Response to Course Material #1

Over the first few weeks of school, I have noticed that in A.P. lit, the students are much more independent than in other classes. We are left to draw our own conclusions, not just discuss conclusions made by others or the teacher. This has become apparent through our discussion and analysis of The American Dream, an Edgar Albee play that on the surface seems like a funny, theater of the absurd comedy, but actually has deep social commentary on the materialistic age of consumerism. After reading it straight through in class, we were left to discuss the work and our thoughts on it with little guidance from Ms. Holmes. It was surprising how many conclusions we were able to draw just as a class. We discussed how the Young Man represents the American Dream, and the significance of his character being empty on the inside and pretty on the outside. Over the next few days, we were given some articles to help give us other perspectives. We read "Allegory in Edward Albee's The American Dream," by Ervin Beck, which analyzed Grandma's role, and how she is actually the most mentally all-there character, and how she represents the old American Dream (which we had sort of alluded to in our previous discussion, and this helped us get all the way there). This article didn't give us all the answers, it just showed someone else's opinion. As a class we were challenged to build on some of Beck's ideas and question others. We had a great discussion on the old American Dream (Grandma) vs. the New American Dream (Young Man). There was also debate over Beck's optimism towards the ending of the play. The other article we read, by Philip Kolin, focused more on the attack on consumerism and the changing of the American Dream into something shallow and materialistic. This helped us realize just how dark the play is, especially with the dismembering of the "bumble's" body parts. Again we built on, not just reiterated Kolin's ideas, which led to a struggle to tackle the concept of the gender roles in Albee's play. Overall I liked the way that we approached this play, with a lot of room for the students to come up with ideas on their own, but with some guidance and some knowledge from other lessons in class to help us analyze the techniques and effects Albee uses to make his main points.

Although most of the American Dream discussion was independent, we did have some more guided lessons on techniques such as DIDLS to help set the ground work for our discussion and educate us on the correct terms when analyzing literature. Our first lesson was on diction. Learning about different types of diction (colloquial v. elevated v. informal, concrete v. abstract, etc.), helped us see how powerful word choice is in a work, and what a key part it plays in getting the main point across and creating the mood of the work. We put our knowledge of diction to the test when we annotated an excerpt from Kafka's short story, "Metamorphosis". Figuring that much of the diction was colloquial, and for the most part concrete and vague helped me get the feel of the tone being mostly indifferent with a bit of annoyance regarding his condition. This lack of concern that main character has for the fact that he is now a bug (which is evident through the diction) helped me realize that his being a vermin represents the struggles he faces when being a traveling salesman. It's inconvenient and it wears him down, just like being a vermin does. Diction is not the only major technique authors use to make their works come to life. We also studied imagery, and analyzed three very different excerpts solely on imagery. This focus on the imagery helped me see the second excerpt in a whole new light. Studying the images of the cold, run down town with a promising street name and the girl limping and struggling along in the frozen, unforgiving town helped the class as a whole make connections and realize that the girl represents poverty and how the frozen scenery around her shows how unforgiving and unsympathetic the rest of the world is. I didn't make that connection at all before studying the imagery in depth. I was able to appreciate the work a lot more after this. Another main technique we looked at in class was syntax. We read an article called "syntax as style," which pointed out all of the many different ways diction can create effects and add to the meaning of the story. Although we did not study language and details as much in depth, we still learned how important they are in creating effects and meaning. Seeing how literary techniques help me come to bigger conclusions showed me how important they are in a work of literature, and how much more you can get out of a work when you analyze these techniques in depth.

Not only are these lessons on DIDLS helping me analyze literature such as The American Dream more closely and get more out of it, but they are also helping me prepare for the "Close Reading" aspect of the A.P. Exam, which we have been focusing on a lot in class lately. After getting basic knowledge of DIDLS, we used them to write a close reading blog post, as well as write sort of a practice essay. This essay certainly was not anywhere near where I want my essay to be for the exam, but it was a good indicator of where I am right now, and it showed me that the DIDLS lessons gave me some direction, so I wasn't completely lost. It was certainly a lot better than an essay I would have written on the first day of school would be, so it's encouraging to see how much progress this class has helped me make in just a few weeks.

Overall I would say that I am really enjoying A.P. Lit so far. The amount of room students have to think for themselves and put their ideas out there takes me out of my comfort zone a little, but it really helps me grow as a writer and a reader. I have been able to pick up on a lot more details and ideas in my reading, and I have this class to thank for it.