This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, January 25, 2013

Focus: Forming thematic ideas about The Stranger

1. Announcements!

2. Warm-up: Perusing an eye-opening article about Camus

3. Brainstorming ideas about The Stranger in response to AP prompts from the past:

1971. The significance of a title such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is so easy to discover. However, in other works (for example, Measure for Measure) the full significance of the title becomes apparent to the reader only gradually. Choose two works and show how the significance of their respective titles is developed through the authors’ use of devices such as contrast, repetition, allusion, and point of view.

1973. An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease; it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant closure has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense; significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In an essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit. Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

4. Adding The Stranger to your big question blog

HW: Finish your blog if you did not finish in class; take time to peruse others' blogs as well.  Also, aim to finish your critical review book by next Wednesday.  If you have finished your book, take a look at the guidelines and the sample essays posted on the class website.