Blog #4: "The Known World" Essay & Reflection

In The Known World by Edward. P. Jones, Jones reveals the character of Moses through a third person limited point of view and utilizes detail and imagery to capture how Moses is in touch with the land in every physical essence and furthermore, shows his longevity as a slave with a modest, meek personality.

As the overseer slave to his master who dies that evening, Moses continues to plow the field after he dismisses everyone else for the evening. Certain details reveal the impossible length of his day and also the length of the time he has lived as a slave. Jones directly states that Moses worked for “fifteen hours”, but other details, “When, he, Moses, finally freed himself of the ancient and brittle harness…all that was left of the sun was a five-inch-long memory" suggest that Moses has spent many years of his life as a slave. 

Moses eating the dirt, his ability to sense the month and season, and his smile at the onset of rain represents his appreciation for the simple things in life. He has a humble approach towards everything, and even towards his position as the slave overseer. Moses' character is embodied in the quote "...the eating of it [dirt] tied him to the only things in his small world that meant almost as much as his own life." Moses is a smooth and easy man, he only values a few aspects of his life which include his family and his faith.

Reflection:

After carefully reading The Known World by Edward P. Jones, I had a difficult time settling on one interpretation of how the author revealed the character of Moses. Multiple things stood out to me: the all-consuming attachment that Moses has with nature, the spiritually cleansing effect that nature has on Moses, and his humble and meek attitude towards his life. After analyzing the "norming" essays and discussing them in class, I now realize that it was Moses' connection and intimacy with nature that allowed him to feel free. I was unable to make that connection. Instead, I attributed his behavior to his personality; in retrospect, I can see why that would be considered as a "safe" interpretation that lacks complexity.

If I had to grade my essay, I would give it a four. I don't think that this is such a harsh decision due to the fact that my essay lacked development and sophisticated analysis. I only had three paragraphs written and the third point was not completely finished. To be honest, the last sentence that I wrote about the value Moses has for family and faith was merely something I threw together at the last second. I didn't want to end my essay with a quote and no explanation, so I added an arbitrary statement at the end. If I had stuck with my point in the thesis that "Moses is in touch with the land in every physical essence" and extended it to his emotional and psychological side, I would have been more successful. After learning about what an essay that scored a nine should include, I realize that there is always some sort of irony, paradox, or contrast that needs to be found when it comes to identifying complexity. In this case the irony was simply the fact that although Moses feels freedom through his relationship with nature, it is nature itself that is binding and enslaving him by isolating him from humanity.

My situation was similar to my last essay; I was on the right track by discussing the physiological effects that nature has on Moses, but I needed to extend it further, to all aspects of his life. Again, I settled for the safer interpretation rather than building upon an interpretation that I was beginning to attempt, but ultimately deemed unconventional. I hope to be able to hone my craft in future, going deeper instead of only skimming the surface. Though it might sound cliché, I can truthfully say I should have gone with my gut. I wanted to note the significance of Moses staying out late and not going home to his wife and children, but I thought, "no, that's just absurd, he loves nature more than he does his own family?" But it turns out that it's not absurd at all to think of his relationship with nature as a romantic one. Somehow, I always end up in this place where I almost get to the complexity, where I'm literally one or two steps away from it, but something draws me back to what's comfortable.

One of my goals for the prose passage essay was to pick out the complexities by asking myself questions (are there details that contradict each other to show contrast, what kind of imagery is being used so that it affects mood and tone, etc.). I think that I was on the right track with my thinking, but I failed to identify the irony because I was solely focused on the details and the imagery; somehow I needed to tie it back to the big picture. Sadly, my other goals of being more organized and efficient in the active reading and planning stages of the essay were nowhere better than the previous essay. Again, I think that I was too overwhelmed to stay organized. I didn't get to ask myself all the questions that I wanted to while reading the essay, therefore, I missed the complexities. In the future, I am going to start writing down anything that I see in the passage that might answer my questions (Are there details that contradict each other to show contrast? What kind of imagery is being used so that it affects mood and tone? How is the author shifting his/her tone? How does the author change pacing?).

Blog #3: "The Flowers" Essay & Reflection

In the short story "The Flowers", Alice Walker conveys the theme of losing childhood innocence through the main character's experiences and adds elements of imagery and narrative pace throughout the story. Walker paints a dreamlike setting in which the child is free to roam and play in what seems to be a perfect world, but later, her discovery of death—highlighted by Walker's stylistic choices—allows the child to recognize the iniquity that exists in the world. 

The narration is full of sensory imagery as the audience takes in everything Myop experiences. The descriptions convey bliss and peacefulness. Walker notes details such as “strange blue flowers with velvety ridges and a sweetsuds bush full of brown, fragrant buds”. At this point in the story, the narration takes a slow pace as the author takes the audience through the natural beauty of the landscape. The story takes a tone shift in the fifth paragraph when Walker states, “the strangeness of the land made it not as pleasant as her usual haunts…the air was damp, the silence close and deep”. The last sentence is brief and short. This contrast between the liveliness of the woods and the cold silence that Myop now experiences prepares the reader for the ending of the story and a more rapid narrative pace.

Briefly after the shift in tone, the child discovers a dead body. Her discovery of the body feels sudden, interrupting her routine as she was carelessly playing in the woods. The abruptness is evident in the language that Walker employs, including lines like “she stepped smack into his eyes” and “a little yelp of surprise”. The appearance of the corpse in the midst of the beauty of the woods serves to tarnish the harmony of the setting. Myop, however, does not appear frightened. Instead, she picks up a wild pink rose that she finds near the body. This flower symbolizes her maturing because she shows no signs of being frightened. The last line of the story—“and summer was over”—serves as a final echo that her childhood innocence has ended as she discovers maturity.

Reflection:

For the first ten minutes of the timed essay, I sat and read the passage. I thought, "This isn't too bad". I did some annotating; I underlined, bracketed, and marked tone shifts; I went through the "typical" routine. I picked up on the underlying theme of the loss of innocence pretty quickly after carefully reading the ending of the story. Essentially, I had recognized the obvious themes, rhetorical devices, and tone shifts that stood out as I read the story. Just as I was beginning to feel confident in my analysis, I remembered the significance of addressing complexities. It was then when I began to feel an overpowering sense of uncertainty. I felt like I didn't have the capability to provide an in depth interpretation. I lacked confidence in my interpretations, so I didn't carry it through into my writing. My self-doubt also affected my focus on thinking deeper about how small differences in diction could affect the overall purpose of the piece; as a result, I failed to recognize the subtleties and nuances.

Despite all my difficulties, I am relieved that I at least identified specific references to image, diction, narrative pacing, and setting to support my thesis (which adequately responds to the prompt). Additionally, my thesis is distinct in that I address the significance of Myop's discovery at the end of the story in order to show how she changes as a person through the course of her excursion (I did not simply restate the prompt). I also mentioned that Myop discovers maturity in the end of the story, which is an aspect of the "Bildungsroman" since she ends her journey as a changed individual. I also mentioned the pink rose by the corpse in my essay; however, I failed to acknowledge the paradox between the pastoral and Gothic imagery, which would have added complexity. 

Since it was the subtleties that was lacking in my essay, my number one goal would be to be able to pick out more complexities in prose passages. Basically, my goal is to adapt myself into a certain way of thinking about intricacies. To make this a habit every time I read a new passage, I will ask myself the following questions: Are there details that contradict each other to show contrast? What kind of imagery is being used so that it affects mood and tone? How is the author shifting his/her tone? How does the author change pacing? And if all else fails, how does the author use diction and syntax to create meaning?

My second goal is to be more successful in my active reading and planning stage of the timed essay. I did not write a very thorough or complete essay (I only got the opening and two body paragraphs done, yikes) simply because I did not accomplish a lot in the pre-writing stage. I was too hesitant with my interpretation, from now on; I will dedicate the first ten minutes of the timed essay to not only writing an effective thesis, but also to accomplish my first goal of picking out the complexities in the passage in addition to the obvious references and details. This way, I can be more efficient when it comes to the actual writing part. My final goal would be organize my second goal. I think that if I bullet out which details I am going to use as evidence for each of my body paragraphs, I will be able to organize my thoughts better. Also, I think that it would benefit me to assign one or two literary techniques to each paragraph. Effective organization will ultimately allow me to write a more complete essay without so many struggles in between and give me more self-assurance in my writing.

Blog #2: AP Literature Multiple Choice Test Reflection

I felt most comfortable with factual and analytical multiple-choice questions, while, technical and inferential questions were more difficult for me. I was confident in my answers to purpose, character portrayal, definition, sequence, subject, and referencing quesitons. There was a feeling of relief when I was able to go back to the text and point my finger at a specific detail and say "here is the answer". Numbering paragraphs and actively reading helped me organize my thoughts. Based on my testing experience, I would conclude that questions regarding details that can be concretely found in the passage are my strengths in literary analysis.

I found inferential questions most challenging, specifically questions regarding the author or narrator and the effects of certain details. This, perhaps, is a struggle for most students. Personally, I find inferential questions to be extremely gray and unclear. I spend to much time deliberating between choices, and I lose confidence in my first choice. In addition, the longer prose passages are harder to follow in comparision to the poems; the shear length of the pieces and the sentences made it relatively easy for me to lose my focus.

My first goal would be rather straightforward, it would be to simply familiarize myself with literary terminology, upper-level vocabulary, sophisticated syntax, and basic allusions to biblical and mythological works. Fulfilling this goal would require frequent practice and memorization, but I think the payoff will be worthwhile because a lack of familiarity with these subjects caused me to be totally bewildered on some of the quesitons on the practice exam. I would give myself a time frame of about one to two months to accomplish this goal. My second goal would be to become a better reader. I find myself constantly having to go back and reread the same chunks of a passage time after time because I just can't get anything out of it, and by the time I'm ready to answer the question, I forget what I just read. I think that if I read actively and anticipated questions more, I could be more successful. This would take at least two months of practice before I would see much improvement and only have to read parts of the passage a second time.

My third and final goal would be to manage my time more effectively. In a way, accomplishing my other two goals would help be accomplish this goal since I would be spending less time being baffled by concepts I've never seen before and rereading passages. Just as the other goals, (actually even more so for time managment) I would need to do a lot of practice. When practicing, I would try my hardest to limit myself to spending around a minute per question and skipping questions that I'm stuck on. I would need at least three months of practice. When I can answer almost all the questions on the multiple-choice section within the time frame and with a fair amount of confidence, I'll know I'm ready.

Blog #1: Design Justification

I was inspired by the deep purple colored dress that is seen in my profile picture, so I found a background that displayed a similar color. The purple that is seen in the background is lighter and more faded than the dress in my picture, creating a more dated look. I used a shade of periwinkle for the title font since the color periwinkle is part of the title. In addition, periwinkle ties all the colors of the blog together as it is a blend between purple and blue. This specific background captures a vintage, antique feel as the background image is an old, worn-out envelope. The French words and the stamps of the Eiffel Tower convey my love of Paris and my love of travel. The demode appearance respresents my appreciation for the traditional form: a truely timeless style.

The title font is called "Homemade Apple", it resembles someone's cursive handwriting and works well with the background of the letter, establishing a warm and inviting mood. It is not too formal as it appears to look like it was casually written by someone. The font used on the majority of the page is called "Courier", it resembles typed print. It contrasts the bold cursive style script through its simplicity and lightness. Because the bio is a larger chunk of text, I chose a more basic style font to ensure readibility. This font also embodies a more modern look as it looks like it is clearly typed and not handwritten. This choice of font was made to offset the traditional style that would otherwise be overwhelming; if this were interior design, I would call my style transitional (in between modern and traditional).