Mano A Mano
By: Susan Schorn
In this reflective essay Schorn recounts an encounter she had with a magazine subscription seller who had scars he was showing her, with a story behind them, but also her take on violence. She takes a relaxed friend to friend kind of tone that works very well to convey her ideas because they are the kinds of things that you complain about to a friend. She creates this tone using conversational syntax and every day diction. She uses comas frequently in her sentences which makes it feel like she is taking a breath or pausing for effect in a conversation. The diction that she uses never extends far beyond the smaller group of words that tend to be uses everyday, using typical verbs, never getting technical or using flowery specific words. this makes it easier for the reader to connect to her as a reliable source or atleast someone with a thought through position. Her tone shifts to one that is still friend to friend but more heated in her opinion as she discusses her opinion on Bush. It shifts because Schorn uses more sarcastic diction.
Personally, this tone made my response to this piece more on the side of humor. It was funny but I think that if she had used a different tone it would have been harder for my to connect to the content. On the other hand this wouldn't be the best tone to strike on an AP exam because it does not portray the author as a reliable source, more like an opinionated friend.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Outside Reading: Column
Ten Ways to Jump-start Your Finances
By: Alison Rosen
In this column, Rosen uses different techniques to create a funny column. She makes rediculous claims of her ways to "jump-start your finances". Rosen creates a narratives persona that makes it clear that she is not to be taken seriously, using diction and details along with asking unanswerable questions of the audience. She uses diction that one usually uses when they are joking around, for instance she says things like "don", "suacy", "pluck". The most obvious example of how she uses detail is in the common, sometimes cliche way she words her final sentences and the expressions people use when tryink to get you to do something crazy, ""live a little", "play the odds", "best if what you love is embezzling".
This definitely influenced my response to the piece, if it was not obviously meant to be a piece of humor I would have read it and thought that she was crazy and let it slip from my mind. Since it was funny though, I imagined myself in those situations and it made it a more enjoyabe read.
Appropriate for an AP? No. For sure not, the humor that Rosen uses would be looked at with a definite negative light by the AP graders, either thinking that the writer was not taking it seriously, or was trying to mock them. A serious more authoritative voice would be a much better appraoch for the AP.
By: Alison Rosen
In this column, Rosen uses different techniques to create a funny column. She makes rediculous claims of her ways to "jump-start your finances". Rosen creates a narratives persona that makes it clear that she is not to be taken seriously, using diction and details along with asking unanswerable questions of the audience. She uses diction that one usually uses when they are joking around, for instance she says things like "don", "suacy", "pluck". The most obvious example of how she uses detail is in the common, sometimes cliche way she words her final sentences and the expressions people use when tryink to get you to do something crazy, ""live a little", "play the odds", "best if what you love is embezzling".
This definitely influenced my response to the piece, if it was not obviously meant to be a piece of humor I would have read it and thought that she was crazy and let it slip from my mind. Since it was funny though, I imagined myself in those situations and it made it a more enjoyabe read.
Appropriate for an AP? No. For sure not, the humor that Rosen uses would be looked at with a definite negative light by the AP graders, either thinking that the writer was not taking it seriously, or was trying to mock them. A serious more authoritative voice would be a much better appraoch for the AP.
Outside Reading: Book Review
Freedom
By: Sam Tanenhaus
This book review is about "Freedom" by Jonathon Franzen. In this review Tanenhaus is not just stating facts about the book and showing its strength an weaknesses but he is praising the book quite a bit, and compares it to Frenzen's previous work, "The Corrections". He describes how Franzen has done an excellent job of using the politically charged connotation of freedom to his advantage. He praises the book with diction that support the complicated themes he says are present in the book. He uses words like intricately, majestic, and dynamically. He also uses vivid imagery to praise Franzen and draw his comparison to "The Corrections". At one point in the review he says,"Franzen cracked open the opaque shell of postmodernism, tweezed out its tangled circuitry and inserted in its place the warm beating heart of an authentic humanism." This is a vivid way for him to create an image of just how important he thinks this work is. Drawing connections to Dickens an other writers based on the techniques that Franzen used makes the reader more intrigued by the review because it may be a book worthy of the comparison to "those giants". This is one of the strengths of the piece, along with the imagery and his use of details, but one of the weaknesses is his heavy handed praise, it makes it seem as though there is no other option but to love this book, and it will turn readers off to this book if they generally don't like books of this genre.
This review is from a new historicism perspective because it takes into account the social environment at the time, and obviously the author's background and previous book.
By: Sam Tanenhaus
This book review is about "Freedom" by Jonathon Franzen. In this review Tanenhaus is not just stating facts about the book and showing its strength an weaknesses but he is praising the book quite a bit, and compares it to Frenzen's previous work, "The Corrections". He describes how Franzen has done an excellent job of using the politically charged connotation of freedom to his advantage. He praises the book with diction that support the complicated themes he says are present in the book. He uses words like intricately, majestic, and dynamically. He also uses vivid imagery to praise Franzen and draw his comparison to "The Corrections". At one point in the review he says,"Franzen cracked open the opaque shell of postmodernism, tweezed out its tangled circuitry and inserted in its place the warm beating heart of an authentic humanism." This is a vivid way for him to create an image of just how important he thinks this work is. Drawing connections to Dickens an other writers based on the techniques that Franzen used makes the reader more intrigued by the review because it may be a book worthy of the comparison to "those giants". This is one of the strengths of the piece, along with the imagery and his use of details, but one of the weaknesses is his heavy handed praise, it makes it seem as though there is no other option but to love this book, and it will turn readers off to this book if they generally don't like books of this genre.
This review is from a new historicism perspective because it takes into account the social environment at the time, and obviously the author's background and previous book.
Core Concept Notes (2/07- 2/17)
Heart of Darkness
-geography
Apocalypse Now
-set in Vietnam instea of the congo
-the anima is not as present in this version
-the ending is different, we are lead to believe he heads deeper into the jungle
-for whatever reason (probably film) it seemed more graphic
-geography
- the idea that marlowe is decening into hell, references to dante and lots of demons
- as well as hell, it is also eden, lush forest and the "birthplace of man"
- heading south to run amuck
- the two women, the Intended and Marlowe's aunt are in need of "protecting"
- the african woman )mistress) on the other hand represents the fertility and soul of the congo, she is an Anima
- Kurtz has fallen in love with the congo and can never go back
- the old woman at the beginning spinning black wool are the Fates
- the russian trader is the "fool"
Apocalypse Now
-set in Vietnam instea of the congo
-the anima is not as present in this version
-the ending is different, we are lead to believe he heads deeper into the jungle
-for whatever reason (probably film) it seemed more graphic
Core Concept Notes (1/31- 2/04)
The Novel
-comes from the Italian word novella, meaning little new thing
-usually 30,000-100,000 words
-it has plot complexity, using characters
-Three early british writers
-Repetition
-comes from the Italian word novella, meaning little new thing
-usually 30,000-100,000 words
-it has plot complexity, using characters
-Three early british writers
- Daniel Dafoe
- Samuel Richarson
- Henry Fielding
- a larger educated middle class with a little extra money
- cheaper production and circulation
- publication of novels in serial form
- a system of circulating libraries
-Repetition
- anaphora: emphasizing words with repetition at the begining of the clauses
- antipostrophe: the repetition of words at the end of successive clauses
- anadiplosis: the repetition of a word from the en of a clause to the beginning of the next
- epizeuxis: repetition of words in amediate succession
- polysyndeton: the repetition of a conjunction
- alliteration: the repetition of initial sounds
- assonance: the repetition of vowal souns in close proximity, with different consonants
- consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the end
- antithesis: juxtaposing two ideas by joining them together
- anastrophe: inversion of common western word order ie: yoda
- chiasmus: two or more clauses are related by inverte parallelism
- antimetabole: the repetition of words in successive clauses with transposed order
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