is the only narrative that exists on paper.

"Player: You are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. That's enough.

Guildenstern: No-- it is not enough. To be told so little-- to such and end-- and still, finally, to be denied an explanation. "

This represents the confusion R&G must have over their own poorly defined existence. Because their characters in Hamlet are so flat and interchangeable, this becomes a character trait in the play. The cruel or tragic aspect is that Guildenstern has the emotion of a fully formed character but not sufficient definition as to grant him means of expressing or understanding what it is to be alive. No matter how hard he tries, he is met with confusion and contradiction. Perhaps he is not so flat after all. How much more human could this get?

"The only beginning is birth and the only end is death--if you can't count on that, what can you count on?"- Guildenstern

This quote also deals with existentialism. It is interesting because it gives the reader the suggestion that death comes as a relief-- the ultimate closure. Without the certainty that they woke up, or were born, they cannot be sure of their own reality. That is why Guildenstern's question, "what is the first thing you remember?" is so difficult to answer. Rosencrantz has faith that an answer to that question would involve confirmation of his birth, but R&G have no defined origin. Thus, he has forgotten.

Theme Statement: Life and past lives are patterns, repeated cycles, that make death and the process of dying a recurring and theatrical motif, within which we, the players who do not know our roles, are governed by the whim of the playwrights, who do.

Response to Course Material

The past few weeks in AP Lit have involved a great deal of work with Hamlet and most recently, Tom Stoppard's play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. For Hamlet, we finished reading the play and watched a film version by the Royal Shakespeare Company, we had detailed in-class discussions regarding a whole range of important themes and motifs, and came up with an overarching theme statement as a class. We also did an interesting online activity where we all contributed to a shared document discussing different clips from Hamlet movies. I found this helpful, but also a bit cumbersome because it lacked the traditional forum format and so it was difficult to see the order and direction of the replies.

After discussing Hamlet and writing an open prompt, we began reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. This was a very different perspective on Hamlet which provided a refreshingly existential and absurdist interpretation that the traditional version lacks. I especially liked the way the characters contemplate their reality and struggle to create meaning out of an unmercifully sparse characterization. It almost seems as if this perspective allows Stoppard to criticize or parody aspects of Hamlet. Once we finished reading the play, we started watching a film version. I have watched this version before and greatly enjoy it, especially the way the setting contributes new ideas to the original text. I also find Rosencrantz’ accidental discoveries of Newtonian physics hilarious.

Hamlet Summary and Analysis

Summary:

Hamlet returns from the University of Wittenberg to find that his father, Lord Hamlet, is dead, and that his uncle Claudius has married the Queen Gertrude and taken the throne for himself. When watchmen and Hamlet's friend, Horatio, inform him that they have seen the ghost of his father, Hamlet seeks him out and talks to him. The ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius murdered him, has usurped the throne, and that Hamlet must avenge his death but not physically punish Gertrude for her infidelity.

Hamlet assumes the task and uses mad behavior as a way to survey the events going on around him. However, this causes trouble when he violently rejects his love interest, Ophelia, confusing her father Polonius in regard to the source of his behavior. Hamlet sets out to prove to himself that the ghost is telling the truth by having a troop of actors perform The Murther of Gonzago, whose plot starkly imitates Claudius' crime. The ploy works and Claudius becomes visibly distressed.

As a result, Claudius plans to send Hamlet away from the castle. Hamlet causes several deaths in an attempt to kill Claudius. In the first, he meets with his mother in her closet and, upon erroneously suspecting Claudius of eavesdropping, makes a fatal stab at Polonius through the curtains. This murder inspires Claudius to send Hamlet away for England with instructions for him to be executed. In addition, the grief of losing a lover and a father to madness drives Ophelia into a melancholy state of insanity herself, leading to an intentional or possibly unintentional suicide. Meanwhile, Hamlet escapes the boat carrying him to England and changes the letter to demand the deaths of his friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Laertes is so stricken by his sister's and father's deaths that he plots with Claudius to kill Hamlet once and for all.

Laertes challenges Hamlet to a fencing match where Laertes will have a poisoned rapier and Claudius will present Hamlet with a poisoned drink as a celebration of his victory, should he evade Laertes. However, this plan backfires when Hamlet wins the first two rounds and Gertrude drinks the poisoned goblet to celebrate. Laertes becomes impatient and strikes Hamlet, who then realizes the whole plan and strikes Laertes with his own sword. As Laertes and Gertrude succumb to the poison, Hamlet stabs and kills Claudius and finally dies. As this happens, Fortinbras invades Elsinor and we see the end of the Danish royalty.

Analysis:
Useful Quotes:

"Oh that this too too solid flesh would melt and resolve itself into a dew." and
"The funeral bake'd meats do coldly furnish forth the marriage tables"
-Shows Hamlet's frustration at the situation between Gertrude and Claudius and sets the tone for his impression of the events at Elsinore before he encounters his father's ghost. The second quote especially shows his anger at the brevity of the mourning period for his father and the hasty marriage that followed.

"O cursed spite that ever I was meant to set it right"
-Expresses Hamlet's frustration at the task set before him of avenging his father's death and supposedly restoring order to the kingdom, although this is quite far from what actually happens.

"To be or not to be, that is the question, Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to go willingly into a sea of troubles and by opposing end them."
-Part of maybe the most famous English soliloquy ever written, this expresses perfectly the dilemma of the will to live, and whether suicide is a relief from the pain of living.

"Conscience doth make cowards of us all"
-From the same speech, this applies to Hamlet's overall behavior. While he is talking about the way our perception of reality makes us cling to life in response to the fear of the uncertain, it can also be taken as meaning that he lets his contemplation of everything around him get in the way of acting. His trepidation over carrying out the murder fuels the direction of the entire play.

Theme Statement: In Shakespeare's Hamlet, a quest for vengeance creates a cycle of death and insanity fueled by frustration, sexual desire, and a number of hidden agendas that resolve tragically.

The tone of the work is hard to determine from the text alone and often varies depending on interpretation. However, Hamlet's character is often portrayed as having a dark sense of humor coupled with frustration and cunning. These qualities manifest themselves in the language of the play. Symbolism is most prominent in the use of props chosen in the production, but one clear symbol is Yorick's skull, which represents the passing from life to death and asks questions about the meaning of life in the context of death, which is the very question Hamlet ponders in his famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy. The play makes many different allusions, some of which are so obscure to modern readers that the origins are not clear, such as the "famous ape" mentioned in the closet scene. The imagery is open to interpretation in many parts, but the description of the castle at night when the ghost appears suggests a dark and shadowy landscape, and the description of Ophelia's drowning paints a clear picture of the water enveloping her billowing garments and dragging her to "muddy death."
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Response to Open Prompt

A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, it may seem hard to find an object or entity that functions as a symbol simply because there is little mention of specific objects. However, one prop which serves as a powerful symbol is Yorick's scull, introduced near the end of the play. The skull not only represents the passing from life to death, but also a happier time in Hamlet's life. It reveals a gentler side to Hamlet's perspective on death in contrast to his reaction to the death of his father and Ophelia. The skull allows for a quiet period of reflection on the nature of mortality amidst the psychological trauma surrounding the rest of the play, and thus provides powerful insight.

When the Gravedigger finds the skull as he is clearing a space for Ophelia's corpse, Hamlet does not initially recognize it. However, after inquiring, the Gravedigger tells him that it belongs to Yorick, the king's jester. Upon hearing this, Hamlet launches into a speech where he fondly recalls Yorick as a "fellow of infinite jest." Often, this scene is portrayed with Hamlet affectionately holding the skull. The contrast between the physical remains of the person and the memory of their past life is at the essence of the skull's symbolic meaning. Hamlet shows a love for the ghost of his father, but this love comes with a great pain, as the ghost urges him toward violence and revenge. In contrast to the supernatural remains of Hamlet's father, the literal remains of Yorick bring nothing but pleasant recollection. Hamlet's perspective on death seems to shift. Instead of tormenting him, it brings a sentimental bond.

Later in the scene, Hamlet shifts his perspective entirely when he jumps into Ophelia's open grave. I Yorick's time-worn skull represents a peaceful passing, the fresh corpse of Ophelia is anything but. In this way, the skull shows that death is a natural process, and that because Ophelia's death was in itself unnatural, Hamlet cannot see that she is subject to the same forces. The skull reminds Hamlet of a happier time, perhaps temporarily restoring balance to his perception of death. Hamlet's lack of respect for the corpse of Polonius, his angry attempt to recover the body of Ophelia, and his haunting encounter with the ghost of Lord Hamlet all show maddening and negative associations with the dead, and perhaps through their contrast to Yorick imply that an unhealthy take on death is key to Hamlet's madness.

Overall, the skull has a minor but powerful role in Hamlet, and helps to illuminate some of the patterns in Hamlet's behavior that are related to the source of his madness. While its symbolic significance does not have a direct impact on the plot, it does on the interpretation of the plot and sheds new light on the meaning of death, which is central to understanding the entire work.

2009 Open Prompt Student Responses

Student 3A Response: This response demonstrates a highly sophisticated understanding of the prompt and successfully uses the essay to discuss the depth with which the actual wild duck in Henrik Ibsen's play, The Wild Duck, serves as a symbol. The student starts by explaining the purpose of a symbol in literature from a general perspective and then provides enough plot explanation to give the reader enough of an understanding of the symbol to continue with more specific examples. Although the explanation does take the reader through the plot, every point ultimately contributes to an effective and detailed discussion of the role of the symbol. While the handwriting was not the clearest, it did not impede the clarity of the writing. Because of the overall sophistication and treatment of the prompt, this was clearly one of the strongest essays the College Board received and thus is certainly deserving of a 9/9.

Student 3B Response: This essay lacks the sophistication of the first one, but still manages to form an in-depth analysis of Tennessee Williams’ play, A Street Car Named Desire, by explaining the role of lampshades in revealing the character traits of Blanche. Overall, this essay could have benefitted from more structure, especially at the beginning. It seems that the student was not sure what angle he/she wanted to take on the play but became increasingly sure of the direction as it went on, causing what I guessed to be the thesis statement to occur later and without a formal introduction. I was only able to figure out what the key points were by following the focus of the paragraphs and reading the conclusion. In addition, the student only seems to focus on the lampshade’s importance to Blanche and perhaps could have used its relationship to other characters to help strengthen the argument. Despite these issues it still earned a respectable 6/9.

Student 3C Response: While this student seems to understand the plot of Things Fall Apart, by an author that he/she neglected to mention, the essay severely lacks depth and gives a very poor overall representation of how the symbol (a machete) is important in forwarding the plot and development of the main characters. The essay uses first person, including the dreaded “in my opinion,” to start what should have been a critical point, completely eliminating any kind of authority from the tone of the piece. The sentences in general are far too casual and short, imitating normal speech more than a grammatically precise analysis. Aside from issues with sentence structure and convention, the response also fails to convince the reader that the student knows exactly what his/her textual references really mean. If he/she does, they are covered briefly and imprecisely, with little to no structure. Because of these serious shortcomings, the essay earned a mediocre 4/9. 

Response to Course Material

During the past few weeks, we have almost exclusively devoted our class time and homework to Shakespeare's Hamlet, whether by reading the text as a group, discussing it, taking practice tests over it, or writing forums about related materials. While we usually have other activities in addition to the major book we are reading, I think it has been good to focus primarily on Hamlet because it is by far the most difficult literature we have covered this year. The archaic diction is dense on its own, but even understanding the plot requires considerable effort. Hamlet is probably one of the most written-about works in the English language due to its deep psychological insight and discussion of human nature which has opened criticism and analysis of all kinds from the Elizabethan era to the present day.

As part of our own analysis, we responded to three sources in an online forum. The first was an audio about convicts learning and performing Hamlet in a high-security prison. This was especially thought-provoking because of the emotional ties some of the prisoners formed with the characters and each other through the process. The second was an account of an American woman trying to explain Hamlet to tribal members of the Tiv in West Africa. While intriguing, I found the style mildly condescending towards the tribe members and had a difficult time seeing the great revelation about Hamlet's universality she claimed to be writing about. The third was a poem by Rimbaud meditating on Ophelia's death and her connection to nature. Out of the three, this was the most helpful for developing some thoughts of my own on her behavior in the play.

Aside from Hamlet, we also completed a forum post about the literature from first semester. I ended up connecting themes in Ceremony to Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese," but other posts were regarding the other books we covered.

In class this week, we will be watching a version of Hamlet and annotating on our own. I think this will help to improve the quality of our next discussion.

Response to 2008 Open Prompt

"In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas or behavior of a minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or strengths of the main character. Choose a novel or play in which a minor character serves as a foil for the main character. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the relation between the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the work."

Because they often demonstrate qualities about the main character that are not easily conveyed through mere exposition, the most successful foils appear in novels that focus on the development or coming of age of the main character. Such an example is The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, which centers around the life of a Mexican-born girl named Esperanza living in a poor Latino section of Chicago. A major subject of the book, which is told in a series of vignettes, is the role of women in a society that favors early marriage and male authority. Esperanza's friend, Sally, serves to highlight her own resistance to these trends through her poor judgement and promiscuity.

In several of the early vignettes, such as "Chanclas," "Hips," or "Family of Little Feet," we see Esperanza developing a sense of self-consciousness that comes with sexual maturity. In "Hips," her friends sing a jump-rope rhyme about wanting hips when they grow up. In "Family of Little Feet," Esperanza sees the risks of wearing high heels when her friend is approached by a much older man. Esperanza's sexual awareness leads to a larger degree of caution about men. As a result, Cisneros introduces Sally as a friend that Esperanza wants to protect from sexual exploitation. Sally contrasts physically in that she is described as naturally attractive while Esperanza sees herself as ugly. She also contrasts behaviorally in the way she agrees to kiss several boys to get her keys back from a threatening boy, Tito. Esperanza tries to defend her, but ends up hiding behind a tree. On one hand, both Sally and Esperanza come from unhappy households, but Sally faces domestic abuse and seems to retaliate through promiscuity. On the other hand, Esperanza uses discomfort as a means to separate herself and grow as an individual, which is why she pursues writing.

In addition to dealing with sexual awareness and domestic instability differently, Esperanza and Sally follow different paths in society. As we find out in "Linoleum Roses," Sally chooses to marry a much older man before high school, essentially submitting to the authority of an older man in order to escape that of her parents. Esperanza chooses to find independence instead, strongly desiring to leave Mango Street altogether. In "Red Clowns," when Esperanza is sexually assaulted and blames Sally for not being there to protect her, it is implied that Sally is not there because she is with boys. In this way, Esperanza and Sally are reacting to sexual interaction in completely opposite ways: For Sally it is an escape and for Esperanza it is entrapment.

The way Sally and Esperanza react and interact in the novel helps to illustrate Esperanza's need to escape and her association of marriage with submission and failure, and independence with empowerment and success. These associations clarify a great deal about Esperanza's motivations and thus make Sally an integral part of the novel's progression and message.

Open Prompt 2008

Student 3A: This student writes about Lindo and Huang as foils in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. While a considerable amount of writing is devoted to the summary of the plot, it ultimately serves as effective evidence for the argument. The student does an excellent job using this evidence to both correctly portray the contrast among these two characters and at the same time demonstrate a deep understanding of the novel's meaning, thus deserving an 8. These types of essays have considerably more leeway in how they are allowed to analyze the literature because there is not available text to use as evidence and shape what a "correct" analysis should be. In addition, the analyses tend to be more deeply focused on one aspect or situation in the novel because the students cannot possibly tie together all of the material in the book with such limited time. For example, complete analysis of The Joy Luck Club would require a stance on all of the vignettes while this focuses on only the ones required to answer the prompt when regarding the novel's overarching message

Student 3B: This essay does a fine job of analyzing Celie as a character and how she is influenced by other minor characters, suggesting that the student focused on the part of the prompt that mentioned secondary characters. Unfortunately, the essay falls short when it fails to properly regard one character as a foil. In addition, it fails to mention the author of The Color Purple and in addition has a style that implies the reader is very familiar with the course of the novel. Because I am not, I had a hard time following exactly how some of the major references were intended to forward the argument. No doubt the graders were indeed familiar with it, and thus recognized the merit of the argument regardless of a lack of clarity and focus. Because of this, it earns a respectable 6. Had the student made it clear whether Shug or Celie's father are the foil, it may have been in contention for a higher score.

Student 3C: This student chose to tackle The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and although had some promising comparisons between Hassan and Baba, they were simply stated and not developed, nor supported with examples from the text. The student also seems to confuse the role of a foil in general by suggesting both characters help to demonstrate the same qualities in each other, even after mentioning how they contrasted in other ways. The essay also lacks organization, which is not surprising since it did not contain great deal available to organize. The "introduction" does little more than confuse the reader, especially with the use of a word that I simply could not recognize due to both the lack of context and poor handwriting. Overall, the essay gives a muddled interpretation of the novel with little overall analysis and little understanding of what a foil actually is, earning it a 4.

The House on Mango Street Summary and Analysis

The House on Mango Street is told in the first person limited by the main character, Esperanza, in a series of vignettes. The beginning deals with her frustrations about living on Mango Street and how she hopes to move away and have a house of her own. The novel paints a picture of Latina culture as we see different family members and interactions at school through Esperanza's eyes. The novel also covers a great deal about Esperanza's sexual development, as she deals with Sally, a more sexually adventurous friend, and the burden of living as a Latina female. To endure these challenges, writes. In the end she resolves to return to Mango Street to help those who remain after she moves on.

The novel uses a great deal of imagery and is written in a personal and at times childish tone. The motifs include women looking out windows, representing lack of satisfaction with married life, and clouds, which function as both a motif and symbol representing possibly hopes and aspirations. Trees are a prominent symbol as Esperanza seems to liken her own struggle to that of a tree attempting to escape its routes to reach the sky (related to clouds).

"In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting."
Indicates that she is of two origins, the Mexican and American, and they both play a role in her identity, sometimes conflicting but mainly producing a mix of cultural associations. It could also suggest that her parents consider her to be a glimmer of promise amidst poverty and social injustice-- a hope born out of sadness.

"Sally, you lied, you lied. He wouldn’t let me go. He said I love you, I love you, Spanish girl."
This is from "Red Clowns" where Esperanza is sexually assaulted. The quote shows her conflicts with Sally and her struggle to confront the misconceptions about boys and sex that she has seen in popular culture which contrasts with the stark and unforgiving reality about what can happen to vulnerable women at a very impressionable age.

In Cisneros' novel, we see that one can overcome significant hardship in the form of poverty, racism, gender inequality, and abuse by finding individual strength and understanding, allowing one to embrace his/her origins to help his/her family or society of origin.

Response to Course Material

Despite having a break during this blog cycle, we have covered a large amount of material, mostly related to The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. After annotating on our own, we discussed many different motifs and themes in class. I found the most interesting motif to be the way that many of the older women look out the window. This not only represented their unhappiness, but also commented on the nature of the woman's role in poor Latino neighborhoods and perhaps the institution of marriage as it relates to educational and professional opportunities, or the lack of them, for Latina women. I thought we covered a lot of other interesting points during class, especially when we participated in the "round table discussion." I thought this gave a lot of people a chance to share insights that they would not have contributed in the larger group.

We also briefly covered different literary eras and critical perspectives in a power point presentation. Most of the presentation was on information I covered in detail in American Lit, but there were a few new elements as well. It was interesting to hear about postmodern elements such as the simulacrum, which we discussed in American Lit, but not in as much detail. Mrs. Holmes also mentioned how contemporary literature implements "stream of consciousness" writing. It's surprising how much we rely on antecedents to follow traditional prose, and the lack of them makes even simple descriptions turgid.

We also recently started Shakespeare's Hamlet. In preparation, we read two articles about Elizabethan theater. I look forward to reading Hamlet in class and beginning to decipher this incredibly complex piece of writing that has captivated scholars for centuries. In eighth grade, I read it on my own and analyzed in from a psychoanalytical perspective. This time I look forward to seeing it from other angles and forming a stronger understanding of the play.

Response to question 2 from 2008 exam

     In this excerpt from Desai's Fasting, Feasting, the tone can be characterized by Arun's insecurity and fear of his current situation, along with possible disgust. The passage can be broken into three different sections that build upon each other to show how uncomfortable Arun is with following his American hosts to the beach. The first section is from line one to twelve and shows general reluctance to follow Mrs. Patton to the beach. The second is from thirteen to thirty and shows Arun's awkward interaction with Melanie and an interesting depiction of Mrs. Patton. The final section, from line 31 to 55 shifts from a portrayal of Arun's actions to his observations about the town on his way to the beach. This serves to contrast urban and natural settings and how they align with his perspective.
   
    The first section uses a great deal of negative language, primarily when Mrs. Patton exclaims, using epizeuxis, "No, no, no. We're all three of us going." This helps to contrast Arun's quiet but persistent refusal to go to the beach with Mrs. Patton's desire to take advantage of the summertime. When Desai writes in line 1 that Arun "cannot plead work" it shows that he is much more comfortable serving his host family rather than becoming a member of it. In preferring work over leisure, he is not conforming to the American treatment of the summer. As we see later, this behavior is not intended to spite Mrs. Patton but has to do with his perception of the beach and nature in general. Overall, these opening paragraphs help to establish the reluctant mood Arun possesses on his walk to the beach.

   In the second section, the most important interaction is that between Melanie and Arun, which shows that Arun assumes the role of a servant over a reluctant guest and temporary member of the family by first acknowledging that Melanie can "lag even better" and then accepting that he should "help carry those baskets anyway." The other important interaction is between Arun and Mrs. Patton where she gives him a "radiant, lipsticked smile" in exchange for receiving help with the beach provisions. This presents Mrs. Patton as nearly a caricature of American ignorance with her blond hair and lipstick, entirely unaware that Arun's deliberately servile nature is not a gesture of politeness but rather discontent and insecurity. After all, she is the only one actually interested in enjoying summer for the sake of summer, as we can see with the line from Porgy and Bess.

  While Mrs. Patton represents the American way of life during the summer and thus embraces nature, Desai characterizes Arun in exactly the opposite way in the third section, where he looks at the wilderness and the "insidious green" with contempt. This response signifies his mistrust of the new environment. He "passionately" prefers the post office and "picture framers" because it is associated with labor and security. Desai portrays Arun in this way to make a statement about his failure to acclimate to the American way of life and its entanglement with the natural world, of which he wants no part.