AP English Language and Composition (Part 1)

So far, we’ve read two books in class, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Scarlet Letter, as well as one book over the summer, Montana 1948. In a quarter and a half we’ve read and discussed three books. And we won’t start another until after Thanksgiving Break. And that book isn’t The Great Gatsby. It’s the biography of Frederick Douglass, which I can expect to be pretty good, but it’s not The Great Gatsby.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was pretty good. Jonathan Safran Foer is a great writer, and I enjoyed the plot and some of the characters, although Oskar did annoy on a number of occasions. And it was a bit too over the top sentimental and melodramatic. I did think that it did a pretty good job of portraying the mindset of a young kid.

What I didn’t like about it was the analysis that the class did. People were under the impression that Oskar was a genius and that everything he said was completely true, or at least, that’s how they talked about it. Oskar said “inventing” a lot, which in the context of the book meant imagining and fantasizing, and some of the people in the class seemed to believe that he was actually inventing enormous pockets and multi-mile-long limousines. And bird-seed shirts that could make you fly. And there was an argument about whether or not centrifugal force was real.

And some of the outside reading was ridiculous as well. There was part of a “textbook” about the Dresden bombings which was possibly the least objective piece I have ever read. We had to read part of Slaughterhouse 5 as well, which I can imagine is a perfectly good book on its own, but the passage was strange out of context.

Then, we had The Scarlet Letter. The plot of the book was enjoyable, and although the symbolism was a bit over the top, I thought it was interesting. Although I am not a big fan of Nathaniel Hawthorne for his apparent lack of historical knowledge about Puritan New England, and what Puritans were, I enjoyed the characters and the townspeople, although I probably liked Roger Chillingworth more than Mr. Hawthorne intended.

I liked the work and tests about the book; identifying rhetorical strategies on the tests were helpful in allowing me to gauge my progress in becoming AP ready, and I now know much more about transcendentalists, although, to some extent, I wish I didn’t. All I can say about the general class discussion is that someone’s group discussion question was what Halloween costumes we thought Hester, Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, or Pearl would wear.

So, all in all, English is an ok class this year. The books are good and although the discussion is frustrating, I’ve learned more than I thought I would, especially about rhetorical strategies and logical fallacies. For once, English is a serious class with clearly defined goals, those being; learn the skills necessary to score well on the AP in May.