Revision of Open Prompt #5

1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.

Conflict between parent and child is one of the most fascinating topics for authors to explore, possibly because they have experienced it. Arthur Miller delves into this complex issue in his play, Death of a Salesman, as Willy Loman and his son Biff struggle through a tense relationship. Miller uses detail and a nonlinear timeline to create and explore the conflict between father and son which ultimately shows his audience that Willy's so-called American Dream will not bring the happiness and success that he expects it to.

Miller uses a nonlinear time line in the play to reveal to the audience some of the sources of the conflict between Willy and Biff. The play begins in present day and often flashes back in time to some memory of Willy's. In the beginning, flashbacks show us that when Biff in high school, the two had a wonderful relationship. Present day, however, the conflict and tension in their relationship is evident. Later, Willy flashes back to a memory of Biff visiting him on one of his trips to Boston to tell his father that he flunked math where he finds a young secretary in Willy's hotel room. Willy tries to talk his way around the truth but eventually just tries to justify his affair by saying repeatedly, "I'm so lonely", to his stunned, devastated son. The nonlinear way the story is told shows the audience the original source of conflict between Biff and his father. Miller also provides details that enhance the audience's understanding of this father/son conflict. Throughout the play, details reveal to the audience Willy's idea of a successful life. In other words, his American Dream includes being involved in business, being financially secure, and being "well-liked". Details also show the audience that Biff's idea of the American Dream is much different than his father's. Many times, Biff has left his home to go out west and Miller's details tell what Biff loves about being there: baby calves being born, open air, "the time to sit around and smoke". This, being contrary to Willy's idea of success and happiness, is a major source of tension between the two. 

This conflict contributes heavily to Miller's main point which is that the American Dream, as Willy sees it, will not bring happiness or success to one who achieves it. In the end, Willy finds himself poor and forgotten in the sales world, despite how important those things have always been to him. He still has not let go of this dream, however, and kills himself so his family can have the insurance money that his death will bring them. At his funeral, which no one but his family and two family friends attend, his wife, Linda, repeats the words, "we're free". Willy, now dead, is certainly not free, nor is Linda, nor their other son, Happy, who continues on in the business world, following in Willy's footsteps. Biff, who chooses again to go out west, is the only one who is really free. He finally realizes who he is and that happiness and success comes of that, not of being "well-liked" and rich as his father always said, which is Miller's main point.

Father/son conflict is a commonly explored theme in literature. Miller uses this theme, which he creates through detail and a nonlinear timeline, to get his message across to his audience. He shows that happiness and success comes from knowing and being true to yourself, not from the American Dream that Willy couldn't let go of, the dream of wealth and being "well-liked".

Revision of Open Prompt #4

1993. "The true test of comedy is that it shall awaken thoughtful laughter." Choose a novel, play, or long poem in which a scene or character awakens "thoughtful laughter" in the reader. Write an essay in which you show why this laughter is "thoughtful" and how it contributes to the meaning of the work.

A confused adoption lady, a crazy grandma, a day-old cake, some missing pekingese, and lots and lots of boxes. These details and many others, along with some sarcasm and irony, make Edward Albee's play, The American Dream, a funny one. Underneath the laughter, however, an audience is forced to stop and think about what Albee is trying to say. He uses details and language to, as one critic called it, "awaken thoughtful laughter" in his audience, entertaining them while, at the same time, causing them to consider that when people are dissatisfied in their personal lives, they turn to the artificial and fleeting satisfaction of consumerism. 

Albee uses language and many details to make his audience laugh. Humorous language techniques are found in many places in the play. For example, h

e uses alliteration in the phrase "a penchant for pornography" to highlight the comedy of an adoption lady who is interested in the "intimate" things her clients say. He also uses a paraprosdokian when grandma calls their era "the age of deformity", rather than the age of conformity, as one might expect. These language choices, and others, add to the humor of Albee's play. He also 

uses a plethora of details to create funny moments in the dialogue of his characters. For example, Mommy tells Daddy the story of how she went to buy a beige hat that was really wheat and then when she went to return it, they gave her back the same hat, which she then believed was beige. The story is incredibly lengthy, including details about the hat, the store, and everything that was said. The story is also constantly interrupted by Mommy's complaints and Daddy's inability to pay attention to what she says. The result is a hilarious, albeit somewhat irritating, story about a trip to a hat shop. 

All the humorous language and details found in The American Dream, while entertaining, must also be accompanied by real thought on the part of the audience. The techniques Albee uses to make the audience laugh also point to his main message: that if someone is unsatisfied and unhappy with their personal life, they will turn to consumerism to find satisfaction, although it is false and extremely temporary. The paraprosdokian used by grandma, for example, is a funny use of a common phrase, but it also forces the audience to consider how messed up and therefore unsatisfying their lives really are. The details of Mommy's hat story show that, because of her unsatisfying, "deformed" life, she has turned to consumerism to fill the void. 

Even through the lighthearted laughter Albee's humor causes, the audience is also forced to confront the sad, unhealthy aspects of the characters lives. This laughter, while serving its purpose by entertaining, fulfills another duty by making the audience think about what they are actually laughing at which is Albee's meaning that unsatisfactory personal lives will lead people to the false, fleeting satisfaction of consumerism.

Revision of Open Prompt #3

1972. In retrospect, the reader often discovers that the first chapter of a novel or the opening scene of a drama introduces some of the major themes of the work. Write an essay about the opening scene of a drama or the first chapter of a novel in which you explain how it functions in this way.

Many great authors manage to hint at major themes in their work in the opening scene. Edward Albee masters this in his absurdist play The American Dream. The play centers around several unhappy characters, specifically Mommy and Daddy, and their so-called American Dream. Albee uses diction and detail in the opening scene of the play to hint at one of the overall themes: that when people become dissatisfied in their personal lives, they turn to the fleeting and artificial satisfaction of consumerism.

The curtain rises on a relatively empty stage: just two armchairs occupied by Mommy and Daddy, a couch separating them. This furniture arrangement hints at the distance between the husband and wife, a detail Albee was adamant about in his stage directions. Other details demonstrate the dissatisfaction Mommy and Daddy feel in their relationship, such as the disinterested way that Daddy listens to Mommy talk about her day. They speak of dissatisfaction in other things that reflect their dissatisfaction with each other, such as the tardiness of whomever they are waiting for, as well as that person's inability to get things fixed. They say over and over again that "that's just the way things are today", as if they have no say in the matter. Diction also supports the idea that they have no control, as Albee uses words like "naturally" and "of course". Albee's diction and details show the audience right away that Mommy and Daddy "can't get satisfaction" from each other or their marriage.

The scene continues with Mommy telling Daddy about the new hat she had bought earlier that day. She says that she bought a beige hat but upon leaving the store and speaking with the chairman of her women's club, she discovers that the hat is actually wheat-colored. She storms back into the store, demanding a beige hat. When the store gives her the exact same hat, insisting it is beige, not wheat, she is "satisfied" and purchases the hat. After she finishes her story, Daddy says, "You did get satisfaction, didn't you." And Mommy says that she certainly did. The satisfaction, then, comes from the purchase made, not from being with Daddy or interacting with anyone in her life. Throughout the story, she continues to use the word "naturally", implying that she cannot change the fact that she only gets satisfaction through shopping. She even says to Daddy, "I can always go shopping." The details used to tell her story, as well as the specific diction choices, show the audience that since she isn't satisfied with her marriage, she turns to consumerism to fill the void. 

Despite Mommy's apparent satisfaction, Albee is sure to make it clear that her satisfaction is false and only temporary. Mommy is originally satisfied with her "beige" hat until only minutes later when she decides that it is "wheat". This detail demonstrates the brevity of consumer satisfaction. Albee is telling us that, with consumerism, as quickly as we get what we think we want, we want something else. Albee also talks about the false nature of satisfaction through consumerism through Mommy's comment about the lights in the store. She tells Daddy, twice, that the store has "artificial lights" which caused her to think the wheat hat was beige. The artificial lights are representative of the artificial satisfaction Mommy finds in the store that they illuminate. 

In the first scene of The American Dream, Albee manages to convey a major theme of the play. He comments on the fact that when people become dissatisfied with some aspect of their personal lives, they turn to consumerism to compensate. He is also sure to let his audience know that the satisfaction found in this way is false and only temporary. This important theme is introduced briefly in this first scene and is brought up again and again through the play.

Revision of Open Prompt #1

1985. A critic has said that one important measure of a superior work of literature is its ability to produce in the reader a healthy confusion of pleasure and disquietude. Select a literary work that produces this "healthy confusion." Write an essay in which you explain the sources of the "pleasure and disquietude" experienced by the readers of the work.

More often than not, as humans, we experience many emotions at one time, often conflicting, caused by the multitude of people and circumstances in our lives. Great works of literature, according to one critic, should produce this same effect of "healthy confusion". In Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, a romance set during the Civil War, almost every emotion felt by readers are accompanied by opposite ones. Mitchell uses details and imagery to show characters and events that create the conflicting emotions of "pleasure and disquietude" in the reader which contribute to one of Mitchell's ultimate messages - that no person is either completely good or bad.

Scarlett O'Hara, a young woman of the southern aristocracy, is the novel's protagonist. Throughout the novel, she alternately hates, gets along with, and eventually loves the charming Rhett Butler, a blockade runner who turns up now and then in Scarlett's life. Through her constant use of well-placed details, Mitchell shows readers that Scarlett's character is a head-strong young woman, willing to use any means necessary to get what she wants. For example, when Scarlett's plantation is threatened by heavy property taxes, Scarlett decides to ask Rhett for the money. Mitchell describes in detail Scarlett's fluttering eyelashes, the green velvet curtains out of which she makes a dress, and the tantrums she throws when he refuses her the money. These details certainly create a "disquietude" and displeasure about Scarlett's character. This negative feeling, however, is countered when Mitchell uses more details, as well as imagery, to show Scarlett at her best. Much later, after Scarlett and Rhett have married, Mitchell's gives wonderful details about their daughter, Bonnie, through Scarlett's eyes. Scarlett watches her baby girl and notices the curve of her soft cheek, the gentle curl of her hair, the bright blue of her eyes, and the soft, sweetness of her laugh. This imagery shows the love Scarlett has for her daughter, creating that sense of "pleasure" in the audience to counter the "disquietude".

The techniques Mitchell uses to create these almost opposite emotions in her readers help her to convey an important message of the novel. The details and imagery provided that cause readers to feel so conflicted about Scarlett are used in the same way to create that same feeling about Rhett and many of the other characters. Therefore, it is hard for a reader to say exactly what they feel about a certain character or to classify them as purely good or evil. This is exactly what Mitchell intended, as she is trying to prove to her audience, through these techniques, that no human being is simply good or bad. 

A certain level of "healthy confusion" is necessary to any great work of literature, as one critic stated. A piece comes alive when readers can feel those opposing emotions. Through the use of well-thought out and carefully placed detail, as well as stunning imagery, Margaret Mitchell creates that sense of "pleasure and disquietude" about characters and events in her novel, Gone with the Wind, which ultimately proves Mitchell's point that no person is completely good or bad. 

Synthesis of Course Material #4 - Other

We've done some other things this year that don't really fit into the three major categories. The most obvious of these is all the time we spent studying our list of literary terms. This was especially helpful with our annotation, being able to recognize when an author was using certain things to help tell their story. Another of these was the presentations we made on Prezi about the literary eras. This was extremely helpful in recognizing certain themes and techniques used in texts that may fit into the eras in which they were written. Some of them I was learning about for the first time and on some, it was nice to get refresher as we studied them in American Literature. Another topic that doesn't fit is the Theatre of the Absurd that we studied when we looked at The American Dream. I found the concept of the Theatre of the Absurd fascinating but, as entertainment, I'm not a huge fan of most of the plays I've seen so far that fit into this category. We also talked about the definition of comedy and the theories on why something is funny. We looked at the different philosophies on tragedy, as well, and how it's changed through the years, from Aristotle all the way to Northrop Frye. The idea of every text being either Apollonian and Dionysian was extremely interesting to me, although I think that some texts have elements of both in them. We also looked at the different critical theories and worked on applying them to texts. We did this a little bit in Brit Lit but it made a lot more sense to me this year and I can see how you can apply almost every theory to a text and see it a little bit differently with each. All of these other topics, while they don't fit in the other categories, have really helped me in understanding the literature we've read, as well as in writing the essays.

Synthesis of Course Material #3 - Open and Closed Prompts

We've looked at the two different types of essays on the AP and have practiced writing both in and out of class. They are different but we must approach the prompts in very similar ways. We've learned several "formulas" for writing essays on the AP. The most important is the basic AP question: how does the author use techniques to create effects that create meaning? We must be sure to always answer the hidden "so what?" question, even when it doesn't seem to be in the prompt. Another important formula is TAP - thesis answers prompt. We should just be able to stop after our thesis and have it vaguely answer the question. The last is a formula for an intro paragraph: topic sentence, background, thesis. In theory, we could just have those three sentences, although background may take several and we've learned that it's perfectly alright to have a multi-sentence thesis. We've talked a lot about reading the prompt itself, learning to take our time to make sure we address all the goals of the prompt, identify them as techniques, effects, or meaning, and then writing our thesis to answer all the goals. After we've got our thesis and our intro paragraph, we can start in on the body paragraphs, which should follow pretty naturally from the thesis with one paragraph to explain each of the goals of the prompt. The conclusion, then should wrap up the essay and restate our thesis. This all applies to both types of prompts. The difference, then, is that in a closed prompt we're given text to close read and use to answer the prompt. Most of the one's we've done have been two poems that we have to compare and contrast. We should spend a lot more time on the sheet given to us on closed prompts, as we have to close read and annotate the text to make sure we understand it and can form a thesis to address all the goals of the prompt. In an open prompt, we aren't given any text, although they provide a list of suggestions. We've been told not to look at the list first so that we pick a text to fit the prompt and don't try to make the prompt fit a certain text. This is harder in some ways because we have to remember texts we've read but it's also sometimes easier because we pick what we write about. Both prompts are hard but we're getting better with all the practice!

Synthesis of Course Material #2 - Close Reading and Annotation

We started the year learning about close reading and I would say it's been one of the most important parts of the class so far. We started out slow, learning about DIDLS - detail, imagery, diction, language, and syntax - and learning what each part meant. We did a lot of activities to help us get the hang of each of them. The packets weren't the most interesting thing we've done but they were probably one of the most helpful. The hardest to get the hang of was syntax. We read bits of Virginia Tufte's Syntax as Style, which helped us a lot and now I think the way that author's use syntax to emphasize a point or draw our attention to something is incredibly fascinating. Applying these techniques to the text was difficult but with practice we got the hang of it. Once we understood close reading, we could start annotating texts. We started with Albee's The American Dream, annotating mostly in groups to help each other out. It was confusing at first but now, it makes all the difference in recognizing certain techniques and effects and understanding the author's meaning. Even more helpful than annotation, though, in understanding a text, is discussing it with other people. As much as I can notice in the text when I annotate, other people catch things that I miss and when we put our observations together we get a clearer understanding.

Synthesis of Course Material #1 - Literature

In the class so far we've read two novels (Ceremony and Pride & Prejudice), several plays (The American Dream, Death of a Salesman, Hamlet, and bits of The Importance of Being Earnest), and many poems. We also read Foster's How to Read Literature like a Professor, some Greek mythology and parts of the Bible as our summer work before the course started. We've gone through them all, close reading and annotating and then discussed the works as a whole in class. We started out annotating all together, helping each other out with The American Dream, our first attempt at close reading. By the time we got to Pride & Prejudice, though, we annotated completely on our own and discussed a bit in class. It's wonderful to recognize how much progress we've made since our first go at annotation. I love getting to look at so many different kinds of literature and the techniques authors use to tell their stories. It's very satisfying to finally come to some conclusion about the author's ultimate themes and messages. I haven't disliked any of the texts we've read although I wouldn't call The American Dream one of my favorites. The most nerve-racking thing, I think, as we start to look ahead to the AP test, is whether or not we're going to be able to remember these texts to answer our open prompts. The good news, I guess, is that most of what we've read could be applied to any number of prompts they could throw at us because there is so much good stuff in all of them. Besides the novels and plays, we've done a lot of poetry so far, as they often show up on closed prompts. I've always been a novels girl but this class has given me a new appreciation for poetry. I've just never really spent much time on it until now. Rossetti's "Promises Like Pie-Crust" and Collins's"The History Teacher" are two of my new favorites. Overall, I've really enjoyed the literature we've looked at and feel like I've learned a lot about the texts themselves and the way we approach them.