Ap English Literature Extended Response
Hannah Bunker
Mr. La Plante
AP® English Language and Composition
Fourth Hour
24 January 2017
Extended Response I: Reading with a Critical Eye
Books are precious pieces that improve one’s knowledge and help define one’s personality by relating themselves to characters within the text. As Vladimir Nabokov said in Good Readers and Good Writers “The reader should identify himself or herself with the hero or heroine.”(Nabokov, 973) I always believed that by reading a book you become one with yourself by somehow feeling all the problems of the characters and become completely absorbed in their world, therefore feeling like you have a purpose as you read.
It is important to keep an open mind while reading as Nabokov claimed …show more content…
This piece is formulated through an allegory which exists on both a literal and figurative level. Virginia Woolf relates the struggles that a moth, which is so vulnerable to death to the everyday life of the human struggle. Implicitly, Woolf describes the moth to have value like individuals as they try to put a stop to death in the same sense like humans do.
Every aspect in life has a certain meaning, even something so small, such as the moth. The endless fight the moth had describes the concept of life itself through the eyes of an absurd hero battling the impossible which in this case is death. All living things are fighting for the same purpose and fight the power of their fates trying to stay mortal by hoping to escape from their fate such as Sisyphus. Explicitly Woolf talks about how life is like a pure “bead”, we keep pushing until we stop. By accepting the fate which we all must endure at some point is the foundation of how to live our lives. Through the continuous fight which we must forgo becomes apparent that the struggles we face have no chance against death. Woolf is perhaps similar to the moth, making her last attempt at survival. It is important to recognize the value of Woolf’s observations as it seems that her own struggles are represented through the moth in her own efforts to overcome her …show more content…
B. White’s essay he describes a dual existence he has with his son when spending time at this lake. In some ways White is facing an identity crisis when he has a hard time distinguishing between himself and his son. The essay moves in a non- chronological order where White weaves in and out through the past and present. While at the lake, in its essence remains unchanged, White himself is different, and so he finally accepts the fundamental irony of life. The natural cycle of birth, childhood, maturity, and death are inevitable, he too realizes he is facing the natural course that leads to the chill of
Mr. La Plante
AP® English Language and Composition
Fourth Hour
24 January 2017
Extended Response I: Reading with a Critical Eye
Books are precious pieces that improve one’s knowledge and help define one’s personality by relating themselves to characters within the text. As Vladimir Nabokov said in Good Readers and Good Writers “The reader should identify himself or herself with the hero or heroine.”(Nabokov, 973) I always believed that by reading a book you become one with yourself by somehow feeling all the problems of the characters and become completely absorbed in their world, therefore feeling like you have a purpose as you read.
It is important to keep an open mind while reading as Nabokov claimed …show more content…
This piece is formulated through an allegory which exists on both a literal and figurative level. Virginia Woolf relates the struggles that a moth, which is so vulnerable to death to the everyday life of the human struggle. Implicitly, Woolf describes the moth to have value like individuals as they try to put a stop to death in the same sense like humans do.
Every aspect in life has a certain meaning, even something so small, such as the moth. The endless fight the moth had describes the concept of life itself through the eyes of an absurd hero battling the impossible which in this case is death. All living things are fighting for the same purpose and fight the power of their fates trying to stay mortal by hoping to escape from their fate such as Sisyphus. Explicitly Woolf talks about how life is like a pure “bead”, we keep pushing until we stop. By accepting the fate which we all must endure at some point is the foundation of how to live our lives. Through the continuous fight which we must forgo becomes apparent that the struggles we face have no chance against death. Woolf is perhaps similar to the moth, making her last attempt at survival. It is important to recognize the value of Woolf’s observations as it seems that her own struggles are represented through the moth in her own efforts to overcome her …show more content…
B. White’s essay he describes a dual existence he has with his son when spending time at this lake. In some ways White is facing an identity crisis when he has a hard time distinguishing between himself and his son. The essay moves in a non- chronological order where White weaves in and out through the past and present. While at the lake, in its essence remains unchanged, White himself is different, and so he finally accepts the fundamental irony of life. The natural cycle of birth, childhood, maturity, and death are inevitable, he too realizes he is facing the natural course that leads to the chill of