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Michael Peterson & Damian Silva's AP English Study Guide

2010-04-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

Essay Question 2

The Passage or Poem:
Usually these essays ask for analysis of literary techniques, and the author's purpose (tone) in their prose or excerpt. Common inquiry includes characterization, thematic focus, diction, structure, and choice of details.

Characterization - the creation of the image of imaginary persons in drama, narrative poetry, the novel, and the short story. Characterization generates plot and is revealed by actions, speech, thoughts, physical appearance, and the other characters’ thoughts or words about him.

The etymology and derivation of the word are the same as those for character.

In Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Huck’s use of dialect, running away, his guardian’s feelings about him, and Jim’s response to him all comprise Twain’s characterization of his protagonist.

Thematic Focus- an abstract idea that emerges from a literary work's treatment to subject matter. Themes include love, war, sacrifice and struggles both internal and external.

Diction - The word choice in writing or speech. Most effective in providing a purpose. Diction is often utilized to illicit an emotion from the reader. We shall go into further depth on this particular device, because purpose of diction can often seem ambiguous when scrambling to directly address it from the perspective of the essay question.

Some examples of diction are:

"There's a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words."
(Dorothy Parker, 1956)
Note: In describing the difference between wise-cracking and and wit, our mind perceives both negative and positive connotations of words that should by all accounts possess the same meaning.
If you remember the discrepancies outlined in Robert Grave's poem, "The Naked and the Nude", he references the moral scope of naked "anatomy" and nude "sly" or cunning. In this case naked is clinical, pure, and he references the "hippocratic eye" of the physician. The nude twist with "rhetoric" and "treason".

Method to the Madness:

You want to accomplish a few key things first!

Annotate the passage and focus on the question.
Outline your essay before beginning. A good technique for this is the use of Roman Numerals to separate the sections. For example

I. Introduction- Thesis. (Blah blah blah some profound statement that takes an assertive position on the essay question)

II. Body

a) Literary Technique 1

b) Literary Technique 2

c) Literary Technique 3

With each of these literary techniques, it is important to tie it back to the thesis, and make sure to provide examples from the text to develop your ideas.

III. Conclusion. Make it powerful! Make it direct! Hit 'em in the gut! Tie everything together and reiterate the thesis again. It really helps if you make the conclusion close all loose ends. Extra points if it sounds more coherent than the introduction!

Analyzing the Text!

When figuring out the meaning behind words you don't know, don't hit a psychological wall. Instead, use the words around the situation in the passage as it is described.

For example: "they knew not whether ill health were robbing his spirits of elasticity, or whether a canker of the mind was gradually eating, as such cankers do, from his moral system into the physical frame, which is but the shadow of the former. "

In this case, canker and elasticity may pose a problem for the reader in discerning their meaning. However, we can understand that canker is an illness and that it shook him both spiritually and physically due to his wife's demise. A clue to its meaning lies in its similarity to cancer. If his spirits can't hold form then they cannot keep their elasticity.

This is contextual understanding. This develops when someone is well-read. When you're well-read you have more situations and contexts to develop your ideas from and draw comparisons between. However, mentally sounding out phrases that strike you as you skim them will help you find the means to meaning. When taking any literary exam this is crucial and extends on the SAT as well. If you've seen a lot of movies its dialogue also helps, despite what your teacher may tell you ;).

*** Whatever happens, finish your essay. You have 45 minutes to organize your ideas clearly and concisely. The 5 Paragraph Essay is dead as it pertains to the AP exam. You CAN write them, but it can be as long as you want. The most important thing is that you FINISH and relate everything to what is asked of you. Avoid summarizing the plot if it does not serve a purpose towards your thesis.

Sources

"Guide to Literary Terms: Characterization." eNotes: Guide to Literary Terms. Ed. Penny Satoris. Seattle: Enotes.com Inc, October 2002. eNotes.com. 29 April 2010. .

http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~richie/poetry/html/poem116.html

Joseph Stalin and Totalitarianism

2008-01-14T07:50:00.000-08:00

Totalitarianism is when the government has complete and total control of economy, market, and all facets of a nation's people's lives.
Joseph Stalin used this form of government during his reign and nothing else other than his word accounted for worth. Power in form of eddxpression was witheld from all people who would be shackled by the powers that be.

Stalin's Five-Year plan consisted of way of distributing products. For 5 years Stalin would self-impose a recession upon Russia so that they would have a great surplus in the years following. This was the plan anyway. People supposedly suffer first so they can live well later.

Film Lesson: Zhivago

2008-01-10T07:50:00.000-08:00

The film Dr. Zhivago depicted the Russian Revolution in a very negative light. At first we are introduced to the end of the Revolution. It seemed as though their was great triumph, but when he returns to his home he has to face the repercussions of Stalin's new found strength and political force.

When Dr. Zhivago returned to Moscow he encountered his brother as a soldier of the Communist Party while outside. He witnessed his family being tied down by the rationing of foods.

Causes of WWI

2008-01-04T07:47:00.000-08:00

The military build up from the the late 1800's to the the turn of the 20th century caused the first Great War or WWI. All European industrial nations began a massive build up of military strength which in turn caused all of the turmoil in Europe. As the years passed the struggle for dominance in other nations with the spread of imperialism tensions rose and various pacts formed between the world's great powers.
A new spirit of nationalism was born at the beginning of the 19th century. The congress of Vienna in 1815 broke apart the nationalistic philosophy to keep the peace. But, as all things do change that did as well. In a mere 40 years Germany and Italy were united as nations once more. After the nations became one the arms race began at an alarming rate. Until the build up of the Great War Germany had grossed the most earnings out of the arms race, mountingb over a $100 billion dollars
As military might increased so did the imperialistic ambitions of the European nations. This is where big rivalries stemmed from. They competed for land and geopolitical influence over territories.

The Opium Wars

2007-12-14T07:47:00.000-08:00

The Europeans won the Opium Wars, because they had superior manpower and the ability to fight on both land and sea. The power over the marketplace was necesarry to further their imperialistic exspansion. The British found a product to sell to the Chinese that they did not have and it was their entryway into the marketplace. The needed the Chinese tea or WANTED the tea.
During the Opium Wars the Chinese people became sick and addicted and it tore many people apart.
In the afterbirth of the war Jesus was forced to agree to treaties that opened up trade ports for European merchants. With this came to introduction of the Open Door Doctrine and even the Americas came into play with the methods of foreign policy and trade.

The White man's Burden

2007-12-10T07:49:00.000-08:00

I do agree with the analysis. It deeply reflects views of Aryan supremacy. The people of this period, especially in the Western bloc saw it as poetic representation of the white man's job to enlighten the world. It was his burden to take over other nations and show them the "right" way of rule. The supreme arrogance of the white man knew no bounds and according to the poem it was to be accepted openly.

The Scramble for Africa

2007-12-10T07:47:00.001-08:00

In your own words - explain the term "Scramble for Africa" .
In your explanation address the following: 1.) who were the main European nations involved in this scramble; 2.) what were these nations looking for in Africa; 3.) how were they able to dominate Africa so easily; and 4.) how did this scramble effect the African people?

The term "Scramble for Africa" refers to the European nations who attempted to colonialize the continent. It was split between the most powerful 7 European nations. These were France, Germany, Britain, Belgium, Portugal, Italy and Spain. Trade routes, natural resources, and slave labor was distributed amongst them as if by there mere existence they were justified to own it all. The Scramble for Africa was a race for raw materials needed to support various industries and an ever growing population of Europeans; many of which sought new lands to cultivate and raise families on. Similar to the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock they formed colonies on foreign land and claimed it as there own.

The Europeans were able to easily dominate Africa, because they possessed better guns and military might. Europeans had more resources to expend and According Jared Diamond(Author of Germs Guns & Steel- The Fates of Human Societies) this was all due to environment.

The Scramble for Africa

2007-12-10T07:47:00.000-08:00

Film Lesson:''Mountains of the Moon''

2007-12-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

They were strangers in a land that wasn't their own. The Europeans had to deal with the trials of nature and wildlife such as the tigers and deadly insects. The natives weren't all kindly in greeting the European explorers. People were often ambushed, raided and murdered.
Lake Victoria name is strange, because it isn't located in Europe or England for that matter. it was merely claimed by foreign powers who saw themselves as more fit.
Europeans possessed guns and great naval fleets whoo could easily conquer. Europeans conquered Africa easily, because they did not have the automated weaponry or manpower to compete with the foreign nations.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan.

2007-11-27T07:45:00.000-08:00

Commodore Matthew Perry bullied the Japanese into a trade treaty by showing them themilitary might of the West. Large naval fleets and ships would dock at would-be ports. By methods of intimidation they convinced the Japanese to alter their isolationist ideology.

Whatever one may suppopse to be the truth, it can always be invariably redrafted and redesigned into fiction. For, the tablesand ands of time are contantly spinning in chaotic directions with all peoples seeing purpose in their own individual stories. As all stories must start somewhere; let us begin in the Methulean Sands at the edge of Istra. In this region there are small villages where crime is commonplace and the only rule of law is the hand of the creature known as Boss. Honest; hardworking families rarely congregated, because they were all slaves. Almost any unit with considerable wealth traded some form of illegal whether it be Opium or Cocaina leaves.
Every 7th Camin of Methulean weeks children practiced the art of battle. With sticks, stones and frankest brutality the boys attacked each other. This behavior was actually encouraged and all took place within an enormous pit within the Town Square during the heat of noontime. A boy; the mere age of 14 and another stood nearly naked, save rags covering their loins oppositely to one another. One was named Rurin and he was of burly stature. His skin was fair, eyes as blue as the Methulean Moons, and his hair was an untamable mess flaxen locks. The other young warrior
"""""""""""""""""""was about as tall as an adult with blackened skin. His hair held the dexterity of wool and was as black as night. His pupils seemed to dilate as luminous black coals enshrouded with the flames of the sun. He was peircing

Part II Chapter V

2007-11-26T18:56:00.000-08:00

The vaporization of Syme had to be the most chilling opening of any chapter of this book. Not, because of graphic violence or even an intricate emotional thrillride, but simply, because his fate was so callously mused over; obviously a deliberate literary technique of Orwell's design. It was done simply to exemplify one of the crucial points of this novel which is; the lack of romanticism or value placed in human life as generally seen in most stories. It's missing a key component; being the constant grandiosity of the struggle of Good Vs. Evil. To openly acknowledge that Syme once WAS would be considered ThoughtCrime and would obviously be punishable by a very similar fate. Thus, the cycle of fear continues.
Characters such as the shop owner Charrington lay in the world betwixt and between the reality that Winston and Julia must face after their brief bouts of passion. He is not vindictive, he is not of the Party nor is he a Prole. Charrington is a shadow of a time long past and has the wispy personality of a child dreamer and collector of things.
Despite the inevitability of

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

2007-11-15T07:49:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx disliked the Industrial Revolution, because it did not promote the ideals of the average worker. Marx beleived that the people that worked within factories should be given power and that all wealth was to be equally shared amongst individuals. With the Industrial Revolution there was also the rise of capitalism. Individuals competed for wealth and most of was alloted to those who owned the factories and controlled the methods of production. My great Uncle Stanley Gluck is an avid socialist marxist supporter who believes that people should be supported by the government depending upon how many children they have and what their needs are rather than how much they work.

Marxist ideals often conflict with conservative and capitalist ideology. They beleive that people are to take responsibility for themselves and do not work with community ethics. Comfortability is all based upon self-worth and earnings.

The differences between marxist ideals and traditional communism is that Marx thought power should beequally distributed amongst people. Communist nations usually give all their power to a single dictator and the people are without freedom.

Marx did not believe in God and referred to religion as the "opiate" or drug of the people. In Orwell's 1984 all forms of religious practice was prohibited. And they were a communist state.

podcast script

2007-10-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

2007-10-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

Nationalism is the loyalty and devotion to your native nation. Examples of nationalism can be seen in waving the the American flag, bumper stickers, and singing the national anthem.
In my life some examples of how I show nationalism is saying the pledge of allegiance every morning in school. Saluting the flag and acknowledging the power given to me as a United States citizen.

In the middle of the 1800's three forces vied for power in Europe. The conservatives, liberals and radicals. The conservatives were of the upper class and liberals were mostly middle class. The middle class beleived in giving funds to exend the hand of already powerful elected leaders whereas radicals wanted drastic change and a more directly democratic pemise. The liberals beleived that power should be focused upon the educated and landowners.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

2007-10-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

Simon Bolivar is a Venezuelan who traveleed to England. Whilst there he studied their governments and during his return trip he also studied the United States. Upon his return he formed a revolutionary faction aiming for thei independence. He defeated the Spanish there and then proceeded to help liberate Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Bolivia and Peru. Bolivia is named after him, because he liberated that land.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

2007-09-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

In the aftermath of the French revolution many leaders in France were sent to the guillotine due to supposed injustices. After much turmoil one leader in particluar rose to power whose law was absolute and killed on whims. When King Louis XVI was executed, Maximilien Robespierre rose to power.
He attempted to wipe out all traces of the old monarchy. In one instance you could be friendly with him an in another he could be sending for your execution.

He was the very first dictator of that kind to rise to power. He was suspicious of everyone and trusted no one. In the end he fell by the same guillotine he used to execute so many of his enemies

"Robespierre, with his cruel moral relativism,
embodied the cardinal sin of all revolution, the hearlessness of ideas."
Paul Johnson
"The Spectator"
On July 28, 1794 he fell.

The French Revolution: Social Causes

2007-09-27T07:46:00.000-07:00

The Fench Revolution was caused by unrest within the third the Estate of the nation's people's social laddder. The three class system imposed a tax on the 98 percentile of France. The third house consists of peasants, lower nobles, and the latter. The second Estate and upwards are nobles, monarchas, mechants, kings, and Queens.
The anger of the lower class was incited, due to the taxation laws. The first and Second Estates who were more wealthy paid the least taxes whilst the majority of debt was left to the Third Estate who owned and consumed far less. People began to protest and soon the fight became more outright violent than purely political.
Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke very much influenced the Revolution. It provided such things as a basis for personal freedoms we are to be born with and certain inaliable rights. These being freedoms and the pursuit of happiness. Mr. Locke believed these things were given to coexist in modern civil society.

Due to men like King Louis XVI;

"Feudalism and Unfair Taxation

No one factor was directly responsible for the French Revolution. Years of feudal oppression and fiscal mismanagement contributed to a French society that was ripe for revolt. Noting a downward economic spiral in the late 1700s, King Louis XVI brought in a number of financial advisors to review the weakened French treasury. Each advisor reached the same conclusion—that France needed a radical change in the way it taxed the public—and each advisor was, in turn, kicked out."- http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/frenchrev/summary.html

Reasons for Revolution were abundant and abound.

On July 14, 1789 The delegates of the 3rd Estate stormed King Loiu's Bastille and took his life establishing the day as equivalent to America's 4th of July.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

2007-09-11T07:43:00.000-07:00

Coperncius was an astronomer of the 16th century who was the first to conceive the heliocentric model. This meaninng; that the Earth revolved around the sun. The sun is the center of the Unverse. His first major published work was known as De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres). In 1536 the archbishop of Capua Nicholas Schonberg expressed much praise for his work in a letter;
"Some years ago word reached me concerning your proficiency, of which everybody constantly spoke. At that time I began to have a very high regard for you... For I had learned that you had not merely mastered the discoveries of the ancient astronomers uncommonly well but had also formulated a new cosmology. In it you maintain that the earth moves; that the sun occupies the lowest, and thus the central, place in the universe... Therefore with the utmost earnestness I entreat you, most learned sir, unless I inconvenience you, to communicate this discovery of yours to scholars, and at the earliest possible moment to send me your writings on the sphere of the universe together with the tables and whatever else you have that is relevant to this subject..."

Copernicus, however was not the originator of these theories, for far back in the annals of history people of cultures around the globe have come to similar conclusions. An Indian philosopher wrote in the texts of the Vedas;"The sun strings these worlds - the earth, the planets, the atmosphere - to himself on a thread.".

Galileo Galilei was an Italian Renaissance man of the highest order. He was a philosopher, astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He is known as "the father of modern observational astronomy, the "father of modern physics",^[4] and the "father of science". Galileo followed the creed of Copernicus and very much agreed with his findings. Doing so ignited the wrath of the Inquisition of the Church whose teachings held that the Earth, not the Sun was the center of all things.

Abandoning Aristotle's Geocentric model that was commonly accepted for centuries he embraced the heliocentric model. His persecution was so great that for the latter part of the end of his days he stayed under house arrest; retracting prior statements on June 22, 1633.
It was not until 1992 that the Roman Catholic Church accepted the validity of his research.

The Scientific Revolution

2007-09-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

Before the 15th Century scientists developed their theories based upon the ideas of the Greeks and Romans or upon Christian doctrine.
The ancient Greeks and Christianity taught that Earth was the center of the Universe and that the sun revolved around the earth. The development of the Scientific method changed this methodology.
After 1500, instead of accepting what was taught scientists began to test methods for their validity and the origin of the current doctrine was born which is thus; assume to know nothing and merely state that something is what it appears to be based upon the data that is given. As time moves on theories are tested in different circumstances and conditions; improved upon and tested to see if they remain true. This was quite possibly the greatest revolution in all of modern science. " Science is best defined as a careful, disciplined, logical search for knowledge about any and all aspects of the universe, obtained by examination of the best available evidence and always subject to correction and improvement upon discovery of better evidence. What's left is magic. And it doesn't work. " -- James Randi
Now science is built upon theories that can instantaneously be proven or disproven throughout the ages as time wears on rather than being accepted as pure fact, but based upon data available at any given time.
a theory is a conceptual framework that explains existing observations and predicts new ones
A hypothesis is a theory that hasn't been proven, but guessed.
An example of changing what is accepted as true can be seen in the legend of Italian Galileo who disproved Aristotles theory that heavier objects would drop at greater speed. It is said that he dropped stones of different weights to the ground from atop the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He proved that objects of different weights fell at the same speed.
In Science it is now accepted that when an old theory cannot explain new observations than a new one must be conceived. There is often a blurry line between fact and speculation as time wears on and Man catapults himself with higher knowledge.
The line must be drawn when one accepts this statement; "When a theory is said to be ``true'' it means that it agrees with all known experimental evidence"
The same truths have always been since the begginning of time, but we gather more of them as time continues in its never ending trek.
Ocham's Razor
Ockham's Razor simply means to keep it simple when two or more theories conflict with each other based upon different assumptions. They may both be valid in some respects, but to test which one is to be used by the the one that yields the most accurate data.

Creation vs Evolution

2007-09-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

Creationism or Intelligent Design is the idea that the world in which we live and the cosmos is derived from one single source of supreme consciousness; God if you will. Creationists vary in their respective theories, but all postulate that the forms of life found on earth are not accidental and are all part of a grand scheme devised by an omnipotent creator. Creationist ideas usually stem from common belief in the Abrahamic God and the first book of Genesis.

"And God said Let their be Light!"

There are many nuances found in Creationist ideas, but they usually fall under 1 of three categories. These are ; Young Earth Creationists Old Earth Creationists, and even Theistic Evolution which supports Darwin's theories.. Young Earth Creationists uphold belief in a literal interpretation of Genesis. They would say that the Earth was created in what we know as a week and that the Earth is only around 6000 years old. However, Old Earth Creationists accept the geological findings as true, but reject Darwinian theory. The most liberal of them would be those who accepted Theistic Evolution; a subset of Old-Earth Creationists who believe that Evolution was set in place by God.
In the West; up until the early 1920's Creationism is what was taught to students in schools as fact in Science class generally accepted as "the beginning".
Today, Creation Science is often considered pseudo-science due to a recent resurgence of religious right wing fundamentalists taking center stage in conservative politics. It is of my opinion that all creation science is not taken seriously for good reason even though it may have validity to me, because religion and government must always be separated. The scientific community rightfully fears creationism taught in schools, because of what the Church was able to do to well-meaning scientists during the beginnings of secular society and the Renaissance. Case in point ; The Trial of Galileo Galilee.
No matter what I believe about the purposeful transcendent existence of Man as opposed to other creatures is merely my OPINION and therefore, a line must be drawn in order to adequately function in the world that we live in. The truly unexplainable is not to be explained by science, but the philosopher.

Evolution is another theory proposed by the geologist Dr. Charles Darwin. He concludes through scientific research that all forms of life on the planet earth originate from a few common ancestors. He believed that life on earth has gradually changed through mutations rather than being created in the same manner of separation each of a different "kind" and that creatures all used to be the same "evolved" out of a pool. Darwin made a trip to the Galapagos where he observed the distinctions between different types of Finches. Where a long, beak was necessary in an environment the Finch would possess a long beak and have adapted. If a sharper or shorter or sturdier was necessary it would be so.

Many theists accept the microevolution proposed by Darwin, but macroevolution as unacceptable. Micro evolution would be a slight alteration in genetics due to environment. Macro evolution, however is a large unexplainable leap in a creature. Such as the spark of consciousness in what we define as man. Another example of macro evolution is for instance humans descending from monkeys or dolphins. Or that pidegons are descendants of the dinosaur pterodactyls. Despite heavy opposition the wide range of biologists commonly refer to macroevolution as the "fact of evolution" all leading to common descent.
Natural Selection explains the mechanics of preserving species. If a small number of a particular creature developed wings that trait would be passed on to the generations that followed and all kinds of the creature unable to develop said wings would simply die out. Simply put this is "Survival of the Fittest".
"…Natural selection acts only by taking advantage of slight successive variations; she can never take a great and sudden leap, but must advance by short and sure, though slow steps."

If there were ever to be found a complex organism or mechanism in that organism created wholly complex without a trace or lead back somewhere to s simpler form of life Darwin's theories would essentially fall apart. He called it an "irreducibly complex system" Evolution is noted to be extremely gradual. This complex system simply is one made up of many parts. If there is any slight alteration then it falls apart.

"Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than 10^-12 grams, each is in effect a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machinery built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world." - Molecular biologist Michael Denton

The quote above merely implies how Darwin's theory may be in crisis due to the large amount of evidence that not all fit his model He even states the obvious reflecting the human heart and eye has always "been" in itself the way it is. Attempting to explain the phenomena through natural selection would be "absurd in the highest degree", according to Darwin. The complexity found in the tiniest of bacterium has yet to be explained.

In conclusion it should be advised that the reader draws his or her own conclusions based upon what allows them to live their lives in the most beneficial way. This debate wil likely continue for centuries after us therefore, it is essential that we live life the way we see fit. That's the purpose of free will in all respects. I for one will admit that I DO believe in God as much as the Sun sets and the moon rises. It is important that religion and science eternally distinguish themselves from the other and that one is NEVER taken as in higher regard than another. As purposeful creatures it is important that we are allowed to live the way WE each see fit to the highest degree. Only a fool works in his own absolutes. The standard of what is Good and what is Bad man has always been in constant struggle with. The question I pose to you is who do you suppose posed the first question and made us desire?

Test

2007-09-05T07:52:00.001-07:00

test