AP Lit 2000 Exam, Question 1, Poem Comparison, Sirens

            The two different passages, The Odyssey and “Siren Song,” utilize two different points of view to portray the Sirens. In Homer’s Odyssey, the point of view is that of Odysseus trying to resist the Sirens, while in “Siren Song” the point of view is that of the Sirens trying to take advantage of passing sailors. Taking the point of view of Odysseus, The Odyssey portrays the Sirens as awful beings that destroy sailors. On the other hand, “Siren Song,” taking the point of view of the Sirens portrays the Sirens as innocent and victimized yet manipulative as well.

            The passage from Homer’s Odyssey focuses mainly on how Odysseus prepares himself and his crew for the passing of the Sirens. Odysseus “stopped the ears of [his] comrades one by one” with wax (Odyssey 7).  Filling the ears with wax, acting as earplugs, indicates the irresistible nature of the Sirens if heard.  Also, the crew “bound [Odysseus] hand and foot in the tight ship – erect at the mast-block, lashed by ropes to the mast” (Odyssey 8-9). The fact that Odysseus has the crew tie him up also portrays the irresistible nature of the Sirens; Odysseus knows that if he hears the Sirens, even though he knows they are pure evil, he will not be able to resist them and will become yet another victim of the Sirens. Through the utilization of Odysseus’ point of view, the passage from Homer’s Odyssey portrays the Sirens as purely evil beings who are irresistible to even the strongest of men.

            “Siren Song,” as opposed to Homer’s Odyssey, focuses on the Siren’s point of view. The poem portrays the Sirens, in the majority of the poem, to be innocent, victimized, and in need of help. The Siren says, “will you get me out of this bird suit? / I don’t enjoy it here / squatting on this island … I don’t enjoy singing” (“Siren Song” 11-17). Through the use of asking for help and stating things that the Siren does not enjoy, the Siren portrays herself as an innocent victim in need of saving, and pleads to the strong sailors to help her. This portrayal seems contrary to that of Homer’s Odyssey, that is until the end of the poem when the Siren says, “Alas / it is a boring song / but it works every time” (“Siren Song” 25-27). These last few lines indicate that the entire poem is in fact the song that the Sirens use to seduce sailors into jumping overboard to their deaths. This manipulative portrayal, the true portrayal of the Sirens, is in agreement with the portrayal in Homer’s Odyssey, but in contrast with the portrayal in the majority of “Siren Song.” However, the innocent and victimized portrayal in the majority of “Siren Song” aligns with the manipulative and irresistible portrayals due to the usage of the innocent and victimized view to accomplish the manipulative goals. The Sirens make the strong sailors believe that they are in need of rescuing and play to the egos of the sailors by making the sailors out to be the only ones capable of saving the Sirens. In doing so, the chivalrous nature of the sailors makes them feel obliged to help the Sirens, but once they jump overboard to help the Sirens they then die due to the fact that the Sirens manipulated the sailors by taking on an innocent and victimized façade.

P+P #9

The way Elizabeth interprets information about Mr. Darcy depends upon who is telling the information and her particular attitude toward Mr. Darcy at the time. Elizabeth's first impression on Mr. Darcy is that he is a haughty and insolent man. What she fails to realize is that Mr. Darcy is just taciturn; she interprets his social awkwardness as arrogance. Because her initial view of Mr. Darcy is that he is an awful person and that she wants to hate him, when Mr. Wickham talks poorly if Mr. Darcy Elizabeth immediately accepts it as fact without questioning the story's validity, fitting of classic confirmation bias. However, once Elizabeth receives and reads Mr. Darcy's letter explaining his motives, she begins to understand him better, although she still does not like him very much. While at Pemberly the housekeeper tells Elizabeth that she had "'never had cross word from him in [her] life" (Austen 242). Elizabeth thinks this description of Mr. Darcy is "most opposite to her ideas. That he was not a good-tempered man had been her firmest opinion. Her keenest attention was awakened: she longed to hear more" (242). Elizabeth does not immediately dismiss this pleasant description of Darcy although it is contrary to her opinion if him, instead, because she has read the letter and realizes there is more to Mr. Darcy than first meets the eye, she realizes that there may be validity to this view of Mr. Darcy and wants to learn more.

Pride and Prejudice #8

In the Bennet family there is a divide between the way Mr. Bennet and Elizabeth act as opposed to the rest of the family. Mr. Bennet and Elizabeth are the realists in the family while Mrs. Bennet and Elizabeth's sisters are haughty and verging on insolent. This contrast can be seen in the way they each treat the subject of the Bennet girls getting married. Mrs. Bennet's sole focus seems to be in getting her daughters married to rich men of high worth, and she is willing to do so at the expense of her daughters' happiness. Also, when Lydia wants to go to Brighton, she feels that all of the men there will be all over her trying to marry he, and lets her ego and her mother's praise get the best of her in thinking that she is one of the most beautiful and important women in the world. In contrast to Lydia's narcissism is Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet's realism in regards to the situation. Elizabeth does not want Lydia to go to Brighton and Mr. Bennet tell Elizabeth how paltry Lydia really is: "at Brighton she will be of less importance even as a common flirt than she has been here. The officers will find women better worth their notice. Let us hope, therefore, that her being there may teach her her own insignificance" (Austen 227). Mr. Bennet treats his daughters' worth realistically rather than Mrs. Bennet who thinks her daughters are the most significant women in the world and all men will seize them up in a heartbeat. Mrs. Bennet is obviously incorrect in her supposition for all four of her daughters are still unmarried. Mr. Bennet seems out of place in the Bennet family for Mrs. Bennet has such a strong personality and heavy influence, but Mr. Bennet's realism in fact causes him to be correct in his judgements about his daughters' worth, even if he appears to not fit in to the societal construct of how he should act.

Pride and Prejudice #1-5

The Title as it Relates to the Text
The title Pride and Prejudice relate back to how the characters act and their view on society. The book begins by stating that "it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" (Austen 1). This statement sets up the major focus of the text: for the Bennet girls to find husbands, preferably of a propitious social class and wealth, so that the prosperity will be well off. The idea of wanting a husband of great wealth and high social class relates back to the word "pride" in the title for in this time period, people would take great pride in the social class they belong to for they believe one's place in the hierarchy of society to be extremely important. Building off of this idea of pride in one's social class, the characters in Pride and Prejudice also highlight the idea of prejudice in how they view others based off of their place in society. With the heavy importance placed on social class, the characters have suppositions about the other classes of society and which class they must belong to in order to be happy. This can be seen when Mrs. Bennet pushes Mr. Bennet to meet with Mr. Bingley because Mr. Bingley is a rich and handsome bachelor and the Bennet's have four daughters that each need a fitting husband. Mrs. Bennet hopes that Mr. Bingley will marry one of her daughters because of her pride and prejudice towards social class; she desires for her daughter to marry rich and be of the highest class possible.

Mr. Collins' Proposal, Chapter 19 pg.105-106
Mr. Collins' proposal to Elizabeth proves unsuccessful. His entire proposal is very focused on himself and comes across as extremely selfish, sycophantic and pompous. Mr. Collins' focuses on the reasons why Elizabeth should marry him rather than any emotional reasons why he wants to marry Elizabeth. This tactic ultimately is rejected by Elizabeth because of her view on marriage and love, as can be seen by her feelings for Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth does not like Mr. Darcy because he is self-centered and does not recognize her beauty; Elizabeth wants to be recognized for her beauty and love her husband. Mr. Collins' proposal does not at all recognize Elizabeth's beauty, which is one of the major reasons his proposal fails. Mr. Collins' narcissism and seeming lack of understanding of the woman he is proposing to causes him to look past Elizabeth's true wants and needs, causing her to reject his proposal.

1991 Open-Ended Question

Prompt: Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play that contrasts two such places. Write and essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning to the work.

 Response:

            In Shakespeare’s play Othello there are two contrasting locations: Venice and Cyprus.  Venice is a major port city with it’s own government and army, led by protagonist Othello, whereas Cyprus is a small island territory of Venice that is being fought over in a war with the Turks. Each of these locations has heavily contrasted physical and societal structures that add to the overall contrast seen in the two places and what they represent.

            Venice is where the play begins and the audience is first introduced to protagonist Othello.  In Venice, Othello, head of the Venetian army, is witnessed in a dispute with Brabantio over his daughter Desdemona.  The way that Othello settles this conflict is indicative of what Venice represents in Othello.  Othello uses his superior oration and logic to convince Brabantio and the Senate that although he ran off and married Desdemona without Brabantio’s permission, he should not be punished because he and Desdemona are in love and he is too important.  This conflict is settles in a very civilized and structured manner and the outcome is decided solely based on logic and reason and not emotion; each of these aforementioned characteristics highlight what the city of Venice represents.

            Contrasting Venice is the island of Cyprus, where the majority of the play takes place. In Cyprus life is much less civilized and structured than in Venice because they are essentially under military command as opposed to Venice, which follows the lead of the Senate and government. Iago, the villain of the play, acts out the majority of his heinous plan in Cyprus. One of the most important parts of Iago’s plan in convincing Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him with Cassio.  Iago’s immense trickery used throughout his entire plan causes chaos to ensue in Cyprus when he convinces Roderigo to attack Cassio, which in turn causes Othello to abandon his superior logic and reason, as demonstrated in Venice, and act solely on his emotions.  In Othello, Cyprus exists to contrast Venice and represent an unstructured, chaotic society where decisions are made based on emotions rather than the logic and reason on Venice.

            The overall contrast between Venice and Cyprus adds immense literary value to the work as a whole.  Through the lens of this contrast a reader is able to see the drastic changes in Othello that cause him to murder his loving wife Desdemona so tragically.  In Venice, using the representation of structure, logic, and reason, the reader can see how eloquent, logical, and powerful Othello is. However, once in Cyprus, using the representation of chaos and emotional decisions, the reader can see how Othello lost control of his emotions and acted out of a jealous and unwarranted rant in killing Desdemona. The character development in Othello as he moves from Venice to Cyprus highlights his loss of a balance between emotion and reason, and it emphasizes Shakespeare’s message that a balance between emotion and reason is extremely important to one’s character, and without it people risk making the same mistakes as Othello did is murdering his wife for no good reason.

Poetry Slam Poems

Our Favorite New Toy? (Group Poem)

Remember when NSYNC was cool, (Hannah)

And girls ruled while boys drooled?

Remember Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch, (Jess)

And Loonette the Clown in the Big Comfy Couch?

Remember Mr. Rogers and his trains, (Kevin)

And our friends Arthur, D.W., Buster, and Brain

Whom we never thought we would leave? (Sam)

Well, Bye, Bye, Bye, because now,

Instead of Goodnight Moon,

it’s Goodnight iPad, Twitter, and Facebook ‘til June.

Goodbye Peter Pan. Hello Big Brother.

No more nightlights or monsters under the bed

Now it’s six hours of sleep instead.

No more playing in snow and sipping cocoa

We’re always in a hurry to go, go, go

We always wanted to grow up so fast

And never even bothered to look back.

But time and life don’t stand still.

People will always invent the next big thing

That will replace the iPhone, Twitter, and more

We don’t know what the future will bring,

But one thing we know for sure:

Our favorite new toy will become an ancient artifact (All)

Now What Do I Do? (Misc. Poem - S. Bell & H. Lombardo)

Mom:  ARE YOU UP YET?

IT'S TEN OF SEVEN!

Child:  YEAH!

Mom:  (aside)

You roll out of bed and grab your lunch,

Toast, juice box, and water

That I make for you every day.

Child:  BYE

Mom:  HAVE A GOOD DAY!

TEXT ME IF YOU NEED ANYTHING!

Child:  I WILL

Mom:  (aside)

Now you're at school,

And I patiently wait

until the end of your busy day.

It's 4-o'clock, you're running a bit late...

(texting)

WHAT'S YOUR PLAN?

THOUGHT YOU'D BE HOME BY NOW.

Child: (texting)

I'M LEAVING NOW.

Mom:  (aside)

You assure me you got caught up

Helping some kid or working out

After workouts ended.

I hear your car, now the door.

HOW WAS SCHOOL AND SOFTBALL?

Child:  NOTHING NEW, JUST ANOTHER NORMAL DAY.

Mom:  (aside)

I already knew that, but I ask everyday anyway.

Now you're doing homework;

You always have too much of that stuff.

DINNER'S READY WHEN YOU WANT IT!

Child:  I’LL BE DOWN IN A MINUTE!

Mom:   (aside)

You come racing down;

You're always so hungry.

Next thing I know it's 12-o'clock,

And you're still doing homework.

ARE YOU ALMOST DONE?

Child:  YEAH, I'LL BE DONE SOON.

Mom:  (aside)

You tell me you're almost done,

But we both know you're just saying that so I'll go to bed.

It doesn't work.

It's 1-o'clock, now you're done.

Child: GOODNIGHT!

Mom:  BRUSH YOUR TEETH AND GO TO BED.

SEE YOU IN THE MORNING.

(aside)

But this morning, you weren't here.

You're off going through your busy days without me.

Now what do I do?

Green-Eyed Monster (Individual Poem - K. Chan)

Oh Green-Eyed Monster, why do you exist in this world?

You’ve destroyed lovers, families, cities, kingdoms, countries,

Yet you’re still allowed to survive?

An atrocity manifested within human societies with no hopes of reformation,

A pandemic that plagues the Earth with no cure,

A wicked demon unable to be chained back to hell,

A Green-Eyed Monster.

How can something so small cause so much heartache?

You are like trash rotting around my soul,

Fuming noxious gases that spread like wildfire,

Clouding the  judgement of my brain

Leaving an aftertaste of gloom and despair;

You are like toxic waste, eroding through the layers of my heart,

Poisoning my body with your lustful chemicals,

Destroying everything you touch;

You are like a virus, injecting your own DNA to change my own,

Changing me into a monster I am not,

Changing me into a beast I cannot tame,

Slowly traveling through my bloodstream,

Releasing your evil at every organ,

Bursting through the pores of my skin until I explode!

Why!?

Oh why!?

Celery.

Why do you exist in our world if you only cause misery.

Hamlet #6: Interaction between the Queen and Hamlet

In Act III scene iv Hamlet interacts with Queen Gertrude, his mother. Right from the beginning of the interaction Hamlet takes a condescending tone toward his mother. Hamlet mocks his mother by using practically the same structure that she uses and most of the same words, but changing a few words to attack her and make fun of her. When the Queen says "Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended" (III. iv. 12), Hamlet immediately responds with "Mother, you have my father much offended" (III. iv. 13). Hamlet practically says the same thing his mother said but instead of the addressee being "Hamlet", Hamlet changes it to "Mother," and instead of saying "thou hast thy father," Hamlet says "you have my father." The latter sounds less intellectual, and it can be inferred that since Hamlet is a philosopher he chose to sound less intellectual to make fun of his mother. By using simplistic words that sound less intellectual, Hamlet makes the subtle statement that his mother is stupid. The next two lines follow a similar pattern; the Queen first says, "Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue," (III. iv. 14) and Hamlet responds with, "Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue" (III. iv. 15). Hamlet again follows the exact structure of his mother and the words he changes are changed to their opposites: "come" to "go," "answer" to "question," and "idle" to "wicked." By copying the structure and changing words to their opposites, he again insults his mother by taking her words and turning them on her, essentially saying that he can use her words better than she can. This condescending tone that he takes toward his mother in the beginning of their interaction sets up the dynamic of their entire interaction.

My Usual Approach Just Doesn't Apply

My usual approach just doesn't apply
There's no slope to you line
There's no X to your Y
And you're outside the domain of the inverse of sine

I've got a model to follow
That tells me how the universe acts
But there's nothing on sorrow
Or your mental collapse.

I see you just sitting all alone and upset,
I hear your silent screams for me to help
But for once I don't know what I can do, since
My usual approach just doesn't apply.

Let Me Fail

Stop telling me what do.
There's a reason these are my assignments;
I need to figure them out.
I need to do them.

You're only trying to help,
But I've told you for years:
It's unhelpful,
It's counterproductive.

When you try to make me do something, I refuse
Because the whole point of growing up is
To figure out how to live, not
To have someone controlling your every move.

If you want me to succeed,
Let me think,
Let me experiment, and most of all,
Let me fail.

Hamlet #5: The Role of Art

When speaking with the actor in Act III scene ii about how he wants the play to be acted, Hamlet makes a statement about the purpose of acting. He says, "the pur- / pose of playing, whose end, both at the first and / now, was and is to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to / nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her / own image, and the very age and body of time / his form and pressure" (III. ii. 21-26). Hamlet believes the purpose of acting is to portray real life and to criticize that which needs criticizing. This idea relates to another text we read this year, The Picture of Dorian Gray. In The Picture of Dorian Gray the portrait of Dorian serves to contrast Dorian's beauty with his personality flaws. In comparing The Picture of Dorian Gray to Hamlet's statement about the purpose of art, we can equate the portrait in The Picture of Dorian Gray to "playing" in Hamlet because both are examples of an art form that reflects aspects of life.

Hamlet #4: Polonius' Asides

During Polonius and Hamlet's first interaction, Polonius has a series of asides that highlight what he is truly thinking. Hamlet does not know who Polonius is and Polonius plays along believing it to help his cause. However, the audience knows the true identity of Polonius and Polonius' asides serve as the portrayal of the true Polonius' thoughts. In his first aside Polonius says, "How say you by that? Still harping on / my daughter. Yet he knew me not at first; he said I / was a fishmonger. He is far gone. And truly, in my / youth, I suffered much extremity for love, very near / this. I'll speak to him again" (II. ii. 204-208). Polonius is annoyed by the way Hamlet is talking about his daughter, but he realizes that Hamlet does not know who he or his daughter is and accounts that to the madness that he believes Hamlet had fallen into from his love of Ophelia. Polonius feels that he can empathize with Hamlet so he decides to continue to speak with him in hopes to discover something helpful. In Polonius' second aside he says, "Though this be madness, yet there is / method in 't" (II. ii. 223-224). Polonius realizes that although Hamlet has gone mad his madness is thought out, which seems to contrast the idea of madness. However, given Hamlet's level of intelligence it fits his character. In Polonius' third and final aside of this initial meeting he says, "How / pregnant sometimes his replies are! A happiness / that often madness hits on, which reason and / sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of. I / will leave him and suddenly contrive the means of / meeting between him and my daughter" (II. ii. 226-231). Polonius accounts the philosophical nature of Hamlet's statements to his madness claiming that a sane person could not make such statements. However, being a student of philosophy it is highly plausible that Hamlet could make such statements while sane. Polonius then decides to leave Hamlet while he plans how to prove his theory that Hamlet is mad because of his love for Ophelia. Each of Polonius' asides in this interaction with Hamlet give insight into Polonius' thoughts about Hamlet and his current state of mind.

Brain Fart

All of the sudden there's nothing;

Your brain has stopped working.

You try and try to make it start,

But it's too late to try and be smart.

Your brain is frozen,

It's stuck in it's tracks.

So much for the notion

That you can go and relax.

That brain fart came and made you far from great,

Because now you can't even think straight.

Poem as my parent to myself about me leaving for college: Now What Do I Do?

Now What Do I Do?

ARE YOU UP YET?

IT'S TEN OF SEVEN!

You roll out of bed and grab your lunch,

Toast, juice box, and water,

That I make for you every day.

HAVE A GOOD DAY!

TEXT ME IF YOU NEED ANYTHING!

Now you're at school,

And I patiently wait 

until the end of your busy day.

It's 4-o'clock, you're running a bit late...

WHAT'S YOUR PLAN?

THOUGHT YOU'D BE HOME BY NOW.

You assure me you got caught up

Helping some kid or working out

After workouts ended.

I hear your car, now the door.

HOW WAS SCHOOL AND SOFTBALL?

Nothing new, just another normal day,

But I already knew that.

Now you're doing homework;

You always have too much of that stuff.

DINNER'S READY WHEN YOU WANT IT!

You come racing down;

You're always so hungry.

Next thing I know it's 12-o'clock,

And you're still doing homework.

You tell me you're almost done,

But we both know you're just saying that

So I'll go to bed.

It doesn't work.

It's 1-o'clock, now you're done.

BRUSH YOUR TEETH AND GO TO BED.

SEE YOU IN THE MORNING.

But this morning, you weren't here.

You're off going through your busy days without me.

Now what do I do?