I decided to look at your essays because you had done the same author as me so I wanted to see if we made different conclusions about Dostoevsky's writing and if we had collected different evidence to support these conclusions. I noticed that in your Ap Open Question essay you described the setting of St. Petersburg Russia symbolizing the destitution of the Russian and the moral degeneracy of its inhabitants. I also really liked how you talked about the irony in that the supposed greatest city in Russia is the symbol for it’s moral destruction. I would have loved if you would have talked about the prevalence of the color yellow (symbolizing impurity) and the passages of the book dealing with Dostoevsky’s criticism on German materialism and socialist influences on Russia (the hat scene and the rhetorical question regarding someone tearing their coat in half for their neighbor). Because it’s an open question essay I think it would be to your advantage to also mention the actual outside influences (political/social/economic) that were affecting Russia at the time Dostoevsky wrote Crime and Punishment. While I believe you made some great points, looking at the more subtle nuances of Dostoevsky’s writing would really help bring more of his commentary into your paper and would help your paper get a top score if this were an essay on the actual ap test.
I really love your analysis of the setting of Russia as a character in and of itself. I believe it was in a foster chapter where we learned that setting is critical to the meaning of a work as a whole and nothing about it is an accident. I think you did a great job of encompassing the meaning that Dostoevsky had meant to portray. One thing that I would point out is that your paper lacks focus slightly. I feel you start off strong then start to trail off in your train of thought. Make sure that you relate back to the prompt and your thesis statement to truly elevate your writing to the next level. Also, the color yellow, as Redi mentioned above would have been great to incorporate into your essay. Obviously I haven't read the novel, but I would assume that you could work this into a relationship with the setting and how yellow repeatedly recurs throughout the novel. If I am not mistaken i believe you even mentioned this in your presentation so I'm sure you could easily incorporate this idea.
I found your presentation very interesting and captivating and am very excited to comment on it! I am particularly interested in this AP open question essay having to do with how the setting establishes values in a work because the setting also played a large role in the book I read, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. Your analysis of how the awful setting really conveys the dark tone of the piece and causes the characters to become corrupt seems on point, although not having read the book I cannot say for sure. I do know that this is a common theme in many works having seen how the idea of the setting impacting the characters is very prevalent in Cold Mountain. I identified with you when you said that the “society that allowed the poverty to grow such an extent is the root cause,” (Martin 1). I saw that the outside setting— the wild natural world in Cold Mountain—was the root as well. If the characters were not forced to survive off of the land, then their problems would not have arisen. It is the struggle that arises from what is around us, and how we adapt and interact with it that can bring conflict and, in the case of Crime and Punishment, corruption.
During your presentation you talked a lot about the Western influences being the cause of Russia’s problems. I found this very interesting considering my novel is a attack on Western culture through the eyes of an American. For that reason alone, I wanted to look further into your novel. In your essay you discuss how the setting of Russia emphasis that dark tones and extreme poverty in Russia. This thesis statement is a little vague, and that is your whole intro. Though, a good start, I would elaborate on this more. In your next paragraph you discuss, specifically, St Petersburg. I remember in your presentation you talked about all the bad events happening in the big cities in Russia to show Dostoevsky’s disdain for these growing metropolises. I thought this was a really good point and you should have incorporated it into your essay. I like that you discus the setting in relation to the extreme poverty. In your essay you state, “By cultivating this plot in St. Petersburg, Dostoevsky is asserting that there exists a disparity between perception and reality…” (Martin 2). Though St. Petersburg is shown as this prosperous city that is not necessarily the truth. The poverty present in St. Petersburg shows that. A Prayer for Owen Meany also analyzes what is actually true. Since the book is told from the point of view of a 1st person narrative, the reader only sees John’s views on society. So, just like Nick in The Great Gatsby, the reader has to decide what is true, and what is biased.
I decided to look at your essays because you had done the same author as me so I wanted to see if we made different conclusions about Dostoevsky's writing and if we had collected different evidence to support these conclusions. I noticed that in your Ap Open Question essay you described the setting of St. Petersburg Russia symbolizing the destitution of the Russian and the moral degeneracy of its inhabitants. I also really liked how you talked about the irony in that the supposed greatest city in Russia is the symbol for it’s moral destruction. I would have loved if you would have talked about the prevalence of the color yellow (symbolizing impurity) and the passages of the book dealing with Dostoevsky’s criticism on German materialism and socialist influences on Russia (the hat scene and the rhetorical question regarding someone tearing their coat in half for their neighbor). Because it’s an open question essay I think it would be to your advantage to also mention the actual outside influences (political/social/economic) that were affecting Russia at the time Dostoevsky wrote Crime and Punishment. While I believe you made some great points, looking at the more subtle nuances of Dostoevsky’s writing would really help bring more of his commentary into your paper and would help your paper get a top score if this were an essay on the actual ap test.
ReplyDeleteI really love your analysis of the setting of Russia as a character in and of itself. I believe it was in a foster chapter where we learned that setting is critical to the meaning of a work as a whole and nothing about it is an accident. I think you did a great job of encompassing the meaning that Dostoevsky had meant to portray.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I would point out is that your paper lacks focus slightly. I feel you start off strong then start to trail off in your train of thought. Make sure that you relate back to the prompt and your thesis statement to truly elevate your writing to the next level. Also, the color yellow, as Redi mentioned above would have been great to incorporate into your essay. Obviously I haven't read the novel, but I would assume that you could work this into a relationship with the setting and how yellow repeatedly recurs throughout the novel. If I am not mistaken i believe you even mentioned this in your presentation so I'm sure you could easily incorporate this idea.
I found your presentation very interesting and captivating and am very excited to comment on it! I am particularly interested in this AP open question essay having to do with how the setting establishes values in a work because the setting also played a large role in the book I read, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. Your analysis of how the awful setting really conveys the dark tone of the piece and causes the characters to become corrupt seems on point, although not having read the book I cannot say for sure. I do know that this is a common theme in many works having seen how the idea of the setting impacting the characters is very prevalent in Cold Mountain.
ReplyDeleteI identified with you when you said that the “society that allowed the poverty to grow such an extent is the root cause,” (Martin 1). I saw that the outside setting— the wild natural world in Cold Mountain—was the root as well. If the characters were not forced to survive off of the land, then their problems would not have arisen. It is the struggle that arises from what is around us, and how we adapt and interact with it that can bring conflict and, in the case of Crime and Punishment, corruption.
During your presentation you talked a lot about the Western influences being the cause of Russia’s problems. I found this very interesting considering my novel is a attack on Western culture through the eyes of an American. For that reason alone, I wanted to look further into your novel.
ReplyDeleteIn your essay you discuss how the setting of Russia emphasis that dark tones and extreme poverty in Russia. This thesis statement is a little vague, and that is your whole intro. Though, a good start, I would elaborate on this more. In your next paragraph you discuss, specifically, St Petersburg. I remember in your presentation you talked about all the bad events happening in the big cities in Russia to show Dostoevsky’s disdain for these growing metropolises. I thought this was a really good point and you should have incorporated it into your essay.
I like that you discus the setting in relation to the extreme poverty. In your essay you state, “By cultivating this plot in St. Petersburg, Dostoevsky is asserting that there exists a disparity between perception and reality…” (Martin 2). Though St. Petersburg is shown as this prosperous city that is not necessarily the truth. The poverty present in St. Petersburg shows that. A Prayer for Owen Meany also analyzes what is actually true. Since the book is told from the point of view of a 1st person narrative, the reader only sees John’s views on society. So, just like Nick in The Great Gatsby, the reader has to decide what is true, and what is biased.