Prose Essay Prompts

1. Analyze the protaganist Carrie, and how Stephen King uses literary techniques to reveal her character's development.

2. Stephen King is famous for his many horror stories. Carrie was his first novel published. How does King create such a terrific story about bullying? What literary elements are used? Does the supernatural aspect increase the horror?

3.  Carrie is on a list of the most banned books in history. Are King's elements/devices/techniques/stories too graphic for schoool?

4. Analyze the techniques that help instill horror when reading about Carrie and her mother's relationship.

Jane Eyre Question Answers

1. B
2. B
3. D
4. D
5. E
6. A
7. B
8. C
9. B
10. E
11. E
12. A
13. E
14. D
15. E
16. B
17. D
18. E
19. C
20. C
21. C
22. A
23. C
24. A
25. B
26. D
27. A
28. D
29. C
30. E
31. D
32. A
33. B
34. E
35. C
36. C

1. D

2. A

3. B

4. D

5. C

6. A

7. D

8. C

9. B

10. D

11. A

12. C

13. B

14. A

15. C

16. D

27. E

28. A

29. C

30. C

Macbeth Active Reading Notes 1

Scene V
Messenger announces Macbeth's arrival to Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth seems to be want to be full of cruelty and evil?
   "And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it!"
Macbeth returns
They discuss Banquo's coming
"Your face, my thane, is a book where men may read stranger matters" What does that mean?

Scene VI
Setting: outside of the castle
Lady Macbeth joins the men outside, greets each other
The men ask of Macbeth, where he is and say they will be their guests tonight
Lady Macbeth denies?/accepts? them
They exit

Scene VII
Macbeth speaks of murdering and assassinating (Duncan?)
He does not bear the knife himself?
Lady Macbeth enters
They talk of someone eating, and Macbeth has asked if he has asked for him (Duncan?)
Lady Macbeth seems to be berating Macbeth, to get the deed done
They ARE talking of killing Duncan, Lady Macbeth is trying to persuade her love that he is not going to fail
They talk of using daggers

Multiple Choice Answers for Practice Test 1

1. E
2. A
3. E
4. C
5. A
6. A
7. D
8. D
9. D
10. B
11. A
12. E
13. E
14. D
15. D
16. C
17. A
18. E
19. D
20. C
21. B
22. C
23. B
24. B
25. C
26. C
27. A
28. C
29. B
30. C
31. D
32. D
33. D
34. D
35. C
36. D
37. E
38. C
39. D
40. D
41. B
42. C
43. A
44. C
45. C
46. E
47. B
48. E
49. A
50. D
51. B
52. C
53. C
54. E

Joy Luck Club Lit Analysis

1. The Joy Luck Club involved multiple Chinese daughters and mothers facing obstacles such as conflict between each other and the American world they live in. It mainly focuses on Jing-mei trying to find her long-lost sisters, born from a different father and left in China. The story is told in a unique way, with the four mothers first telling their stories, talking about their lives and relationships with their daughters. It then transitions to the daughters and their points of view, their lives and their relationships with their mothers.

2. I think ethnic and cultural differences and similarities are the main themes of this story. The mothers did not grow up in America, and still have much stronger ties to their homeland in China. They do try be involved with American culture, they do learn English, but their ties aren't as strong as their daughters. The daughters are much more confused as to who they are. They are Chinese, but at the same time American, and it kind of creates an identity crisis. In the Joy Luck Club, both mothers and daughters feel safe, and feel connected to each other.

3. The tone throughout the book varies quite a book. At times there is a happy, remembering type of tone. But at other times, the tone can be sorrowful and thoughtful.  Examples:


“It was only later that I discovered there was a serious flaw with the American version. There were too many choices, so it was easy to get confused and pick the wrong thing.”

“I raced down the street, dashing between people, not looking back as my mother screamed shrilly ‘Meimei! Meimei!’ I fled down an alley, past dark, curtained shops and merchants washing grime off their windows.

“My breath came out like angry smoke. It was cold…The alley was quiet and I could see the yellow lights shining from our flat like two tiger’s eyes in the night.”

4. Symbols: The coy fish the mother loved, and the goldfish that the daughter loved
    Simile:"...she backed out of the room, stunned, as if she were blowing away like a small brown leaf, thin, brittle, lifeless."
    Metaphor:"I see it right away: the marble end table collapsed on top of its spindly black legs... 'Fallen down,' she says simply...'It doesn't matter,' I say and I started to pick up the broken glass shards. 'I knew it would happen.' 'Then why don't stop it?' asks my mother. And it's such a simple question."
\   Allusion: Mention of the Ed Sullivan Show
    Rhetorical Questions:"I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these things do not mix?"
    Foreshadowing:"'What use for?'" asks my mother, jiggling the table with her hand. 'you put something else on top, everything fall down. Chunwang chihan."
    Parable: The parable of the Queen Mother of the Western Skies
   

1. Indirect Characterization - Since the story is told through the views of the mothers and daughters, everything they say can be used as an indirect characterization of themselves.
    Direct Characterization - the author uses the elements to describe the daughters. An-mei and her daughter Rose were compared to "wood", as they bend easily to other's opinions.

2. The author's syntax and tone changes with each character she focuses on. The mothers speak English in a broken manner, while the girls are more instructed on the English language.

3. Jing-mei is dynamic and round. Throughout the story, she grows from a person who clashed with her mother, a static, flat character, and comes to understand her after her passing.

4. I think I came away knowing people. These women have had to face many obstacles that seem familiar to what Mexican Americans can sometimes go through. It's easy to relate to these women, Chinese or not.

BNW Essay Draft 1

Pre-write

   Character: Bernard Marx

 >Alienation<

Physical Appearance   Thoughts and Beliefs

Physical: Small in stature, not considered attractive                                                                                                   Thoughts/Beliefs: Isn't promiscuous, doesn't like soma, wants to be individual   

Essay

      Aldous Huxley created an entirely new society with vastly different morals and values in his novel Brave New World. Writers in his position tend to use their characters to demonstrate what their society thinks and believes. Huxley manages to use this technique in the opposite way, providing characters alienated by the society, and how the society treats them. Bernard Marx is one of the best examples, for he is not only alienated on a physical level by his colleagues, but he isolates himself due to his own personal thoughts and beliefs.

      Bernard is introduced as small Alpha male, insecure about his size. Being an Alpha, he was placed into one of the higher parts of his caste. Yet people gossiped about his peculiar size, saying it was caused by alcohol in his blood when he was a baby(embryo?). The way people treat Bernard because of his appearance reveals how physicalities are important to the World State. Lower castes are programmed to associate higher castes to be bigger, as we can see how he has trouble telling the lower castes what to do. Bernard also betrays his jealousy of his friend Helmholtz, a man who shares his same views but is large and very handsome. Helmholtz attracts many females. Bernard's insecurity of his size shows how important they find looks.

      The other part of Bernard's alienation is his thoughts and beliefs. Now, Bernard doesn't share these outright with his colleagues, but the readers are able to see what is going on in his mind. Bernard is disgusted with the promiscuity that goes on in the world, and tries to control his urges as well as he can. He also can't stand the technology the government uses to keep the people happy, such as soma or the categorization into the different castes. It is obvious, for the first half of the book, that these things disgust him. He wants to have no part in it, and secretly tries to defy it. 

      All of these parts of Bernard's character come together to show one thing: Bernard is different, and different is not okay in the World State. Being individual is not encouraged at all.The condemnation and ridicule Bernard receives shows how society shuns the individual. Bernard tries as hard as he can to isolate himself, feel emotions, be different, but in the end becomes a hypocrite, striving to be what he despised. 

March Lit Analysis

I've chosen the Joy Luck Club as my lit analysis book. I've heard of it before, and I wanted to choose one from the list that wasn't in too many AP tests, just to try something different. So far I'm being drawn into the story of these four Chinese women. My mom saw me reading it and started reminiscing on when she read the book, but I told her not to spoil anything! I shall continue my reading. :)