Open Prompt Revision #4

1.      1971. The significance of a title such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is so easy to discover. However, in other works (for example, Measure for Measure) the full significance of the title becomes apparent to the reader only gradually. Choose a work and show how the significance of their respective titles is developed through the authors' use of devices such as contrast, repetition, allusion, and point of view.

The title of a novel is always one of the most significant factors that attracts the reader to begin reading its story. Unlike pieces with straightforward titles, books with meaningful names such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky allows the reader to continue towards an extra step in their reading process and interpret the connection between the title of the novel to the story itself. After finishing Chbosky's piece, the significance of the indication behind the title gradually becomes clearer to the reader and an ultimate metaphorical reference or connection can be determined through the title.  It can be determined that The Perks of Being a Wallflower is not a novel about a flower, but is a metaphorical name of Charlie his role as the “listener” for the people around him.             

Chbosky's epistolary novel opens with Charlie's first letter to a mysterious person he refers to as "friend." Through these letters, Charlie shares his point of view of the events that occurred during the past while also including updates on his present life as a freshman in high school.  His innocent sense towards these occurrences reveals his nature as an extremely lucid young teenager and also uncovers his personality as a quiet and thoughtful person who tends to blend in with the background.Instead of being the center of attention, Charlie portrays himself as the one who prefers to watch from an outside point of view which ultimately associates him to being a wallflower. 

The contrast between Charlie's personality traits and the other characters within the novel also reinforces the idea that Charlie is the wallflower referred to in the title. Wallflowers are seen to be uniquely beautiful and delicate, which is an exact match to Charlie's characteristics. Charlie's intelligence enables himself to see the good in all the people around him while alsoexpressing himself through words from the heart. Unlike the other characters that he encounters, Charlie is unique through the fact that he is extremely sensitive and straightforward about his feelings which many of the characters are unable to relate to. This can be seen through the part of the story where Charlie tells Sam about his feelings. Charlie explicitly explains the dream he had about her despite the fact that it was inappropriate and although he risks being judged by Sam, his confession causes Sam to appreciate his honesty. Chbosky's way of portraying the contrasting characteristics places extreme emphasis on Charlie's embodiment of the wallflower.   
Although the novel never clearly states so, it can be seen that through his personality and unique way of associating with the people that Charlie definitely holds the qualities of what someone calls a wallflower. Charlie's lack of prejudice against people like his friend Patrick's abusive homosexual relationship with the star quarterback exemplifies his purity and faith in people. Chbosky's novel may not have included an obvious title to decipher from the beginning of the read like The Adventures of Hucklberry Finn, but instead it contains elements that require a gradual understanding which eventually leads the reader to make a connection between Charlie and the title itself.

Open Prompt Revision #3

1.      Prompt: 2003, Form B. Novels and plays often depict characters caught between colliding cultures -- national, regional, ethnic, religious, institutional. Such collisions can call a character's sense of identity into question. Select a novel or play in which a character responds to such a cultural collision. Then write a well-organized essay in which you describe the character's response and explain its relevance to the work as a whole.

It is almost inevitable for a person who has just moved in from a different state or country to have an initial feeling of being out of place. The sense of struggling to fit into an unfamiliar environment and facing certain barriers that culturally collide with what one is use to certainly applies to Young Ju from An Na’s novel, A Step from Heaven. Young Ju experiences such collisions at the mere age of four after moving from her small village in Korea to America, the mysterious paradise-like land she knows as “Mi Gook”. By immigrating to America,the culture that Young Ju grew up with collides with the culture in America which transforms her into an Americanized young adult and ultimately causes her to lose her sense of self identity.  

After moving to America,Young Ju begins to face many difficulties that hinders her sense of self identity. Due to her family's decision of immigrating while she was at a premature age, Young Ju grows up facing the struggles of trying to combine the Korean cultures at home with the American nationality around her. This factor consumes her young life as she grows up battling her parent's expectations of her being the perfect "Mi Gook" girl and the pressures of still remembering the country of which she came from. Young Ju's conflicting ideas of conforming to the American culture while still holding on to her Korean roots causes her to become bewildered of her self identity.

Young Ju's ethnicity also plays a large role into her family's economic decision. Due to the fact that she belongs to an immigrant family, Young Ju is forced to face hard experiences that ultimately cause her to question her depiction of herself and her culture. Young Ju's family is placed under hard economic situations which not only causes her to become embarrassed of her own heritage but also   holds her back from progressing in accepting the new world around her. Young Ju so ashamed of her family's condition that she begins to isolate herself from making any new friends while creating lies in order to cover up the truth. Young Ju's loneliness and lack of confidence in America only causes her to become more lost within herself and skews her depiction of who she truly is. 

 The experience that Young Ju undergoes after immigrating to America was not only a cultural collision, but also one of the main causes of Young Ju's obscure sense in self identity. The changes in which Young Ju encounters causes her to grow and mature much quicker than normal and ultimately places so much responsibility on her shoulders that she is left to make a decision that will change the rest of her life. Although Young Ju's life after immigration caused her sense of self identity to become skewed and became increasingly difficult for her and her family, she was able to face the hardships which ultimately caused her to become a stronger and more ambitious young woman.

Open Prompt Revision #2

1.      1997. Novels and plays often include scenes of weddings, funerals, parties, and other social occasions. Such scenes may reveal the values of the characters and the society in which they live. Select a novel or play that includes such a scene and, in a focused essay, discuss the contribution the scene makes to the meaning of the work as a whole. You may choose a work from the list below or another novel or play of literary merit.

Social occasions are oftentimes used within a novel to reflect a character's way of portraying him or herself. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, The Great Gatsby, the name Jay Gatsby was far from unfamiliar to those who resided in the wealthy side of Long Island area during the 1920s. Gatsby's name reflected his legendary lavish parties which always consisted of an unlimited supply of alcohol, food, and partying. This, along with his mysteriously large sum of money, was what made The Gatsby so great. The parties of which Jay Gatsby threw not only succeeded in accomplishing a well-known name and status for him, but it also contributed towards creating the false image of his high class value.

Beginning with the first few chapters of the novel, Gatsby's presence is introduced into the story through periodic sightings of him during the night. By not immediately introducing Gatsby, Fitzgerald is able to create the sense of mystery behind this particular character, which further raises the sense of uncertainty behind Gatsby's background story. As the novel progresses, Fitzgerald begins to shed more light on Gatsby by making his formal introduction to both Nick and the reader occur during one of the many extravagant parties he is known to throw. The emphasis applied to how and where Gatsby is formally introduced contributes towards making him appear to be extremely wealthy, therefore allowing him to fit into the high class society.

. The descriptions within the novel of the quality of food and  time spent just to prepare for a single event contributes to the overall idea that Gatsby is trying to create the image of wealth and hierarchy for himself in order to attract the attention of the person he loves. By becoming the life of the party, Gatsby utilizes his events as a distraction to mask his true identity and value, which is not nearly as impressive as everyone believes he is.

Through associating himself with the wealthy society and hosting luxurious events, Jay Gatsby is able to present himself of having equal fortune and prosperity as the society around him. Although the parties of which he hosts successfully portrays him as a high class citizen, Gatsby is unable to achieve his true goal of winning the heart of his love through these events.

Open Prompt Revision #1

1.      1980. A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work.

The feeling of being torn in the decision between passion and responsibility is a situation familiar to almost everyone. Newland Archer from Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence is no exception. After the arrival of Newland's fiance's cousin, Ellen Olenska, Newland finds himself caught trying to decide between settling with his fiancee May, who is considered as the "perfect" woman, and following his passionate love for Ellen, who is anything but the idealistic woman.  Newland’s choice of remaining with May in the end despite his love for Ellen ultimately reflects his commitment to his moral duties and responsibilities.

After announcing his engagement to May, Newland knew that he was more than blessed to have such a flawless and proper woman agree to take his hand in marriage. Although delighted with May's innocence and beauty, Newland's true passion  was not evoked until his acquaintance with the mysterious Ellen, who brought along with her stories of adultery and divorce that disgraced the image of her family. Ellen's imperfections however became the sole quality that sparked Newland's strong attraction for her. 
Through Newland's eyes, Ellen's flaws were seen as elements that made her real and her lack of shame towards all of the judgement that she had to face just made her more admirable. Newland's passion for Ellen grew while his love for May began to simmer as he realized the dullness in May's so-called perfect characteristics.  Ellen's careless nature urged Newland to long for her more while the rumors that circulated around them of her disfigured past opened Newland's eyes to the flaws of the idealistic society that he lived in. Through Ellen, Newland begins to realize the superficial qualities of not only his community, but also his fiancee. As a result, Newland begins to despise the blandness of both May and the people around him while his desire for Ellen becomes more powerful. 

Although Newland struggles with the decision of taking a leap of faith with Ellen or settling with May, Newland ultimately chooses to go against his wishes and remain with May. Ellen may have opened Newland's eyes, but his dedication towards his moral duties of living a proper life outweighed his passion for the woman he loved and the realistic life that he desired. Through this story, Edith Wharton cleverly portrays the significant message that the result of taking responsibility over passion does not always result in happiness through Newland's decision.

Synthesis of Course Material #4

Pride and Prejudice

•  During this time, our class was introduced to a technique of writing called plain style. This taught us to keep our writing as simple, or plain, as possible and to focus the strength of our argument through an extremely simple format. We were also told to "cut the clutter" and demolish all the words or run-on sentences that were unnecessary while keeping those that were absolutely necessary. That last sentence was a horrible example of that but hey...I never said I was good at plain style. Anyway, overall I'm still working on not letting my sentences drag on for too long but this technique definitely helped me strive to be a better writer.
• Moving on to the next novel...Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Although this was an extremely long and at times boring read, I finally understood what all the praise was about after I finished reading the book. I actually legitimately like this book. And I never thought I would. 
• The class discussion we had primarily focused itself around the role women played within the society of that time and how it affected their views of love and marriage. We concluded that women during the time that the novel was written based their "love" for a man through their success. The more money the man has, the more the woman would respect and long for his hand in marriage. 
• We also compared this stereotypical woman to Elizabeth, who gave us a completely different perspective on the subject. Elizabeth placed an emphasis on her own happiness. She believed that she couldn't be truly happy with anybody she didn't love and was very open with voicing her opinions. This could be seen through her rejecting Mr. Collins' proposal to her and her denouncing of Mr. Darcy. 
• This novel taught us about the 18th century's values in love and marriage, adding yet another perspective to our collection created through the other pieces.

Synthesis of Course Material #3

Ceremony

• It was surprising for me that we started our first novel towards the middle of the year. But a little prior to that, we encountered a few more lessons on useful strategies concerning the multiple choice portion of the AP test while also learning how to write our essays more effectively. However, at this time we didn't go too in depth into these subjects since we were about to begin our next piece.
• Leslie Marmon Silko's, Ceremony contrasted greatly with the other readings that we had in the beginning of the year. First of all, it was a novel and not a play. So therefore, there were probably three times as many words that we had to read. Which I'm not saying is bad, it was just hard to get use to how time consuming the read was compared to the other plays.
• On the other hand, Ceremony also provided an entirely new perspective to the literature that we had already covered. The novel focused greatly on self discovery and the importance of cultural awareness. By following Tayo throughout his journey of recovering from his post traumatic stress, we were able to see his struggles with appreciating his own culture and finding himself. 
• This novel also seemed to have dedicated itself to symbolism and our class placed a strong emphasis towards finding out the meanings behind the symbols the Silko included. Things such as the repetition of the appearance of yellow and cycles all contributed towards making this novel that much more interesting to both read and annotate.The stories told throughout the book also reflected how important they were to the Native culture and how it is the one element that has kept their culture alive.
• The second read of the book helped us catch the tiny little details that Silko had so carefully included and encouraged us to have a better understanding of the Native American culture. Silko's novel reflected the struggles of the culture's survival and the deterioration of Native society.

Synthesis of Course Material #2

Death of a Salesman

• Taking a break from reading, our class was introduced to the several eras of literature. My group chose to present Modernism and Postmodernism. This allowed us to work together through Prezi and offer the information we gathered about the era. We learned of the several different authors and movements that took place during the time and the effects it had on the society as a whole. The emphasis placed on contemporary styles and the discovery of objective truths also reflected the era through a different perspective.
• Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller was the next piece that we tackled. After watching the movie and reading the play, our class got a feel of what a true tragedy was. Willy Lowman's constant failure on achieving what he believed was success showed us the importance of understanding the different cycles that characters encounter. Our discussions of this play also lead us to a debate of the role that religion played in the piece and connected that to Arthur Miller's background story.
• Annotating the play also helped us create a better understanding of a tragic play while also allowing us to discover new topics for discussion.

Synthesis of Course Material #1

Okay. Since so many things have happened throughout the course of this class, I'm just going to write a nice little outline of each major section we've done using the books we've read as a guideline. I will begin with the very first book that we read, which was The American Dream written by Edward Albee. So here goes.

The American Dream

• A little before diving into the book, we learned of the basic concepts of writing essays and interpreting novels through DIDLS. Through Diction, Imagery, Details, Language, and Syntax, we were enabled to become more involved with the works we dealt with while also having a more in depth understanding and grasp on the concepts dealt in the pieces.
• After the introduction of DIDLS, our class began our first read of Albee's play. Through The American Dream, we learned about the idea of the "Theatre of the Absurd" and how Albee's unique creation of a plot contributed greatly towards the play. 
• Many discussions were held about the play afterwards, and many debates were sparked concerning the role of the actual "American Dream" and how it affected the lives of those who lived during that time period. We also placed a strong emphasis on how consumerism played a large part behind the way Mommy and Daddy acted.
• Following the first read, we began the annotations of the play. Through this, we were able to go even more in depth perspective of the reading and marking the book really helped provoke some more topics for debate and to reflect upon.