Clockwork Orange Book Report

Similar to the last post, this is a long format book report for A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. This dystopian tale tells of a young teen named Alex and what begins as a normal, nightly extreme violence gone wrong. One of his gang members betrays him and Alex is sent to prison. He is then selected as the guinea pig to one of the government's experiments– a way to synthetically make the teenage desire for violence disappear. By doing so the government takes away Alex's free will and his love for classical music. The novel focuses on the idea of whether it is more important to maintain the individual will of each person or focus on the good of society as a whole.

My group and I also filmed a GC around this book of which I will attach in the next blog post.

As always...you're very welcome.

Genre: Science Fiction/ Dystopian

Author: Anthony Burgess

Type: Novella

I. Main Characters

a. Alex, the protagonist of A Clockwork Orange, is self-righteous and, as natural human beings are, most preoccupied with his own well-being. He is immature throughout most of the plot, unable to understand the actual weight that lies with signing his name away to various people. 

b. F. Alexander, the bookish author that aids Alex after the police beat him up, is hypocritical, kind, and suspicious. He is hypocritical because of his desire to help the greater masses but his lack of concern for each single person. He was kind to Alex when he first arrived because he saw him as an ideal but then he turned ravaging mad as he saw Alex for who he was as a person.

c. Dim, one of Alex’s old droogies, is vengeful and corrupt. He represents the manipulations of the government as he later becomes a police officer and takes revenge on Alex for mistreating him. He was untrustworthy as a friend to Alex by allowing the police to capture Alex. 

d. Minister of the Interior is cold and pragmatic, his only concern is for the outcome but not the ethics of the process. He, like much of the other politicians, use Alex as a tool to achieve their own agenda. 

II. Minor Characters

a. Dr. Brodsky is the doctor that is in charge of administering Ludovico’s Technique on Alex. He is either oblivious or receives joy from Alex’s suffering. He is highly self-important and truly views what he does to Alex as good, calling Alex’s inability to make his own decisions Christian-like. 

b. Dr. Branom is Dr. Brodsky’s assistant. Alex instantly takes a liking to Dr. Branom for his bright blue eyes. He portrays a kind and friendly persona but nonetheless is unsympathetic to Alex’s pain. He delights in the science behind Ludovico’s Technique. 

III. Setting

a. The setting of the book takes place in both a larger city and the outskirts town surrounding it. The city is where Alex and most of the action with the government and his droogs take place while F. Alexander lives on the outskirts of a small town cottage. The language spoken by the adult characters in the story is of modern English. 

b. The time period is roughly 50 years in the past judging from the lack of television screens and the use of stereos. The novel was published in 1962; Ludovico’s Technique must have been considered advance for scientific innovation during the time. During the time it was published the novel would have seemed to take place in the near future. 

IV. Background Context

Anthony Burgess was inspired by many aspects from his background including his religion, Catholicism, his trip to Leningrad, witnessing himself the Russian thug youths, and his disapproval of communism. Catholicism instilled Anthony the idea of the inherent evil of man. During his trip to Leningrad, he witnessed a government that served the great good at the cost of the individual. He also met some of the teen thugs, and much of their bizarre attire and ways influenced the youth in A Clockwork Orange.

V. Symbolism

a. The milk-plus that the youth drink at the Korova Milkbar before each night of havoc represents the immaturity and powerlessness of the characters. Milk is fed to the young as a form of nourishment but the milk at the bar is laced with hallucinogens, creating a corrupt and moral-less generation of youth. They are all inevitably powerless against the government, perhaps foreshadowing Alex’s stolen freedom of choice.  

b. The constant repetition of dark imagery as depicted by the description of the nighttime represent the unrestrained domain of self-choice–where individuals such as Alex can be free to do as they choose. Only in the nighttime or darkness is Alex able to exercise this freedom even though in the day he faces his consequences. In the scene where Alex and the other cellmates kill the new cellmate, the prison room is dark except two red lights, and in this environment Alex is free to do as he chooses. In the daytime, however, he is betrayed by his cellmates and punished.

VI. Writing Style

An important aspect of the narrator’s voice is the “nadsat” slang the youth gangs speak in. This characterizes them from the other “goloss” of the adults. When Alex wants to impress or trick an adult he takes on a polite and over-the-top archaic speech of renaissance poetry. The way Alex speaks is what ultimately reveals his identity to F. Alexander, hinting that he was one of the rapists during that fateful night (fateful indeed). 

VII. Theme

The novel revolves around the question of whether the greater good of the people is more important than the individual’s freedom. Burgess expresses his own opinion that no matter how lowly the individual is, it is inhumane to strip him of his freedom of choice. The novel addresses this by ultimately allowing Alex to realize good for himself as he comes to mature and rid of thug activities. The inhuman state of which Alex was succumbed to, powerless to even control his own body, puts the individual in the position of an animal. 

  

VIII. Structure

Alex is speaking as a storyteller from the future, reciting the incidents that happened in his youth. His speaks plaintively if the “nadsat” is translated. The events happen chronologically, separated into three major parts: his freedom, his physical confinement, and finally his mental confinement. Each part begins in a similar way with the question of “What’s it going to be, eh?”, but each time different as the individual retains less and less of his own free will. 

IX. Quotes

a. “What’s it going to be then, eh?”: This is a question of whether or not you want to take up the freedom of a choice, in other words, if given the freedom, what will the choice be. The signatures Alex signed where ironic because regardless of whether he signed or not he was to still be used by people. The choice to do violence was Alex’s own and this quote represents his slow but steady loss of individuality.

b. “Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man.”: Burgess believed that sin is inherent in mankind; it cannot be forced upon him. When it is forced, the individual is depraved of choice and is no longer defined as a man. This represents the work as a whole that the government should not strip the individual of rights for the good of society.

c. “But what I do I do because I like to do”: Alex’s choice to commit violent acts was by his own determination. In addition, his choice to cease the same violence is for his own reasons as well. This quote is representative, once again, of the value on individual choice over good of society. 

d. “He ceases to be a wrongdoer. He ceases also to be a creature capable of moral choice” When Alex was on stage in front of the Minister, Governor, etc, he was no longer a human of reason but the sickness guided his actions so that in order not to fall over sick he had no choice in what he wanted to do but to do what would allow him to survive. These basic survival instincts compare him to the similarity of an animal, incapable of reason. 

X. Summary

Alex, a fifteen year old teen is the self-proclaimed leader of his gang. He and his friends commit violent acts of rape, assault, and damage to the older generation each night. After a falling out with one of his friends, Dim, he and his friends prepare to rob an old lady. Dim takes the chance to enact revenge on Alex by whipping him unconscious so that Alex awakens to be arrested by the police. One night Alex and his prison mates accidentally kill one of the new cellmates; the blame was all placed on Alex and the Minister choose Alex to be the guinea pig for Ludovico’s Technique. Alex undergoes the procedure much under his will after he realizes what the government was doing to him and tries to escape but fails. Soon after he associates sickness with violence and so he is unable to commit violence of any short. 

Alex returns home to find that a tenant named Joe has taken his room and even his place as a son. Frustrated, he runs away. He goes into a bookstore hoping to find out how to commit suicide, but runs into an old man he once assaulted. Several old men beat Alex up as Alex is now unable to defend himself. The police arrive and by chance Dim and one of Alex’s old enemies are now cops. They take him to the outskirts of town and beat him. Alex drags himself until he comes to the house of F. Alexander, a political dissenter and writer. He helps Alex recover but develops suspicions as he remembers Alex’s voice as one of the boys who killed his wife. Alex is then used by political dissenters to throw over the government. He is given a room to live where in the dissenters manipulations, Alex throws himself out of the building, placing him in the hospital for a week. 

His condition is reversed and he is then used by the Minister to regain popular approval. In the final chapter he creates another gang but he is no longer interested in violence and craving for a family of his own. 

Kite Runner Book Report

Now that I am officially done with AP Literature and Composition, I can finally post my essays without my teacher assuming I copied them all from online.
This was the book report I wrote for The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It's a hauntingly beautiful tale about two best friends whose lives were torn by the war in Afghanistan and their different cultures.

And without further adieu, here is my book report following the format of
I. Main characters
II. Minor characters
III. Setting
IV. Contextual level (background of the author)
V. Symbols
VI. Author's writing style (rhetorical level)
VII. Dominant philosophy (thematic level)
VIII. architecture (structural level)
IX. representative quotes
X. short summary

You're very welcome guys, because for you a thousand times over.

Book Report: Kite Runner 

Title: Kite Runner

Genre: Historical Fiction

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Type: Print 

Date Published: May 29, 2003

I. Significant characters 

Amir is the narrator of the story. He is very insecure about his position especially in his youth where he tried to reestablish his higher status by bullying his friend/half-brother, Hassan. He is often jealous of his Baba’s affections toward Hassan and demotivated by his father’s lack of affections. As Rahim Khan said, Amir tends to punish himself too roughly, feeling guilty for the sins he committed which shows the presence of guilt and a sign for the want of redemption. 

Hassan is Amir’s best friend and as Amir later finds out, his half brother as well. He is loyal, forgiving, and brave. As children, he protected Amir from the bullying of Assef and stood up for what he believed was right. He was a loyal and dedicated friend that watched over Baba’s house in Kabul even with the threats of the Taliban soldiers. His forgiving nature allows his heart to forgive and forget the past sorrows of what Amir did to him and how his mother abandoned him. 

Baba is the biological father of Amir and Hassan. On the surface, Baba is a respected man, the beneficiary of orphanages, and generous to the poor. Inwardly, he is cowardly, unable to challenge the codes of society and accept Hassan as a son, and denying Amir love as he connects Amir’s image with his own guilt. 

General Taheri is the friend of Baba and father-in-law of Amir. He is in a way the foil of Baba. He is pretentious and unwilling to work lowly jobs to support his family, relying on government food stamps while Baba refuses to use welfare and works a laborious job to support his family. Taheri is distant with his wife and daughter, choosing to live in his past memories than move onto the future– in short, unrealistic. 

II. Minor characters:

Assef is Amir and Hassan’s childhood bully. He rapes both Hassan and his son Sohrab and boasts about killing Hazaras. His character doesn't change from childhood to adulthood. He possesses traces of fairness for before he challenged Amir to a fight he promised his freedom if he were to win. But with that said, he pulled out his brass knuckles and fought unfairly. He is incapable of remorse and is described as a pure villain.

Sohrab is Amir’s nephew and Hassan’s son. Although he represents his father physically and is skilled at the slingshot, Amir notes his spirit was not like Hassan’s– Sohrab is deeply depressed and mistrustful, falling into a silence. 

III. Settings

The time period took place before the take over of the Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. Amir was born in 1975 during of which Kabul was a growing cosmopolitan. Peace was torn apart by the Soviet invasion and later Taliban rule. The resentment between the Shia and Sunni Muslims has persisted since 632 AD since Muhammad died. That resentment increased by the Taliban’s cruel oppression. Since their overthrow of President Burhanuddin Rabbani in 1996, they massacred Hazaras and enforced strict regulations. The strife of the time period is the setting for much unrest and violence throughout the world as the fall of the Twin Towers, the Berlin Wall, and the city of Kabul. 

b. The setting takes place first in Kabul, Amir and Hassan’s hometown. There Amir leaves to San Francisco to take refuge and coming back to his homeland after many years to find unimaginable destruction. He travels across many cities in Afghanistan in hopes to find Sohrab. 

IV. Contextual

Much of the Kite Runner was inspired by Khaled Hosseini’s own life. He too was born in Kabul to an upper middle class family, and his father, like General Taheri in the novel, was a government official. His family left Kabul before the revolution and came to San Jose. He too wrote stories as a young boy but unlike Amir worked through college as a medical student, eventually becoming a doctor and now a full-time, successful writer. Although the characters in the novel are fiction, much of the historical background is true, the coup de’ tat of the Afghanistan president, the Soviet take over, the rise of the Pashtuns. 

V. Symbols

The kites appeared during the beginning of the novel as the good memories between Hassan and Amir before the revolution and killings and again in the very end as the closing of the novel and the rekindling of a relationship between Amir and Sohrab. Kite running represents the good within the bad. The good memories that were a part of Amir’s childhood and the everlasting connection it had with Hassan. Their physical symbolism represents a free flying body, but so fragile and tittering on the verge of fall. The kite itself is a symbol for the nature of happiness in life, fleeting and delicate, readily soaring but easily damaged. 

Sohrab himself is a symbol of the battered Afghanistan state. He is raped and orphaned into a perpetual silence. He attempts to commit suicide and the life has been drained out of him from all the tragedies. He is a physical representation of his father and a symbol of redemption for Amir. In helping Sohrab find a safe home, Amir himself has in a way been forgiven by Hassan. 

VI. Writing Style

The author’s writing style is raw and simple. The words are informal and the description of the conversations are life-like. Because of this the language isn't the main factor that creates profoundness but the story itself. Hosseini often refers to words in Afgahnistan tongues like Dari and Pashto to create a realistic feel to his characters. 

VII. Theme

The main theme that follows Amir throughout his life is the nature of guilt and the search for redemption. He realizes in the end that no matter how hard he tries he cannot bury away something from the past and that good will come out of guilt. Amir suppresses thoughts of Hassan, a fear that keeps him living in ignorance. When he finally comes to terms with himself he embarks on a mission to save Sohrab. He is allowed redemption and satisfaction with himself when he stands up for what is right in the end. 

VIII. Structural Level

The story begins as a present day look into the past. Amir reminisces on his childhood in Kabul with Hassan before he leaves to visit Rahim Khan. The story then reaches December 2001 and so it continues on into the future as Amir journeys to find Sohrab and they eventually go back home to San Francisco. Along the way the story flashbacks multiple times to random moments of Amir’s memories– the memories that he most significantly remembers. 

IX. Quotes

“For you, a thousand times over” This is perhaps my favorite quote of all time. It very well encapsulates the loyalty and love Hassan had for Amir and the haunting words he spoke are still imprinted in Amir’s head which is made obvious when Amir cries upon hearing it being said. In the end when he accepts his redemption, Amir too says these words but this time to Sohrab paralleling the love Hassan had for Amir with the love Amir has for Sohrab.

“That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out.” This quote foreshadows the events to be explained in the novel to come. It summarizes the theme and the entirety of the plot as Amir tries to bury his past but finding it impossible as he is stained with guilt.

“My body was broken—just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later—but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed.” This quote from the Assef fight scene shows Amir laughing hysterically while being brutally beaten. Amir feels he deserved this and having been beaten is now redeemed from his sins and “healed” from his pain, his real pain which is the guilt afflicted wounds of the past. 

“But I would stand my ground, I decided. I didn't want to sacrifice for Baba anymore. The last time I had done that, I damned myself.”Amir’s mentality was that he let Hassan be raped by Assef for Baba. He didn't do it for himself. Amir’s prominent character trait is his inability to stand for what he knows is right. He allows his fears and desires to guide him. His father’s approval meant more than a friend’s rape and a war-torn country made him fear for his own life enough to leave Sohrab. The quote was the first of many to come that shows the slow transition Amir made has he became a man and stood for what he knew was right. 

Summary

Amir and Hassan were childhood friends that grew up together in Kabul, Afghanistan. Amir was Sunni while Hassan was a Shi’ite. Hassan worked with his father, Ali, as Amir’s family servants. One day during a kite flying competition Hassan was raped by Assef, a constant bully and Amir watched without helping because he wanted to take the kite home to win the approval of his Baba. Amir and Hassan’s relationship was never the same again. Soon after Ali found out about the rape, he and Hassan left Baba’s home. 

A revolution in Afghanistan forced Amir and Baba to flee to America where they moved to San Francisco to begin a new life. Life was difficult for Baba and he found it hard to transition but nonetheless he worked hard as a gas pumper to provide for Amir. Amir graduated from high school and went on to junior college. During the summer he and Baba would buy used goods and resell them at the flea market. There Amir fell in love with Soraya. Around the same time Baba was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. Baba helped Amir by asking for Soraya’s permission to marry Amir and the two were engaged. After a expensive, traditional wedding ceremony, Baba passed away.

Rahim Khan called Amir to come see him before he died from illness. Amir flew back to Afghanistan to visit Rahim Khan in Peshawar. There Rahim Khan told Amir the whole truth of Hassan–that they were half brothers. Amir was torn between his own safety and ignorance and his calling of redemption. He chose to stay and help find Sohrab. He travels with Farid to Kabul but finds that Sohrab is in the hands of Assef. He battles one last time with Assef. He and Sohrab escape after Sohrab slingshots a ball into Assef’s eye. Sohrab attempts suicide when he finds out he might have to return to an orphanage but eventually Amir and Sohrab both make it to America. Sohrab sinks into a frozen silence of which is just barely cracked in the end of the novel as he and Amir fly kites together. 

Literary Terms English Literature & Composition

Here are a list of literary terms you should be familiar with for AP 12 English.

Alliteration: two or more words in a group of words begin with the same sound (ie. Anne's awesome apples)
Allegory: symbolic narrative in verse or prose in which characters, setting, plot, etc. represent abstract ideas
Allusion: passing reference or indirect mention
Anastrophe:
Antagonist: opponent or enemy of main character (ie. Green Goblin in Spider-Man)
Antithesis: juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas to give a feeling of balance
Apostrophe: address to an absent or imaginary person
Archetype: original model of universal symbols shared across cultures that have been part of human experience
Assonance: vowel rhyme or repetition of vowel sounds
Blank Verse: unrhymed verse
Chiasmus:
Conceit: extended metaphor
Connotation: an idea that is implied or suggested
Elements of plot: 

        Exposition: a systematic interpretation or explanation (usually written) of a specific topic

        Rising Action:
       Conflict: struggle between opposing forces, may be external (ie. physical fighting) or internal (ie. guilt)
       Climax: point in story where the conflict reaches its peak and is then resolved
       Falling Action:
       Resolution:
       Denouement: final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work
End-Stopped: a line with a pause at the end.  Lines that end with a period, a comma, a colon, a semicolon, an exclamation point, or a question mark are end-stopped lines.

Enjambment: the continuation of a syntactic unit from one line of verse into the next line without a pause

Essay Terms:
       Commentary:
       Concrete Detail:
       Thesis:
       Topic Sentence:
Fiction:

Foil: a character whose personality is completely opposite that of the main character and allows the main character's positive and negative traits to stand out

Foreshadowing: clues about something that will happen later in story

Free Verse: unrhymed verse without a consistent metrical pattern

Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration used for empahsis (ie. I almost died of boredom)
Iamb:
Imagery: language that portrays sensory experiences (ie. the flowers were iridescent with rainbow hues)
Irony: three types: 1) dramatic irony: when audience is aware of something characters aren't of 2) situational irony: something unexpected happens; plot twist 3) verbal irony: when the description of something is opposite of truth (ie. Tiny Tim is a hulking giant)

Litotes: understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary)

Metaphor: comparison of two unalike things without "like" or "as" (ie. Karen was a ray of sunshine)
Meter: rhythm as given by division into parts of equal time
Metonymy: a figure of speech that consists of the use of the name of one object or concept for that of another to which it is related
Onomatopoeia: use of words whose sounds imitate the sounds they describe (ie. hiss, murmur, growl, honk)
Paradox: a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.
Personification: describing nonhuman things with human qualities (ie. the moon smiled down at her)
Poetic Foot: a group of syllables in verse usually consisting of one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables associated with it.
Protagonist: main or central character of work (ie. Peter Parker in Spider-Man)
Simile: when two unalike things are compared with "like" or "as" (ie. Randy's voice is like melted chocolate)
Style Analysis Terms: 
         Tone: author's attitude toward the subject matter or toward the audience
         Diction:
         Detail:
         Organization:
         Point of View: perspective from which story is told 1) first person: narrator is a character who describes from his or her own perspective using "I" 2) third-person limited: narrator is not a character but can describe thoughts and experiences of one character only 3) third-person omniscient: narrator is not a character but knows the thoughts of every character
Syntax: the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences

Symbol: something visible that by association or convention represents something else that is invisible

Synechdoche: a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part
Theme: story's main message or moral (ie. "Slow and steady wins the race")
Thesis: proposition stated or put forward to be proved
Volta: rhetorical shift or dramatic change in thought

SAT Essay Practice Prompts

 

Here are a collection of SAT practice essay prompts I've gathered from various sources including online websites and many of the tests I've actually done.

1. Prompt:
   "That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only which gives everything its value."
   Thomas Paine
   
   
   Assignment:
   Do we value only what we struggle for? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations.
   
   
   
   
2. Prompt:
   If we are afraid to reveal our lack of knowledge we will not be able to learn. In order to make progress we must admit where we are now. Such an admission of ignorance is not easy. As Thoreau says, “How can we remember our ignorance which our growth requires, when we are using our knowledge all the time?”
   
   
   Assignment:
   Does the present system of education encourage us to admit our lack of knowledge, or is there too much pressure to demonstrate the acquisition of knowledge? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations. 
   
   
3. Prompt:
   “A little inaccuracy saves a world of explanation.”
   C.E.Ayers
   
   
   Assignment:
   Is it always essential to tell the truth, or are there circumstances in which it is better to lie? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations. 
   
   
   
   
4. Prompt:
   Many societies believe that the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human right. But it is also true that attainment of happiness remains elusive. Perhaps Bertrand Russell had it right when he said, “To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.”
   
   
   Assignment:
   What gives us more pleasure and satisfaction: the pursuit of our desires or the attainment of them? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations. 
   
   
   
   
5. Prompt:
   “The price of greatness is responsibility.”
   Winston Churchill
   
   
   Assignment:
   Do we expect too much from our public figures? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations. 
   
   
6. Prompt:
   “A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.”
   Alexander Pope
   
   
   Assignment:
   Do we learn more from finding out that we have made mistakes or from our successful actions? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations. 
   
   
   
   
7. Prompt:
   “What man calls civilization always results in deserts. Man is never on the square – he uses up the fat and greenery of the earth. Each generation wastes a little more of the future with greed and lust for riches.”  Don Marquis
   
   
   Assignment:
   With our modern awareness of ecology are we likely to make sufficient progress in conservation, or are we still in danger of damaging the earth beyond repair? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations. 
   
   
8. Prompt:
   A man who waits to believe in action before acting is anything you like, but he is not a man of action. It is as if a tennis player before returning the ball stopped to think about his views of the physical and mental advantages of tennis. You must act as you breathe.
   Georges Clemenceau
   
   
   Assignment:
   Is it true that acting quickly and instinctively is the best response to a crisis? Or are there times when an urgent situation requires a more careful consideration and a slower response? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations. 
   
   
   
   
9. Prompt:
   There is usually a kernel of truth in the words Oscar Wilde puts in the mouth of his most outrageous characters – they wouldn’t be funny otherwise. One such gem that is worth pondering is: The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.
   
   
   Assignment:
   Is it true that when we most need advice we are least willing to listen to it? Or is good advice always welcome? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations. 
   
   
   
   
10. Prompt:
    “Independence? That’s middle class blasphemy. We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.” Bernard Shaw expected to provoke controversy with these words, but I would agree with him that these days there is too much emphasis on independence. While it is certainly true that excessive dependence on others is not a sign of maturity, total independence of others is neither attainable nor desirable: we need to be mature, and unselfish enough to recognize our interdependence.
    
    
    Assignment:
    Do we put too much emphasis on self-reliance and independence, and are we afraid of admitting that we need other people in our lives? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations. 
    
    
    source:  http://www.majortests.com/sat/essay-topics.php
    
    

    From My Personal Practice

    1. In the 1950s, ads for newly available appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers suggested that such technological innovations would free up the housewife's time, allowing her more leisure. During the advent of personal computers, the same promise that machines would simplify our lives was regularly made or implied. However, people today work harder and are more rushed than they ever were before, and few feel that life has changed for the better.
                                                          adapted from Daryl Stradivarius, "Technical Difficulties"
    
    
    Assignment: Is it possible that things that make our lives easier can also make them more difficult? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations. 
    
    
    
    
    2. In a recent speech, the President stressed the need for increased mathematics and science skills among students today, while saying nothing about humanities and the arts and never mentioning the word "creativity". Yet, it is not practical applications and economic incentives that best drive science forward- it is pure research done primarily for the sake of knowledge. And intellectual curiousity of that caliber requires creative minds, minds nurtured in the humanities and arts.
                                                       adapted from William Deverson, "Newton wrote Poetry"
    
    
    Assignment: How important is creativity in relation to progress in the world today? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations.  
    
    
    
    
    3.  People who engage in reckless or self-destructive behavior often justify their actions by saying  they are only hurting themselves and not anyone else. However, eveything a person does has an effect on the world. If a person behaves in an unacceptable way and other people copy that behavior, that person is responsible for the consequences. 
                                                                     adapted from Wim Dannin, "He Told Me To"
    
    
    Assignment: Are people responsible, through the examples they set, for the behaviors of other people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations.  
    
    
    
    
    4. A collegue of the great scientist James Watson remarked that Watson was always "lounging around, arguing about problems instead of doing experiments". He concluded that "There is more than one way of doing good science". It was Watson's form of idleness, the scientist went on to say, that allowed him to solve "the greatest of all biological problems: the discovery of the structure of DNA". It is a point worth remembering a society overly concerned with efficiency.
                                                                 adapted from John C Polanyi, "Understanding Discovery"
    
    
    Assignment: Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do things their own way? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations. 
    
    
    
    
    5.  No matter how definite a truth, no matter how resolute a conviction, there is always a "however". 
                                                                                                            Wellesley Dinton 
    
    
    Ever present, contrast is that marvelous balance of beauty and disgust, magnificence and rats. 
                                                                                                            Ralph Waldo Emerson
    
    
    Assignment: What is the value of opposites and contrasts? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support you position with reasoning and examples taken from your readings, studies, or observations.  
    
    
    
    
    
    

On the SAT: Critical Reading Long Passage Terror

 

The long passage sections of critical reading in SAT tends to be my least favorite, not that any of the others are my favorites.
These passages also tend to be the ones I get some sleep during- because I always manage to fall asleep while reading the loooong passages.

The long passage sections can either be a comparison of two medium sized passages about one topic, comparing the opinions of the first author with the opinions of the second author OR they can be just one fat, ugly paragraph by itself.

Here's an example of comparison passages:

source: http://perfectscoreproject.com/2011/06/im-having-relationship-issues/

 Now let's look at the questions that follow them:

source: http://perfectscoreproject.com/2011/06/im-having-relationship-issues/

source: http://perfectscoreproject.com/2011/06/im-having-relationship-issues/

 Here's an example of a long passage:

The pioneers of the teaching of science imagined that its
    introduction into education would remove the conventionality,
    artificiality, and backward-lookingness which were characteristic;
    of classical studies, but they were gravely disappointed. So, too, in
5   their time had the humanists thought that the study of the classical
    authors in the original would banish at once the dull pedantry and
    superstition of mediaeval scholasticism. The professional
    schoolmaster was a match for both of them, and has almost
    managed to make the understanding of chemical reactions as dull
10  and as dogmatic an affair as the reading of Virgil's Aeneid.
    The chief claim for the use of science in education is that it
    teaches a child something about the actual universe in which he is
    living, in making him acquainted with the results of scientific
15  discovery, and at the same time teaches him how to think logically
    and inductively by studying scientific method. A certain limited
    success has been reached in the first of these aims, but practically
    none at all in the second. Those privileged members of the
    community who have been through a secondary or public school
20  education may be expected to know something about the
    elementary physics and chemistry of a hundred years ago, but they
    probably know hardly more than any bright boy can pick up from
    an interest in wireless or scientific hobbies out of school hours.
    As to the learning of scientific method, the whole thing is palpably
25  a farce. Actually, for the convenience of teachers and the
    requirements of the examination system, it is necessary that the
    pupils not only do not learn scientific method but learn precisely
    the reverse, that is, to believe exactly what they are told and to
    reproduce it when asked, whether it seems nonsense to them or
30  not. The way in which educated people respond to such quackeries
    as spiritualism or astrology, not to say more dangerous ones such
    as racial theories or currency myths, shows that fifty years of
    education in the method of science in Britain or Germany has
    produced no visible effect whatever. The only way of learning the
35  method of science is the long and bitter way of personal
    experience, and, until the educational or social systems are altered
    to make this possible, the best we can expect is the production of a
    minority of people who are able to acquire some of the techniques
    of science and a still smaller minority who are able to use and
40  develop them.


1. The author implies that the 'professional schoolmaster' (line 7) has
A. no interest in teaching science
B. thwarted attempts to enliven education
C. aided true learning
D. supported the humanists
E. been a pioneer in both science and humanities.
2. The author’s attitude to secondary and public school education in the sciences is
A. ambivalent
B. neutral
C. supportive
D. satirical
E. contemptuous
3. The word ‘palpably’ (line 24) most nearly means
A. empirically
B. obviously
C. tentatively
D. markedly
E. ridiculously
4. The author blames all of the following for the failure to impart scientific method through the education system except
A. poor teaching
B. examination methods
C. lack of direct experience
D. the social and education systems
E. lack of interest on the part of students
5. If the author were to study current education in science to see how things have changed since he wrote the piece, he would probably be most interested in the answer to which of the following questions?
A. Do students know more about the world about them?
B. Do students spend more time in laboratories?
C. Can students apply their knowledge logically?
D. Have textbooks improved?
E. Do they respect their teachers?
6. Astrology (line 31) is mentioned as an example of
A. a science that needs to be better understood
B. a belief which no educated people hold
C. something unsupportable to those who have absorbed the methods of science
D. the gravest danger to society
E. an acknowledged failure of science
7. All of the following can be inferred from the text except
A. at the time of writing, not all children received a secondary school education
B. the author finds chemical reactions interesting
C. science teaching has imparted some knowledge of facts to some children
D. the author believes that many teachers are authoritarian
E. it is relatively easy to learn scientific method.

 Answers:

1.		B
2.		E
3.		B
4.		E
5.		C
6.		C
7.		E

Source:  For More Practice on Critical Reading

Here's a basic list of things to do while reading the passages:

1. underline transitional words
2. Circling, Boxing, and Underlining

1. Underlining Transitional Words

Most of the SAT Passages do not openly say "Hey Guys! This is my main idea". If that were the case, we'd all be getting 2400s. Most passages go in a weird way to state their main ideas; they say, for example, "People often consider ice cream to be unhealthy because of the contents of fat it contains. However, some health experts argue agaisnt this idea."

In this example, "However" is the transitional word. It tells you that the author's main idea isn't "Ice cream is bad" but actually "Ice cream is good". Those sly authors.
Of course, the passages won't be as simple as the example I gave you but the idea is the same.

Here are some transitional words to look out for:

Opposition
Although
However
In spite of
Rather than
Nevertheless
On the other hand
But

Support
Moreover
Besides
Additionally
Furthermore
In fact

Result
Therefore
Consequently
Accordingly
Because
When
So

2. Circling, Boxing, and Underlining

 When you come across a passage do not start straight off by reading the passage. We've been told countless times by our teachers to read the questions first, SO DO IT. It helps a lot by quickly previewing the anticipated questions, underlining what the questions are asking for, such as "main idea", "tone/mood", "what author's purpose was". Then go to the passage and underline or box or circle the needed content.

When you get a question like this:

3. The word ‘equanimity’ (line 41) most nearly means
A. status
B. happiness
C. justice
D. complacency
E. composure

First of all, it's obvious the question is asking for a definition of the word. However, many people fail to understand that many, many words have many, many different meanings that we are unfamiliar with. The best way to approach these types of questions would be to cover up the answer choices (DO NOT LOOK AT THEM, go to line 41, read the sentence the word is in, then come up with a word that you think could replace the word in the sentence.

So here's the sentence "equanimity" was in:

Under such circumstances Mr. Harding could not but feel
    that he was an Englishman who did not know how to
  live. This new doctrine of Mr. Slope and the rubbish
    cart sadly disturbed his equanimity.

You can replace the word "equanimity" with
-inner peace
-calmness

The answer was E) Composure
The goal of coming up with your own synonyms is to avoid choosing answers just because you know the definition. Just because you know the definition doesn't mean it's right because the question asks for the meaning of the word the way it is used by the author.

In my experience doing SAT questions I came across many authors who used random words and made up their definitions. They used words with completely wrong defnitions to write a sentence but it works because 1) it's their book, they can do what they want
2) it gives the same idea in the context of the sentence

Same with answering SAT questions, never answer questions based on your opinion; it's always about the author's opinion.

The author could write about how slavery benefitted America, an idea that is cruel and horrible, and although you, yourself believe the author's ideas are wrong, you have to stand in the perspective of the author in order to correctly answer the questions.

If you get a question that asks specific material on a specific line:

6. The tone of the sentence 'New men....live' (lines 34-37) is
A. objective
B. ironic
C. derogatory
D. expository
E. ambivalent

1) you should already have underlined a bunch of tone words (ie: dark, grumpy, sunshine, iridescent)
2) Go to the lines the question gave you and read 2-3 sentences before it to get a background.