Blog #3: AP English Literature Benchmark Prose Essay & Reflection/Revisions & Reflection

Blog #3: Prose Passage

                   The Beet Queen, Louise Erdrich's 1986 novel, tells the story of two drastically different siblings as they arrive in the town of Argus. Argus, the setting of this story is vital as it is this small-twon environment that shapes these two children, giving one a home, and making the other one an outcast.

                   The town of Argus is characterized by its people and contents. It is mentioned that on the morning the children arrived, "the train brought both an addition and subtraction," implying that one of these children would help the town while the other would "diminish" it. The imagery Erdrich uses to describe these children immediately sets up a striking contrast between the two. Mary, whose name is as, "square and practical as the rest of her" can be implied to be the addition to the town. Much like this ordinary, mid-western town, Mary is plain and realistic. Argus is a safe haven for her where, "times were much better" than where she had come from. It is a place able to nurture her ordinariness, a place where she belongs.

                   Meanwhile, Mary's brother, Karl, is anything but ordinary. He is described as, "a tall fourteen...[with] skin fine and girlish". This imagery gives him an etheral quality making him seem like a dreamer with his head in the clouds, nothing like his practical sister, or this sturdy town that he has just arrived in. Due to his differences with the town, it can be assumed that he will be the "subtraction". Indeed, the author confirms this by the selection of details of Karl accidentally killing a tree that was "a scratch of light against the gray of everything else". The author depicts this tree as the only source of beauty in this plain, "gray" town. "The tree drew [Karl]  with its delicate perfume," but in his admiration of the tree's blooms, Karl puts himself in danger of a dog. "To protect himself or to seize the blooms", Karl tears off a branch thus scarring the tree. While the fate of the tree would not have been known in that moment, the author chooses to tell the audience that the tree diminishes and "that it bore no blossoms" the next year. The author is informing the audience that Karl has ruined the town's source of beauty thus implying that he is the subtraction to the town. This selection of detail characterizes Karl as an outcast from the town because he is so different, and because he has negatively affected the town.
                  It is also further implied that this environment is not good for Karl by the detail that when the vicious dog chased Karl, "[he] ran back to the..train". The fact that Karl ran back implies that he does not want to live in this town as we can already see that he will have a negative relationship with this environment. Meanwhile, his sister runs deeper into the town, as it is implied she belongs there.

Reflection:
I would give myself a score of a 6 for this essay. My analysis was reasonable but not overly persuasive mainly because there were parts of my analysis that were very superficial. I analyzed the juxtaposition of Karl and Mary, Karl being very unique and Mary being very plain, but I never recognized the complexity in that both characters could be more than just unique or plain. Furthermore, my reading of the passage was competent in that I used a lot of specific quotes and identified imagery and selection of detail in the passage, but I could have identified another literary device as Erdrich used many to develop his piece. I could have also identified these literary devices in my thesis so that I would have better answered the prompt. Moving forward, I want to improve my thesis statements, so that they directly address the prompt each time. I will also strive to include at least two mentions of complexity in my analysis essays from now on.

Comment on Natalie's Prose Passage:

I agree with your score of a 5. You did a good job of referring back to the passage for specific textual support, and addressing the prompt. Your thesis statement answered each part of the prompt and you devoted a paragraph to each literary device. While this is an effective way to make sure that you stay on topic, a five paragraph essay format is constricting. Try to maneuver out of that if you can! Your reading of the passage was plausible but your analysis was very short and therefore superficial. You briefly touched on the juxtaposition of Mary and Karl but if you had gone more in depth with that your analysis could have been much improved. Also try to rely less on paraphrase. You can make your analysis lengthier by deconstructing the quotes that you choose. For example, for imagery you could not only talk about the image the words convey, but also the diction that the author chose and the tone that conveys.