open promt 4

2008, Form B. In some works of literature, childhood and adolescence are portrayed as times graced by innocence and a sense of wonder; in other works, they are depicted as times of tribulation and terror. Focusing on a single novel or play, explain how its representation of childhood or adolescence shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.

For most people growing up, their childhoods are peaceful. But there are significant moments that harden you for  the real world. Harper Lee builds on this with Scout and Jem from To Kill A Mockingbird. The naivety they demonstrate represents the innocence and wonder of their childhood. But seeing the injustice of Tom's trial opens not only their eyes, but the eyes of the audience. 

Scout and Jem's naivety of racism represents the innocence of their childhood. They never had to deal with complicated race relations until Tom's trial. Scout in particular doesn't understand social standing. She doesn't understand why the Ewell kid is so unruly. She doesn't understand why Walter pours molasses over his food and tries to correct him only to be scolded by Calpurnia. The most demonstrative case is that being a young child, Scout does not understand why there is a mob outside Tom's cell when the trial has not begun yet and a verdit has not been made. 

Boo Radley is the source of Scout and Jem's fascination during the summer. Their lack of knowledge of him fuels their imagination of him. The kids make dares of running into Boo's yard, testing how dangerous he is. Scout and Jem reenact what might have happen to Boo Radley through the Boo Radley game. They imagine what might have caused him to be so reclusive. Lee depicts Scout and Jem looking for information to fill in the gaps of their world. But when the information cannot be found, childhood imagination takes over.

Perhaps this is part of why we draw angels as children, why cherub faced is a description of childlike. Because the purity of childhood is a staunch contrast to the world we see today.

Open Prompt 3

1978. Choose an implausible or strikingly unrealistic incident or character in a work of fiction or drama of recognized literary merit. Write an essay that explains how the incident or character is related to the more realistic of plausible elements in the rest of the work. Avoid plot summary. 

It's hard to judge people when they go through their daily lives. They just go with the routine programmed in their heads. But if an new element throws it off, we get a more in depth view. That's the principle behind adding the Young Man in The American Dream by Arthur Miller. His presence lets Grandma leave and so he come her replacement, symbolizing the departure of the Old American Dream and the drive to achieve satisfaction by the current one.

When the Young Man is introduced into the play, Grandma is the first to meet him. When they meet, Grandma immediately breaks out of her act. He is the new element that causes her to leave her routine and become genuine. She tells him what she has secretly been doing behind Mommy and Daddy's backs. She becomes more attentive and sympathetic to whats around her. Grandma understands what happened to the Young Man after he tells her his story. Grandma is shown to much more caring than when she was going through her day. But it also shows she wants to leave. The Old American dream has no place in the world of consumerism. 

The Young Man is advertised as not only as a replacement for Grandma, but as a replacement from the previous child Mommy and Daddy had. His presence shows that all they care about is satisfaction. When they realize Grandma has left, they are a little upset but it goes away as the much more handsome Young Man comes in. Now they have a product they can be satisfied with. Even Mommy tries to hit on him to get more satisfaction. It is an endless cycle in the world of consumerism, 

Arthur Miller hopes that his message about the evils of consumerism will get across. That's why he uses the arrival of the Young Man. He represents what the American Dream will become. Attractive on the outside, empty on the inside. In other words, superficial.

Open Prompt 2

1981. The meaning of some literary works is often enhanced by sustained allusion to myths, the Bible, or other works of literature. Select a literary work that makes use of such a sustained reference. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain the allusion that predominates in the work and analyze how it enhances the work's meaning.

Thomas Foster once said that authors use references to the Bible to help summarize the message the author is trying to send. This is because we have been around Biblical references our whole life, so it is easier to relate to them. William Golding understands this, in his novel The Lord of the Flies, he uses the character Simon's path of enlightenment and death as an allusion to Jesus Christ. The allusion depicts the lost of innocence in the book's microcosm, showing the dark side of human nature.

Simon is one of the choir boys stranded on the island. But he is completely different in attitude. He is quiet and peaceful as oppose to the rowdiness of everyone else. He is also a naturally caring person much like Jesus. Simon prefers to spend most of his time in the forest, relaxing and being one of nature. It seems like that he is on a whole other level. Consequently, all the path reaches its end and Simon hallucinates the pig's head speaking about the true nature of humans. He becomes enlightened with the darkness of humans and tries to spread the word and save his fellow comrades. This is similiar to Jesus to being enlightented about God and his attempt to spread the message to save his fellow citizens. Golding's effort to depict Simon in this light is to be a foil to the the degrading of the people around him, or the unenlightented ones.

After learning of man's true nature, Simon realizes what he must do; he has to warn everyone to stop the destruction of their society on the island. He journeys back to the camp, only to be mistakened as the beast and murdered by the tribe. This parallels Jesus's betrayal by Judas and his crucifixation on the cross. Both are depicted as dying while being pure and trying to help others. Golding makes this connection to portray the lost of innocence in his novel.

40 min up.

Open Prompt 1

1970 Also. Choose a work of recognized literary merit in which a specific inanimate object (e.g., a seashell, a handkerchief, a painting) is important, and write an essay in which you show how two or three of the purposes the object serves are related to one another.

Characters are not the only ones that dictate the plot in a novel; inanimate objects can greatly influence the storyline. In The Lord of the Flies, the conch maintains order and democracy, allowing a civilized clan of children to exist. But as the plot progresses, the conch shows how its two purposes are intertwined as they progressively decline at the same time.

One purpose the conch serves is to maintain a democracy. In the novel, the conch allows people to voice their opinion. Who ever holds onto the counch is allowed to talk, no one else is allowed to interrupt. It allows someone like Piggy to voice his opinion which is heavily influenced by his aunt. It allows Ralph to voice his discontent with the group and their inability in getting the task at hand done. But when the conch's condition deteiorates, so does democracy itself. Jack breaks off the main group and starts his own tribe where he is chief. In his tribe, Jack rules with absolute power, punishing whoever he pleases without any reason. As the conch reaches it's breaking point, more people join Jack's tribe until it is a few people left following Ralph. When the conch finally breaks, Ralph is by himself carrying the remnants of democracy.

The other purpose the conch serves is to maintain order. The conch is used by Ralph as a trumpet in order to get childrens attention in the beginning with the purpose to figuring out a plan. From that point forward, Ralph uses the conch to call for an assembly to keep everyone on task. But as the conch loses coloring, the hunters start to ignore Ralph. Ralph can no longer maintain order as Jack and the hunters go rampant. Furthering the chaos, the children accidentally kill Simon during their frenzied dance. At the end when the conch breaks, chaos reaches its max as the hunters try to burn the island in order to kill Ralph. Their irrational and hazardous actions represent how far they have turned away from an orderly society.

The two purposes intertwine because democracy is a form of organization. When democracy was at its strongest, order was most prevalent. Ralph could get a signal fire started and organize the children into groups to accomplish tasks. Also everyone was nice and polite to each other and willing to work together. But when people started ignoring others opinions, the democracy fell apart, leading to a chaotic society led by Jack to be formed.

I think that most object's purposes often overlap each other because they all represent one general concept. An object representing two different things would confuse the reader as the object's purpose would be hard to understand. But if the object is like the conch, then we can see how its two purposes, democracy and order, are related to each other.