Essay ( what I had finished)

In the story, The Known World by Edward Jones, Jones creates and reveals an earthly character, Moses, using many examples of imagery and detail throughout the story.

 

In the beginning of the story, Moses is first presented as a slave whom had been working for his master, harnessed to the oldest mule that his master owned for almost fifteen hours. After working all day, Moses does something peculiar. “Moses closed his eyes and bent down and took a pinch of the soil and ate it with no more thought than if it were a spot of cornbread.” “ He was the only man in the realm, slave or free, who ate dirt, but while the bondage women, particularly the pregnant ones, ate it for some incomprehensible need, for that something that ash cakes and apples and fatback did not give their bodies, he ate it not only to discover the strengths and weakness of the field, but because the eating of it tied him to the only thing in his small world that meant almost as much as his own life.” These quotes are important to show the development and revelation of Moses, because it shows his true character. Moses seems to want to feel as if he is one with the earth. He wanted to not only taste the strength and the weaknesses of the field, but also taste something that was apart of him, something that was vital to who he was. The earth is where he came from, and he wants to feel like he is respecting and feeling where he first came from.

 

 

 

“Moses smelled the coming of rain. He breathed deeply, feeling it surge through him. Believing he was alone, he smiled. He knelt down to be closer to the earth and breathed deeply some more.” This quote is another example of how Moses feels a deep connection with the earth. He feels exhilarated when the breathes in the smell of the rain coming. He even bends closer to the ground so that he could feel closer to the earth, more one with the earth. There seems to be a connection between Moses and the earth around him, as the weather and the day evolves, so do Moses’s emotions. When he recognizes that rain is soon to come, he is exhilarated, urged to go further into the woods, it is what gives him seeming life. Even after an exhausting, hard day in the field, he still wants to be outside, in nature, surrounded by the open earth. "Well into the forest the rain came in torrents through the trees and their mighty summer leaves and after a bit Moses stopped and held out his hands and collected water that washed over his face. Then he undressed down to his nakedness and lay down." Even when it was poring down rain within the forest, Moses continues to travel through the forest, seeming to enjoy the rain as he cups some of it into his hands and washed it onto his face. He embraces the world around him, enjoys the nature around him.

 

 

 

Essay Reflection

Overall, this short story was hard for me to tackle. My writing was a very weak attempt to interpret such a beautiful piece. Personally, I’m very critical of my own writing, and I know that my writing would not have received a high score based on the sample essays and the rubrics.

            I struggled a lot with how to word my essay. I was so focused on finding quotes from the passage and tried to make my point, but I lacked sophisticated diction. I also think that my thesis could’ve been stronger. I don’t really address my argument specifically, and I just restate the question instead of adding depth or complexity to the beginning. Within my body paragraphs, I should have used more specific and complete examples form the passage. Instead of using the complete quotes, I paraphrased and tried to explain why I chose the quotes. I needed to create smoother transitions within paragraphs so that the essay flowed. In the sample essay, the writer used very smooth transitions and the essay was simple and interesting to read. At the end of my essay, I need to add a conclusion to end the essay, just to wrap up all ideas addressed in the essay.

            I thought that the overall meaning of the story was well defined in my essay. I think that I used good examples of imagery and symbols, and supportive details to back up what I was thinking. I also think that my introduction still addressed my ideas and opened my essay well. I also think that my essay made since and didn’t jump around too much.

            I hope to improve my essay next time incorporating these three goals:

1.     Add more sophisticated diction. I think that if I learn just a few new words a day, not only will it help my writing, but it could also help reading comprehension. I could just spend time with one short story a day, looking up and defining words or phrases that I don’t recognize, so that it’s easier for me in the future.

2.     I want to incorporate a stronger beginning and ending into the essay. I think that’s important that I open my essay with a strong and powerful thesis, so that the reader knows exactly what I will address in the essay, but I would also be fully answering the question. I also need the conclusion of the story to be strong, so that it wraps up my entire writing in just a few sentences. I can work on this by really analyzing previous writings, or even essays or pieces I’m currently reading, and study and analyze what makes a opening strong, or boring, and try and edit it.

3.     I want to lean how to hold a composed argument. I want to be able to express my thesis at the beginning of my essay, and hold that argument through out my entire writing. I think that this will help the writing to stay organized, polished, and easy to read. I can work on this by focusing on sticking to one subject, and not allowing myself to drift into other areas of the writing.

I learned a lot from the sample essays and the rubrics we discussed in class, and I’m very eager to see what changes I can make to my future writings.

AP Practice Essay ( what I finished in class )

In Alice Walker’s short story, “The Flowers”, Walker conveys the meaning of the flowers by entailing the sharp contrast between the symbols of life in death within Myop’s- the main character- journey from her home into the woods. Walker uses imagery, and symbols to create a dark and seemingly haunting mood to conclude her story.

Imagery was a very important element in Walker’s writing, not only to capture the full essence and feel of the setting, but to convey the contrast between Myop’s view of the forest before entering, and after. Myop sets off away from her cabin, and onto what is described as “her own path” with “ various common but pretty ferns and leaves, an armful of strange blue flowers with velvety ridges…” and more wildlife. The reader can imagine the beautiful scenery; it seems blissful and lively. The scene then suddenly changes when the setting changes into a “ gloomy little cove” and Myop finds a dead body. The reader can practically envision what Myop is seeing, and the thought of the beautiful scenery and life quickly begin to vanish.

Walker also uses symbol to carry the ending of the story in the beginning of the story, flowers and wildlife become a symbol of life and happiness; of care free feelings and serenity. In the closing scene of the story, there is only one small pink rose that is surrounded by endless amounts of dead flowers, plants and leaves; even a dead man. It turns from a lively, beautiful scene, to a morbid, gloomy ending. The “rotting oak” symbolized something that was alive once, but that was slowly dying away; losing beauty, just like the man Myop found in the brush. Myop also symbolizes the one lively thing in the woods that day, just like the rose. At the end of the story, it says that summer came to an end for Myop. It was as if the life had gone and everything was dead, just like summer coming to an end before the next season; everything turns dark and gloomy around Myop.

Practice AP Test

Personally, I thought that this practice test was a struggle for me. I did notice that I scored better on the questions where I could really narrow down the answers. It helps me to read every option and cross out the ones I know could not be an option at all, and then come to one option, or decide between two. I also pay attention to figurative language. I feel that it stands out to me. Whenever I read a sentence including some sort of figurative language, I seem to focus in on it, and I can pick out what form of figurative language was used. I also feel like I can pull apart the text well before I even go to the questions. I think it really helps me to underline key words, phrases, or things that stand out to me like repetition, similes, diction or any other key words that could be helpful in answering the questions.


I know I need to work on my pacing. I tend to take too long on pulling a part the text, that when I come to answer the questions, I feel rushed. I also notice that my thoughts wander sometimes when I am reading the selected text. Sometimes I see a familiar word, or a phrase or word that reminds me of something, and my mind goes to that specific thing, instead of staying on topic, and focused on the test. I also need to read the questions more carefully. Sometimes I don't full read the question, and so that whole thing seems confusing, when really the answer was clear.



I hope to spend more time with myself to try and focus my attention more on the reading. I want to learn how to focus more on the text in front of me, and not get distracted easily when I see a familiar phrase or word. I also want to pace myself. I want to be able to spend enough time analyzing the test, but also enough time to break down the questions so I don't feel rushed. I need to read the questions more carefully, and pay attention to key words like "not" and "except". I also need to spend more time improving my over all confidence. I tend to second guess myself, when really the first answer that I circled was the right answer.


I know to improve myself for the test, I need to spend time getting to know myself better as a reader. I need to spend more time reading, and analyzing literature, even if it's just for a little bit of time each day. I also want to work on improving my vocabulary. I could do this by just learning a few new words each day, and even making flashcards so that I can really expand my vocabulary and the text won't seem so daunting. My third goal is to pace myself. I can read each day, and see how long it takes me to read a passage and annotate it as in depth as possible, and then try to decrease the time spent on the text each day, so that I can quickly jump to the questions. Each day I want to do at least five to ten questions from AP practice tests, just so that I can become more familiar with how the tests are set up and how the questions are worded. It's important that I feel as prepared as possible come test time.

My Blog Design Choices

      Personally, I wanted my blog to be very simple and readable. I think that the font keeps the blog l very professional, but is not too uniform or boring. The colors throughout my blog are not too overwhelming, yet still gives the blog life. The added color makes it less boring.It gives the blog a less serious tone, and a more fun, lighthearted, and happy mood. The blue fonts give the blog a peaceful sense, while the pink and purple are more lively and energetic font choices. I think that the colors are complementary of each other and they all work together to make the blog look appealing.

    The layout is very straight forward and simple, just to make it as easy to navigate through as possible.The fonts are big enough to read easily, and the main parts of the blog are right in the middle, so the reader doesn't have to search for the post or writing. I think that the blog reflects my personality, but also shows the professional aspects of my prefrences.