Existentialism: AP Literature and Composition

       Existentialism is the philosophical theory that an individual has free control over their choices, actions, and their existence in the world. This allows for a person to determine their own development through free will.

      The theory of existentialism exists in Beowulf, the poem. While chaos and adversity is happening in the poem, Beowulf knows he has control over his actions and chooses to help better the existence of the world for himself as well as better the lives of other people. Beowulf knows he is great and most people know that he was a hero, his actions throughout his life were determined by his very own choices which helped him develop his heroic figure. Even though the task of defeating Grendel might cause his own death, it is his personal goal to kill him off. 

"None of them expected he would ever see

his homeland again or get back

to his native place and the people who reared him.

They knew too well the way it was before,

how often the Danes had fallen prey

to death in the mead-hall"(691-696.)

     Chris McCandless had been a recently graduated college student who would have been well off if he chose to live out his life that his parents helped set up for him. He left everything behind except for a few essential items that would only last him a little while. In Into The Wild, his story was shown to the world and through it, existentialism is clear. McCandless was in search of the meaning of his existence. It was his own choice to venture of into the wild even though it was fatal. He was trying to develop his sense of self through an existential search once he left everything he had ever had in front of him and left.  

      “At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence” (Krakauer.)

Bathos: AP Literature and Composition

      Bathos is a literary effect in which an author heightens the action to be very passionate and intense but then abruptly falls into an absurd or trivial idea or phrase.

      In Rape of The Lock, bathos is used when Pope steals the lock of hair from Belinda. The quote is set up to very intensely describe how triumphant Pope feels when he gets this precious item but the 'glorious prize' turns out to be extremely absurd and trivial because it is merely a lock of hair. “Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine (The victor cry'd) the glorious Prize is mine!”(Pope, Canto III).

      Bathos is also used when describing the object that did the damage and stole the prized possession from Belinda. "The Peer now spreads the glitt'ring Forfex wide, T' inclose the Lock; now joins it, to divide"(Pope, Canto III). The magnificent 'glittering forfex' is simply just a pair of scissors.

      In The Great Gatsby, bathos is used to characterize how over the top Gatsby is, “Then came the war, old sport. It was a great relief, and I tried very hard to die, but I seemed to bear an enchanted life” (Fitzgerald, 66). The war is a harsh time but Gatsby abruptly brings up how wonderful his life is now after stating how he wanted to commit suicide.He wanted people to have sympathy towards him so they would believe his feigned story about his life.

Juxtaposition: AP Literature and Composition

  

       Juxtaposition is the technique of  using contrasting concepts and words in order to help highlight important themes and differences between two ideas in the work.

      In East of Eden by John Steinbeck, juxtaposition is used in order to create contrast between the two brothers, Cal and Aron. From the beginning of the book, all the characters in the story are intentionally described in order to be perceived as good or evil. In the text Cal is described through the quote, "Cal was growing up dark-skinned, dark-haired. He was quick and sure and secret. Adults were impressed with what seemed to them a precocious maturity, and they were a little frightened at it too. No one liked Cal very much and yet everyone was touched with fear of him and through fear with respect"(36) and Aron is described in, "Aron drew love from every side. He seemed shy and delicate. His pink-and-white skin, golden hair, and wide-set blue eyes caught attention"(36.) Since Cal is supposed to be dark, cold, and more like his mother, Cathy as well asCain from the bible. On the other hand, Aron is described with light features and he is good- hearted like his father, Adam, as well as Abel from the bible. Through these differing descriptions of Cal and Aron, we are able to see that Steinbeck wanted to create a great contrast between the two to both connect between their parents, biblical references, and to add to the theme of good versus evil.

      In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, juxtaposition is used to describe the valley of ashes which is between West Egg and New York. In the quote, “This is a valley of ashes – a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men, who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight,”( 26) the author used juxtaposition in his choices of diction in order to contrast how bleak the town is from West Egg and New York. He uses words such as valley, fantastic farm, and gardens, which are normally positive and contrasts them with words like ashes, ash-grey, dimly, and crumbling. When readers look at the positive diction, we think of agriculture, green, freshness, and life but when we look at the dull words we think of bleakness and death. The juxtaposition between these words is used to highlight the poverty in the valley of ashes and how everyone in West Egg and New York are basically oblivious to the fact that the inhabitants are suffering compared to their lavish lives. 

Ha!

Ontology: AP Literature and Composition

    Ontology is the philosophical study of natural characteristics in the world. Humans use ontology in order to form the basis of what we believe things may be in our world; it helps us learn and understand our realm.

In Dante's Inferno, he providers readers with a story about the circles of hell and what is in them. What I've noticed is that he never really describes how the beings in his piece look which goes back to ontology. How we have been raised and how we have learned to associate words and descriptions to piece together our conceptualizations on things leads to how we interpret and visualize information given to us. While Dante doesn't really give descriptions, we as readers take the information given to us and conceptualize in our minds. We as readers envision the character descriptions however we have previously learned to or we incorporate given information which will form judgments for the future, just as we would when envisioning Minos in the story. This is where they begin to exist.

There Minos stands,
Grinning with ghastly feature: he, of all	5
Who enter, strict examining the crimes,
Gives sentence, and dismisses them beneath,
According as he foldeth him around:
For when before him comes the ill-fated soul,
It all confesses; and that judge severe	10
Of sins, considering what place in Hell
Suits the transgression, with his tail so oft
Himself encircles, as degrees beneath
He dooms it to descend.

In The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, readers face many descriptions of all different mythological creatures and demons. From descriptions, the beings begin to exist in our minds. While stories create an existence in our minds, many movies are made each year based on them. Past stories or movies might have created an idea of how a vampire or demon look, every time we see a different idea of how one might look, we stamp it into our brain. Movies bring every reader's envisions into actual existence in our world where we have to then aquire those learned associations which continuously shapes future ideas of existence in our minds.



 "Everything you've heard... about monsters, about nightmares, legends whispered around campfires. All the stories are true."- The Mortal Instruments

Archetype: AP Literature and Composition

      As Carl Jung has provided for the eyes of psychological perspectives, humans contain archetypes that help describe and reveal our motivations in life. 

      In East of Eden by John Steinbeck, one of the character's of the novel that presents characteristics of the archetype the innocent is Adam Trask. Adam is very naive and fails to notice the bad things in people such as Cathy or his father. His father favored him over his brother Charles and he never noticed just like how he favored his son Aron over his other son Cal. He was even oblivious to his own actions. While Adam always tries to remain positive and see the good in people such as Cathy, the woman he so blindly loved, he is way too trusting and he fails to notice the bad in her until it is too late. With his faith, optimism, and naiveness, Adam Trask embodied this archetype which helps create a contrast of his goodness compared to the bad in Cathy as well as other characters in the book.

     In the movie The Wizard of Oz, naive Dorothy resembles the archetype of the innocent because she too is always extremely positive and is always persevering to make everything great and to get back home again. She faces many challenges throughout the movie and manages to remain optimistic. An example of her extreme positivity is shown when she sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow, the lyrics in the song are all positive and mention getting rid of troubles and dealing with very happy, sappy things. Dorothy's archetype helps tie in the motif of good versus evil. Dorothy and Glinda are good, the wicked witch of the west and the flying monkeys are bad. She has to overcome the bad in them while maintaining her optimism in order to get past their evil.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZxmZmBfnU

What It's Like #2

What it's like to be in an argument with someone but you have to be nice and not say anything.

What I want to do: http://youtu.be/otiMil1kt1Y

What I feel like: my tongue is cut off from my mouth and I cannot say a word.

What it's like...

What it's like to find out I have four major tests on one day. What are you teachers doing?! Plotting against me? Ugh, no, please just stop. This is for all my teachers who set me up for the most stressful week ever.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N493CQgQ_Hk

Litotes-AP Rhetorical term #7

Litotes is a rhetorical strategy used as an understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite. 

-An example of an author using litotes is in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Holden states, "It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain."  Although a tumor in the brain is very serious, he tries to make it seem like it really isn't that bad. 

-In the book Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the author uses litotes in the quote, “They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now." He uses litotes to imply that these savages were basically dead and living for nothing by saying they are not earthly.