APLit2010

Mariah Love Ms. Jensen AP Literature - 1 27 Jan. 2011 Mythology in it's Many Forms As religion is one of the most practiced, and longest-lived commonality in man, and mythology pertains to religion exclusively it can be concluded that religious mythology has impacted much of the world all throughout history. However, this may be harder to recognize in some areas and times than it is or was in others. For instance, the most well-known forms of mythology is that of Greek mythology pertaining to gods and goddesses, but there are in fact other forms of mythology such as that of Native Americans. Although Native Americans did not necessarily have gods and goddesses nor did they have much written myths, the tales in which they used to explain the unexplained were indeed a form of mythology. In the book, "Teach Yourself Native American Myths" the author argues that there are both similarities and differences between the common mythology the world perceives as Greek mythology and that of Native American Mythology. A similarity the author describes would be their use of animals as guides, which occurs in both types of mythology. The way the author presents this information is slightly ineffective due to the fact that the information is broken into many subcategories, leaving the reader with a feeling of choppy unclear thoughts. However, it is obvious what the authors focus is, and the information presented within the text all supports the topic and is carried throughout the entirety of the work.

Argument: Authors A Rama Krishna Rao and R V Jayanth Kasyap argue Lahiri's chacters' search for their identities, and the overall immigrant psyche. The author's descibe the various chacters from Lahiri's different novels and how each of them struggle to adjust and find thier own individuality. Evidence: "A union with the outside world would bring happiness and isolation sometimes leads to depression". "Another important factor that affects the psyche is displacement. People who get displaced-geographically, culturally and spiritually-are always ill at ease and display the symptoms of psychological ailment". "Lahiri's novel The Namesake illustrates the optimism required in an immigrant. It shows that it is the willingness of the mind of an immigrant that helps him to assimilate and adapt himself to the alien ethos. Like Bharati Mukherjee, Lahiri focuses on the aspect of the characters shuttling between dual identities" Thoughts: I really like the authors' way of focusing on the psyche of the immigrants and not just thier actions. They include everything from thoughts and interactions with others, especially with family, as well as other personal choices the specific characters make in the stories. Also I find it very interesting how Rao and Kasyup focus on immigrants as a whole, such as when they descibe how immigrants crave affection, and that an immigrant of any generation cannot live in isolation. This helps to put immigration of all types in perspective, not just that of Lahiri's characters.

Tokugawa Ieyasu purpose of the article was to explain the historical aspects of the actual "Taiko" himself and not the character of the Taiko in Eiji Yoshikawa's novel. The article is effective since it only relies on facts and history rather than a personal opinion or argument. The main focus for the audience who have already read Taiko is the realism and accuracy Yoshikawa portrayed in his novel. Such instances as, "the emperor being unable to grant such a title to someone of Hideyoshi's lowly lineage" and "being unable to become an adopted son for not being a shogun" are familiar events that were included in Taiko. There is no evidence that particularly helps or hinders Ieyasu's case since there is no argument, it is purely informational. That being said, there are some key points about the Taiko that are interesting to readers that were not included in the novel, such as, "Hideyoshi unwisely attempted to invade Korea again in the Battle of Keicho. This time the Japanese encountered a well-prepared joint defence of Korea and China. The result was a stalemate". Similarly to Yoshikawa's Musashi, Yoshikawa conveniently leaves out points which has certain effects that he feels unnecessary for the sake o storytelling. The article also goes on to explain certain details of the aftermath of the war and how Hideyoshi died and his son, Hideyori, became his successor. Ieyasu goes on to say the overall effect Hideyoshi had on Japan after his death , "during the Sengoku period, it became common for peasants to become warriors, or even for samurai to farm due to the constant uncertainty of no centralized government".

Joseph Heller is seen as a modernistic author, in the sense that he uses a chronological plot that is deliberately irrational. "It is only fitting that a novel which deals with an apparently absurd and confused world should be written in an apparently absurd and confused style." The characters in Catch 22 have a feeling that what is happening to them has happened in the past to others. Catch 22 according to the book follows the idea that "They have a right to anything we can't stop them from doing." There was only one catch: "[it] specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind." However, his second release "Something happened" is "described to [have] created a darkened, demonic, perhaps partly hallucinated fictive portrait of contemporary America." One of his most notable achievements is his ability to connect the reader to the protagonist, simultaneously heightening their own self awareness. Civil Disobedience by Thoreau may not directly connect to this ideology, but in general it touches bases with the idea that one should become aware of the right in society and when faced with "wrong" laws disobey in a civil manner.

"The Philosophy of Beauty" is an essay that delves into Aestheticism, Wilde's life, and his works. He criticizes Wilde for his outlook on Aestheticism and how his philosophy of beauty was "never quite sincere," and that he did not write with "his heart in his mouth, but merely with his tongue in his cheek." He also criticizes where the writing, in the end, had gotten him, implying that the movement was in vain: after all, it did not help him towards the end of his life. It wasn't something that would become quite a revolution. This is perfect for a Literary Criticism because it looks at the other side of the argument, that Aestheticism really isn't as grand as Wilde or others had believed or still believe

Argument: Author Sarah Hackenberg presents the opinion that women are only hiding behind their servant attitudes in order to get where they would like. She presents the sequence of events that led up to the initial true image of Jean Muir, not that of a nineteen year old but in fact of a haggard old woman. Hackenberg also gives certatin prominence to the idea of womens' highest achievement would be their marital status. The entire story epitomizes a servant of a governess that exhibits the standard female behaviors up until the very end where the maanipulative and devious women unmasks her self, hypothetically and literally. Evidence: "Most critics of "Behind a Mask" attend closely to the tale's radical gender and class dynamics: the way Alcott overtly aligns operating behind a mask with female power" (Hackenberg) "the fact that the governess's ultimate ambition, despite all her formidable powers of artistry and perception, is to "trick" a man into marriage..."(Hackenberg) Thoughts: Hackenberg raises many interesting points. Jean Muir was the ultimate woman. She only lacked in one area and that area was her status. Her only hope of climbing up in the world would to be marrying someone of a higher class. She said multiple times in the story that if this did happen to her that she would be completly content and only honor and follow her husband's rules. However, with the history that she has and what we know of her from reading this story we can be almost certain that Jean will not be content and will have to stir up some troulbe somehow. The story leaves off at a crucial point that leaves the readers contemplating all the different outcomes it could have.

Argument: Basically that "Beatrice and Virgil" is the worst book of the decade, because supposedly it mock Jews and the Holocaust by misinformation and a strong lack of merit. The writer feels Martel completely underscored the Holocaust, and trivialized the entire tragic even, by representing the Jews with donkeys to satirize the Holocaust. "There comes a rare time - perhaps once every ten or fifteen years - when you read a book with such dreadful syntax, without even a fiber of merit, so libertine in the manner it insults the audience, and so producing the literary equivalent to being completely submerged into a vat of shit, that the reader, having embarked on the fetid journey, begins to pine for a brutal throng of vigilantes to chop off the author's hands and prevent the hopeless hack from ever holding a pen or setting foot near a laptop again." "This book will fill you with such vileness that you will find yourself instantly ruminating about what an AK-47 might be able to do when fired in the right direction." "The book asks us to sympathize with a douchebag named Henry, whose only real character traits are that he has written a successful book and that he is revered by his readers. Tough life, this Henry." Analysis: The author writes with a lot of passion and eloquence, about his extreme almost dramatic distaste for the book. Even the most simple slightly sarcastic sentence just breathes malice and hate. The man used plentiful support and an easy to read chronological layout that was easy to read which I very much liked.

Argument: The references to western culture and the similarities as well as the differences between Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker and Gravity Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. During an interview Alice Walker made a comment that said, "Why would they want to?" in regards to "Why write a novel like the one Pynchon wrote? ". Walker refers to her book as "a romance of the last 500,000 years" when according to Adam (writer of the literary criticism) Walker's novel has the "ambition" of Pynchon text. Throughout the text, Adam uses quotes from Walker's novel to relate it to Pynchon's. His purpose for writing this literary criticism was to judge or prove to the public that Walker's novel is in fact similar the Pynchon's. Also, he writes about the difference they have in social views towards the government, and the culture of families. Evidence: "Walker has in common with Pynchon and Wallace a sweeping distrust of the current political, religious, and economic systems of domination prevalent in the world" (Adam). "The world view of The Temple of My Familiar also differs from that of Gravity's Rainbow and many other postmodern texts in its belief in the power of the spiritual to redeem and nourish, even in the midst of oppression and tragedy" (Adam). "Another difference between Walker's novel and Gravity's Rainbow is its concern with communal relationships. Families, tribes, and cultures are of primary importance to the novel, both in the ways that they support the various characters and in the ways in which the characters choose to perpetuate them" (Adam).

Literary Analysis #4-Nineteen Minutes Throughout the literary critic of Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, the main theme supported by author Jessica Stites was that Jodi Picoult uses background and further information than an average writer to convey her full story and add to it's depth as a whole. She states, "If empathy is an inoculation against violence, then Picoult's own compassion for her characters goes beyond good storytelling to political statement; she models the deep sympathy that might have averted the tragedy." Stites goes on to explain that in Picoult's writing she tends to convey a specific message to her readers, leaving them with a second opinion or thought on the overall conflict or main topic of the story. In Nineteen Minutes, Stite's states, "She takes us inside prickly adolescents whose every action screams "Keep out!" and inside the adults afraid to brave their children's barriers." Though several of Stite's comments on the novel and author are directed positively, the author also states that Picoult lacks in empathy. The author goes on to state that though Picoult analyzed numerous aspects of Nineteen Minutes and did a quantity of research, she yet lacks the characterization and development of main character Peter. Stites believes that in order to add dynamic perspective to the overall novel, Picoult should have developed Peter as a character by learning of the killing spree from Peter's perspective and reading why he shot a teacher that had been kind to him. Though Stite's emphasizes the lack of characterization from the perspective of Peter, she later goes on to support Picoult once more when saying that the lack of characterization should actually be intentional, stating that once you loose boys, they go somewhere you can not follow.

Argument: Middle Easterners have developed a threatening habit of abstaining from writing religious literature in their countries due to fear of persecution. So rather than the gov't harshly punishing those who expressly talk about religion in their writing, they have developed an unhealthy pattern of self censorship. "'…the present kind of censorship by say, religious conservatives, is much more damaging and much more frightening for the writer because you don't know exactly who you are offending, where the threat is coming from or what the possible punishment might be.'" "This…leads to self-censorship. This means you try to anticipate all these horrible things and guard against it from the beginning." Analysis: It is better to be federally persecuted because at least their are stated boundaries and lines you may not cross, but when the rules aren't expressly stated it becomes hard to know whose sensibilities you might offend with your writing. Thus, the writer may even tone it down more than usual to ensure that they will not be wrongfully punished.

Argument: Bernard Cornwell uses a common character transformation in all of his historical novels that is easily recognizable throughout. This common change in the emotional, physical and mental aspects of the characters shapes Cornwell's plots and story. Evidence: * "The plot summary I gave above will be instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with Cornwell's previous work. A young male outsider of straightforward character, a series of significant battles, a love interest, a nemesis within his own camp, a gradual rise based on merit rather than influence" * "Whilst rescuing Hook from his own era in this way, Cornwell is forced to make rather simplistic moral distinctions in the novel" * "The assured construction of the scenes can become a little routine at times: when a paragraph describing a fight ends with a sword scything towards the head of a favored character, and the narrative cuts away to deal with other events, it eventually stops being a surprise that, when the narrative returns, the blow is avoided by some unusual means and the fight continues. It does keep the action going, but a device like this is subject to the law of diminishing returns." Analysis: Cornwell's continuous use of the same dynamic attributes in his characters is a defining aspect of his novels. The reader can easily notice this method in any of his books. This is partially due to Cornwell's actual life and also to the life of many people in our era.

The author's purpose of the article is to show how Long Day's Journey into Night is more so of an tragedy than a melodrama. Some perceive the play as a melodrama of an addicts life which includes both good and evil outcomes, while Michael Manheim believes the play does not show both good and evil but is a mere tragedy. The author of the article demonstrates a logical organization of his argument. Both consistency and focus are evident, but due to his terminology the coherence can be a bit difficult at times. The author provides enough if not more typical evidence like how Mary had tendencies toward an addictive personality before she became hooked on morphine after childbirth. Even thought the author says the play us very repetitious of the many problems of the Tyrone family he finds that the ending is in his opinion very open ended and imaginative. If the author had biases and beliefs they were not very apparent to me which is not to say he didn't have any just I could not find them. Although he does state a little I believe the author thinks that most critics do not go into enough detail like himself. The author vividly states info gathered from his conclusions about the addict Mary. This is how he specifically states his mind about the article.

Argument: Nancy Boland, as well as I do, believes that each character, in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, represent something different towards the main character, Singer. She also states that each character suffers something different and they suffer delusion, but each character is different from one another. Nancy also argues, "Segregation, isolation and inclusion are not conditions of the past alone, they are in our present and they will be in our future." Evidence: "They each create a different idol in Singer. For Mick, he is a man who feels similarly about music as she does. For Doctor Copeland, he is the only white man who understands his passion to achieve justice for black people. Blout finds that Singer is just as deeply concerned about socialism as he is and for Biff, he represents all that Biff sees in himself; a quiet, shrewd spectator of the human state." "There is hope. The character of John Singer also reminds us that there are kind, generous people out there, lending an ear to fellow human beings when they are most afraid of going unheard." Thoughts: Before reading this review, I planned on finding out what each character meant in the book and I was having a hard time figuring that out on my own; but after reading this, each character's explanation made more sense, when comparing them to Singer. Boland believes that every person needs to be heard in this world and that everybody should have that one person that they confide in with everything. I think that this statement is both true, and false. I believe that it is true because, for example, I confide in my best friend with all of my secrets and whenever I have a problem, I know that she will always be there when I need her; but then again, I don't tell her every single detail in my life just so I can keep something's to myself. Also, some people aren't that open to others and they don't have somebody that they confide in so they keep everything bottled up. Some people just have different ways of "

Roxanne Llamzon writes about the main idea of the play An Enemy of The People and the meaning behind Ibsen's writings and the real meanings behind his work. Llamzon says, "In An Enemy of the People, he shows the tyranny of the majority. The majority is seen as a "tyrant" because the leaders of society are afraid to do what is right since they are the people's mercy." This means that I should look for quotes about how Ibsen targets leaders of a society and the political system in the play, as this is his real purpose in writing the play. Llamzon directly states that Ibsen's opinion on these political leaders are is that to them "the idea and threat of the majority keeps [them] from acting honestly." This relates to our society and the way that the officials that are elected do not do what they think is the right thing, but rather what will get them re-elected and popular among those who voted for them. Roxanne Llamzon says that Henrik Ibsen's writings are devoted to the purpose of getting this point across, as it is the motivation behind the plays that he writes.

Argument Steinbecks main influence from the Pearl was drawn from the oppression and pain he saw during and after world war 2. The Pearl takes on many darker tones than his previous works, showing steinbeck had lost a lot of faith in humanity, and the corruption of man due to greed. Evidence -novella is "permeated with the special sort of impotent and sullen bitterness which only an oppressed and subject people know." - "organismal view of life, his belief that men can work together to fashion a better, more productive, and more meaningful life, seemed less and less applicable to the world he saw around him." -denied basic human rights; they have been marginalized and disenfranchised. The money they earn from diving for pearls is not enough to adequately feed, shelter, and educate themselves and their families -This doctor was not of his people. This doctor was of a race which for nearly four hundred years had beaten and starved and robbed and despised Kino's race Analysis Steinbecks pessimism is clearly seen throughout both of his novels, however thier is a more melancholic tone within The Pearl. Although Grapes of Wrath displays many sad mooments, the death of Kino's son and the opression his people face is unparralled to what the Joads suffer through