Michael Peterson & Damian Silva's AP English Study Guide

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.