Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Possible Choices for AP English Exam

Thinking about my possible choices for the AP exam, I've compiled a list of my favorite/most applicable options:

  1. Medea
  2. Oedipus
  3. Things Fall Apart
  4. Beloved
  5. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
  6. Brave New World 

Medea and Oedipus are quite straightforward and easy to talk about. I find myself leaning towards Oedipus because I found it more interesting, so I think I'll end up using that. I really enjoyed reading both Things Fall Apart and Beloved, but I feel using both could be somewhat short-sighted so I think I'll stick with just Things Fall Apart. My biggest dilemma is having to choose between The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Brave New World. Both were my absolute favorite novels to read this year, but thinking in terms of the AP exam I find that Unbearable Lightness of Being would probably prove a more interesting essay than Brave New World. Then again, I find myself more familiar and able to write about Brave New World than I would for Unbearable Lightness of Being. Fate v. Free Will seems to be the overall theme for the majority of these novels. Although, I could talk about dangers of acquiring totalitarianism and losing truth and beauty within Brave New World. I could also discuss the effects of change on tradition within Things Fall Apart. Regardless, I hope I'm heading in the right direction with my choices. Which novels have you all considered/chosen?

7 comments:

Unknown said...

For one of my books, I am going to prepare my independent study, The Color Purple. Not only is it fresh in my mind, but I also really enjoyed it. I think it will be the easiest to prepare since I'm still fixing my paper on it. Sorry to admit to taking the easy way out, but senioritis is REAL.

Unknown said...

For my second book I am going to prepare Things Fall Apart. It was definitely one of my favorite books that we read this year. I really enjoyed learning more about colonization in Africa and about the native culture. I actually referenced Things Fall Apart yesterday during my religion presentation which was on Haitian Vodou.

Unknown said...

For my third book I'm deciding between Beloved and Candide. I really enjoyed both of them..... anyyywayyy I'd just like to say how awesome all of you are and how proud I am of each of you! Thank you Mrs. Quinet and Ms. King for making this class so interesting! And thanks for letting us watch Mean Girls! I can honestly say this is my favorite class I have taken at STM. IM GOING TO MISS ALL OF YOU!

Kincy GIbson said...

I never would have thought of using my independent study book! The handmaid's tale is a great book to pick because it talks about body vs. self and gender roles. Thanks for the great idea miranda! I think I am just going to use the same essays from last semester.

Kincy GIbson said...

I never would have thought of using my independent study book! The handmaid's tale is a great book to pick because it talks about body vs. self and gender roles. Thanks for the great idea miranda! I think I am just going to use the same essays from last semester.

Amy Clement said...

I'm having a hard time what works to prepare for the exam. I know I definitely want to prepare my indepent study project, Angels in America. I feel like it has so many themes, both fantastical and realistic. I also would like to prepare Beloved, mostly because I loved it so much. Picking a third one is a little more difficult. I'm deciding between Hamlet and Medea.

Unknown said...

Although I'm not taking the AP Exam, I have prepared to use some stories on the normal exam. The first story I'm prepared to use is The Metamorphosis. I picked this one because a) it is one of my favorite stories that we have read this year, b)it is easy to write about because of all the symbolic meaning, and c)its abnormal structure could be useful for some essays. I'm also picking Things Fall Apart. I'm picking it because Achebe is fairly straightforward with all of his points, making it easy to write about. The third book I'm preparing is Beloved. Though Beloved is harder to understand than the other two, I think it would be a good book to prepare because it features lots of strong women, which would be useful for questions involving gender, and it includes the theme of racism. I haven't finished preparing a fourth book yet, but I think I'm going to pick The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I think I'll pick this one because not only is it fresh in mind, but it also has enough complex themes and characters that it could work with a very wide range of essay topics.