Class Notes: 1/24-2/4

In Semester 2, we will be focusing on significance

Lecture Summary: Medieval and Allegory

• Allegory:
• Extended Metaphor
• TSTL Heroines = Too Stupid To Live
• readers irrationally rationalize them because they have previous knowledge of the story - makes stories plausible
• Medieval Allegory: figures personify qualities like gluttony or truth
• Everyman:
• how to refer to something having the qualities from a different era
• EX: Romantic/romantic ; Existential/existential
• J.P. Sartre was an Existentialist/my cat's existentialist qualities are impressive

Lecture Summary: Archetypal and Mythological Criticism

• Archetype: a plot, setting, symbolic object, or any other element of fiction seen repeated over and over with its core meaning unchanged
• James Frazer believed that myths have similarities from culture to culture
• Carl Jung speculated that the reason for these recurring patterns was the "collective unconscious" shared by all humans
• Monomyth: one myth so pervasive that it unifies almost all other mythology (described by Joseph Campbell)
• Northrop Frye postulated that there is one story being repeatedly told - sometimes telling the whole story, sometimes just a part - but all can be placed into a greater context
• Romance: travels full circle
• fundamental societal text
• happy ending
• Tragedy: only a fall
• sad ending
• Irony: begin and end at a low point
• "anti-romance"
• Comedy: only a rise
• appears during periods of social strife
• social rewards of money or love

Reflective Essay: 2/27

Copper Taste in My Mouth

(*Note: This is an example college essay.  Neither the date published nor the specific publisher were mentioned)

This reflective essay was taken from a website called teenink.com where teens can write articles and submit them for others to read.  "Copper Taste in my Mouth" is a college essay that someone submitted and was voted #1 by readers.  Personally, I have a hard time agreeing with this rating.

The piece begins with short, choppy sentences.  "It’s a story. Not a simple one. Not an attractive one. But, it’s my story. I think I should tell it."  Yes, this is eye-catching and dramatic, however, I can't help but think it sounds a little cliche.  This melodramatic syntax is hard to take seriously and therefore distracts from the effectiveness of the piece.

The reader is set up for a thrilling tale full of twists and intrigue after this opening but are never satisfied.  A short story about watching a car accident and tasting copper (which was never explained) did not match the high expectations.  Although the imagery was clear, I believe that there could have been much more emotion added into a story about witnessing a tragic event.

The essay ends without effectively wrapping up.  With the cliche-feeling of the piece, I felt as though there should have been at least a moral in the conclusion; something about selflessness or driving safety.  However, we are just left with a meaningless pun: "Life is what you make of it, even if it’s hard to swallow."

This essay may work for college admissions officers because it is unique and contains humor.  But, with its childish techniques and underdeveloped story, it would never pass for an AP essay.

Editorial Analysis: 2/27

Have You Driven a Smart Phone Lately? written February 26, 2011

This editorial article was written by Maureen Dowd for the New York Times.  She begins her article by telling a story about her experiences with technology while driving.  This use of a personal experience is an excellent way to add imagery into an editorial.  The reader feels like they are there, in the car with her, feeling her fear as she looks up for a 2-second check of text messages to find herself inches from a truck.  This is an effective way to get the audience emotionally involved in her point of view, and bolsters her argument.

From the title to the meat of the editorial, Dowd utilizes humor in language to add to her article:

"Ford, Chrysler, Chevy and other car companies are betting on the proposition that, as long as your eyes don’t stray from the road for more than a moment, your other senses can enjoy a cornucopia of diversions on your dashboard."

She especially uses sarcasm to make the topic of safety while driving engaging.  Humor is perhaps the easiest way to interest the population most affected by the issue of distractions while driving - teenagers.  They will be attracted to this strategy of argument and therefore her editorial will be more successful.

As an AP Essay, this piece would be very successful.  First, it establishes a clear, unique voice which captures the reader while managing to make successful points.  Also, Dowd adds a counter-argument.  She recognizes that some say that because people will be using technology while driving anyway, car manufacturers should make it as safe for them to do so as possible.  She nicely addresses this by stating that it would be better to "curb the addiction, rather than indulging it".

Book Review: 2/27

Book Review: 'Water for Elephants' written July 12, 2007

This book review by Elizabeth Judd analysed the book "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen.  It was extremely informative and insightful and therefore the reader is receiving the best a book review can offer.

Judd begins by giving a detailed summary of the plot.  Although her summary was lengthy, there was much plot to cover in this book and she did a good job shortening it as much as possible.  Also, her use of honorific diction throughout the summary provided the reader with a small glimpse of her true critique to come.

It was especially interesting that Judd chose to use imagery in this review.  She stated that the circus (the main setting of the novel) symbolized "the warped vigor of capitalism".  This deep analysis of the author's message is important to add into a review because it gives the reader perhaps the most important information about the book's message.  Judd backed up her claims, but she could have used more examples from the text in order to make her claims more valid.

Judd states that "Gruen's prose is merely serviceable" which is a bold statement to make without any explanation.  Also, it is interesting that the language that Judd exemplified in this review (which was advanced and adjective-heavy) would be so much deeper than her opinion of Gruen's.  In other words, she claims that Gruen used "serviceable" prose, and therefore the audience that reads that novel will probably be at that reading level.  It is therefore strange to write a review catering to a more advanced reader than the book seemed to be intended for.  She could have fixed this by writing with simpler diction.

Overall, I thought that Judd's book review was successful.  The audience is left feeling well-informed about the plot of the book and also about some of the critiques.  However, using simpler diction would have ensured that the review could reach a wider range of readers, especially those that the book was intentionally written for.

Editorial Analysis

Editorial

This editorial, written by Bob Herbert of the New York Times, takes the stance that the lower class is underrepresented in government.  He uses a angry tone which is demonstrated through use of strong diction such as "destroy", "absurd", and "desperate".  Herbert describes the poverty in the US as "spreading like a wildfire in a drought".  Words and impactful metaphors with bad connotations such as these make the most impact and are successful in supporting his argument.

A tactic the Herbert uses is to make the government seem weak to the reader, without really ever saying so outright.  Once he says that the "government officials, from the president on down, are too busy kissing the bejeweled fingers of the megarich" which makes the reader believe that the government is too weak to stand up for itself.  Also, he says that a new government official is "obsessed with getting Democrats to be more subservient to business."  The word 'subserviant' is not something that the people would like to associate with the government, and thus Herbert is painting a successful picture of a frail government.

Another literary technique that Herbert employs is the use of rhetorical questions.  They are placed thoughtfully and help create an urgent feel to his essay.  Also, these questions keep the reader actively engaged in the writing because it draws their own mind into it, instead of reading about something that might not relate to them specifically.  Another good way of keeping the reader's mind active throughout the essay is Herbert's differing syntax.  He mixes short sentences with longer ones and also uses the dash.  These provide emphasis on certain opinions and make the essay flow effortlessly.

Herbert relies heavily on statistics to illustrate his message.  While his statistics do just that, the amount he uses is a little overwhelming.  Numbers do not keep the reader as engaged as words.  He could have been more impactful having less statistics, because they begin to lose their harshness very quickly.

All in all, this essay was effective.  Because of the strong voice backed up with examples and statistics, Herbert writes appropriately for an AP essay.

Reflective Essay

Essay

This essay, entitled "Me Talk Pretty One Day" is written by David Sedaris and is an excerpt from his book Me Talk Pretty One Day.  Sedaris is, among many things, a comedic writer and this essay was completely in-keeping with his award-winning satiric style.  He is thoroughly engrossing as he explains the horrors of his French class.  The reader can understand perfectly what it was like to be in class with his crazy French teacher, which is a huge accomplishment.  Such descriptions as "she crouched low for her attack" are simple ways that Sedaris emphasizes the unique personality.  It is effective in making a possibly long description to be simple as well as informative.

A literary device that Sedaris employs is a humorous use of diction.  He says that he is having trouble picking up the French language, so when he is quoting his French teacher, he uses gibberish in place of the French words he didn't know.  For example, he says, “'Were you always this palicmkrexis?' she asked. 'Even a fiuscrzsa ticiwelmun knows that a typewriter is feminine.'"  By using this technique, the reader experiences the same confusion that Sedaris did.  This way, we understand more of his story while at the same time providing a humorous subtlety that keeps the interest piqued.

Other than his talented use of comedy to relate a story, Sedaris also uses other techniques to keep the reader's attention.  One of the best ways he does this is by varying sentence structures.  His sentences do not always begin with "I", but rather some with gerunds or prepositions.  This keeps the story flowing and keeps it from becoming monotonous.  The flow is kept moving.  Also, he shows his talent for writing by using advanced punctuation such as colons, semicolons, and dashes.  These are used perfectly and help to emphasize important details and break up the writing, without becoming overbearing.

As an AP Essay, this would work perfectly.  His syntax and diction are advanced and well-used so as to add to the meaning of the work.  The format is flowing and lively and his light, silly tone keeps the reader interested.  Even though his tone is less formal, it does not detract from the story.  I am impressed with his ability to create a brilliant picture with little to no unnecessary detail.  These are all factors that are important on the AP test, and therefore I believe he would get a top-marking grade.

Book Review

Book Review

Brittany Brown's book review of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was only semi-informative.  Brown spends 4 paragraphs of 8 summarizing the plot instead of stating opinions.  A good book review could summarize plot briefly, but I hardly call half of a review brief.  However, her main critique of the book is how it is targeted to too young of an age group because of its mature themes.  So, I can understand how a summary would emphasize this point, but maybe not one this involved.

Brown had two main critiques about the book: that its themes were too mature for the younger audience and that the editing was not perfect.  These were backed up well with evidence which was helpful to the reader.  Her praises, though, left some to be desired.  She stated more than once that she "couldn't put the book down" and had "one of the most enthralling plots" she had ever read.  To me, this is a huge compliment to a piece of literature, but Brown did not elaborate much on them.  She focussed much on the "enthralling" plot (how many times can one person use the word 'enthralling?!), but not on much of anything else.  Since she had already told us all about the plot in the first half of the essay, I was disappointed to find that she really didn't say anything new.

The author's use of argumentative was juvenile.  Her most powerful statements and adjectives were used over and over ("I couldn't put it down" and "enthralling") and eventually they lost their strong meaning.  A better tactic would be to use such strong language sparingly and spend more time on explaining them.  This way, a reader will better understand each individual claim better and therefore understand the strength the whole message.

Also, I found the formatting of the essay to be quite difficult.  She begins with a summary of the main themes, then goes into plot summary, then a critique, then a history of the author, etc...  This order is confusing to the reader, which is exactly opposite of the intent of a book review.  A book review should be clean and have a clear message.  It is helpful that Brown begins and ends her essay with her thesis, but the writing in the middle should be just as easy to follow and informative.

In conclusion, while the reader receives a clear opinion of the literature, Brown could have easily written a cleaner, better fomatted, and more persuasive essay to convince the reader that this book is so fantastic.  It is interesting that she critiques Hunger Games for not having better editing, because this is exactly what her essay needs.