RESPONSE TO COURSE MATERIAL 3

     Looking back on what we have done the past month, I found that most of our time was spent reading and analyzing The Kite Runner. Reading this novel has been a memorable experience for me. I grew to love and hate the characters while crying a little (a lot) at some parts. The Kite Runner was extremely fascinating to analyze but it also gave me a lot of insight to a Afghan society and culture. While the book's overarching themes seems to be geared toward guilt and redemption, I was more intrigued by the underlying social, economic, and ethnic disparities Khaled Hosseini presented throughout the book. I think it tied in beautifully with the theme— guilt and redemption can be experienced by all people despite the many differences that divide them. While I thought that the writing was lovely (except the end wow that was a mess), I did feel like the novel was hard to analyze at times. The symbols such as the pomegranate tree, eyes, and deformations were presented too straightforwardly and obviously. It was harder to draw underlying meanings and in-depth analysis for me than it was with The American Dream. I was able to see everyone else's interpretations of certain moments through discussion. Many interesting ideas were brought up such as how deformation of a character signal a person who was generally good on the inside or the broken glasses of the orphanage owner. To tie in the whole unit together, we took an open prompt test. I don't do well under pressure. It was a good reminder how fast I have to think and work when timed.
   
    We continued to work on the poetry portion of the closed prompts. I think that I have improved as an essay writing and the comments that I have received have been quite helpful. I've learned that poetry focuses a lot more on the DIDLS of literature. It's interesting to see how sentence structure, length, rhyme schemes, and diction affect the overall meaning of the story. While poetry is harder to understand, it is a lot easier for me to analyze in comparison to proses.

     While we have focused on the writing aspect of the AP exam all year, we took our first practice MC test. I realized that I need to work on time as I definitely ran out of time at the end. I was rushing and I didn't even read the last few prompts. When we went over our scores, I learned that I kind of suck at the multiple choice. Although those scores were rough, I feel that I am a strong essay writer. If I improve my MC skills by looking at practice tests and reading tips, I may be able to bring my score up for the next time. The practice test helped me realize that I should put more effort into working on my weaknesses.

     Within the last week, we started reading Oedipus which has been really new for me. The two other books we have read were The American Dream and The Kite Runner which are both relatively recent. Oedipus was written a long, long, long time ago. It was fascinating learning about the history and backstory of the play. It was also a lot of fun listening to my class recite their lines. Some people really got into their roles. It's interesting to see how the lessons we can learn from extremely old pieces of literature can still be prevalent today. After reading "Fate, Freedom, and the Tragic Experience: An Introductory Lecture on Sophocles's Oedipus the King" which was a whopping twenty five pages, I felt as if I had a knew much more about tragic heroes. It intriguing how much more satisfying tragic heroes can be compared to comic ones. The article also help me see Oedipus in a new light, someone who is strong in the assertion of his beliefs rather than a stubborn self-absorbed idiot. It's interesting discussing its meaning as a class and I look forward for what is to come in the unit!

CLOSED PROMPT 2: POETRY 2

Exam: 2006 Free-Response Questions
Question 1: Read the following poem carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the poet uses language to describe the scene and to convey mood and meaning.

     As the scope of human knowledge and technical innovations advance, many often view mankind as the superior species yet Robert Penn Warren crafts a poem that seems to argue the opposite. By using the hawk as a symbol of nature, the force of nature is constructed as wise and enduring under a dark and mysterious mood. The insignificance and fragility of humankind in comparison to the world is illustrated in the poem's language. Through diction, similes, and metaphors, "Evening Hawk" depicts the inferiority of the humanity under the overbearing and omniscient power of nature.

    Robert Penn Warren's diction "Evening Hawk" establishes the complex and dominant force of nature by using contrasting words. Initially the hawk is seen "dipping [its wings] through / Geometries and orchids." Words like "Geometries" and "angularity" paint the logical rather than idyllic reality of nature, making it appear rigid and cold. However, the word "orchids" has connotations of beauty and love which characterizes the force of nature in a more romantic light. These conflicting descriptions add to the poem's mysterious mood. Through "the sunset [that] builds, / Out of the peak’s black angularity of shadow," light is used to contrast the dark in the poem. The light and darkness reflect the good and bad sides of nature. While light is generally associated with goodness, Warren's negative description of light as a "tumultuous avalanche" serves as a reminder that even the positive aspects of nature can be foreboding and ominous. By using dissimilar description words and twisting favorable traits, Warren emphasizes the strength and all-knowing power of the force of nature.

     By using metaphors and similars, Robert Penn Warren compares the insignificance of humanity to the brute force of nature. Warren compares the hawk's wing a to a scythe with a "honed steel-edge" that cuts the "stalks of Time." The hawk metaphorically cuts the idea of "Time" because it sees the futility of humanity's attempts to control the world. The hawk sees time as useless and "heavy with the gold of...error." This is because the "earth [will] grind on its axis" and continue to progress whether time exists or not. Complexities with the hawk depicted with its judgement of mankind's corruption. The hawk views the world with an "eye, unforgiving, [as] the world, unforgiven, swings / Into shadow." Though the hawk has the capability to forgive, it chooses not to for a reason that is unclear. By doing this, Warren maintains a dark and mysterious mood while revealing another weakness of humankind. The hawk also sees humankind's "history / Drip in darkness like a leaking pipe in the cellar." Because a cellar is found below ground, it hints that the hawk looks down at humanity's history. The darkness in the simile reveals that history has long been forgotten and unclear. Thus mankind's past is trivial and unsuccessful in comparison to the eminent scope of nature's force.

     While Robert Penn Warren makes fascinating points about humanity in his poem "Evening Hawk," it may not be a unique view. However, he is able to employ his arguments in a his own style through the use of diction, simile, and metaphors. Warren's personal language crafts a dark and mysterious mood through his depiction of mankind's subordination to nature's commanding and wise force. All of this is smoothly done with a comparison to a hawk.