The prompt for Question 3, the “open” question, began with a quotation from Kate Chopin’s novel The
Awakening (1899), in which the protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess “that outward existence
which conforms, the inward life which questions.” Students were then asked to identify in a novel or play
that they had studied a character who conforms outwardly while questioning inwardly and to analyze how
this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work.
Readers found that students responded positively to the admonition to draw on material they had studied.
Moreover, most students understood that the prompt required that the tension between outward
conformity and inward questioning be the crux of their discussion. Thus, the inherent tension in the
character helped students to organize their ideas and to extend the discussion to a consideration of the
meaning of the work. Because AP students read a variety of texts with characters who struggle with the
complexities of human existence, they had ample titles to choose from and were not forced to distort less
appropriate texts to fit the prompt.
#1.
This first essay is the best out of the three of them, and was made all the more enjoyable for me because The Scarlet Letter is the only piece of literature I have actually read from these three essays. The introductory paragraph is specific and nicely sets up the organization for the rest of the essay. The author does a wonderful job of proving how the question of conformity adds to the novels theme of people who appear guiltless being the guiltiest. My largest complaint about this essay is that it is near impossible to read!
#2 This essay has a good beginning but the end of the introductory paragraph does not tie into the meaning of "The Dolls House" as much as I would like it to. While the actual writing style of the author is quite bland and repetitive, the content of the essay is good. Even though I have never read this, I can tell that their thesis of Nora wanting to conform as the perfect housewife and yet wanting independence is strong.
#3 This was the worst essay by far. After reading it, I felt like I much more clearly knew the plot of "Their Eyes Were Watching God", but this is not the point of these essays. The author did not seem to know how to answer the prompt and much of the essay was simple facts that did not tie into proving the thesis.
Hi Alice,
ReplyDeleteGood job on your essay comments. Maybe it's just my computer but the formatting on the blog post is kind of messed up. The lines are formatted almost like a works cited page.
I like how you commented on the first writer's handwriting. I also have trouble reading people's handwriting. Sometimes I feel like the writer doesn't even have really bad handwriting; I'm just not used to reading anything handwritten. I also like how you talked about having only read one of the novels mentioned in these essays. I'm only familiar with the Scarlett Letter as well. I think having read the work makes the essay more understandable. I guess it's a good thing that the AP readers will be very well read. Anyways, good job on your blog post.
Alice, I like that you add personal commentary, such as your experience with The Scarlet Letter. However, I think you could respond more analytically. For example, how did author 1 do a wonderful job of "proving"...? Also, you should never say prove; you should say support. I think you read and were able to tell if an essay would be considered good or not, but noting specific things the authors do or say or do not do or say would make your responses better. Overall, nice job.
ReplyDeleteAlice,
ReplyDeleteGood job on your essay commentary, I agreed with a majority of your opinions on the different essays. One quick question, did you mean to double space the easy prompt at the start of the post? I can’t tell if this was intentional or if it just showed up funny on my computer. I could not agree more, the first essay’s introduction paragraph was the best structured and the overall best written essay. It is always a struggle reviewing these essays when we haven’t even read the novel they are talking about. Overall I think you did a nice job of review these essays. Do you think doing this will benefit you for May? Also what have you thought about the different prompts?